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Rabbi Dr. Zalman Meshullam Schachter-Shalomi, affectionately known as "Reb Zalman", (28 August 1924 – 3 July 2014) was one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement. Born in Żółkiew, Poland (now Ukraine) and raised in Vienna, he was interned in detention camps under the Vichy Regime but managed to flee the Nazi advance, emigrating to the United States in 1941. He was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi in 1947 within the ḤaBaD Hasidic movement while under the leadership of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, and served ḤaBaD communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He subsequently earned an M.A. in psychology of religion at Boston University, and a doctorate from the Hebrew Union College. He was initially sent out to speak on college campuses by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, but in the early 1960s, after experimenting with "the sacramental value of lysergic acid", the main ingredient in LSD, leadership within ḤaBaD circles cut ties with him. He continued teaching the Torah of Ḥassidut until the end of his life to creative, free and open-minded Jewish thinkers with humility and kindness and established warm ecumenical ties as well. In September 2009, he became the first contributor of a siddur to the Open Siddur Project database of Jewish liturgy and related work. Reb Zalman supported the Open Siddur Project telling its founder, "this is what I've been looking forward to!" and sharing among many additional works of liturgy, an interview he had with Havurah magazine in the early to mid-1980s detailing his vision of "Database Davenen." The Open Siddur Project is proud to be realizing one of Reb Zalman's long held dreams.
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- אֲשֶׁר יָצַר | Asher Yatsar, interpretive translation by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l
Categories: Well-being, health, and caregiving, Asher Yatsar Tags: interpretive translation, four worlds, English Translation, Late Antiquity, excretion, אשר יצר Asher Yatsar, אשר יצר, Bathroom Prayer, Body as Temple, אדם קדמון Adam Ḳadmon, Body as Cosmos, Asiyah, Body as Earth, Body as Society, Bathroom etiquette, urination, plumbing as metaphor, internal plumbing, Amoraic prayers, Prayers in the Babylonian Talmud, Prayers of Pumbedita, devotional interpretation
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- נְשָׁמָה שֶׁנָּתַתָּ בִּי | Neshamah Shenatata Bi (the breath you have given me), interpretive translation by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l
Categories: Birkhot haShaḥar Tags: interpretive translation, four worlds, English Translation, Breath, Late Antiquity, Body as Cosmos, Asiyah, Amoraic prayers, Prayers in the Babylonian Talmud, breathing, neshamah shenatata bi, neshamah, devotional interpretation
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- ברכות השחר | Blessings at your Dawn of Wakefulness, translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Categories: Birkhot haShaḥar Tags: blessings, ברכות brakhot, interpretive translation, Dawn, Late Antiquity, Prayers in the Babylonian Talmud, 100 blessings a day, wrestling, challenge, devotional interpretation, ישראל Yisrael
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- ברכות התורה | Blessing for Torah Study, interpretive translation by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l
Categories: Birkhot haTorah, Birkhot haShaḥar, Torah Study Tags: talmud torah, interpretive translation, English Translation, North America, Late Antiquity, Jewish Renewal, Amoraic prayers, Prayers before Torah Study, Tannaitic prayers, Antiquity, ecoḥasid, devotional interpretation
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- אֲדוֹן עוֹלָם | Adōn Olam, interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Categories: Birkhot haShaḥar, Arvit l'Shabbat, Musaf l'Shabbat Tags: interpretive translation, פיוטים piyyutim, פתיחות Petiḥot, cosmological, 11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., חתימות Ḥatimot, ABCB rhyming scheme, אדון עולם Adon Olam
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- אָנָּא בְּכֹחַ | Ana b’Khoaḥ, a 42 letter name piyyut with a singing translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Categories: Dying, Birkhot haShaḥar, Slavery & Captivity Tags: interpretive translation, acrostic, Jewish Renewal, פיוטים piyyutim, Philadelphia, אנא בכח Ana b'Khoaḥ, singing translation, 42 letter divine name, Divine name acrostic, devotional interpretation
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- יהי כבוד | Yehi Kh’vod, interpretive translation by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l
Categories: Psukei D'zimrah/Zemirot Tags: 20th century C.E., interpretive translation, English Translation, פיוטים piyyutim, 58th century A.M., Psalms 145, אשרי Ashrei, centos, remixed biblical verse, leket psukim, devotional interpretation, Psukei Dezimra
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- אַשְׁרֵי יוֹשְׁבֵי בֵיתֶךָ | Ashrei Yoshvei Veitekha :: Sitting in your home is happiness (Psalms 145), translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Categories: Psukei D'zimrah/Zemirot, Ashrei, Tehilim Book 5 (Psalms 107–150) Tags: interpretive translation, Psalms 145, אשרי Ashrei, Alphabetic Acrostic, Poteaḥ et Yodekha, shefa, divine abundance, satisfying the desire of all life, devotional interpretation, Daily Hallel
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- תהלים קמ״ט | Psalms 149, translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Categories: Psukei D'zimrah/Zemirot, Tehilim Book 5 (Psalms 107–150) Tags: interpretive translation, devotional interpretation, פסוקי דזמרה pesuqei dezimrah, הללו־יה hallelu-yah, Psalms 149, tokheḥah, ḥassidim, rebuke, bigotry, Daily Hallel
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- יוֹצֵר אוֹר | Yotser Ohr, interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Categories: Yotser Ohr Tags: interpretive translation, English Translation, ascent, cosmology, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., devotional interpretation, blessings prior to the shema, non-dual theology, angelology, invisible sun, יוצר אור yotser ohr
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- הֲבִינֵנוּ | Havinenu, a short form of the Amidah by Mar Shmuel bar Abba, adapted by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi from a paraphrasing by Rev. Joseph F. Stern
Categories: Weekday Amidah Tags: interpretive translation, weekday amidah, Prayers in the Babylonian Talmud, 40th century A.M., 3rd century C.E., devotional interpretation, Prayers in the Jerusalem Talmud, Private Amidah, Prayers of Nehardea, Nehardea, abbreviated alternative formulas, עמידה amidah, הביננו havinenu
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- הושׁענות | Hoshanot by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, translation by Gabbai Seth Fishman
Categories: Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System, Sukkot, Hoshana Rabbah, Ecotastrophes Tags: 20th century C.E., eco-conscious, North America, Hoshana Rabbah, hoshanot, 58th century A.M., hakafot
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- תהלים מ״ח | The Psalm for Monday, Psalms 48 (translation by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l)
Categories: Tehilim Book 2 (Psalms 42–72), Monday Tags: interpretive translation, תהלים Psalms, English Translation, שיר של יום Shir Shel Yom, Psalm of the Day, Monday, Psalms 48, מזמור Mizmor, Shir, First Temple Period
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- תהלים פ״א | The Psalm for Thursday, Psalms 81 (translation by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l)
Categories: Tehilim Book 3 (Psalms 73–89), Thursday Tags: interpretive translation, תהלים Psalms, English Translation, Thursday, Psalms 81, שיר של יום Shir Shel Yom, Psalm of the Day, Al HaGittit, למנציח Lamnatseaḥ, First Temple Period, devotional interpretation
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- ברכות בשביל הקהל | Some blessings for those you davvened with, by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Categories: Davvening, Separation Tags: blessings, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Post-prayer supplements, transition, Closing Prayers, חתימות Ḥatimot, Peer blessings, farewell blessings, love your fellow as yourself, הבדלות havdalot
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- פָּתַח אֵלִיָּֽהוּ | Pataḥ Eliyahu (Tiqqunei Zohar 17a), translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Categories: Erev Shabbat, Davvening, Tiqqunei Zohar Tags: interpretive translation, תפלין tefillin, petiḥah, פתיחות Petiḥot, Opening Prayers, 15th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., devotional interpretation, prayers of kabbalists, פתח אליהו Pataḥ Eliyahu, תפילות קודם התפילה Prayers before Praying
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- יְדִיד נֶפֶשׁ | Yedid Nefesh, interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Categories: Kabbalat Shabbat, Birkhot haShaḥar Tags: 20th century C.E., interpretive translation, acrostic, Jewish Renewal, פיוטים piyyutim, בקשות Baqashot, פתיחות Petiḥot, ידיד נפש Yedid Nefesh, 15th century C.E., ecoḥasid, Divine name acrostic, 52nd century A.M.
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- תהלים ל׳ | Psalms 30 by David (interpretive translation by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l)
Categories: Ḥanukkah, Tehilim Book 1 (Psalms 1–41) Tags: interpretive translation, תהלים Psalms, English Translation, North America, Jewish Renewal, פתיחות Petiḥot, Uva Letsiyon, מוצאי שבת Motsei Shabbat, Liturgical customs of Kabbalists, Psalms 30, devotional interpretation
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- The Rainbow Haftarah by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (1993)
Categories: Parashat Noaḥ, Modern Miscellany, Yom Ḳeshet (42nd day of the Omer) Tags: Renewal, 20th century C.E., eco-conscious, Parashat Noaḥ, שבת נחמו Shabbat Naḥamu, 58th century A.M., Hebrew translation, Rainbow Day, prophetic revelation, יום קשת Yom Qeshet
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- תהלים ס״ז | Psalms 67 (interpretive translation by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l)
Categories: Tehilim Book 2 (Psalms 42–72) Tags: interpretive translation, תהלים Psalms, English Translation, Psalms 67, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., מזמור Mizmor, Shir, למנציח Lamnatseaḥ, Binginot, devotional interpretation
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- סליחה מר׳ יצחק אבן גיאת | Seliḥah by Yitsḥaq ben Yehudah Ibn Ghayyat (ca. 11th century) translated by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l
Categories: Yom Kippur Tags: interpretive translation, סליחות seliḥot, eros, פיוטים piyyutim, 11th century C.E., The Lovers, 49th century A.M., Granadan Jewry, Kingdom of Granada, Song of Songs, devotional interpretation
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- Thirteen Intentions of Faith Taught at the Beit HaMidrash of Elat Chayyim, by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Categories: Learning, Study, and School Tags: 20th century C.E., North America, Jewish Renewal, תחינות teḥinot, supplications, 58th century A.M., כוונות kavvanot, Elat Chayyim, עולם הבא Olam Haba, Ani Maamin
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