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Ḥanukkah

This is an archive of prayers, prayer-poems, and songs for the festival of חֲנֻכָּה (Ḥanukkah), commemorating the crucial victory of the Jewish people in retaining its culture, lifeways, and Temple vis-à-vis the oppressive hegemony of the Seleucid Greek kingdom around 164 BCE.

Click here to contribute a prayer you have written, or a transcription and/or translation of a historic Ḥanukkah prayer or song in any language, familiar or obscure.

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📄 Scaling the Walls of the Labyrinth: Psalms 67 and Ana b’Khoaḥ

Psalms 67 is a priestly blessing for all the peoples of the earth to be sustained by the earth’s harvest (yevulah), and it is a petition that all humanity recognize the divine nature (Elohim) illuminating the world. Composed of seven verses, the psalm is often visually depicted as a seven branched menorah. There are 49 words in the entire psalm, and in the Nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l there is one word for each day of the Sefirat haOmer. Similarly, the fifth verse has 49 letters and each letter can be used as a focal point for meditating on the meaning of the day in its week in the journey to Shavuot, the festival of weeks (the culmination of the barley harvest), and the festival of oaths (shevuot) in celebration of receiving the Torah. Many of the themes of Psalms 67 are repeated in the prayer Ana b’Koaḥ, which also has 49 words, and which are also used to focus on the meaning of each day on the cyclical and labyrinthine journey towards Shavuot.

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42 letter divine name, a red ribbon, acrostic, אנא בכח Ana b'Khoaḥ, anxiety, barley, captives, cyclical, Divine name acrostic, first fruits, labyrinth, Psalms 67, Raḥav, shalmah, walled cities, wheat

Contributor(s):

Unknown and Aharon N. Varady

ברכות לנרות חנוכה | the Blessings over Kindling the Light of Ḥanukkah

The blessings for kindling the Ḥanukkah lights in Hebrew with English translation.

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Ḥanukkah

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21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., blessings, kindling, lamp lighting

Contributor(s):

Unknown and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

ברכת המזון לחנוכה | Poetic Birkat haMazon for Ḥanukkah, reconstructed from multiple Cairo Geniza manuscripts by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

This is a reconstruction of a liturgy for a Birkat haMazon for Ḥanukkah witnessed in multiple Cairo Geniza manuscripts, including Cambridge, CUL: T-S H4.13; T-S H6.37; T-S 8H10.14; T-S NS 328.56; T-S NS 328.61; T-S AS 101.293; New York, JTS: ENA 2885.7; Oxford: MS heb. e.71/27 – MS heb. e.71/32; St. Peterburg: Yevr. III B 135.

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Blessings After Eating, Ḥanukkah

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acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, ברכת המזון birkat hamazon, Cairo Geniza

Contributor(s):

Unknown, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

Yotser for Shabbat Rosh Ḥodesh Ḥanukkah from nusaḥ Candia (Crete), translated by Yitzchak Dickman

This is a גוף יוצר (guf yotser) piyut from Nusaḥ Candia (Crete) for Shabbat Rosh Ḥodesh Ḥanukkah. The author of the piyut is unknown. It is presented here on the basis of the edition published by Dr. Gabriel Wasserman in his work Liturgical poems of Ḥanukka from Europe (2016), where it appears in Volume 2, as piyut number 23. While the translation below heavily utilizes Dr. Wasserman’s commentary on the piyut, the translation itself is original to me. I found this piyut when looking through Dr. Wasserman’s aforementioned work, and it struck me as very beautiful and particularly relevant to modern events.

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Ḥanukkah, Rosh Ḥodesh Tevet (טֵבֵת)

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14th century C.E., 52nd century A.M., acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, Cretan Jewry, Nusaḥ Candia, יוצרות yotsrot

Contributor(s):

Yitzchak Dickman (translation) and Unknown

תוספת בית למעוז צור | Supplemental stanza to Maoz Tsur with regard to the present exile, by Rabbi Yirmiyah, av beit din of Würzburg

This is a supplemental stanza for Maoz Tsur with regard to the present exile, written by a Rabbi Jeremiah, identified only as the av beit din of the town of Würzburg as compiled in the Kitzur Shnei Luḥot haBrit, a controversial yet influential work by Yehiel Michel Segal Epstein Ashkenazi published in 1683. If you know more about this Rabbi Jeremiah, please leave a comment or contact us.

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Ḥanukkah

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Acrostic signature, combating anti-Jewish oppression, Jewish-Christian relations, מעוז צור Maoz Tsur, particularism and universalism, פיוטים piyyuṭim, polemic

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Unknown

Kavvanot and Blessings over Kindling the Ḥanukkah lights (HUC-JIR Klau Library MSS 281, Italy 1793)

Kabbalistic kavvanot and blessing formulations for the eight nights of Ḥanukkah.

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Ḥanukkah

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18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., in the merit of Matatiyah, Liturgical customs of Kabbalists

Contributor(s):

Jason Schapera (translation) and Unknown

צער בעלי־חיים | Tsaar Baalei Ḥayyim [It is forbidden to cause] suffering to a living creature, a song in Yiddish

“Tsaar Balei Ḥayyim” ([It is forbidden to cause] suffering to a living creature), source unknown. Many thanks to Tiferet Zimmern-Kahan for recording the niggun for the song and to Naftali Ejdelman and The Jewish Daily Forward for providing the lyrics.

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Shavuot, Rosh haShanah la-Behemah, Ḥanukkah

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20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., animal protection, animal welfare, ba'alei ḥayyim, בהמות behemot, ḥayot, Needing Attribution, Needing Source Images, Pedagogical songs, צער באלי חיים tsa'ar baalei ḥayyim, Yiddish songs

Contributor(s):

Unknown and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Ḥanukkah—the Festival of Light, a prayer against anti-Jewish oppression (CCAR 1923)

“Hanukkah-The Feast of Light” is the twenty-second prayer found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 77-79.

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Ḥanukkah

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20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., anti-authoritarian, English vernacular prayer, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown and Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

Reliance, a prayer in the face of insecurity (CCAR 1923)

“Reliance” is the twenty-first prayer found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 74-76.

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Ḥanukkah

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., ביתחון bitaḥon, English vernacular prayer, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown and Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=183

Associated Image:

Ice Ḥanukkiah (Krasnoyarsk, Eastern Siberia)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." (Psalms 90:17)

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