עַל־הַנִּסִּים לכ״ח בְּחֹדֶשׁ שְׁבָט | Al ha-Nissim for 28 Shəvat, for the fortunate rescue of a wanderer in the area of the synagogue in Avignon (1766)

The Seder ha-Tamid, a Provençal (Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin) siddur published in Avignon in 1766, has liturgical additions for an amazing five different local festivals — one for Avignon, and two each for Carpentras and Cavaillon. I’m working on transcribing all of these, but to start, here’s an Al haNissim for the twenty-eighth of Shvat in Avignon. Written in rhymed prose, this text tells the story of a gentile who fell headfirst down a deep well near the synagogue, but successfully managed to flip himself over and wedged his feet in the walls. Even more miraculously, afterwards he declared that it was his own fault he fell in the pit! The Jews of the Comtat, an area under direct papal control at the time, were well aware of the tenuousness of their position, and were the man a talebearer then they could have faced a pogrom or exile. . . .

Categories:

Purim Sheni

Tags:

18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., על הנסים al hanissim, Arba Kehillot, Avignon, local communal deliverance commemorations, Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin, salvation, second Purims

Contributor(s):

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

🆕 יום טוב של ק״ק קאוואליאון לכ״ט בחדש סיון | Poetic Additions for 29 Sivan, a barely-avoided blood-libel pogrom in Cavaillon (1713)

The Seder ha-Tamid, a Provençal (Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin) siddur published in Avignon in 1766, has liturgical additions for an amazing five different local festivals — one for Avignon, and two each for Carpentras and Cavaillon. Here’s a series of piyyutim for the twenty-ninth of Sivan in Cavaillon. On 29 Sivan 5473 (23 June 1713) a Christian child was found dead and drained of blood. A mob was formed, which stormed the Jewish quarter in Cavaillon looking for any sign of blood in their houses. But none was found, and — miraculously — the total lack of evidence was enough to stop the Jews from being murdered. (Would be nice if that had worked every time there was a blood libel, seeing as there was never any evidence for something that never happened.) To commemorate this close-call escape, the Jews of Cavaillon celebrated a minor festival day, with some additional psalms, an Al haNisim poem by (the otherwise unknown) R. Gad son of R. Judah de Bédarride, and a recitation of the Song of the Sea. . . .

Categories:

Purim Sheni

Tags:

18th century C.E., 55th century A.M., על הנסים al hanissim, Arba Kehillot, Cavallion, local communal deliverance commemorations, Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin, salvation, second Purims

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Gad bar Tehudah de Bédarride