אֵל שְׁמֹר הַמַּלְכָּה | God Save the Queen (Hebrew translation, ca. 1892)

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Shared on 2017-06-03 – 9 Sivan 5777.
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“God Save the Queen” is an adaptation of “God Save the King,” a work by an unknown author, first circulated by periodicals in mid-18th century England. The author of the Hebrew translation is also unknown and was published in a pamphlet circulated by New Road (Whitechapel) Synagogue in 1892. We are grateful to the Jewish East End of Londonwebsite for providing the source image for the transcription of this work in the Public Domain. . . .

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Seth H. Frisch on 27 February 2018

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Shared on 2018-04-29 – 15 Iyyar 5778.
Public Domain (17 U.S. Code §105 - Subject matter of copyright: United States Government works)

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 27 February 2018. . . .

תהלים כ״ב בלשון לאדינו | Psalms 22 by David in Ladino (Estampado por Ǧ. Griffit, ca. 1852/3)

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Shared on 2019-02-11 – 6 Adar I 5779.
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A Ladino translation of Psalms 22 first published in mid-19th century Izmir. . . .

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the Massachusetts State Senate: Rabbi Joseph Rudavsky on 24 March 1959

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Shared on 2019-03-14 – 7 Adar II 5779.
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The opening prayer of the Massachusetts State Senate on 24 March 1959, added to the record of the U.S. House of Representatives. . . .

שִׁיר לְשִׂמְחָה | Shir l’Simḥa, Friedrich Schiller’s An die Freude (ode to Joy) in Hebrew, 1795

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Shared on 2016-02-23 – 15 Adar I 5776.
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In 1785 Friedrich Schiller wrote his ‘An die Freude an ode ‘To Joy’, describing his ideal of an equal society united in joy and friendship. Numerous copies and adaptations attest to its popularity at the time. The slightly altered 1803 edition was set to music not only by Ludwig van Beethoven in his Ninth Symphony but also by other composers such as Franz Schubert and Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Hs. Ros. PL B-57 contains a Hebrew translation of the first edition of the ode (apparently rendered before the 1803 alteration), revealing that the spirit of the age even managed to reach the Jewish community in the Netherlands. Whereas the imagery of Schiller’s original is drawn from Greek mythology, the author of the שִׁיר לְשִׂמְחָה relies on the Bible as a source. In fact, he not only utilises Biblical imagery, but successfully avoids any allusion to Hellenistic ideas whatsoever. . . .

בּרידער | “Brothers” – Y.L. Peretz’s Sardonic Rejoinder to Friedrich Schiller’s Paean to Universal Enlightenment, An die Freude (Ode to Joy)

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Shared on 2016-02-22 – 13 Adar I 5776.
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Y.L. Peretz rejected cultural universalism, seeing the world as composed of different nations, each with its own character. Liptzin comments that “Every people is seen by him as a chosen people…”; he saw his role as a Jewish writer to express “Jewish ideals…grounded in Jewish tradition and Jewish history.” This is Peretz lampoon of the popularity of Friedrich Schiller’s idealistic paean made famous as the lyrics to the climax of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. . . .


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