This is an archive of prayers and song written for the festival of Purim. Purim is named after the word pur in Megillat Esther, the method of divination by lot used to determine the proper date for the Jews under the dominion of the Persian empire (circa 5th century BCE) to be murdered en masse (Esther 3:7). The lot is cast on the 13th of Nisan for the 13th of Adar and the decree to destroy the Jews is relayed posthaste (Esther 3:12). (Significantly, the 13th of Nisan is the eve of Pesaḥ when, according to Leviticus 23:5-6, the slaughter and consumption of the paschal lamb is indicated — a very auspicious date indeed.) Hijinx ensue. Click here to contribute a prayer you have written, translated, or transcribed for Purim. Filter resources by Collaborator Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
A Ladino translation of Psalms 22 first published in mid-19th century Izmir. . . .
First written and published in Hamburg in 1842 by Tzvi Hirsch Sommerhausen (1781-1853), the Haggadah l’Leil Shikkorim is a parody of the familiar segments of the Haggadah, but for Purim instead of Pesaḥ. According to Israel Davidson’s “Parody in Jewish Literature,” (1907) Sommerhausen’s work was published in six editions, including one with a Judeo-Arabic sharḥ. (If anyone has a link to that, please send it to me!) Anyway, this edition is fully vocalized and translated into English, for your Purim enjoyment. . . .
This is a parody riffing on the piyyut Kol Meqadesh Shevi’i for Purim by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr from his Kol Bo l’Purim (1855) transcribed and translated from Hebrew into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
This is a parody riffing on the piyyut Yetsiv Pitgam for Purim by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr from his Kol Bo l’Purim (1855) transcribed and translated from Hebrew into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
“Yom Purim” is a parody riffing on the piyyut Yom Shabbaton for Purim by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr from his Kol Bo l’Purim (1855) transcribed and translated from Hebrew into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
This is the Haqafot for Purim by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr from his Kol Bo l’Purim (1855) transcribed and translated from Hebrew into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
This is the Hosha’not for Purim by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr from his Kol Bo l’Purim (1855) transcribed and translated from Aramaic into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
This is the Ne’ilah for Purim (a parody of the last two paragraphs of the Ne’ilah confession) by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr from his Kol Bo l’Purim (1855) transcribed and translated from Aramaic into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
This is the Aqdamut for Purim by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr from his Kol Bo l’Purim (1855) transcribed and translated from Aramaic into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
This is the Shir haMa’alot for a Woman Giving Birth on Purim (a parody of a birth amulet) by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr from his Kol Bo l’Purim (1855) transcribed and translated from Aramaic into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., קמעות qame'ot (amulets), childbirth, English Translation, parody, prayers for pregnant women, pregnancy, Psalms 121, Purim parody, purimspiel
This is a parody riffing on the piyyut Yom Zeh Mekhubad for Purim by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr from his Kol Bo l’Purim (1855) transcribed and translated from Hebrew into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
“O God! To-day our joyful song of praise,” by Rabbi Moritz Mayer, published in 1856, appears under the subject “Feast of Esther” as Hymn 196 in Hymns Written for the Use of Hebrew Congregations (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1856), pp. 191-192. . . .
A prayer for a woman celebrating Purim. . . .
“God Save the Queen” is an adaptation of “God Save the King,” a work by an unknown author, first circulated in three stanzas during the reign of Britain’s King George Ⅱ, circa 1745. This Hebrew translation was published in a pamphlet circulated by New Road (Whitechapel) Synagogue in 1892 “on the 73rd Birthday of Her Majesty Queen Victoria,” an event attended by then chief rabbi of the British Empire, Rabbi Dr. Hermann Adler. . . .
Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., British Commonwealth, British Jewry, British Monarchy, Constitutional Monarchy, אל שמר El Shemor, Great Britain, national anthems, Needing Attribution, Queen Victoria, Queens
This “Shir Mizmor l’Purim” by Rabbi Sabato Morais (we think) was first published in The Jewish Exponent on 15 March 1889. It was preserved by Rabbi Sabato Morais in his ledger, an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. . . .
This translation and supplement for the blessing before listening to Megilat Esther on Purim was made by Jessie Ethel Sampter and published in her Around the Year in Rhymes for the Jewish Child (1920), p. 48. . . .
This prayer for “Purim, the Feast of Mirth” by Rabbi Abraham Cronbach is found in his, Prayers of the Jewish Advance (1924), on pages 43-46. . . .
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