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Purim

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.

Resources filtered by TAG: “acrostic” (clear filter)

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אַצִיתוּ לִי אִילָנַיָּא | Atsitu Li Ilinaya | The Argument of the Trees — a debate-poem for Purim in Aramaic from the Targum Sheni

This Aramaic poem, written in the early Byzantine era by an unknown author, can be found in its entirety within the Targum Sheni for Esther 7:9. It features an argument between an assortment of trees over which one is required to bear the great dishonor of having to be the one to hold Haman. It’s also chock-full of anti-Christian polemic and references to Toledot Yeshu. . . .

Categories: Purim

Tags: acrostic, phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, Alphabetic Acrostic, Aramaic, combating anti-Jewish oppression, Jewish-Christian relations, mid-first millennium CE, particularism and universalism, פיוטים piyyuṭim, polemic, Trees

Contributor(s): Unknown Author(s), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

אֲשֶׁר הֵנִיא | Asher Heni, a piyyut recited after the reading of Megillat Esther and its concluding blessing

An alphabetical acrostic piyyut celebrating the victory of Esther and Mordekhai over the forces of Haman. . . .

Categories: Purim

Tags: acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, mid-first millennium CE, Needing Attribution, פיוטים piyyuṭim

Contributor(s): Simeon Singer (translation), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

ברכת המזון לפורים | Poetic Birkat haMazon for Purim, according to the Cairo Geniza fragment T-S H6.37 vocalized and translated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

This is a reconstruction of a liturgy for a Birkat haMazon for Purim witnessed in the Cairo Geniza fragment T-S H6.37 (page 1, recto and verso)‬. . . .

Categories: Blessings After Eating, Purim

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

Contributor(s): Unknown Author(s), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

קִילוּס לְפּוּרִים לִלְמְגִלָּה | Qillus l’Purim lil’Megillah — an enconium for Purim, for Megillat Esther

A Byzantine-era Aramaic piyyut for Purim, perhaps written as an introduction to the Megillah reading. It tells the narrative of the Jewish people from Abraham to the final redemption, focusing on the foes who sought to destroy us and their inevitable failure to do so. Uniquely among early-medieval poems, this one actively mentions the Romans (read: Christians) and Saracens (read: Muslims) and prays for their downfall in non-coded language. This translation loosely preserves the couplet rhyme scheme, as well as the alphabetical acrostic — perhaps with a phonetic punning reference to the name “Shlomo” at the end. . . .

Categories: Purim

Tags: acrostic, phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, Alphabetic Acrostic, Aramaic, Byzantine Empire, פיוטים piyyuṭim

Contributor(s): Unknown Author(s), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

הַקָּפוֹת לַפּוּרִים | Haqafot for Purim, by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr (1855)

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. . . .

Categories: Purim

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, English Translation, parody, פיוטים piyyuṭim, Purim parody, purimspiel

Contributor(s): Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

הוֹשַֽׁעְנוֹת לַפּוּרִים | Hosha’not for Purim, by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr (1855)

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. . . .

Categories: Purim

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, English Translation, הושענות hoshanot, parody, פיוטים piyyuṭim, Purim parody, purimspiel

Contributor(s): Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

נְעִילָה לַפּוּרִים | Ne’ilah for Purim, by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr (1855)

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. . . .

Categories: Purim

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, English Translation, parody, פיוטים piyyuṭim, Purim parody, purimspiel

Contributor(s): Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

אַקְדָּמוּת מִלִּין (לַפּוּרִים) | Aqdamut for Purim, by Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr (1855)

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. . . .

Categories: Purim

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, Aramaic, English Translation, parody, פיוטים piyyuṭim, Purim parody, purimspiel

Contributor(s): Avraham Menaḥem Mendel Mohr, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

🆕 לַיְּהוּדִים אֲשֶׁר בְּשׁוּשָׁן | LaYhudim Asher biShushan — a shiv’ata cycle for musaf Shabbat Purim Meshulash, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Purim in walled cities (meaning, practically, in Jerusalem) occurs on the day after it does outside of them. This means that when Purim falls on a Friday, it falls on Shabbat in Jerusalem. This unique occurrence is called Purim Meshulash, “Threefold Purim,” because the practices for the day are divided into three. The megillah is read and gifts are given to the poor on Friday, the Torah reading is on Shabbat, and the festive meal and gifts to friends on Sunday. Since this practice of Shabbat Purim is unique to Jerusalem, and for much of Ashkenazi poetic history the Jewish community in Jerusalem was negligible, there are very few liturgical texts designed for Shabbat Purim Meshulash. This is, in the author’s opinion, a shame, because all the other special shabbatot surrounding it have a plethora of special piyyuṭim to insert into their cycles. This cycle of a shiv’ata (sevenfold piyyut) and an eloheikhem (Qedushah insertion) is meant to fill that void. . . .

Categories: Purim

Tags: פיוטי אלהיכם piyyuṭei eloheikhem, שבעתא shiv'ata, acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, קרובות ḳerovot, פיוטים piyyuṭim, Public Amidah, Shushan Purim

Contributor(s): Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

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Szyk and Haman (1950)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "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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