This piyyuṭ, bearing the acrostic signature “Samuel,” is traditionally recited in the communities of Babylonia and India as a petiḥa, or opening poem, before the Song of the Sea. It is also sung on Shabbat Shira, the Sabbath where we read the Song of the Sea in public. This translation is an attempt to preserve the original meaning as well as the rhyme scheme and poetic form. . . .

Contributor(s): Chaya Kaplan-Lester
Shared on י״א בטבת ה׳תשע״ב (2012-01-05) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories: Rosh Hashanah, Erev Shabbat, Erev Pesaḥ, Shavuot, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, 7th Day of Pesaḥ
Tags: Light, potential, fire, kindling, entering, welcoming, candle lighting, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., כוונות kavvanot, English poetry, Prayers as poems, English vernacular prayer
Please God Let me light More than flame tonight. More than wax and wick and sliver stick of wood. More than shallow stream of words recited from a pocket book. . . .
A prayer for a woman celebrating the final days of Passover yontef. . . .

Contributor(s): Ruth H. Sohn
Shared on ט״ז באדר ה׳תשע״ז (2017-03-14) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories: 7th Day of Pesaḥ, Parashat b'Shalaḥ
Tags: 20th century C.E., פתיחות Petiḥot, 58th century A.M., Az Yashir, Opening Prayers, Jewish Women's Prayers, Prayers for Praying, Prayers as poems, English vernacular prayer, Prayers before Prayer
“The Song of Miriam” by Rabbi Ruth Sohn was first published as “I Shall Sing to the Lord a New Song,” in Kol Haneshamah: Shabbat Vehagim, Reconstructionist Prayerbook, 1989, 1995 Second Edition. Reconstructionist Press, pp. 768-769. (This poem was also published in several haggadot and other books and set to music by several composers in the U.S. and Israel.) Rabbi Sohn wrote the poem in 1981 as a rabbinical student after immersing herself in the Torah verses and the traditional midrashim about Miriam, and after writing a longer modern midrash about Miriam. Part of this modern midrash was published as “Journeys,” in All the Women Followed Her, ed. Rebecca Schwartz (Rikudei Miriam Press, 2001). . . .

Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady, R' Hillel Ḥayyim Lavery-Yisraëli and the Masoretic Text
Shared on כ׳ בניסן ה׳תשע״ג (2013-03-30) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories: Sefer Shemot (Exodus), Psukei D'zimrah/Zemirot, 7th Day of Pesaḥ, Parashat b'Shalaḥ, Pesaḥ Readings
Tags: symplegades, Az Yashir, שירת הים Shirat haYam, Song of the Sea, קריעת ים סוף qriyat yam suf, conflicting messages, safe passage, Yom Vayosha
According to Rabbinic tradition, the 21st of Nissan is the day in the Jewish calendar on which Pharaoh’s army was drowned in the Sea of Reeds, and the redeemed children of Yisrael sang the Song of the Sea, the (Shirat Hayam, Exodus 15:1-19). The song, as included in the the morning prayers, comprises one of the most ancient text in Jewish liturgy. The 21st of Nissan corresponds to the 7th day of Passover, and the recitation of the Shirat HaYam is part of the daily Torah Reading. Rabbi Hillel Ḥayim Yisraeli-Lavery shares a performance of a melody he learned for the Shirat Hayam from צוף דבש Tzuf Devash, a Moroccan synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem. If there is something about this tune that strikes one as particularly celebratory, it might be because the relationship between G!d and the Jewish people is traditionally described as a marriage consummated with the Covenant at Mt. Sinai. The passage of Bnei Yisrael through the Sea of Reeds towards Mt. Sinai thus begins a bridal march commencing in the theophany at Mt. Sinai, 42 days later. . . .
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