This is an archive of prayers written for Shavuot, the festival of first fruit offerings. Click here to contribute a prayer you have written, or a historic prayer you have transcribed and translated for Shavuot. Filter resources by Collaborator Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
Psalms 67 is a priestly blessing for all the peoples of the earth to be sustained by the earth’s harvest (yevulah), and it is a petition that all humanity recognize the divine nature (Elohim) illuminating the world. Composed of seven verses, the psalm is often visually depicted as a seven branched menorah. There are 49 words in the entire psalm, and in the Nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l there is one word for each day of the Sefirat haOmer. Similarly, the fifth verse has 49 letters and each letter can be used as a focal point for meditating on the meaning of the day in its week in the journey to Shavuot, the festival of weeks (the culmination of the barley harvest), and the festival of oaths (shevuot) in celebration of receiving the Torah. Many of the themes of Psalms 67 are repeated in the prayer Ana b’Koaḥ, which also has 49 words, and which are also used to focus on the meaning of each day on the cyclical and labyrinthine journey towards Shavuot. . . . Categories: Tags: 42 letter divine name, a red ribbon, acrostic, אנא בכח Ana b'Khoaḥ, anxiety, barley, captives, cyclical, Divine name acrostic, first fruits, labyrinth, Psalms 67, Raḥav, shalmah, walled cities, wheat Contributor(s): This is a Birkat ha-Mazon in the Ashkenazi nusaḥ incorporating a reconstruction of a liturgy for a Birkat haMazon for Shavuot witnessed in the Cairo Geniza fragment T-S H6.37 (page 4, recto and verso). Visit here, for a transcription and translation of the former (without the full Birkat ha-Mazon). . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This piyyut, “Ḥanaiah, Mishael, and Azariah,” was originally written to be recited as an introduction to the targum of the Second Commandment, the prohibition on worshiping other gods. It is a dispute-poem retelling the story of Ḥanaiah, Mishael, and Azariah, the three “holy children” of Daniel chapter 3 who would rather be thrown into an oven than worship an idol. It’s an intricate multi-part acrostic that I absolutely love. (I also am partially convinced it may be influenced by the apocryphal “Song of the Three Holy Children,” if not in context then in the idea of an extensive poem related to their story.) Since the original poem’s acrostic only goes halfway through the alphabet, the great Meir bar Isaac Nehorai of Orleans wrote a continuation that is also included here. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This piyyut is signed “Elyaqim Ḥazaq.” Alas, we do not know who this Elyaqim was or even whether he was a rabbinic or Karaite Jew. The piyyut has been preserved for us in the Karaite cycle (Vilna printing press, 1852, Vol. IV, p. 135.) and there are several other piyyutim signed with his name. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A Birkat haMazon for Shavuot presenting an alphabetic acrostic from a manuscript preserved in the Cairo Geniza. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): “Elimelekh G’la” is a Byzantine-era Western Aramaic poetic retelling of the Book of Ruth. It was probably originally used as part of the liturgy for Shavuot, perhaps as a poetic addition to the recitation of a Targumic interpretation of the Book of Ruth. (The verses from Ruth and Psalms appended to the coda of the piyyuṭ would suggest such a Sitz im Leben.) But in any case, it has a great acrostic structure and rhyme scheme, and ought to be preserved! Here is included a vocalized text, largely based on the unvocalized text compiled in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic Poetry from Late Antiquity (ed. Yahalom and Sakaloff, 1999) where it’s the tenth poem recorded. ‘ve added a rhyming poetic translation that preserves the Hebrew acrostic. Credit to Laura Suzanne Lieber’s literal translations of these poems (in Jewish Aramaic Poetry from Late Antiquity: Translations and Commentaries, 2018), which have served as a very helpful resource for the project. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This yotser, by the great eleventh-century payṭan R. Binyamin bar Zeraḥ, goes through the entire alphabet with which the Torah was written, giving midrashic and mystical interpretations of each letter. As a yotser, it is recited immediately after the petiḥah of the Yotser Or blessing. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This anonymous ofan, also recited on the second day of Shavuot in some communities, uses alliteration to describe the many hosts of angels descending upon Sinai in awe and reverence as the Torah was given. The translation preserves the alliteration over the alphabet, seeing as the ofan in this form doesn’t include the entire alphabet either. As an ofan, it is recited within the Ḳedusha d-Yotser, between the verses of Isaiah and Ezekiel (included here). The ofan is recited on the second day of Shavuot in some communities. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): An Aramaic piyyut composed as an introduction to the reading of the Targum for the Torah reading on Shavuot. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The piyyut read as an introduction to the Decalogue during the Torah reading on Shavuot. . . . Categories: Tags: 11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., Acrostic signature, phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, Alphabetic Acrostic, אקדמות Aqdamut, Aramaic, בהמות behemot, Decalogue, פיוטים piyyuṭim, תרגום targum Contributor(s): A prayer for those martyred in the First Crusade and Rhineland Massacres, and by extension, all subsequent pogroms up until and including the Holocaust. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A “bikkur” piyyut traditionally added at the end of Hashkivenu for Shavˁuot in the Old French (and Maḥzor Vitry) and Romaniote rites. From the acrostic we know the author was named Yosef ben Yaˁakov. Other than that we know very little about this poem’s origin and age, although its structure fits with the early Ashkenazi piyyut oeuvre. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The maaravot-cycle of piyyutim for the first night of Shavuot, by Joseph ben Samuel Bonfils. In normative maaravot fashion, it is one extended cycle with an overarching structure (the first words of each of the Ten Commandments) throughout the whole of the kriat shema, with additional piyyutim incorporated into the first blessing after the shema. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A meorah — a piyyuṭ to be inserted before the ḥatima of the first blessing of the Shema’ — by the great payṭan Yehuda haLevi. This piyyuṭ was traditionally recited in eastern Ashkenazi communities on Shabbat Yitro and VaEtḥanan, the two Shabbatot where the Ten Commandments are read. Some also included it on the first day of Shavuot for the same reason. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This ahavah piyyut, likely by the paytan Yitsḥaq ben Reuven Albargeloni (the acrostic signature is ambiguous), is a longing love song between Israel, the “amazing one,” and God, the “Mighty One.” As an ahavah, it is recited prior to the final line of the guf and the ḥatima of the Ahavah Rabba blessing. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A poetic introduction to the Azharot of Solomon ibn Gabirol read in the afternoon of Shavuot by Sefaradim. . . . Categories: Tags: 12th century C.E., 49th century A.M., acrostic, Acrostic signature, Azharot, Decalogue, Har Sinai, Nusaḥ Sefaradi, פיוטים piyyuṭim, התורה the Torah, theophany Contributor(s): This zulat piyyut, by R. Shmuel bar Yehuda (fl. 12th c.), is a keening cry in response to the traumatic First Crusade Rhineland massacres, known as the Gzerot TaTN”O in Hebrew, specifically focusing on the 3 Sivan massacre and martyrdoms in Mainz. The massacres of the Gzerot TaTN”O were so traumatic to Ashkenazi Jewry that to this day, the Av haRaḥamim prayer for martyrs, usually elided on Shabbat Mevorkhim, is not elided on Shabbat Mevorkhim Iyar or Sivan. As a zulat, it is recited at the end of the “Emet v-Emuna” paragraph. Generally the second half of the paragraph is altered slightly when a zulat is inserted. In this case, the alteration, according to the old Nusaḥ Polin, is included. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This geulah piyyut, by R. Yehuda heḤasid, is, similar to the prior zulat, a response to the massacres of the First Crusade. It specifically focuses, in the way only a maverick like heḤasid could, on holding God to account for breach of covenant, and calls out both Christians and — on a much rarer theme — Muslims for their slaughter of Jews during the Crusades. As a geulah, it is recited right before concluding berakha of the Emet blessing and the Amidah. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This meorah, by R. Avraham bar Shmuel of Speyer (the elder brother of R. Yehuda heḤasid and a great scholar in his own right) is recited on Shabbat Naso. This is usually after Shavuot, but sometimes (in 2025, for instance) it is before. This meorah is a poetic interpretation of the Priestly Blessing, and a plea for vengeance against the antisemitic nations. As a meorah, it is recited prior to the final line of the guf and the ḥatima of the Yotser Or blessing. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): “Ar’a Raqda,” a piyyut read directly before the Ten Commandments in the Targum, uses wedding imagery and language from the Shir haShirim to paint Sinai as a ḥuppah. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): |
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