the Open Siddur Project ✍︎ פְּרוֹיֶּקט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ
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🖖︎ Prayers & Praxes // 🌔︎ Prayers for the Moon, Month, and Festival Calendar // Pilgrimage Festivals (Ḥagim/Regalim) // Shemini Atseret (and Simḥat Torah)
Shemini Atseret (and Simḥat Torah)
תפילות לשמיני עצרת שנת תשפ״א, בזמן מגפת הקורונה | Prayers for Shemini Atseret 5781 during the Coronavirus Pandemic, by Amit Gvaryahu & Yedidah Koren![]() ![]() Yizkor and other prayers for Shemini Atsertet during the coronavirus pandemic in 5781 (2020). . . . ![]() ![]() A paraliturgical prayer for rain on Shemini Atseret. . . . ![]() ![]() The time of Sukkot is a time of fullness and generosity, but also a time to pray for the coming season. Shemini Atzeret, the festival when we pray for rain, is an expression of our need for water, which in the Jewish tradition symbolizes life, renewal, and deliverance. Tefillat Geshem, a graceful fixture of the Ashkenazic liturgy, invokes the patriarchs as exemplars of holiness and model recipients of God’s love. This prayer uses water as a metaphor for devotion and faith, asking that God grant us life-sustaining rain. While its authorship is unknown, it is sometimes attributed to Elazar Kallir, the great liturgist who lived sometime during the first millenium. Each year, we are reminded of our people’s connection to the patriarchs and to the rhythms of water, spiritual and physical sources of life, through this medieval piyyut. While we know that rain is a natural process, formal thanksgiving for water as a source of life, energy, and beauty reminds us that our Creator is the source of our physical world and its many wonders. . . . ![]() ![]() A prayer for lifegiving sustenance. . . . ![]() ![]() “Geschem” by Lise Tarlau can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages 363-365. . . . אֲשׁוֹרֵר שִׁירָה | Ashorer Shirah, a piyyut in honor of the Torah by Ḥakham Raphael Baruch Toledano (ca. 20th c.)![]() ![]() A piyyut in honor of the Torah. . . . ![]() ![]() “Thanksgiving” is a hymn written by Felix Adler and published in Hymns, for Divine Service in the Temple Emanu-El (1871), hymn №35, p. 69. We have tentatively dated this hymn to 1868, since another hymn by Adler (“School-hymn, no. 36”) can be found appended from another unattributed work in A Guide to Instruction in the Israelitsh Religion (Samuel Adler, trans. M. Mayer, Temple Emanu-El, 1864, 4th printing 1868). . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() A prayer for a woman celebrating Shmini Atseret. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() This is Fanny Neuda’s prayer “on Simḥat Torah,” faithfully transcribed and proofread with the help of German Wikisource contributors from Fanny Neuda’s Stunden Der Andacht (1855), p. 66-67. We are happy to share your translation of Neuda’s tkhines in any language. The translation provided here was made by Julia Watts Belser for Hours of Devotion: Fanny Neuda’s Book of Prayers for Jewish Women (ed. Dinah Berland, Schocken 2007), and set here for the first time side-by-side with Neuda’s original German. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() “Prayer for the Eighth Day of Tabernacles, the Day of Solemn Assembly שמיני עצרת (8th Day of Tabernacles)” by Marcus Heinrich Bresslau was first published in his תחנות בנות ישראל Devotions for the Daughters of Israel (1852), p. 39. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() “Prayer for the Festival of Rejoicing in the Law שמחת תורה (9th Day of Tabernacles)” by Marcus Heinrich Bresslau was first published in his תחנות בנות ישראל Devotions for the Daughters of Israel (1852), p. 83. . . . Actions de graces pour la récolte et Prière pour demander un bon hiver | Thanksgiving for the Harvest and a Prayer for a Favorable Winter, a paraliturgical prayer for rain by Jonas Ennery & Rabbi Arnaud Aron (1848)![]() ![]() This is a paraliturgical prayer for rain during the wet season, read during the festival of Sukkot, following in the tradition of Yiddish tkhines, albeit written in French. The prayer was included by Rabbi Arnaud Aron and Jonas Ennery in their opus, אמרי לב Prières d’un Coeur Israelite (first edition) published in 1848 by the Société Consistoriale de Bons Livres. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() “Let choral songs of gladness flow,” by Penina Moïse, was published in 1842, and appears under the subject “Revelation” as Hymn 16 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), pp. 20-21. . . . Gebet um einen guten Nahrungsstand | Prayer for an ample supply of food, a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1835)![]() ![]() ![]() “Gebet um einen guten Nahrungstand” was translated/adapted by Yehoshua Heshil Miro and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaischer Religion. It first appears in the 1835 edition as teḥinah №116 on pp. 223-224. . . . Am Schlußfeste (Schemini aẓeress) | At the final festival (Shemini Atseret), a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)![]() ![]() ![]() “Am Schlußfeste (Schemini aẓeress)” was translated/adapted by Yehoshua Heshil Miro and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaicher Religion. It first appears in the 1829 edition, תחנות Teḥinot ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaicher Religion as teḥinah №52 on pp. 74-75. In the 1835 edition, it appears (misnumbered) as teḥinah №53 pp. 92-94. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №56 on pp. 97-99. . . . An den Hauptfesten, wenn man Behufs der üblichen Vorlesungen die Gesetzrolle aus der heiligen Lade nimmt | On the Shalosh Regalim when one removes the Torah from the holy Ark, a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)![]() ![]() “An den Hauptfesten, wenn man Behufs der üblichen Vorlesungen die Gesetzrolle aus der heiligen Lade nimmt” was translated/adapted by Yehoshua Heshil Miro and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaischer Religion. It first appears in the 1829 edition, תחנות Teḥinot ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaischer Religion as teḥinah №18 on pp. 22-23. In the 1835 edition, it appears as teḥinah №18 on pp. 26-27. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №20 on pp. 29-31. . . . Andachtsübung über das Verhältniß der Kinder zu ihren Eltern | Devotional exercise on the relationship of children to their parents, a teḥinah for those with living parents during the Yizkor service by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)![]() ![]() “Andachtsübung über das Verhältniß der Kinder zu ihren Eltern,” a paraliturigcal Yizkor prayer for those with living parents, was translated/adapted by Yehoshua Heshil Miro and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaischer Religion. It first appears in the 1829 edition, תחנות Teḥinot ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaischer Religion as teḥinah №74 on pp. 110-112. In the 1835 edition, it appears as teḥinah №75 on pp. 134-136. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №78 on pp. 139-141. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() “Für Gesetzes-Freude” was translated/adapted by Yehoshua Heshil Miro and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaicher Religion. It first appears in the 1829 edition, תחנות Teḥinot ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaicher Religion as teḥinah №53 on pp. 76-79. In the 1835 edition, it appears (misnumbered) as teḥinah №54 pp. 95-98. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №57 on pp. 100-103. . . . תחנה אמהות | Prayer for Yizkor, from the Tkhine of the Matriarchs by Seril Rappaport (ca. 18th century)![]() ![]() “Tkhine of the Matriarchs for Yizkor on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Yamim Tovim” by Rebbetsin Seril Rappaport is a faithful transcription of her tkhine included in “תחנה אמהות מן ראש חודש אלול” (Tkhine of the Matriarchs for the New Moon of Elul) published in Vilna, 1874, as re-published in The Merit of Our Mothers בזכות אמהות A Bilingual Anthology of Jewish Women’s Prayers, compiled by Rabbi Tracy Guren Klirs, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992. shgiyot mi yavin, ministarot nakeni. . . . ![]() ![]() A popular piyyut for Simḥat Torah (4th hakkafah) originally composed as a piyyut for Shavuot and often referred to by its incipit, “Mipi El.” . . . יְדִידִי שִׂים סְבָרָא | Yedidi Sim Severa, performed in honor of the Ḥatan Bereshit before the reading of Bereshit Bara (the first aliya)![]() ![]() This song is performed in honor of the Ḥatan Bereshit – the person who reads the first aliya of the torah, which begins Bereshit Bara. These words – Bereshit Bara – are repeated throughout the poem. The poem is similar in structure and meter to Kelil Yofi, which is performed in honor of the Hatan Torah, the person who reads the last aliya of the Torah, which begins Vaya’al Moshe. . . . לְשׁוֹנִי כּוֹנַנְתָּ | Leshoni Konanta (My tongue you have fashioned), a reshut attributed to Shlomo ibn Gabirol (ca. 11th c.) translated by Sara Lapidot![]() ![]() The reshut for the prayer for rain and dew on Shemini Atseret and Pesaḥ, in Hebrew with English translation. . . . ![]() ![]() To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of Psalms 8 from תהילים או לוס סאלמוס ; טריסלאד’אד’וס דיל לשון הקדש אין לה לינגואה ספרדית (Tehillim, or the Psalms, translated from the Holy language [Hebrew] into the Sephardic language, Estampado por Ǧ. Griffit 1852/3) from a digital copy made available by the collection of Sephardic Studies at the University of Washington. Please join me in making a complete transcription of this Ladino translation of Psalms. –Aharon N. Varady . . . |