The origin story of Lilith as told in the Alphabet of ben Sira. . . .
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Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Unknown Author(s)
Shared on ט״ו בכסלו ה׳תשפ״א (2020-11-30) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories:  Midrash Aggadah, Conception, Pregnancy, and Childbirth, Theurgy
Tags:  Angels, prophylactic, קמעות kame'ot, infants, Angelic Protection, entering magical territory, prayers for pregnant women, epical narrative as ward, historiola, geonic period, origin stories, Angels of Healing
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Unknown Author(s)
Shared on ז׳ בכסלו ה׳תשע״ו (2015-11-18) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Home, Theurgy
Tags: 19th century C.E., קמעות kame'ot, 56th century A.M., Epidemic, Asiatic Cholera, Pandemic, ברכת הבית birkat habayit, קמעות amulets, Needing Attribution 
The Birkat Habayit is perhaps the most popular blessing in the Jewish world, appearing as a hanging amulet inside the entrance of many houses of Jews of all streams. I have added niqud to the blessing and I am very grateful to Gabriel Wasserman for his corrections to my vocalization. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (translation), Leslie Weatherhead and Unknown Author(s)
Shared on ז׳ בכסלו ה׳תשפ״א (2020-11-23) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Learning, Study, and School, Torah Study
Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., Prayers before Torah Study, authority vs. integrity 
A prayer for intellectual honesty before study. . . . 
Contributor(s): David Wolkin
Shared on כ״ב באלול ה׳תשע״ו (2016-09-25) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Days of Judgement, Self-Reflection
Tags: North America, journaling, writing, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., חשבון הנפש Ḥeshbon HaNefesh, self-reflection, תשובה teshuvah, Needing Translation (into Hebrew) 
David Wolkin writes, “I’ve been pushing this writing exercise for a while now, but I taught a class with it in my home on Sunday and it proved to be powerful and connecting for all of us in the room. If you’re reflecting/repenting this season, you might benefit from this.” . . . 
Contributor(s): David Seidenberg and neohasid.org
Shared on כ״ח באלול ה׳תש״פ (2020-09-16) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Tashlikh
Tags: eco-conscious, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, ecoḥasid, תשליך tashlikh 
Two kavvanot, one for before and one for after casting away in a Tashlikh ritual. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Mordecai Kaplan
Shared on ב׳ באב ה׳תשע״ח (2018-07-14) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Repenting, Resetting, and Forgiveness, Lincoln's Birthday (February 12th), Roleplaying, Tisha b'Av
Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Psalms 5, English vernacular prayer, false piety, religious hypocrisy, labor exploitation, Ḥillul Hashem, corruption, improper use of the crown, communal shame, difference disagreement and deviance, tolerance and intolerance, inclusion and exclusion 
“That Religion Be Not a Cloak for Hypocrisy,” by Rabbi Mordecai Menaḥem Kaplan can be found on p. 435-5 of his The Sabbath Prayer Book (New York: The Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945). . . . 
Contributor(s): Daniel Yoel Cohen
Shared on ז׳ בתשרי ה׳תשע״ז (2016-10-09) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Rosh Hashanah, Repenting, Resetting, and Forgiveness, Yom Kippur, Days of Judgement, Self-Reflection
Tags: וידוי vidui, repentance, integrity, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., acknowledgment, paraliturgical vidui 
Vidui means acknowledgment. It is not about self-flagellation or blame, but about honesty, coming into contact with our lives, our patterns and experiences, and ultimately about teshuva and learning. In contacting the pain and suffering which our modes of being have given rise to, our regret can help us to willfully divest ourselves of them and awaken the yearning for those modes of being which are life-affirming, supportive of wholeness, connection, integrity, and flourishing. With each one we tap on our heart, touching the pain and closed-heartedness we have caused, and simultaneously knocking on the door that it may open again. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Unknown Author(s)
Shared on ט״ו בכסלו ה׳תשפ״א (2020-11-30) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Theurgical Works, Home, Conception, Pregnancy, and Childbirth, Theurgy
Tags: Angels, Late Antiquity, prophylactic, קמעות kame'ot, infants, Angelic Protection, prayers concerning children, apotropaic prayers of protection, entering magical territory, prayers for pregnant women, amulet bowls, epical narrative as ward, cold iron, iron in folklore, historiola, Angels of Healing 
A very old tale told for the protection of pregnant women and their infant children as found in amulets from late Antiquity. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady and Andrew Meit
Shared on כ״ט בסיון ה׳תשע״א (2011-06-30) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Birkhot haShaḥar, Art & Craft, Shiviti
Tags: meditation, שויתי shiviti, פתיחות Petiḥot 
Given that the Torah forbids impressing our imaginations with illustrations of the divine, some other method is necessary to perceive divine Oneness. One method is found in the verse in Psalms 16:8, “I have set YHVH before me at all times.” . . . 
Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Unknown Author(s)
Shared on י״ט באלול ה׳תשע״ז (2017-09-10) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Birkhot haTorah, Birkhot haShaḥar, Torah Study
Tags: talmud torah, interpretive translation, English Translation, North America, Late Antiquity, Jewish Renewal, Amoraic prayers, Prayers before Torah Study, Tannaitic prayers, Antiquity, ecoḥasid, devotional interpretation 
This English translation of the blessing for Torah study by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l, was first published in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). Versification according to the Nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l by Aharon Varady. . . . 
Contributor(s): Daniel Raphael Silverstein and Applied Jewish Spirituality
Shared on כ״ז בכסלו ה׳תש״פ (2019-12-25) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Ḥanukkah, Visual Meditation
Tags: Light, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., אור הגנוז or haganuz 
A Ḥanukkah meditation on the hidden, infinite light of creation, the Or HaGanuz, with some of the midrashic and Ḥasidic sources it is based upon. . . . 
Contributor(s): Andrew Meit and Mashiah Asgari
Shared on י׳ בתמוז ה׳תשע״א (2011-07-12) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Art & Craft, Shiviti
Tags: 19th century C.E., meditation, שויתי shiviti, Psalms 67, 57th century A.M. 
We are grateful to Andrew Meit for restoring a Shiviti from the Royal Library of Denmark’s Simonsen Manuscripts Collection. The image was slightly adjusted by Aharon Varady. All files including the vector art are shared with a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) Public Domain dedication. . . . 
Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Unknown Author(s) and the Masoretic Text
Shared on כ״ב באב ה׳תשע״ח (2018-08-03) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Psukei D'zimrah/Zemirot, Cacophany, Tehilim Book 5 (Psalms 107–150)
Tags: interpretive translation, Psalms 150, devotional interpretation, פסוקי דזמרה pesuqei dezimrah, הללו־יה hallelu-yah, music making, Daily Hallel 
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included his translation of Psalms 150 in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). . . . 
Contributor(s): Daniel Raphael Silverstein and Applied Jewish Spirituality
Shared on ז׳ בניסן ה׳תשע״ט (2019-04-12) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Erev Pesaḥ, Leil Pesaḥ, Roleplaying
Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., haggadah supplements, Yetsiat Mitsrayim, liberation from mitsrayim, scripts, guided meditations 
A meditation which can be used to prepare for Pesaḥ, or for sharing at the Seder, to deepen the experience of liberation for yourself and others. . . . 
Contributor(s): Rabbi Haviva Ner-David
Shared on ח׳ בשבט ה׳תשע״ב (2012-02-01) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Erev Shabbat, Mikvah
Tags: water 
The following is a meditation I wrote (with the help of my friend Shira Gura, who teaches meditation and Yoga) to be used on Friday before Shabbat at the mikveh. It is based on midrashim related to Shabbat (for example, the notion that we receive an additional soul on Shabbat), as well as meanings behind mikveh in general (for example, the connection between the waters of Creation and the mikveh waters), and on some kavanot (sacred intentions) that came out of the Kabbalah and Ḥassidut movements. There is a strong tradition to write kavanot to use before immersing in the mikveh, since, as Maimonides writes in his Mishneh Torah 11:15, “If a person immerses but without buttressing him or herself [with sacred intention], it is as though he or she has not immersed at all.” . . . 
Contributor(s): Yitsḥak Luria and Aharon N. Varady (translation)
Shared on י״ח בתשרי ה׳תשע״ה (2014-10-12) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Learning, Study, and School, Torah Study
Tags: קבלה kabbalah, esoteric Judaism, 16th century C.E., Lurianic, 54th century A.M., school of the ARI z"l 
Master of the worlds and Lord of Lords, Father of Compassion and Forgiveness, we give thanks before you [haShem] Elohainu, Elohai of our ancestors, by bowing and kneeling for having brought us near to your Torah and to your sacred work, and for granting us a portion in the hidden insights of your holy Torah. . . . 
Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Elimelekh Weisblum of Lizhensk
Shared on א׳ באב ה׳תשע״ז (2017-07-24) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Davvening
Tags: interpretive translation, English Translation, פתיחות Petiḥot, 56th century A.M., Opening Prayers, 18th Century C.E., Prayers for Praying, Hassidic, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, devotional interpretation 
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included his translation of “Rabbi Elimelekh of Lizhensk’s prayer to be able to pray” in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). To the best of my ability, I have set his translation side-by-side with a transcription of the vocalized text of the prayer. Reb Zalman may have made his translation to a slightly different edition of this prayer as indicated in several places. If you can determine which edition of Rabbi Elimelekh’s prayer was translated by Reb Zalman, please contact us or share your knowledge in the comments. . . . 
Contributor(s): Amanda Rush
Shared on ח׳ במרחשון ה׳תשע״ב (2011-11-04) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Davvening
Tags: North America, תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E., פתיחות Petiḥot, 58th century A.M., כוונות kavvanot, Opening Prayers, Prayers for Praying, English vernacular prayer, Needing Translation (into Hebrew) 
Hashem, as I open my Siddur, let me pray with proper kavanah. Let me pray with sincerity, paying careful attention to every word I utter. Hashem, let me concentrate with my whole being on the meaning of each and every word, sentence and prayer. Keep my mind from wandering to other subjects, and keep me from neglecting to put my heart and soul in to each and every prayer, praise and blessing. May my prayer come before You, O Hashem, at a time of grace, and may it be accepted favorably by You. Amen. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Hillel Goelman and Aharon Roth
Shared on כ״ד באב ה׳תשע״ח (2018-08-04) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Contemplation
Tags: 20th century C.E., interpretive translation, פתיחות Petiḥot, 57th century A.M., כוונות kavvanot, English vernacular prayer, devotional interpretation, ḥassidut 
Reb Ahrele Roth, a”h, wrote a list of 32 mitsvot whose fulfillment is completed in the brain, the heart and the mouth. (The Hebrew alphabetical equivalent of 32 is ל”ב, the letters of which spell the Hebrew word LEV for Heart.) . . . 
Contributor(s): Joshua Gutoff
Shared on ה׳ בתמוז ה׳תשע״ה (2015-06-21) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Roleplaying, Pedagogical Essays on Jewish Prayer
Tags: teaching prayer, Mask Making, Constructivism, weltanschauung 
I wanted my students to start thinking of prayers as expressions of an interior world, rather than as descriptions of the exterior one. I suggested to them that they think of a prayer as a kind of mask, much like the ones worn in religious rituals by many peoples. The job of the mask-wearer is to discover the reality on the “inside” of the mask and bring it to life. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady
Shared on ט״ז באב ה׳תשע״ג (2013-07-23) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Rosh haShanah la-Behemah, Roleplaying
Tags: eco-conscious, animal protection, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., ecoḥasid 
Domesticated animals (behemot) are distinguished from ḥayot, wild animals in having been bred to rely upon human beings for their welfare. As the livelihood and continued existence of wild animals increasingly depends on the energy, food, and land use decisions of human beings, the responsibility for their care is coming into the purview of our religious responsibilities as Jews under the mitsvah of tsa’ar baalei ḥayyim — mindfullness of the suffering of all living creatures in our decisions and behavior. Rosh haShanah la-Behemah is the festival where we are reminded of this important mitsvah at the onset of the month in which we imagine ourselves to be the flock of a god upon whose welfare we rely. The “Council of All Beings” is an activity that can help us understand and reflect upon the needs of the flock of creatures that already rely upon us for their welfare. . . . 
Contributor(s): Elie Kaunfer
Shared on ל׳ באדר א׳ ה׳תשע״ו (2016-03-10) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Cacophany
Tags: mumbling, drone, communal prayer 
The mode of silently reading prayers puts the worshiper in the realm of the cognitive—just as we might experience reading a book on the subway. But the act of mumbling moves from a purely cognitive experience to a more viscerally emotional act. The aesthetic effect of this mumbling serves a dual purpose: Besides its own value as a way of engaging in prayer, it provides a contrast to the truly silent parts of the prayer: the Amidah. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Baruch Jean Thaler (translation) and Unknown Author(s)
Shared on ל׳ בסיון ה׳תשע״ו (2016-07-05) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Mikvah
Tags: 20th century C.E., תחינות tkhines, immersion, ritual purity, balance, 57th century A.M., Needing Source Images, Needing Attribution 
“Tkhine for when a Woman Goes to Immerse in the Mikve” by an unknown author is a faithful transcription of the tkhine published in Rokhl m’vakoh al boneho (Raḥel Weeps for her Children), Vilna, 1910. I have transcribed it without any changes from 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. If you can translate Yiddish, please help to translate it and share your translation with an Open Content license through this project. . . . 
Contributor(s): Hai Ben Sherira Gaon and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Shared on ט״ז באייר ה׳תשע״ה (2015-05-04) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Esoteric, Theurgical Works, Theurgy
Tags: Magic, prophylactic, apotropaic prayers of protection, Needing Translation (into English) 
The Shimmush Tehillim is a medieval work providing prescriptive theurgical associations for Psalms and verses from Psalms. It has been historically attributed to Rav Hai Gaon (939-1038 CE) but any definitive statement of authorship is lacking. The suggestion that portions of the Shimush Tehillim were authored during the late Geonic period in Iraq isn’t implausible. We also know that Hai Gaon was knowledgeable of Hekhalot writings that should at least be considered part of the same thought world as the Shimmush Tehillim. Writings found in the Shimush Tehillim have been found in manuscripts dating from the 12th century. This digital transcription of Shimush Tehillim derives from Elias Klein Békéscsaba’s 1936 compilation. This edition should not be considered a critical text, as earlier editions certainly exist. Not all of the Psalms are identified as having a particular theurgical use. . . . 
Contributor(s): Eyal Raviv
Shared on כ״ט בתמוז ה׳תשע״ד (2014-07-27) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication Categories: Erev Shabbat, Mikvah
Tags: North America, all bodies, תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., כוונות kavvanot, shower ritual, bathing ritual, English vernacular prayer, shabbat preparation 
This is pre-Shabbos reflection that can be done in a shower or bath. Shabbat is a time when I am less focused on my selfish desires and instead my thoughts drift to my place in the larger community and world. I find myself doing some version of this before Shabbos most weeks and am welcome for the time to reflect on truly what it is to cease from lay work and consider the work that needs to be done to make the world a better place. . . . 
Contributor(s): Oren Steinitz
Shared on ה׳ בניסן ה׳תשע״ו (2016-04-13) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Weekday Amidah, Self-Reflection
Tags: standing meditation 
As powerful a practice as a standing meditation may be, reciting the familiar words of the Amidah with intention can prove to be a major challenge. The words may become rote, and the davvener may wonder if the ancient formulas are even meaningful to them. In this adaptation of the Amidah, Oren Steinitz treats each B’rakhah as a prompt to remind ourselves what we are praying for and shares his own thoughts as an example. Rabbi Steinitz originally wrote the “Memory Amidah” in 2013, during the Davennen Leadership Training Institute cohort 7, and revised it for sharing here through the Open Siddur Project in 2016. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Rosa Emma Salaman
Shared on י״ט באב ה׳תשע״ז (2017-08-11) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Dreaming
Tags: 19th century C.E., eros, ascent, 57th century A.M., British Jewry, Anglo Jewry, English Romanticism, Angelic Nature, the Prince of Torah, Prayers as poems 
The poem, “A Vision” by Rosa Emma Salaman, was written November 1850 and first published in the Occident and American Jewish Advocate 9:1, Nissan 5611/April 1851, p.31-33. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Rosa Emma Salaman
Shared on ט״ו באב ה׳תשע״ז (2017-08-06) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Dreaming, Bedtime Shema
Tags: 19th century C.E., dreams, sleep, 57th century A.M., British Jewry, Anglo Jewry, English Romanticism, Angelic Protection, Prayers as poems 
The poem, “A Description of my Dreams” by Rosa Emma Salaman, was written in September 1849 and first published in the Occident and American Jewish Advocate Vol. 6:4, Tamuz 5608, July 1848, p.175-177. . . . 
Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Shared on י״ח באלול ה׳תשע״ח (2018-08-28) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Davvening, Separation
Tags: blessings, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Post-prayer supplements, transition, Closing Prayers, חתימות Ḥatimot, Peer blessings, farewell blessings, love your fellow as yourself, הבדלות havdalot 
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included this list of peer blessings for after davvening in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). . . . 
Contributor(s): Josh Rosenberg
Shared on ה׳ בתשרי ה׳תשע״ח (2017-09-25) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 International free-culture license Categories: Repenting, Resetting, and Forgiveness, Days of Judgement, Self-Reflection, Separation
Tags: סליחות seliḥot, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., self-forgiveness, Due deferrence, Between people, beyn adam l'adam, tokheḥa, Aseret Yemei Tshuvah 
A thought about the need to seek forgiveness from those you’ve wronged during this week before Yom Kippur: . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Yitsḥak Luria
Shared on ג׳ בטבת ה׳תשע״ח (2017-12-20) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Birkhot haShaḥar, Davvening
Tags: love, פתיחות Petiḥot, כוונות kavvanot, 16th century C.E., 54th century A.M., school of the ARI z"l, Leviticus 19, fellowship, love your fellow as yourself 
The custom of reciting this intention is attributed to Rav Yitzḥak Luria, circa 16th century, on Leviticus 19:18, recorded in Minhagei ha-Arizal–Petura d’Abba, p.3b by R’ Ḥayyim Vital. . . . 
Contributor(s): David Seidenberg and neohasid.org
Shared on א׳ בתשרי ה׳תשע״ב (2011-09-28) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Rosh Hashanah, Rosh haShanah l'Maaseh Bereshit, Cacophany
Tags: Breslov, clapping, Bratslav, Coronation, ecoḥasid, Ḥasidic, Public Amidah, Musaf Rosh Hashanah, Amidah Third Blessing, קדושה Qedushah 
In Uman, Ukraine (and in [the Breslov [community] in general) during the repetition of Rosh Hashanah Musaf, when when the ḥazan gets to the special brokha in the Amidah for Yamim Nora’im [the Days of Awe]: . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Max D. Klein and John Greenleaf Whittier
Shared on י״ג במרחשון ה׳תש״פ (2019-11-11) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication Categories: Davvening, Lincoln's Birthday (February 12th)
Tags: 19th century C.E., Ethical Humanism, פתיחות Petiḥot, 57th century A.M., Philadelphia, English vernacular prayer, hymns, anti-war 
A hymn for peace and the end of war. . . . 
Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Unknown Author(s)
Shared on ח׳ במרחשון ה׳תשע״ה (2014-11-01) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Erev Shabbat, Davvening, Tiqqunei Zohar
Tags: interpretive translation, תפלין tefillin, petiḥah, פתיחות Petiḥot, Opening Prayers, 15th century C.E., 53rd century A.M., devotional interpretation, prayers of kabbalists, פתח אליהו Pataḥ Eliyahu, תפילות קודם התפילה Prayers before Praying 
Elijah began saying: Lord of the worlds You Who are One and not just a number You are the highest of the highest most hidden of the undisclosed no thought scheme grasps You at all. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Shared on ב׳ בסיון ה׳תשע״ג (2013-05-11) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Well-being, health, and caregiving, Repenting, Resetting, and Forgiveness, Dreaming
Tags: anxiety, judgement, dreams, sleep 
If one has a dream which makes him sad he should go and have it interpreted in the presence of three. He should have it interpreted! Has not Rav Ḥisda said: A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read? — Say rather then, he should have a good turn given to it in the presence of three. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Mordecai Kaplan and Abraham Joshua Heschel
Shared on ב׳ באב ה׳תשע״ח (2018-07-13) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication Categories: Repenting, Resetting, and Forgiveness, Roleplaying
Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., Prayers as poems, English vernacular prayer, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Ḥasidut, neoḥasidic idealization 
“The Pious Man” is a prayer-poem from Mordecai Kaplan’s diary entry, September 19, 1942, on the virtue of piety as expressed in an essay published earlier that year by Abraham Joshua Heschel. Piety was a Roman virtue, but in this essay, A.J. Heschel appears to be describing an idealization of Ḥasidut. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown Author(s) and Baruch Jean Thaler (translation)
Shared on כ״ז בסיון ה׳תשע״ו (2016-07-03) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Well-being, health, and caregiving, Theurgy
Tags: Healing, danger, shamanic praxis, predatory gaze, incantation, עין הרע evil eye, Needing Source Images, Needing Attribution 
This tkhine offers a formula for providing relief to a very ill person, and as such, should only be used as a supplement to recommendations provided by an expert physician or nurse. The source of the tkhine is Tkhine of a Highly Respected Woman, Budapest, 1896; and transcribed from The Merit of Our Mothers בזכות אמהות A Bilingual Anthology of Jewish Women’s Prayers, compiled by Tracy Guren Klirs, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992. . . . 
Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Shared on י״ד באייר ה׳תשע״ה (2015-05-03) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Learning, Study, and School, Torah Study
Tags: 20th century C.E., talmud torah, Jewish Renewal, 58th century A.M., Prayers before Torah Study, ecoḥasid 
My Lord Creator of all, Master of all worlds, Supreme, compassionate and forgiving, Thank You for Your Torah, Thank You for allowing me to learn from it And to move toward serving You. Thank You for revealing some of the Mysteries of Your Way. . . . 
Contributor(s): Jonah Rank
Shared on ט״ז בשבט ה׳תשע״ט (2019-01-21) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Mikvah
Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Jewish identity, affirmation, confirmation, conversion 
A kavvanah for affirming one’s Jewish identity in a mikvah before immersion. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Unknown Author(s)
Shared on כ״ו באדר א׳ ה׳תשע״ט (2019-03-03) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Contemplation
Tags: acrostic, Angels, 42 letter divine name, Divine name acrostic, angelology, ספר הפליאה Sefer haPeliah 
A litany of angelic names recorded in Sefer haPeliah whose initial letters spells out the 42 letter divine name as also found (in variation) in Sefer HaQanah. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Unknown Author(s)
Shared on כ״ט באדר א׳ ה׳תשע״ט (2019-03-05) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Contemplation
Tags: acrostic, Angels, 42 letter divine name, Divine name acrostic, angelology, ספר הקנה Sefer haQanah 
A litany of angelic names recorded in Sefer HaQanah, whose initial letters spells out the 42 letter divine name as also found in Sefer haPeliah. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Nosson Sternhartz of Nemirov
Shared on י״ב באלול ה׳תשע״א (2011-09-11) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Solitude
Tags: 19th century C.E., eco-conscious, Breslov, Bratslav, תחינות teḥinot, פתיחות Petiḥot, 56th century A.M., Prayers for Praying, Ḥasidic 
Master of the Universe, grant me the ability to be alone; may it be my custom to go outdoors each day among the trees and grass — among all growing things and there may I be alone, and enter into התבודדות(hitbodedut) prayer, to talk with the One to whom I belong. . . . 
Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Netanel Miles-Yépez and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Shared on כ״ב במרחשון ה׳תשע״ז (2016-11-23) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Well-being, health, and caregiving, Theurgy
Tags: blessings, water, shehakol 
A blessing by Reb Zalman for Peace, Health, Joy, Prosperity, and Kindness which he wrote in spray paint on a municipal water tank behind his house in Colorado. . . . 
Contributor(s): Seth (Avi) Kadish
Shared on כ״ט בסיון ה׳תשע״ט (2019-07-02) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Davvening, Liturgical traditions, Pedagogical Essays on Jewish Prayer
Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., reference works 
A comprehensive treatment on the praxis of Jewish prayer. . . . 
Contributor(s): Rabbi Jill Hammer, Ph.D.
Shared on א׳ באלול ה׳תשע״ט (2019-08-31) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Tashlikh, Repenting, Resetting, and Forgiveness, Rosh haShanah l'Maaseh Bereshit
Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Prayers as poems, English vernacular prayer, תשובה teshuvah, תשליך tashlikh 
Today I turned my heart toward the new year and wrote a prayer-poem for Tashlikh, the Rosh haShanah ritual of casting bread or stones into the water to cast off one’s past wrongdoings. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Rosa Emma Salaman
Shared on ט״ו באב ה׳תשע״ז (2017-08-06) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Dreaming, Bedtime Shema
Tags: 19th century C.E., dreams, sleep, 57th century A.M., British Jewry, Anglo Jewry, English Romanticism, Angelic Protection, Prayers as poems 
The poem, “The Angels’ Vigil” by Rosa Emma Salaman, was written in April 12, 1848 and first published in the Occident and American Jewish Advocate 6:3, Sivan 5608, June 1848, p. 127-128. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady
Shared on כ״ג באדר ב׳ ה׳תשע״א (2011-03-28) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Contemplation, Art & Craft, Shema, Praxes
Tags: meditation, technique, יחוד yiḥud, xerography, טבע Teva 
When works are printed bearing shemot, any one of the ten divine names sacred to Judaism, they are cared for with love. If a page or bound work bearing shemot falls to the ground it’s a Jewish custom to draw up the page or book and kiss it. Just as loved ones are cared for after they’ve fallen and passed away, when the binding fails and leaves fall from siddurim and other seforim they are collected in boxes and bins and brought for burial, where their holy words can decompose back into the earth from which their constituent elements once grew, and were once harvested to become paper and books, and ink, string, glue. While teaching at the Teva Learning Center last Fall 2010, I collected all our shemot that we had intentionally or unintentionally made on our copy machine, or which we had collected from the itinerant teachers who pass through the Isabella Freedman Retreat Center on so many beautiful weekend shabbatonim. While leafing through the pages, I found one and kept it from the darkness of the genizah. . . . 
Contributor(s): David Zvi Kalman
Shared on ט״ו באדר ב׳ ה׳תשע״א (2011-03-20) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Davvening, Solitude
Tags: North America, Solo, No Minyan, 21st century C.E., פתיחות Petiḥot, 58th century A.M., Philadeelphia, Needing Vocalization 
God and God of my forefathers and foremothers, as I stand here in an innermost room and pray, so too should you in an innermost room heed my questions, my praises and my requests, both from the utterances of my mouth and the utterances of my heart. Even if I am silent, you will know that my tefilla is directed towards you, who is One and whose name is One, alone in all the worlds. My heart is awake and my voice knocks. Open for me, my Lord, my Perfect One, the gates of Tefilla. . . . 
Contributor(s): Lieba B. Ruth
Shared on י״ג באדר ה׳תשע״ג (2013-02-23) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Roleplaying
Tags: nistar, hidden, revealed, masks, giving, צדקה tsedaqah 
Because we cannot live on two planes, we are granted the opportunity to disguise our external features. We develop the capacity to know each others hearts and find even greater satisfaction in the exchange. Yet, too often, we act as if someone else — who looks remarkably like oneself — is going to provide the support for nonprofit organizations we deem are necessary for a decent life. We assume / hope / pray that someone “else” is doing our part. It’s their turn to make a critical contribution, even a small one, that gives relief, replaces a worn-out part, opens the door wide enough to make a difference. . . . Shared on ט׳ בשבט ה׳תשע״ג (2013-01-19) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Davvening, Pedagogical Essays on Jewish Prayer
Tags: sourcesheet, Silence, Breath, Music, Words, Community A few select source texts on prayer and davvenen of importance to Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman. . . . 
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady
Shared on ט׳ בטבת ה׳תשע״ו (2015-12-20) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Art & Craft, Theurgy
Tags: Aleph-Bet, otiyot, gematria 
Basic Hebrew letter and vowel lists adorn the opening pages of a number of siddurim published a century ago — evidence of the centrality of the Jewish prayer book as a common curricular resource. But the Hebrew letters are not only essential to fluency in Hebrew language, they are also the atomic elements composing the world of the rabbinic Jewish imagination. This is especially so for those who conceive in their devotional literary practices an implicit theurgical capability in modifying and adapting the world of language though interpretation, translation, and innovative composition. To create a world with speech relies on thought and this creative ability is only limited by the facility of the creator to derive meaning from a language’s underlying structure. This, therefore, is a table of the Hebrew letters arranged in order of their numerical value, in rows 1-9, 10-90, and 100-900, so that elements with similar numerical structure, (but dissimilar phonetic amd symbolic attributes) appear in vertical columns. Attention has been given to the literal meaning of the letter names and the earliest glyph forms known for each letter in the Hebrew abgad. . . . 
Contributor(s): Gabbai Seth Fishman (translation) and Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Shared on י׳ באדר א׳ ה׳תשע״ו (2016-02-18) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Self-Reflection
Tags: 20th century C.E., free will, bitul neshama, reception, consolation, 58th century A.M. 
The one who prays to Hashem Yitbarakh should hold the belief that, from the start, there was a cause brought about by the everlasting One, and that S/He is the source of all completions, and S/He created all the worlds at the time when it arose in Hir will. . . . Shared on ט׳ בכסלו ה׳תשע״ב (2011-12-04) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Davvening
Tags: illustration, כוונות kavvanot Some rabbinic sourcetexts related to the topic of how to write in your siddur, shared with translations by Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner. . . . 
Contributor(s): Eden Pearlstein
Shared on כ״ב במרחשון ה׳תשע״ב (2011-11-18) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Self-Reflection
Tags: hip hop, שדים sheydim, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Jewish animism 
‘Life Sentence’ is a poetic exploration of solitary authorship — interpreting the old-world literary tradition and archetypes for the ‘ADD’ generation. This is a boundary and genre-crossing work that exists at the intersection of Radical Jewish, Indy and Hip-Hop culture. . . . 
Contributor(s): Avi Dolgin
Shared on י״ב באלול ה׳תשע״א (2011-09-11) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Rosh Hashanah, Tashlikh, Repenting, Resetting, and Forgiveness
Tags: eco-conscious, water, four worlds, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Teva Learning Center, תשליך tashlikh 
Avi Dolgin shares his mindful practice for maintaining “tashlikh consciousness” in the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah. . . .
Contributor(s): Arthur Waskow and the Shalom Center
Shared on י״ד בניסן ה׳תשע״א (2011-04-17) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Ḳaddish, Torah Study
Tags: Renewal, 20th century C.E., communal, participatory, talmud torah, ברכות brakhot, Aleph, North America, 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, קדיש דרבנן Ḳaddish D'Rabanan
What the Rabbis taught about teaching and learning was that all Torah study should begin and end with blessings, just as eating does. Often, in liberal Jewish circles today, these blessings are not done. But without them, it is easier for Torah study to feel like a mere academic discussion, devoid of spirit. And where the blessings are said but only by rote, it is easier for Torah study to feel merely antiquarian and automatic. In Jewish-renewal style, how can we bring new kavvanah — spiritual meaning, intention, focus, intensity — to these blessings — and therefore to the process of Torah study itself? . . .
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady
Shared on כ״ב באייר ה׳תשע״ג (2013-05-02) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: Self-Reflection
Tags: North America, reflective practice, journaling, writing, petiḥah, תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E., פתיחות Petiḥot, 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, teḥinot in English
May my thoughts seek truth and integrity, the humility that is commensurate with my ignorance, the compassion that arises from the depths of awareness, as depths speak to depths… . . . |
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