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Entering Sacred Spaces

This is an archive of prayers for the activity of entering synagogues and other sacred spaces sanctified for Jewish worship.

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מַה־טֹּבוּ | Mah Tovu: Prayer upon Entering the Synagogue (Romanian trans. Avraham Shlomo Gold, ca. 1903)

To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of the prayer upon entering the synagogue from סדר תפילות לכל השנה Ordinea Rugăciunilor pentru toate zilele anului (nusaḥ Sefaradi, minhag Romania) translated into Romanian by Rabbi Abraham Shlomo Gold (Institutul de editura Ralian si Ignat Samitca, Craiova, 1903). A video of this siddur can be seen on youtube here. We would like to know more about Rabbi Gold; if you have any information, please contact us. . . .

Categories: Entering Sacred Spaces

Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., מה טבו mah tovu, Needing Proofreading, Openers, Romanian translation, Sepharadi, Synagogues

Contributor(s): Abraham Shlomo Gold (translation) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Beim Eintritt in das Bethaus [ver. 2] | On entering the house of prayer (ver. 2), a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)

“Ein anderes desselben Inhalts [Beim Eintritt in das Bethaus v.2]” 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 №2 on pp. 2-3. In the 1835 and 1842 editions, it also appears as teḥinah №2 on pp. 2-3. . . .

Categories: Entering Sacred Spaces

Tags: 19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., German Jewry, German vernacular prayer, Jewish Women's Prayers, Opening Prayers, תחינות teḥinot

Contributor(s): Andreas Rusterholz (transcription), Yehoshua Heshil Miro and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

Beim Eintritt in das Bethaus [ver. 1] | On entering the house of prayer (ver. 1), a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)

“Beim Eintritt in das Bethaus” 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 №1 on pp. 1-2. In the 1835 and 1842 editions, it also appears as teḥinah №1 on pp. 1-2. . . .

Categories: Entering Sacred Spaces

Tags: 19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., German Jewry, German vernacular prayer, Jewish Women's Prayers, Opening Prayers, paraliturgical mah tovu, paraliturgical ribon haOlamim, תחינות teḥinot

Contributor(s): Andreas Rusterholz (transcription), Yehoshua Heshil Miro and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

“Know Before Whom Thou Standest,” a poem on the inscription above the Aron haḲodesh by Penina Moïse (Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, Charleston, ca. 1840)

“On the Following Inscription Fronting the New Synagogue: ‘Know Before Whom Thou Standest'” was published in Secular and Religious Works of Penina Moïse, With Brief Sketch of Her Life (Council of Jewish Women, Charleston Section, 1911), pp. 275-276. . . .

Categories: Entering Sacred Spaces

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., etiquette, exhortation, דע לפני מי אתה עומד Know Before Whom You Stand, Synagogues

Contributor(s): Penina Moïse and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Gebet beim Eintritt in das Gotteshaus | Prayer on Entering the House of God, by Dr. Meïr Letteris (1846), translated by Miriam Wertheimer (1852)

“Gebet beim Eintritt in das Gotteshaus” was written by Meir Letteris and published in his anthology of teḥinot, תחנוני בת יהודה (Taḥnunei bat Yehudah) Andachtsbuch für israelitische Frauenzimmer…. In the 1846 printings, it appears on p. 1. The English translation here was made by Miriam Werheimer and for unknown reasons misattributed to Wolfgang Wessely in Devotional exercises for the use of Jewish women, on public and domestic occasions (1852). –Aharon Varady . . .

Categories: Entering Sacred Spaces

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English Translation, entering, German Jewry, German vernacular prayer, Jewish Women's Prayers, תחינות teḥinot

Contributor(s): Miriam Wertheimer (translation), Emily Kesselman (art & transcription), Meïr haLevi Letteris and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Gebet beim Eintritt in das Gotteshaus | Prayer upon entering the house of God, by Dr. Meïr Letteris (1846)

Categories: Entering Sacred Spaces

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., entering, German Jewry, German vernacular prayer, Jewish Women's Prayers, תחינות teḥinot

Contributor(s): Emily Kesselman (art & transcription), Meïr haLevi Letteris and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

מַה־טֹּבוּ | Priêre en entrant dans le Temple, a paraliturgical Mah Tovu by Rabbi Arnaud Aron & Jonas Ennery (1848)

A paraliturgical Mah Tovu, in French with English translation. . . .

Categories: Entering Sacred Spaces

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English Translation, French Jewry, French vernacular prayer, מה טבו mah tovu, paraliturgical mah tovu, Synagogues

Contributor(s): Jonas Ennery, Arnaud Aron and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

מַה־טֹּבֽוּ | Mah Tovu, translated from Rabbi David Einhorn’s Olat Tamid (1858) by Joshua Giorgio-Rubin (2020)

This is Joshua Giorgio-Rubin’s English translation of Rabbi David Einhorn’s adaptation of the opening prayer “Mah Tovu” as found in Rubin’s Olat Hadashah: A Modern Adaptation of David Einhorn’s Olat Tamid for Shabbat Evening (2020). Rabbi Einhorn identifies the prayer by its familiar incipit from the verse Numbers 24:5, but left that verse untranslated. . . .

Categories: Entering Sacred Spaces

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., centos, German translation, מה טבו mah tovu, petiḥah, Prayers for Praying

Contributor(s): Joshua Giorgio-Rubin, David Einhorn and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

מַה־טֹּבוּ | Mah Tovu, a paraliturgical reflection by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman

A paraliturgical reflection of the prayer for entering sacred communal spaces, Mah Tovu, for a shame resilience practice. . . .

Categories: Entering Sacred Spaces

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, מה טבו mah tovu, paraliturgical mah tovu, shame resilience

Contributor(s): Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman

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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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