
This formulation of the Birkat Yeladim (Blessing of the Children) maintains a connection with tradition and serves to degender the blessing by calling upon quoted, mixed gender texts which have merit for children of any gender. . . .
|
||||||||
☞ Erev Shabbat
![]() Shared on ד׳ במרחשון ה׳תשפ״א (2020-10-22) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 International free-culture license Categories: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() Shared on י״ז באייר ה׳תשע״ח (2018-05-02) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() 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: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() Shared on ט׳ בתמוז ה׳תש״פ (2020-06-30) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() Shared on א׳ באייר ה׳תש״פ (2020-04-25) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication Categories: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() Shared on ז׳ בכסלו ה׳תשע״ט (2018-11-15) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() Shared on כ׳ באלול ה׳תש״פ (2020-09-08) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() Shared on י״ט באלול ה׳תש״פ (2020-09-07) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() Shared on י׳ באב ה׳תשע״ז (2017-08-02) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() This is the prayer for Friday, a paraliturgical teḥinah opposite the Shir shel Yom (Psalm of the Day) for Friday, included by Fanny Schmiedl Neuda in her collection of teḥinot in vernacular German. Fanny Neuda likely either composed or translated this teḥinah into German (from Yiddish) while performing in the capacity of firzogerin (precentress) of the weibershul (women’s gallery) in her husband’s synagogue in Loštice, Bohemia. . . . ![]() 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: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() 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.” . . . ![]() 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: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() 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. . . . ![]() Shared on ו׳ באב ה׳תשע״ז (2017-07-28) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included his translation of the Psalm of the Day for Friday (Psalms 93) 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 Psalm. . . . ![]() Shared on כ״ג בטבת ה׳תש״פ (2020-01-19) — under the following terms: Categories: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() 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: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() Shared on י״ז בתמוז ה׳תשע״ו (2016-07-23) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() This is a faithful transcription of the תחנה פון ליכט בענטשין (“Tkhine for Lighting Candles [for Shabbes]”) as it appeared in the Vilna, 1869 edition. 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 scan an image of the page from the 1869 edition this was originally copied from, please share your scan with us. . . . ![]() Shared on כ״א בתמוז ה׳תשע״ד (2014-07-18) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() Two mothers, one plea: Now, more than ever, during these days of so much crying, on the day that is sacred to both our religions, Friday, Sabbath Eve Let us light a candle in every home – for peace: A candle to illuminate our future, face to face, A candle across borders, beyond fear. From our family homes and houses of worship Let us light each other up Let these candles be a lighthouse to our spirit Until we all arrive at the sanctuary of peace. . . . ![]() Shared on י״ז באב ה׳תשע״ז (2017-08-08) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() The poem, “God Our Light” by Rosa Emma Salaman, was first published in the Occident and American Jewish Advocate 3:8, Marḥeshvan 5606, November 1845, p.379-380. . . . ![]() Shared on ב׳ בניסן ה׳תשע״ה (2015-03-22) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Categories: ![]() Tags: ![]() ![]() Talmudic and midrashic sources contain hymns of the creation usually based on homiletic expansions of metaphorical descriptions and personifications of the created world in the Bible. The explicitly homiletic background of some of the hymns in Perek Shira indicates a possible connection between the other hymns and Tannaitic and Amoraic homiletics, and suggests a hymnal index to well-known, but mostly unpreserved, homiletics. The origin of this work, the period of its composition and its significance may be deduced from literary parallels. A Tannaitic source in the tractate Hagiga of the Jerusalem (Hag. 2:1,77a—b) and Babylonian Talmud (Hag. 14b), in hymns of nature associated with apocalyptic visions and with the teaching of ma’aseh merkaba serves as a key to Perek Shira’s close spiritual relationship with this literature. Parallels to it can be found in apocalyptic literature, in mystic layers in Talmudic literature, in Jewish mystical prayers surviving in fourth-century Greek Christian composition, in Heikhalot literature, and in Merkaba mysticism. The affinity of Perek Shira with Heikhalot literature, which abounds in hymns, can be noted in the explicitly mystic introduction to the seven crowings of the cock — the only non-hymnal text in the collection — and the striking resemblance between the language of the additions and that of Shi’ur Koma and other examples of this literature. In Seder Rabba de-Bereshit, a Heikhalot tract, in conjunction with the description of ma’aseh bereshit, there is a clear parallel to Perek Shira’s praise of creation and to the structure of its hymns. The concept reflected in this source is based on a belief in the existence of angelic archetypes of created beings who mediate between God and His creation, and express their role through singing hymns. As the first interpretations of Perek Shira also bear witness to its mystic character and angelologic significance, it would appear to be a mystical chapter of Heikhalot literature, dating from late Tannaitic — early Amoraic period, or early Middle Ages. . . . |
||||||||
All creators and copyright stewards have graciously shared their work under one of the following Open Content licenses until the term of their copyright expires and their work enters the Public Domain. Unless otherwise indicated, the license under which all content is shared on this site is the Creative Commons Attribution/ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International license. Please consult the table below for the specific Open Content license under which the creator (or copyright steward) has chosen to share their work.
Some images are shared with the now-deprecated CC BY 2.0 (עברית | English) license. The Open Siddur is supported by recurring donations via Patreon. One-time tax-deductible donations may be made through Jewish Creativity International, a 501(3)c registered non-profit organization acting as our fiscal sponsor. The views expressed in contributed works represent the views of their creator(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Open Siddur Project's developers, its diverse community of contributors, or Jewish Creativity International. TERMS OF USE | COPYLEFT POLICY | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTRIBUTE WORK | BECOME A PATRON OR MAKE A DONATION | CONTACT Font Resize
Contrast
|