It is somewhat well known that in the Italian rite, there are alternative texts for the first and third blessings of the evening Shemaˁ liturgy on Shabbat, texts which were rejected by Ashkenazi practice out of fear the community could become confused and recite them on weekdays. But these Shabbat-specific blessings, derived from the old Erets Yisrael rite and preserved in the siddur of Rav Saˁadia Gaon (RaSaG), are not alone! All the blessings of the Shabbat evening Shemaˁ service — as well as all the blessings of the Saturday night Motsaei Shabbat Shemaˁ service! — have unique poetic forms in RaSaG’s siddur. This part, the Saturday night rite, is part two of a two-part series posting these liturgical texts found in the siddur of — and approved of by — the gaon.

Categories:

Motsaei Shabbat

Tags:

Geonic prayers, Nusaḥ Erets Yisrael, Nusaḥ Italḳi

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Saadiah ben Yosef Gaon

הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחֹל | Hamavdil Bein Ḳodesh l’Ḥol (abridged), a piyyuṭ attributed to Yitsḥak ben Yehudah Ibn Ghayyāth HaLevi (ca. 11th c.)

The short form of the piyyut for motsei shabbat, with English translation.

Categories:

Motsaei Shabbat

Tags:

11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., acrostic, Acrostic signature, Angelic Protection, המבדיל בין קדש לחל Hamavdil Bein Ḳodesh l'Ḥol, הבדלות havdalot, זמירות zemirot

Contributor(s):

Akiva Sanders (translation) and Yitsḥak ben Yehudah Ibn Ghayyāth HaLevi

הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחֹל | Hamavdil Bein Ḳodesh l’Ḥol, a piyyuṭ attributed to Yitsḥaq ben Yehudah ibn Ghayyat (rhymed translation by Alice Lucas, 1894)

A rhymed translation of the piyyut sung following the Havdallah ritual.

Categories:

Yom Kippur, Motsaei Shabbat

Tags:

11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., Acrostic signature, המבדיל בין קדש לחל Hamavdil Bein Ḳodesh l'Ḥol, הבדלות havdalot, נעילה‎ neilah, פיוטים piyyuṭim, rhyming translation

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Alice Montefiore Lucas (translation) and Yitsḥak ben Yehudah Ibn Ghayyāth HaLevi

הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחֹל | Hamavdil Ben Ḳodesh l’Ḥol, a piyyuṭ attributed to Yitsḥaq ben Yehudah ibn Ghayyat (German translation by Franz Rosenzweig 1921)

The text of the piyyut, “HaMavdil,” with a German translation by Franz Rosenzweig.

Categories:

Yom Kippur, Motsaei Shabbat

Tags:

11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., Acrostic signature, German translation, המבדיל בין קדש לחל Hamavdil Bein Ḳodesh l'Ḥol, paraliturgical havdalah, פיוטים piyyuṭim, זמירות zemirot

Contributor(s):

Franz Rosenzweig (translation), Yitsḥak ben Yehudah Ibn Ghayyāth HaLevi and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

יָהּ, אָנָה אֶמְצָאֶךָּ | Yah, Where shall I find you?, a piyyuṭ by Yehudah haLevi (ca. early 12th c.)

A piyyut that expresses the paradox of a divinity that is both “Beyond” and “Present.”

Categories:

Purim Qatan, 🤦︎ Taḥanun (Nefilat Apayim), Motsaei Shabbat

Tags:

12th century C.E., 49th century A.M., alienation, אנה אמצאך ana emtsaeka, dveykut

Contributor(s):

Nina Davis Salaman (translation), the Ben Yehuda Project (transcription), Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

אֱלֹהִים יִסְעָדֵנוּ | Elohim Yisadenu, a piyyuṭ by Avraham ibn Ezra (trans. Rabbi David Aaron de Sola, 1857)

This translation by Rabbi David Aaron de Sola of “Elohim Yisadenu” by a paytan named Avraham (possibly Avraham ibn Ezra) was first published in his Ancient Melodies of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (1857).

Categories:

Se'udah haShlishit, Motsaei Shabbat

Tags:

12th century C.E., 50th century A.M., acrostic, Acrostic signature, פיוטים piyyuṭim, זמירות zemirot

Contributor(s):

David de Aaron de Sola (translation), Avraham ibn Ezra and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

אוֹחִיל יוֹם יוֹם | Oḥil Yom Yom (As Every Day I Hope) — a poem to honor the holy city of Tiberias on 7 Elul by David bar Aharon ben Ḥassin

A piyyut of the 18th century by R. David Ḥassin, one of the greatest composers of Morocco. In this piyyut, dedicated to the city of Tiberias and recounting its praises, we tour Tiberias and the graves of the tannaim and amoraim there, and come to the place of Maimonides’ burial according to tradition. From the dead, the composer moves on to tell the prose of the living – R. Ḥayyim Abulˁafia, who renewed Jewish settlement in Tiberias to where he had moved with his students in the year 5500 [1740], doing much to revitalize the Jewish settlement and build the city, for which R. David Ḥassin praises and blesses him at the conclusion of the poem. This poem was very beloved and merited widespread circulation, and is found in poetry books of many different Mizraḥi communities. This poem has also merited a number of imitations and adaptations, testifying to its great popularity. The most well-known imitation is a poem by the Israeli diaspora-emissary R. Eliyahu Ḥazzan, who arrived at Morocco, came across this song, and composed an imitation, also called “As Every Day I Hope” — except R. Eliyahu Ḥazzan’s song is dedicated to Jerusalem and tours around it.

Categories:

Purim Sheni, Motsaei Shabbat

Tags:

18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., acrostic, Acrostic signature, ארץ ישראל Erets Yisrael, הבדלות havdalot, Maghrebi Jewry, Meknes, Morocco, Old Yishuv, פיוטים piyyuṭim, פזמונים pizmonim

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and David ben Aharon ibn Ḥassin

א דוּדעלע (אַיֵּה אֶמְצָאֶךָּ)‏ | A Dudele (Where shall I seek you?), by Rabbi Levi Yitsḥaq of Berditchev (ca. 18th c.)

A profound song invoking divine presence.

Categories:

Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit), Yom Kippur, Purim Qatan, Motsaei Shabbat, 🤦︎ Taḥanun (Nefilat Apayim)

Tags:

18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., אנה אמצאך ana emtsaeka, creator within creation, חסידות Ḥasidut, הבדלות havdalot, Hebrew translation, non-dual theology, panentheism, תשובה teshuvah, Yiddish songs, זמירות zemirot

Contributor(s):

Levi Yitsḥaq Derbarmdiger Rosakov of Berditchev and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

אָכֵן ה׳ | Akhen Hashem, a baqashah of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira (ca. 1920s)

This is a prayer offered by the Piacezna Rebbe, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira (1889-1943) and likely written down sometime in the 1920s before it was printed among other letters and writings in his sefer Derekh haMelekh (1931). The prayer, vocalized from the 2011 Feldheim edition and translated into English, was circulated online via the Lost Princess Initiative of Rabbi Yaakov Klein (Eilecha) beginning 25 May 2023.

Categories:

Purim Qatan, Motsaei Shabbat, 🤦︎ Taḥanun (Nefilat Apayim)

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., אנה אמצאך ana emtsaeka, בקשות Baqashot, חסידות Ḥasidut, panentheism

Contributor(s):

Yaakov Klein (translation), Kalonymus Kalman Shapira and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

הִנֵּה שָׁם אֶמְצָאֶךָּ | Where We Can Find Yah, a prayer-poem inspired by Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali (Song Offerings, 1912) by Eugene Kohn (1945)

“Where We Can Find God,” a prayer-poem inspired by passages appearing in David Frishman’s Hebrew translation of Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali.

Categories:

Purim Qatan, Motsaei Shabbat, 🤦︎ Taḥanun (Nefilat Apayim)

Tags:

20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., אנה אמצאך ana emtsaeka, cosmic religion, is it Sikh or Hassidic?, Prayers as poems, universalist prayers

Contributor(s):

Eugene Kohn, David Frischmann (translation), Rabindranath Tagore and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

מִרְיָם הַנְּבִיאָה | Miryam haNevi’ah, by rabbis Leila Gal Berner & Arthur Waskow (ca. 1994)

These are the lyrics of the song, Miryam haNevi’ah, written by rabbis Leila Gal Berner and Arthur Waskow (with Hebrew by Leila Gal Berner) as found published in My People’s Prayer Book, vol. 7: Shabbat at Home, (ed. L. Hoffman, 1997), section 3, p. 189. The English lyrics are from an article published several years earlier — “Memories of a Jewish Lesbian Evening” by Roger McDougle appearing in Bridges (vol. 4:1, Winter/Spring 1994), on the top of page 58. No specific date is given for the havdalah program described in the article, alas. If you know the earliest reference for the publication or use of Miryam haNevi’ah, please contact us.

Categories:

Parashat b'Shalaḥ, 7th Day of Pesaḥ, Motsaei Shabbat

Tags:

20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., הבדלות havdalot, Miriam, שירת הים Shirat haYam, זמירות zemirot

Contributor(s):

Leila Gal Berner, Arthur Waskow and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Havdalah: Three Meditations on Holy Separations, by Trisha Arlin

Three short havdallah meditations that culminate in a havdallah prayer/blessing.

Categories:

Motsaei Shabbat

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, first person, הבדלות havdalot, Kolot Chayeinu, paraliturgical havdalah

Contributor(s):

Trisha Arlin

סֶֽרַח בַּת־אָשֵׁר | Seraḥ bat Asher, a Havdalah Song by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Some communities have a practice of singing a song about Miriam alongside the well-known Havdalah song about Elijah the Prophet. But Miriam isn’t really a parallel to Elijah — she’s a parallel to Moshe and Aaron. When we’re talking about distaff counterparts to Elijah the clearest example is Seraḥ bat Asher. Seraḥ, the daughter of Asher, is mentioned only a handful of times in the Tanakh, but is given great significance in the midrash. Like Elijah, she is said to have never died but entered Paradise alive, and comes around to the rabbis to give advice or teachings. This song, which includes several references to midrashim about Seraḥ, is meant to be sung to any traditional tune of “Eliyahu haNavi.” It is dedicated to Ḥazzan Joanna Selznick Dulkin (shlit”a), who introduced me to the legends of Seraḥ bat Asher.

Categories:

Motsaei Shabbat

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., הבדלות havdalot, Psychopomp, Seraḥ bat Asher, זמירות zemirot

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Havdallah: Thinking of those suffering from long-COVID, by Gabriel Kanter-Webber (2021)

Liturgy for a motsei shabbat havdallah ritual centering the experience of those with long-COVID.

Categories:

Epidemics & Pandemics, Motsaei Shabbat

Tags:

2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., COVID-19 coronavirus, הבדלות havdalot

Contributor(s):

Gabriel Kanter-Webber

תפילה לפני הבדלה לחרבות ברזל | Prayer before Havdalah for the War of Iron Swords, by Dr. Yael Levine

A prayer by Dr. Yael Levine for salvation, comfort, and healing during the Ḥarvot Barzel War, first published in Olam Katan, issue 973 (21 November 2024, parashat Ḥayyei Sarah).

Categories:

Motsaei Shabbat, War

Tags:

2023-2025 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Three-phase Israel–Hamas war ceasefire agreement

Contributor(s):

Yael Levine

שֶֽׂרַח בַּת־אָשֵׁר | Seraḥ bat Asher — a havdalah piyyuṭ by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

In the style of the full Eliyahu haNavi piyyuṭ recited by some communities every Havdalah, a piyyuṭ in honor of Seraḥ bat Asher, retelling the events of her life according to the midrashim. This is not the first time I’ve written a Havdalah piece on Seraḥ, the distaff counterpart to Elijah in the midrash. She also inspired this shorter song. Like the full Eliyahu haNavi piyyuṭ, this is in three-line rhyming stanzas with a repeated refrain. Unlike it, it is in a tashraq reverse alphabetical acrostic, followed by an authorial tag — this time using a matronymic.

Categories:

Motsaei Shabbat

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Acrostic signature, הבדלות havdalot, פיוטים piyyuṭim, Psychopomp, reverse acrostic, Seraḥ bat Asher, זמירות zemirot

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=1506

Associated Image:

An illustration of Seraḥ later titled (on postcards) "Shirat bat Tsiyon," originally published at the beginning of the chapter "Lieder des Lebens" (Songs of Life) in Lieder des Ghetto (1902) by Ephraim Moses Lilien

(This image is set to automatically show as the "featured image" in shared links on social media.)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "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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