Before the Aliyot • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶּקט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

📄 סדר עתיק לקריאות מהתנ״ך לפי מסכת סופרים | A Service for Scriptural Readings from Antiquity, reconstructed from Masekhet Soferim by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman

Categories:

Before the Aliyot

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Nusaḥ Erets Yisrael, Masekhet Soferim, Geonic prayers, reconstructed text, 8th century C.E., 46th century A.M.

The “minor tractate” Soferim is one of our best sources for early liturgical practice. It is the oldest known source for multiple practices still followed today, such as the blessing for the haftarah. Such luminaries as the Vilna Gaon considered it a vital work. But some of its practices are… well, odd. There are customs in Tractate Soferim which are found nowhere else in classical rabbinics — blessings for the recitation of books in Writings other than the scrolls, a three-year cycle of Torah readings, and a custom to divide the scrolls in half when reading them. This service is constructed based on the descriptions and passages of Tractate Soferim, mostly following the Gra’s edition. In some ways it may be very familiar, especially to Ashkenazim, but in others it is a fascinating glimpse into a heretofore lost practice of Judaism. . . .

תפילה קודם קריאת פרשת אחרי מות | Prayer to be Recited Before the Reading of Parashat Aḥarei Mōt, by Rabbi Steven Greenberg

Contributor(s):

Steven Greenberg

Categories:

Before the Aliyot, Parashat Aḥarei Mōt

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inclusion, sexual attraction, Prayers of redress, LGBTQ, פרשת אחרי מות parashat Aḥarei Mot, same-sex relationships, North America, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M.

A prayer to recognize lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer-identifying folk before reading Parshat Aḥarei Mot (Leviticus 16:1–18:30) in the synagogue. . . .

Kavvanah before the reading of parashat Aḥarei Mōt and the pain caused by Leviticus 18:22, by Rabbi Victor Reinstein (2015)

Contributor(s):

Victor Reinstein

Categories:

Before the Aliyot, Parashat Aḥarei Mōt

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21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Prayers of redress, LGBTQ, same-sex relationships

“A kavvanah (declaration of intention) that we bring to the reading of parashat Aḥarei Mot and the pain caused by Leviticus 18:22” was offered by Rabbi Victor Reinstein in 2015. . . .

A Kavvanah on Praying, Singing, and Listening to Torah Readings, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1942)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Mel Scult and Mordecai Kaplan

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Before the Aliyot

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Prayers for Praying, English vernacular prayer, 20th century C.E., Openers, 58th century A.M.

A prayer on praying, singing, and Torah learning by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan. . . .

בְּרִיךְ שְׁמֵהּ דְּמָרֵא עָלְמָא | B’rikh Shmeih d’Marei Alma (Bendito sea Tu nombre, Senyor del Mundo), Ladino translation from the siddur El Nuevo Avodat haShanah (1904)

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Yaaqov Mosheh Ḥai Altarats (translation) and Unknown Author(s)

Categories:

Before the Aliyot

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Aramaic, Ladino Translation, 13th century C.E., 51st century A.M., הוצאת ספר תורה Removal of the Torah from the Ark, Zoharic prayers

A Ladino translation of Brikh Shmei d’Marei Alma. . . .

Lord! When I Hear Thy Holy Law, a hymn on Divine Law by Penina Moïse (Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim 1842)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim (Charleston, South Carolina) and Penina Moïse

Categories:

Before the Aliyot

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hymns, התורה the Torah, ABAB rhyming scheme, 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, South Carolina

“Lord! when I hear Thy holy law,” by Penina Moïse, was published in 1842, and appears under the subject “Divine Law” as Hymn 17 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), pp. 21-22. . . .

Am Neujahrs⸗, am Versöhnungstage und am siebenten Tage des Laubhüttenfestes, wenn man Behufs der üblichen Vorlesungen die Gesetzrolle aus der heiligen Lade nimmt | On Rosh haShanah, Yom Kippur, and Hoshana Rabbah when one removes the Torah from the holy Ark, a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)

Contributor(s):

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

Categories:

Before the Aliyot, Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit), Yom Kippur, Hoshana Rabbah

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הוצאת ספר תורה Removal of the Torah from the Ark, 19th century C.E., תחינות teḥinot, 56th century A.M., Jewish Women's Prayers, German vernacular prayer, German Jewry

“Bei eben dieser Gelegenheit am Neujahrs⸗, am Versöhnungstage und am siebenten Tage des Laubhüttenfestes” 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 №19 on pp. 23-24. In the 1835 edition, it appears as teḥinah №19 on pp. 27-28. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №21 on pp. 30-31. . . .

בְּרִיךְ שְׁמֵהּ דְּמָרֵא עָלְמָא | B’rikh Shmeih d’Marei Alma | Wenn man die Gesetzrolle aus der heiligen Lade nimmt (paraliturgical adaptation by Yehoshua Heshil Miro, 1829)

Contributor(s):

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

Categories:

Before the Aliyot

Tags:

51st century A.M., הוצאת ספר תורה Removal of the Torah from the Ark, Zoharic prayers, 19th century C.E., Aramaic, paraliturgical brikh shmeih, תחינות teḥinot, 56th century A.M., Jewish Women's Prayers, German translation, German Jewry, 13th century C.E.

“Wenn man die Gesetzrolle aus der heiligen Lade nimmt” was translated/adapted from the prayer “Brikh Shmeih d’Marei Alma” (Zohar II 206a) by Yehoshua Heshil Miro and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaicher Religion. The translation appears in the 1829 edition, תחנות Teḥinot ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaicher Religion as teḥinah №15 on pp. 19-20. In the 1835 and 1842 editions, it also appears as teḥinah №15 on pp. 22-23. . . .

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)

Contributor(s):

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

Categories:

Before the Aliyot, Shavuot, Pesaḥ Yamei Ḥag, Sukkot, Shemini Atseret (and Simḥat Torah)

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הוצאת ספר תורה Removal of the Torah from the Ark, 19th century C.E., תחינות teḥinot, 56th century A.M., Jewish Women's Prayers, German vernacular prayer, German Jewry

“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. . . .

כתובה לחג השבועות | Ketubah for Shavuot, by Yisrael Najara (ca. 16th c.)

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Yisrael Najara

Categories:

Before the Aliyot, Shavuot

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54th century A.M., הוצאת ספר תורה Removal of the Torah from the Ark, theophany, Har Sinai, Mizraḥi Jewry, wedding, כתובה ketubbah, פיוטים piyyutim, 16th century C.E.

In many eastern Sephardic and Mizraḥi communities, there is a custom that a poetic “ketubah,” or marriage-contract, is recited before the Torah service on Shavuot. This custom, based on the midrashic idea that the Torah is the ketubah for the marriage between the bride Israel and the groom God, is beloved by the ḳabbalists. By far the most commonly used Shavuot ketubah is that of the great paytan and meḳubal Yisrael ben Moshe Najara, who wrote the following some time in the sixteenth century. This is a new translation of Najara’s poem. . . .

על הכל יתגדל ויתקדש | An Alternative Mourner’s Ḳaddish, from a prayer offered during the removal of the Torah from the Arōn (Seder Rav Amram Gaon)

Contributor(s):

Oren Steinitz and Unknown Author(s)

Categories:

Before the Aliyot, Mourning, Ḳaddish

Tags:

Jewish Renewal, Without a Minyan, 58th century A.M., ecoḥasid, הוצאת ספר תורה Removal of the Torah from the Ark, קדיש יתום Mourner's Ḳaddish, 20th century C.E., Nusaḥ Ha-Ari z"l, English Translation

This Kaddish was first published online at Jewish Renewal Chassidus by Gabbai Seth Fishman. Rabbi Oren Steinitz translated the kaddish on the 3rd yahrzeit after Reb Zalman’s passing. . . .