י״ט של ק״ק קארפינטראס לט״ו בחדש כסליו | Poetic Additions for 15 Kislev, for when a heavily armed group of gentiles didn’t commit mass slaughter in Carpentras (1512)

The Seder ha-Tamid, a Provençal (Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin) siddur published in Avignon in 1766, has liturgical additions for an amazing five different local festivals — one for Avignon, and two each for Carpentras and Cavaillon. Here’s a series of piyyutim for the fifteenth of Kislev in Carpentras. On 15 Kislev 5273 (24 November 1512 Julian), a troop of armed men entered the Jewish quarter in Carpentras. While we don’t know much else beyond that, we do know that this was a terrifying enough occurrence to the Jews of Carpentras that when the armed men left, a holiday was declared with multiple piyyutim and a full recitation of Hallel. . . .

Categories: Purim Sheni Readings

Tags: 16th century C.E., 54th century A.M., על הנסים al hanissim, Arba Kehillot, Carpentras, local communal deliverance commemorations, Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin, salvation, second Purims

Contributor(s): Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Unknown

עַל־הַנִּסִּים בְּ-כ״ח שְׁבָט | Al ha-Nissim for 28 Shəvat, for the fortunate rescue of a wanderer in the area of the synagogue in Avignon (1766)

The Seder ha-Tamid, a Provençal (Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin) siddur published in Avignon in 1766, has liturgical additions for an amazing five different local festivals — one for Avignon, and two each for Carpentras and Cavaillon. I’m working on transcribing all of these, but to start, here’s an Al haNissim for the twenty-eighth of Shvat in Avignon. Written in rhymed prose, this text tells the story of a gentile who fell headfirst down a deep well near the synagogue, but successfully managed to flip himself over and wedged his feet in the walls. Even more miraculously, afterwards he declared that it was his own fault he fell in the pit! The Jews of the Comtat, an area under direct papal control at the time, were well aware of the tenuousness of their position, and were the man a talebearer then they could have faced a pogrom or exile. . . .

Categories: Purim Sheni Readings

Tags: 18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., על הנסים al hanissim, Arba Kehillot, Avignon, local communal deliverance commemorations, Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin, salvation, second Purims

Contributor(s): Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Unknown

🆕 יום טוב של קהל קדוש קארפינטראס ל״ט בחדש ניסן | Poetic Additions for 9 Nisan, for when guards protected the Jews of Carpentras from an attempted pogrom — by Rabbi Mordecai Astruc (1682)

The Seder ha-Tamid, a Provençal (Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin) siddur published in Avignon in 1766, has liturgical additions for an amazing five different local festivals — one for Avignon, and two each for Carpentras and Cavaillon. Here’s a series of piyyutim for the ninth of Nisan in Carpentras. On 9 Nisan 5442 (17 April 1682), the gentile murderer of a Jew from Carpentras was drowned according to law. A mob began to form to attack the Jews for deigning to not be murdered. The rector of the comtat, Michele Antonio Vibò, decided to send guards to protect the Jews from the mob. This decision was celebrated by the Jews with multiple piyyuṭim and a full recitation of Hallel. Uniquely for the minor Purims analyzed in the Seder ha-Tamid so far, we know the author of one of these piyyutim, a sage and payṭan by the name of R. Mordecai Astruc! . . .

Categories: Purim Sheni Readings

Tags: 17th century C.E., 55th century A.M., על הנסים al hanissim, Arba Kehillot, Carpentras, local communal deliverance commemorations, Nusaḥ Comtat Venaissin, salvation, second Purims

Contributor(s): Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Unknown and Mordecai Astruc