This is an archive of exclusively modern resources preprared for use as special readings or recitations in commemoration of days in the Jewish calendar, as well as on civic days on civil calendars. Filter resources by Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
A passage from Rav Saadia Gaon’s Sefer haGalui providing a description and justification of the practice of cantillating works outside the TaNaKh (in the Geonic period!) Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Written by future founding father Benjamin Franklin in 1755, “A Parable Against Persecution,” also known as “the 51st Chapter [of Genesis],” is an example of what is often called ‘pseudo-biblicism,’ a trend from the 1740s to the mid-19th century of writing modern events in the already-archaic style of the King James Bible. More strictly, “A Parable Against Persecution” is an example of pseudepigrapha in that it is meant to be read as part of the book of Genesis, telling a story of Abraham facing a non-coreligionist, acting rashly, and learning a lesson about religious tolerance. Already in 1755 we can see Franklin’s radically liberal religious views. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The text of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America and its signatories in English, with a Yiddish translation published in 1954. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America, in English with Hebrew and Yiddish translations. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): In many Jewish communities around the world, there have been traditional scrolls read for “local Purims,” celebrating redemptions for a specific community. Here in America, we don’t really have an equivalent to that. But we do have Thanksgiving, a day heavily inspired by Biblical traditions of celebration, and one long associated with all that is good about America. Some Jewish communities have a tradition on Thanksgiving of reading Washington’s letter to the Jews of Newport, where he vows to support freedom of religion, famously writing that the United States “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance” – thus rephrasing words originally written in a prior letter by Moses Seixas (say-shas), the sexton of the Touro Synagogue in Newport. This text includes the original English of both Moses Seixas’ letter to Washington and Washington’s return, as well as a somewhat simplified version of the story of Washington’s visit to Newport. Inspired largely by the style of the Book of Esther, it could be read on Thanksgiving morning during the service, using Esther melodies (or going on detours as per personal choice). Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America, were first adopted in 1791. They were closely modeled on the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Declaration of Rights drafted by George Mason in May 1776. This translation, by Judah David Eisenstein was published in 1891. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This is De Rechten van den Menschen van den Burger (“The Rights of Man and of the Citizen” 1795) and its Hebrew translation, דברי הברית החקים והמשפטים אשר בין אדם לאדם (1798), upon the establishment of the Batavian Republic and the ensuing emancipation of Dutch Jewry in the Netherlands. The text of the Declaration, with nineteen articles, follows after the French Republic’s much expanded Déclaration des droits de l’Homme et du citoyen de 1793 written by Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles. (The French Declaration, ratified by popular vote in July 1793, was a revision of the initial Declaration from 1789 written by the commission that included Hérault de Séchelles and Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just during the period of the French Revolution.) Declarations such as these enshrined the liberal values of the Enlightenment which changed the situation and status of Jews under their aegis. Ultimately, these values were largely enshrined under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by member states of the nascent United Nations in 1945. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A megillah for a Purim Sheni commemorating a day of salvation the Jewry of the United States during the Civil War. Categories: Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Abraham Lincoln, American Jewry of the United States, Cesar Kaskel, Emancipation, General Order No. 11, י׳ג טבת Tevet 13, Ulysses Grant, United States, Slaveholders' Rebellion (1861-1865) Contributor(s): In honor of Juneteenth, the holiday of American liberation, this is a translation of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation into Biblical Hebrew. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The second inaugural address of President Abraham Lincoln in English with a cantillized Hebrew translation suitable for chanting. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, initially proposed by Congress on 13 June 1866 and adopted on 9 July 1868 was the second of three Reconstruction Amendments addressing citizenship rights and equal protection under the law. It was enacted in response to issues related to emancipated slaves following the failure of the Slaveholders’ Rebellion (1861-1865). Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The Nobel prize winning collection of “song-offerings” or Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore, in Bengali and English, translated to Hebrew by David Frischmann. Categories: Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Bengal, Bengali vernacular prayer, English Translation, English vernacular prayer, first person, Hebrew translation, Indian devotional poetry, modern hebrew poetry, Prayers as poems, William Rothenstein Contributor(s): This is a letter written by Rev. Jacob Gerstein in the form of a megillah to honor President Woodrow Wilson for his military support of France, thereby defeating Kaiser Wilhelm, Emperor of Germany, and ending World War Ⅰ. Rev. Gerstein notes the Hebrew/Jewish calendar date for the end of hostilities as 7 Kislev 5679 (11 November 1918). The letter was sent some time while Wilson was engaged in peace talks in France after the war, between 14 December 1918 and 28 June 1919. The English translation presented here is the one offered by the author of the megillah. The transcription here was made from a copy of the letter published for Armistice Day (11 November) 1921, לזכרון עולם (L’zikaron Olam ≈ “Everlasting Memorial”), מגילת נצחון (megilat nitsaḥon ≈ “Victory Scroll”). Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A megillah attesting to the terrible events of World War II from the vantage of North African Jewry in Casablanca. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The Preamble (followed by the first article of the first chapter) of the Charter of the United Nations from 1945 translated into Hebrew by the State of Israel in 1949. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English with its translations in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Jews have read sacred texts to commemorate miracles of redemption for a long time. Purim has Megilat Esther. Many communities read Megilat Antiochus or Megilat Yehudit for Ḥanukkah. But to many modern Jews, the most miraculous redemption in recent history was the founding of the state of Israel, as we commemorate on Yom ha-Atsma’ut. Like Purim, the story of the founding of Israel was entirely secular on a surface level, with no big showy miracles like a sea splitting or a mountain aflame. Like Ḥanukkah, a Jewish state in the Land of Israel won its independence against mighty forces allied in opposition. But we don’t have a megillah to read for Yom ha-Atsma’ut. Or do we? Just as Megillat Esther is said to be a letter written by Mordekhai to raise awareness of the events of Shushan, so too does the Israeli Scroll of Independence, Megilat ha-Atsma’ut, raise awareness of the events of the founding of the State of Israel. In this vein, I decided to create a cantillation system for Megilat ha-Atsma’ut. Ta’amei miqra were chosen attempting to follow Masoretic grammatical rules – since modern Hebrew has a different grammatical structure, the form is somewhat loose. Because of the thematic similarities to Purim, I chose Esther cantillation for the majority of the text. Just as some tragic lines in Esther are read in Eikhah cantillation, some lines regarding the Shoah or bearing grim portents for the wars to follow are to be sung in Eikhah cantillation. And the final phrases of chapters II and III are to be sung in the melody for the end of a book of the Ḥumash, or the Song of the Sea melody. They can be done in a call-and-response form, with the community reading and the reader repeating. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A declaration in 1993 by Rabbi Arthur Waskow in response to the impending danger of global warming and other ecotastrophes brought about by the callous harm of human industry and land use decisions. Translated from English to Hebrew by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. Cantillated English by Ḥazzan Jack Kessler. Cantillated Hebrew by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This is the Megillat ha-Shoah by Dr. Avigdor Shinan, with English translation by Rabbi Jules Harlow, as published in מגילת השואה The Shoah Scroll: A Holocaust Liturgy (2006), pp. 28-57. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): In Jewish tradition, on this very day of disaster Mashiaḥ (Messiah) was born, but hidden away till a generation would come that is ready to make peace and eco-social justice in the world. So this year, we offer this story of hope and redemption to be read by Jews and Muslims together on the fast day or for the evening break-fast when it ends. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): |
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