 |
Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Jacques Faïtlovitch (translation) and Unknown Author(s)
|
Categories: |
Second Temple Period, Sheva b'Adar Readings
|
Tags: |
mourning, English Translation, Mosheh Rabbenu, Hebrew translation, cemetery prayers, Beta Esrael, Ethiopian Jewry, parabiblical aggadah, Mäṣḥäf Ḳədus
|
|
The text of the Betä ʾƎsəraʾel legend of the death of Moses, translated to Hebrew by Jacques Faïtlovitch, and vocalized, cantillated, and translated into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . . |
|
 |
Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut)
|
Categories: |
Second Temple Period
|
Tags: |
Antiquity, reconstructed text, apocryphal psalms, pseudepigrapha, Syriac, Psalms 152, Psalms 153
|
|
Unlike Psalms 151, 154, and 155, the apocryphal psalms 152 and 153 were not found in the Judean Desert scrolls, but only in the Syriac psalter. It is thus somewhat uncertain if they were actually ever written in Hebrew or in Aramaic. But their language and content is in keeping with other late apocryphal psalms, so it seems very possible that they were of Hebrew origin. These reconstructed Hebrew texts are largely based on the work of Professor Emeritus Herrie (H. F.) van Rooy,[1] an expert in the Syriac psalter, also factoring in some input from the work of J. A. Sanders.[2] Psalms 152 and 153 are included together here because they are framed by the ascriptions as a pair — the former being David’s prayer before going against the wild beasts (see I Samuel 17:34-36), and the latter being David’s thanksgiving afterwards . . . |
|
 |
Contributor(s): |
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Jospeh Ziegler (translation), Septuagint (translation/Greek) and Barukh ben Neriyah
|
Categories: |
Second Temple Period
|
Tags: |
שבת נחמו Shabbat Naḥamu, 2nd century B.C.E., early Judaism, 37th century A.M., Classical Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, exile, wisdom
|
|
The poetic portion of the deuterocanonical work, Barukh, in Greek with English translation. . . . |
|
 |
Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira
|
Categories: |
Second Temple Period
|
Tags: |
acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, 2nd century B.C.E., 36th century A.M., Classical Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, Ecclesiasticus, Jews of Alexandria, Cairo Geniza, reconstructed text, Dead Sea Scrolls
|
|
The end of the scroll of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus) reconstructed from Cairo Geniza fragments not contained within the Septuagint. . . . |
|
 |
Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Mordecai Kaplan and Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira
|
Categories: |
Second Temple Period, Rosh Ḥodesh Readings
|
Tags: |
hymns of creation, Openers, 2nd century B.C.E., 36th century A.M., Classical Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, Ecclesiasticus, Jews of Alexandria
|
|
Ecclesiasticus (ben Sira) 42:21-43:31 is presented as “God the Lord of Nature” in The Sabbath Prayer Book of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (The Reconstructionist Foundation 1945), p. 376-372 in the Supplements subsection, “God in Nature.” The text of Ben Sira used here differs in places found in other manuscripts. . . . |
|
 |
Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira
|
Categories: |
Second Temple Period, Yom Kippur
|
Tags: |
2nd century B.C.E., 36th century A.M., Classical Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, Ecclesiasticus, Jews of Alexandria, Cairo Geniza, Mar'eh Kohen
|
|
The poem lauding the ancestors from Chapters 44 to 50 of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus) is considered by many scholars to be the original influence for the Yom Kippur Avodah service, and the paean to Shimon the Righteous bears a striking similarity to the beloved piyyut “Mar’eh Khohen.” This passage from Ben Sira, the great paean on the merit of the ancestors, takes the Hebrew text of one of the Cairo Geniza manuscripts — Bodleian MS Heb e62 — and versifies it according to the standard Septuagintal text, along with vocalization and cantillation per the standard Masoretic EMe”T system for poetic books. It could be read on Yom Kippur for the avodah service, or just studied as a fascinating piece of Jewish history. . . . |
|
 |
Contributor(s): |
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Theodotion (translation/Greek) and Unknown Author(s)
|
Categories: |
Second Temple Period
|
Tags: |
anti-predatory, Antiquity, captives, deuterocanonical works, Jewish Antiquities, dragons, iconoclastic, the Pit, captive animals, קפיצת הדרך ḳfitsat haderekh
|
|
The story of Bel and the Dragon according to the text of Theodotion, translated into biblical Hebrew. . . . |
|
 |
Contributor(s): |
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Moses Gaster (translation), Yeraḥmiel ben Shlomo and Unknown Author(s)
|
Categories: |
Second Temple Period
|
Tags: |
anti-predatory, Antiquity, captives, deuterocanonical works, Jewish Antiquities, dragons, iconoclastic, the Pit, captive animals, קפיצת הדרך ḳfitsat haderekh, חבקוק Ḥabaquq
|
|
The story of Daniel and the dragon held captive by the neo-Babylonians found in Aramaic in the Divrei Yeraḥmiel (the Chronicles of Jeraḥmeel, Oxford Bodleian Heb d.11). . . . |
|
 |
Contributor(s): |
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown Author(s) and Jason of Cyrene
|
Categories: |
Second Temple Period, Megillot, Yom Niqanor Readings
|
Tags: |
military, ארץ ישראל Erets Yisrael, 2nd century B.C.E., 37th century A.M.
|
|
It is challenging to think of how to mark Nicanor Day, as it remains at a disadvantage, not only on years when it conflicts with Ta’anit Esther but on all years since it has no mitzvot. This is probably the main reason that, unlike Chanukah and Purim, it was lost to Jewish practice for more than a thousand years. Nevertheless, we do have its megillah, which has been translated into Hebrew and English. Perhaps, if we start reading chapters 13-15 of 2 Maccabees, even just to ourselves, on the 13 of Adar, we can begin to resurrect a holiday that was celebrated and instituted by Judah Maccabee and his followers over two millennia ago, and which they envisioned would continue throughout Jewish History. With the return of Jews to Israel and Jewish sovereignty to Jerusalem, I believe it is about time. . . . |
|
 |
Contributor(s): |
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Jason of Cyrene and Unknown Author(s)
|
Categories: |
Second Temple Period, Ḥanukkah Readings
|
Tags: |
kindling, Angels, Maccabees, combating anti-Jewish oppression, 2nd century B.C.E., 37th century A.M., Classical Antiquity, המזבח the Mizbe'aḥ, prayers for dedications and commissioning, Maccabean Revolt, נר תמיד ner tamid
|
|
Selections from 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, and Pesiqta Rabbati which inform the story of Ḥanukkah: the desecration and re-dedication of the Temple (especially as it relates to Sukkot and the Brumalia), divine intervention in the Maccabean battles, and the Rekindling of the Sacred Fire. . . . |
|
 |
Contributor(s): |
Unknown Author(s)
|
Categories: |
Second Temple Period, Shavuot Readings
|
Tags: |
anti-predatory, pre-rabbinic judaism, 2nd century B.C.E., 36th century A.M., mytho-historical chronicles, early Judaism, deuterocanonical works, יובל Yovel Jubilee, Ethiopian Jewry, parabiblical aggadah, Mäṣḥäf Ḳədus
|
|
We are grateful to Dr. James VanderKam for preparing this critical text of the Book of Jubilees (Sefer Yubalim) in its Ge’ez translation in Ethiopic script. The book of Jubilees is an early Jewish deutero-canonical text originally written in Hebrew and composed during the Second Temple period sometime before the Maccabean struggle (164 BCE). . . . |
|
|