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.

Categories:

Second Temple Period, Rosh Ḥodesh Readings

Tags:

2nd century B.C.E., 36th century A.M., Classical Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, Ecclesiasticus, hymns of creation, Jews of Alexandria, Openers

Contributor(s):

Mordecai Kaplan, Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira, Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

Σουσαννα | שׁוֹשַׁנָּה וְהַזְּקֵנִים | Shoshanah & the Elders, according to Theodotion translated and cantillated in Masoretic Hebrew by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

The story of Shoshanah & the Elders, according to the text of Theodotion translated into Biblical Hebrew.

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

anti-predatory, Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, Jewish Antiquities, sexual predation

Contributor(s):

Theodotion (translation/Greek), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

Βηλ Και Δρακων | בֵּל וְהַתַּנִּין | Bel & the Dragon, according to Theodotion translated and cantillated in Masoretic Hebrew by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

The story of Bel and the Dragon according to the text of Theodotion, translated into biblical Hebrew.

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

anti-predatory, Antiquity, captive animals, captives, deuterocanonical works, dragons, חבקוק Ḥabaquq, iconoclastic, Jewish Antiquities, קפיצת הדרך ḳfitsat haderekh, the Pit

Contributor(s):

Theodotion (translation/Greek), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

Selections from 1 & 2 Maccabees and Pesiqta Rabbati on the Desecration and Rededication of the Temple and the Rekindling of the Sacred Fire

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.

Categories:

Second Temple Period, Ḥanukkah Readings

Tags:

2nd century B.C.E., 37th century A.M., Angels, Classical Antiquity, combating anti-Jewish oppression, dedications and consecrations, kindling, Maccabean Revolt, המקבים Maccabees, military, נר תמיד ner tamid, המזבח the Mizbe'aḥ

Contributor(s):

Jason of Cyrene, Septuagint/ⅬⅩⅩ (translation), Unknown and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Βαροὺχ | Sefer Barukh (3:9-5:8), a poem of wisdom in exile and its ultimate liberation

The poetic portion of the deuterocanonical work, Barukh, in Greek with English translation.

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

2nd century B.C.E., 37th century A.M., Classical Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, early Judaism, exile, שבת נחמו Shabbat Naḥamu, wisdom

Contributor(s):

Jospeh Ziegler (translation), Septuagint/ⅬⅩⅩ (translation), Barukh ben Neriyah and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

ספר ברוך | Sefer Barukh (1:1-3:8), from the Reconstructed Hebrew Vorlage by Prof. Emmanuel Tov, vocalized and cantillated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

The book of Barukh (also, Baruch and Barouch) in its reconstructed Hebrew vorlage from verse 1:1 till 3:8.

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

2nd century B.C.E., 37th century A.M., Classical Antiquity, deuterocanonical works, early Judaism

Contributor(s):

Jospeh Ziegler (translation), Emmanuel Tov (Hebrew reconstruction), Septuagint/ⅬⅩⅩ (translation), Barukh ben Neriyah, Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

💬 מגילת ניקנור | Megillat Niqanor (Ⅱ Maccabees, chapters 13-15), a reading for the Day of the Elephantarch

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.

Categories:

Second Temple Period, Extracanonical Megillot, Yom Niqanor Readings

Tags:

2nd century B.C.E., 37th century A.M., ארץ ישראל Erets Yisrael, המקבים Maccabees, military

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Seckel Isaac Fränkel (translation), Unknown and Jason of Cyrene

אָבִינוּ יִתְקַדֵּשׁ | Avinu Yitqadesh, a rabbinic Hebrew translation of the Lord’s Prayer by Shem Tov ibn Shaprut (14th c.)

A rabbinic Hebrew translation of the “Lord’s Prayer.”

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

1st century C.E., 38th century A.M., Classical Antiquity, התבודדות hitbodedut, Lord's Prayer, Needing Vocalization

Contributor(s):

Shem Tov ibn Shaprut (translation), Mattai ben Alphaeus haLevi and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Ὑμνεῖν με δεῖ τὸν θεόν | “I Must Praise God,” excerpted from the Discourses of Epictetus

A short discourse on the necessity for prayer by the Stoic philosopher, Epictetus.

Categories:

Second Temple Period, Pedagogical Essays on Jewish Prayer

Tags:

1st century C.E., 39th century A.M., Antiquity, Stoicism

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Morrison David Bial and Epictetus the Stoic

The Story of Gedalyah, as told by Titus Flavius Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews

The story of Gedaliah as recorded by Josephus in his Jewish Antiquities.

Categories:

Second Temple Period, Tsom Gedalyah Readings

Tags:

1st century C.E., 39th century A.M., assassination, Jewish Antiquities

Contributor(s):

Ralph Marcus (translation), Titus Flavius Josephus and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

💬 דָּנִיֵּאל וְהַתַּנִּין | Daniel vs. the Dragon, according to the Judeo-Aramaic text found in Divrei Yeraḥmiel, vocalized and cantillated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Daniel’s battle with the Dragon, one of the apocryphal Additions to Daniel, is affixed to the end of the book in the Septuagint. The editor has here included a new vocalized and cantillated edition of the Aramaic text preserved in the 12th century Divrei Yeraḥmiel (Oxford Bodleian Heb d.11 transcribed by Rabbi Dr. Moses Gaster). The language of this passage is an odd synthesis of Targumic, pseudo-Biblical Aramaic, and even some Syriac forms, so the editor’s vocalization is aiming for a happy medium of all the possibilities. (In several locations Divrei Yeraḥmiel uses incorrect Hebrew-specific forms, probably due to scribal error. These are here marked as a qere-ketiv split.)

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

anti-predatory, Antiquity, Aramaic, captive animals, captives, deuterocanonical works, dragons, חבקוק Ḥabaquq, iconoclastic, Jewish Antiquities, קפיצת הדרך ḳfitsat haderekh, the Pit

Contributor(s):

Moses Gaster, Yeraḥmiel ben Shlomo, Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

דָּנִיֵּאל וְהַתַּנִּין | Daniel vs. the Dragon, according to the Aramaic text of Divrei Yeraḥmiel (ca. 12th c.)

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).

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

anti-predatory, Antiquity, Aramaic, captive animals, captives, deuterocanonical works, dragons, חבקוק Ḥabaquq, iconoclastic, Jewish Antiquities, קפיצת הדרך ḳfitsat haderekh, the Pit

Contributor(s):

Moses Gaster, Yeraḥmiel ben Shlomo, Unknown and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

תפילת עזריה חנניה ומישאל בתוך הכבשן | The Prayer of Azaryah, Ḥananyah, and Mishael from within the Furnace, according to the Aramaic text of Divrei Yeraḥmiel (ca. 12th c.)

The prayer of Azaryah and his song of praise with Ḥananyah, and Mishael from within the Furnace (also known as “the song of the three holy children”) found in Aramaic in the Divrei Yeraḥmiel (the Chronicles of Jeraḥmeel, Oxford Bodleian Heb d.11).

Categories:

Second Temple Period

Tags:

Aramaic, Daniel, deuterocanonical works, martyrdom

Contributor(s):

Moses Gaster, Yeraḥmiel ben Shlomo, Unknown and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=3404

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Dirk van Santen and the Keur Bible New Insights into Jacob Judah (Arye) Leon Templo's Model Temple, p. 9

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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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