📄 Scaling the Walls of the Labyrinth: Psalms 67 and Ana b’Khoaḥ

Psalms 67 is a priestly blessing for all the peoples of the earth to be sustained by the earth’s harvest (yevulah), and it is a petition that all humanity recognize the divine nature (Elohim) illuminating the world. Composed of seven verses, the psalm is often visually depicted as a seven branched menorah. There are 49 words in the entire psalm, and in the Nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l there is one word for each day of the Sefirat haOmer. Similarly, the fifth verse has 49 letters and each letter can be used as a focal point for meditating on the meaning of the day in its week in the journey to Shavuot, the festival of weeks (the culmination of the barley harvest), and the festival of oaths (shevuot) in celebration of receiving the Torah. Many of the themes of Psalms 67 are repeated in the prayer Ana b’Koaḥ, which also has 49 words, and which are also used to focus on the meaning of each day on the cyclical and labyrinthine journey towards Shavuot. . . .

Tags: 42 letter divine name, a red ribbon, acrostic, אנא בכח Ana b'Khoaḥ, anxiety, barley, captives, cyclical, Divine name acrostic, first fruits, labyrinth, Psalms 67, Raḥav, shalmah, walled cities, wheat

Contributor(s): Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady

תהלים ס״ז | Psalms 67 (interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)

This English translation of Psalms 30 by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l, was first published in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). Versification by Aharon Varady. . . .

Categories: Tehilim Book 2 (Psalms 42–72)

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Binginot, devotional interpretation, English Translation, interpretive translation, למנציח Lamnatse'aḥ, מזמור Mizmor, תהלים Psalms, Psalms 67, שיר Shir

Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Unknown Author(s) and the Masoretic Text

תְּהִלִּים ס״ה | Psalms 65, a mizmor by David (trans. Aharon Varady after JPS 1917)

Psalms 65 with an English translation updated from the 1917 JPS Tanakh. . . .

Categories: Rosh haShanah la-Behemah, Tehilim Book 2 (Psalms 42–72)

Tags: English Translation, מזמור Mizmor, Psalms 65

Contributor(s): David ben Yishai (traditional attribution) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

תהלים ס׳ | Psalms 60 for the Fast of the Tenth of Tevet, translated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Psalms 60 in Hebrew with English translation by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer, presented for the fast of the Tenth of Tevet. . . .

Categories: Tehilim Book 2 (Psalms 42–72), Asarah b'Tevet

Tags: למנציח Lamnatse'aḥ, Mikhtam, Psalms 60

Contributor(s): the Masoretic Text, David ben Yishai (traditional attribution) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

תהלים מ״ח | Psalms 48, the psalm for Monday (translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included his translation of the Psalm of the Day for Monday (Psalms 48) in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). To the best of my ability, I have set his translation side-by-side with a transcription of the vocalized text of the Psalm. –Aharon N. Varady . . .

Categories: Tehilim Book 2 (Psalms 42–72), Monday, Psalm of the Day

Tags: English Translation, First Temple Period, interpretive translation, מזמור Mizmor, Monday, Psalm of the Day, תהלים Psalms, Psalms 48, שיר Shir, שיר של יום Shir Shel Yom

Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Bnei Qoraḥ and the Masoretic Text

תהלים מ״ז | (Psalms 47) Dieser Psalm wird siebenmal vor dem Schofer blasen wiederholt (translation by Yehoshua Heshil Miro, 1829)

“Dieser Psalm wird siebenmal vor dem Schofer blasen wiederholt (Psalm 47)” was translated/adapted by Yehoshua Heshil Miro and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaicher Religion. It first appears in the 1829 edition, תחנות Teḥinot ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaicher Religion as teḥinah №35 on p. 44. In the 1835 edition, it appears as teḥinah №31 on pp. 47-48. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №33 on pp. 50-51. . . .

Categories: Tehilim Book 2 (Psalms 42–72), Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit)

Tags: 19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., German Jewry, German vernacular prayer, Jewish Women's Prayers, למנציח Lamnatse'aḥ, מזמור Mizmor, Psalms 47, שופר shofar, shofar blowing, תשרי זמן Tishrei Zman

Contributor(s): Andreas Rusterholz (transcription), Yehoshua Heshil Miro, Bnei Qoraḥ and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "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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