 Contributor(s): The piyyut and popular shabbat table song, Ki Eshmera Shabbat, in Hebrew with a rhyming translation. . . . Contributor(s): A rhyming translation of the pizmon for maariv on Yom Kippur. . . . Contributor(s): This translation of “Ki Eshmera Shabbat” by Rabbi David Aaron de Sola of a piyyut by Avraham ibn Ezra was first published in his Ancient Melodies of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (1857). . . . Contributor(s): This translation by Rabbi David Aaron de Sola of “Elohim Yisadenu” by a paytan named Avraham (possibly Avraham ibn Ezra) was first published in his Ancient Melodies of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (1857). . . . Contributor(s): “Zweites Gebet vor Neïla” is an abridged, adapted translation by Yehoshua Heshil Miro of the piyyut by Yehudah haLevi “Barkhi Nafshi et Adonai.” There are seven stanzas missing near the end including the final stanza and a portion of the penultimate stanza. The translation was published in Miro’s anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaicher Religion. It first appears in the 1835 edition, as teḥinah №48 pp. 83-85. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №50 on pp. 86-90. . . . Contributor(s): Aish Tukad is a ḳinah for Tishah b’Av, usually recited towards the conclusion of the set of dirges for the morning service (in Goldshmidt’s numbering, it is number 32 of our 46 Kinot). According to Goldshmidt’s introduction, the structure of this Piyyut is based on a Midrash in Eicha Zuta 19, where Moses’ praises for God and Israel are seen as parallel to Jeremiah’s laments, thus creating the concept of a comparison between the joy of the Exodus and the pain of the Temple’s destruction. . . . Contributor(s): A “praying translation” of the piyyut, Anim Zemirot. . . . Contributor(s): A translation of the piyyut, Anim Zemirot. . . . Contributor(s): This an an untitled piyyut by Eleazer of Worms, eulogizing his beloved wife Dulcea (Heb: דולצא, also, Dulcia and Dolce). The Hebrew text is derived from the transcription offered by Israel Kamelhar inRabbenu Eleazar mi-Germaiza, ha-Roqeah (Rzeazow, 1930), pp. 17-19. The translation and annotation come from Dr. Ivan G. Marcus from his article, “Mothers, Martyrs, and Moneymakers: Some Jewish Women in Medieval Europe” in Conservative Judaism, vol. 38(3), Spring 1986. . . . Contributor(s): This seliḥah poem, written by R. Joseph of Chartres, commemorates the martyrdom of approximately 150 Jews in Clifford’s Tower, York, England, in the year 1190. A summary of the events of 1190, sometimes referred to as “the English Masada,” can be found here. Like many medieval Jewish poems about massacres, Elohim B’alunu carefully treads the line between assuming guilt and declaring innocence. This poem, interestingly enough, directly calls out the person seen by R. Joseph of Chartres as ultimately responsible — the crusader King Richard Ⅰ. Beloved in Christian memory, this radical zealot of a king has a much darker, more horrific reputation among Jewish and Muslim groups. . . . Contributor(s): A medieval manuscript illustration of the aggadah that the Yam Suf was split in 12 discrete channels, one for each tribe, as reflected above by a 12-color rainbow . . . Contributor(s): Some Jewish communities, especially those in the region of the Four Lands, have a custom of fasting on the 20th of Sivan. This day has a full seliḥot service, commemorating a series of horrors that occurred on that day, most prominently the Chmielnicki (Khmielnetsky) massacres of 1648-49. But this poem was written for another horrific occurrence on 20 Sivan, the blood libel of Blois in 1171. This was the first time the accusation of ritual murder was ever made against the Jews of France, but it wasn’t the last. This seliḥah poem, written by Hillel ben Jacob of Bonn, starts with the dramatic accusation that God has abandoned the people Israel, continuing by listing those who died in myriad horrid ways, and ending with several citations from the apocalyptic final chapter of the book of Joel. . . . Contributor(s): A pizmon recited on the Fast of Tevet in the tradition of nusaḥ Ashkenaz. . . . Contributor(s): This pizmon was written by R. Shmuel ben Moshe Ha-Dayan of Aram Ṣoba (ca. 1150-1200) an Aleppine payṭan whose works were almost completely lost before being rediscovered in the Maḥzor Aram Ṣoba. It emphasizes the uneasy juxtaposition of the joy of Simḥat Torah with the tragedy of Moshe’s death. Originally it was probably recited before musaf, but perhaps for those who follow Ashkenazi customs a more appropriate location would be as an introduction to the Yizkor service on Shemini ‘Atseret — which for those who don’t keep second-day yontef is the same day. . . . Contributor(s): The haftarah for the second day of Shavuot, Ḥabakkuk 2:20-3:19, interspersed with a cantillated text of the Targum Yonatan ben Uzziel. Since Targum Yonatan is a bit more drash-heavy than Targum Onkelos, it is translated separately as well. The haftarah reading includes the piyyut Yetsiv Pitgam, with an acrostic rhyming translation of the poem, with the second-to-last verse restored to its rightful place, as well as a concluding paragraph for the meturgeman to recite, as found in the Maḥzor Vitry. . . . Contributor(s): A poetic introduction to the Azharot of Solomon ibn Gabirol read in the afternoon of Shavuot by Sefaradim. . . . Contributor(s): This 12th century Yemenite liturgical poem for Tu b’Av is based on the Babylonian Talmud Taanit 30b-31a. . . . Contributor(s): This translation of Tsam’ah Nafshi was made by Avi Shmidman and Tzvi Novick, and first published by the Az Yashir Moshe Project birkon (2009), p. 56-57. . . . Contributor(s): An interpretive translation of a piyyut composed as an introduction to the prayer Nishmat Kol Ḥai. . . . Contributor(s): A medieval Jewish poem on the game of Chess by Avraham ibn Ezra.. . . . Contributor(s): The piyyut, Agadelkha, in Hebrew with an English translation. . . . Contributor(s): “Oy Meh Haya Lanu” is a ḳinah traditionally recited on the night of Tisha b’Av directly after the reading of Eikha. According to the Koren Mesorat HaRav Kinot, it is number 1 of 50. The title is the refrain of the poem, a reflective lament. This ḳinah is based on the fifth and final chapter of Eikha, taking the opening phrase of each line of the megillah as the first line of each couplet and poetically expanding the description for the second. This translation is an attempt to convey the vulgarity and horror of the paytan’s depiction of the destroyed Jerusalem in vernacular English. The ḳinah ends just as the megillah ends, with the four verses of pleas for redemption. . . . Contributor(s): A popular piyyut for all occasions by Avraham ibn Ezra. . . . Contributor(s): “Avnei Y’qar” is a succint piyyut for Ḥanukkah, traditionally attributed to R. Abraham ibn Ezra, and particularly beloved by the Yemenites. Interestingly, it doesn’t mention the miracle of the oil whatsoever, focusing on the degradation of the land under Greek occupation as well as the Hasmonean victory itself. Included is a poetic acrostic translation into English. . . . Contributor(s): A poem on how to play chess, one of the oldest historical descriptions of the game of Chess, by Avraham ibn Ezra (12th century) . . . Contributor(s): This is the piyyut, עֵת שַׁעֲרֵי רָצוֹן (Eit Shaarei Ratson) by Rabbi Yehuda ben Shmuel ibn Abbas (12th century Aleppo, Syria (born in Fez, Morocco)). The English translation presented here is by Rabbi Stephen Belsky. . . . Contributor(s): A rhyming English translation of the piyyut Adonai Negdekha kol Ta’avati. . . . Contributor(s): “Roshei am et hitasef umlekhim b’sodam” by Yehuda Halevi was translated by Herman Prins Salomon in “Yehuda Halevi and his ‘Cid’” and published in The American Sepharadi (1978), pp. 22-46. . . . Contributor(s): A piyyut that expresses the paradox of a divinity that is both “Beyond” and “Present.” . . . Contributor(s): The physician’s prayer of Rabbi Dr. Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi in the 12th century CE. . . . Contributor(s): This piyyut, attributed to Menaḥem ben Aharon, is found in the Maḥzor Vitry, siman 465. It is a note-for-note structural parody of a beloved Pesaḥ maarava poem, Leil Shimurim. Israel Davidson, in his 1907 work “Parody in Jewish Literature,” writes, “The parodist apparently has no other aim than to dress a wine-song in the garb of a religious hymn. The burden of the song is that on Purim one must throw of all care and anxiety… But in order to make our happiness complete, we must remember the needy, and share our luxuries with those that are in want of them.” . . . |
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