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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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| Shared on: |
י״ד במרחשון ה׳תשפ״ב (2021-10-19)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
 Kristallnacht (16 Marḥeshvan), Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27), Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust
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| Tags: |
 פיוטים piyyutim, קינות Ḳinnot, השואה the Shoah, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Alphabetic Acrostic, Third Reich, acronym
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
There’s a lot of controversy over Yom haShoah as a date. One of the key issues is this: traditionally, the ways Jews mourn communal tragedies is through establishing a fast day. It’s forbidden to fast during the month of Nisan. It’s hard to pick any specific date to commemorate a tragedy as enormous as the Shoah, but one which seems appropriate to me would be 16 Marḥeshvan, the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the November Pogrom. This piyyut is a seliḥah for Kristallnacht, to be recited on 16 Marḥeshvan (or 15 Marḥeshvan on years like 5782 where the sixteenth falls on a Thursday). . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut)
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| Shared on: |
י״ז בתשרי ה׳תשפ״ב (2021-09-23)
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| Terms: |
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| Categories: |
Melakhim (Kings), π Day Readings, Shemini Atseret & Simḥat Torah Readings
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| Tags: |
3.14159..., Aramaic, circle drawing, π day, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Mathematics, Aramaic translation, רשות reshut
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
Shmini Atseret is a strange festival. In some ways part of Sukkot, in some ways its own thing, it occupies an equivocal place in the yearly cycle. But one thing that is completely true: Shmini Atseret is on Pi Day. Well, Pi Approximation Day — the twenty-second day of the seventh month. Inspired by my friend and math enthusiast Aryeh Baruch (may he have a long life), I’ve compiled this altered form of the haftarah for Shmini Atseret in the diaspora, including the description of King Solomon’s “molten sea,” as well as an Aramaic “reshut” poem with a numeral acrostic of the first few digits of pi. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
David Seidenberg and neohasid.org
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| Shared on: |
ז׳ בשבט ה׳תשפ״א (2021-01-19)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Government & Country, Inauguration Day (January 20th)
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| Tags: |
United States, תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., כוונות kavvanot, American Jewry of the United States, 46th President of the United States, 59th Presidential Inauguration, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, 117th Congress
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
A prayer for the government of the United States of America on the day of the 59th Presidential Inauguration. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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| Shared on: |
ו׳ באלול ה׳תשפ״א (2021-08-14)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Blessings After Eating, Sigd Festival Prayers
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| Tags: |
acrostic, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Alphabetic Acrostic, Break Fasts, Beta Esrael, Ethiopian Jewry, ברכת המזון birkat hamazon
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
This is a poetic Birkat haMazon, similar to those found in the Cairo Geniza, intended for this specific break-fast meal. The editor has included the text in Hebrew, English, and an attempted Liturgical Ge’ez translation. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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| Shared on: |
כ״ב בתמוז ה׳תשפ״א (2021-07-02)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Motsei Shabbat
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| Tags: |
זמירות zemirot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Psychopomp, הבדלות havdalot, Seraḥ bat Asher
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
Some communities have a practice of singing a song about Miriam alongside the well-known Havdalah song about Elijah the Prophet. But Miriam isn’t really a parallel to Elijah — she’s a parallel to Moshe and Aaron. When we’re talking about distaff counterparts to Elijah the clearest example is Seraḥ bat Asher. Seraḥ, the daughter of Asher, is mentioned only a handful of times in the Tanakh, but is given great significance in the midrash. Like Elijah, she is said to have never died but entered Paradise alive, and comes around to the rabbis to give advice or teachings. This song, which includes several references to midrashim about Seraḥ, is meant to be sung to any traditional tune of “Eliyahu haNavi.” It is dedicated to Ḥazzan Joanna Selznick Dulkin (shlit”a), who introduced me to the legends of Seraḥ bat Asher. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Brant Rosen and Congregation Tzedek Chicago
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| Shared on: |
ג׳ בתמוז ה׳תשפ״א (2021-06-13)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Well-being, health, and caregiving, Social Justice, Peace, and Liberty
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| Tags: |
United States, health, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
A contemporary Jewish prayer for healng, used at congregation Tzedek Chicago. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Shelby Handler
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| Shared on: |
י״ב בכסלו ה׳תשע״ח (2017-11-29)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Separation, Motsei Shabbat
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| Tags: |
blessings, ברכות brakhot, North America, 21st century C.E., Adamah Farm, 58th century A.M., Prayers as poems, English vernacular prayer, הבדלות havdalot
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
The Blessing over Separations was first read by Shelby Handler on Rosh Ḥodesh Kislev at the 2017 ADVA Reunion, a reunion of the community of Adamah Farm fellows and Teva Learning Center educators at Isabella Freedman Retreat Center. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Chaya Kaplan-Lester
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| Shared on: |
י״א בטבת ה׳תשע״ב (2012-01-05)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Erev Shabbat, Erev Pesaḥ, Shavuot, Sukkot, Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit), Yom Kippur, 7th Day of Pesaḥ
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| Tags: |
Light, potential, fire, kindling, entering, welcoming, candle lighting, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., כוונות kavvanot, English poetry, Prayers as poems, English vernacular prayer
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
Please God Let me light More than flame tonight. More than wax and wick and sliver stick of wood. More than shallow stream of words recited from a pocket book. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Rabbi Jill Hammer, Ph.D.
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| Shared on: |
כ״ט בטבת ה׳תשע״ו (2016-01-10)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
the Wet Season (Fall & Winter), Shemini Atseret (and Simḥat Torah)
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| Tags: |
North America, פיוטים piyyutim, Imahot, Matriarchs, Rain, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Prayers for Precipitation, גשם geshem
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
The time of Sukkot is a time of fullness and generosity, but also a time to pray for the coming season. Shemini Atzeret, the festival when we pray for rain, is an expression of our need for water, which in the Jewish tradition symbolizes life, renewal, and deliverance. Tefillat Geshem, a graceful fixture of the Ashkenazic liturgy, invokes the patriarchs as exemplars of holiness and model recipients of God’s love. This prayer uses water as a metaphor for devotion and faith, asking that God grant us life-sustaining rain. While its authorship is unknown, it is sometimes attributed to Elazar Kallir, the great liturgist who lived sometime during the first millenium. Each year, we are reminded of our people’s connection to the patriarchs and to the rhythms of water, spiritual and physical sources of life, through this medieval piyyut. While we know that rain is a natural process, formal thanksgiving for water as a source of life, energy, and beauty reminds us that our Creator is the source of our physical world and its many wonders. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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| Shared on: |
י״א בסיון ה׳תשפ״א (2021-05-22)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
the Dry Season (Spring & Summer), Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System
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| Tags: |
insects, crawling things, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Periodical cicadas, Brood X
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
There are blessings for beautiful vistas, and there are blessings for powerful weather. But is there a blessing for giant swarms of bugs? Certainly! There just wasn’t a kavvanah for it… yet. Inspired by the appearance of Brood X in May 2021, this is a meditation and blessing for the unique experience of seeing an enormous number of non-dangerous insects. Cicadas are NOT a plague — they don’t eat crops or spread disease, but they do help revitalize the soil and keep forest ecosystems healthy. As a natural part of the universal order, we should work to see the divinity and goodness in them, even if we might normally think of them as gross. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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| Shared on: |
י״ב בתשרי ה׳תשע״ט (2018-09-21)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
During the Aliyot
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| Tags: |
פיוטים piyyutim, תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Parashat Bereshit, Parashat Shemot, Parashat Bamidbar, Parashat Devarim, Parashat Vayiqra
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
These are piyyutim written in a traditional style, meant to introduce the opening of each book in the Torah. These piyyutim can be used at any time the opening line of the reading is said – on the Shabbat Minḥa/Monday/Thursday prior to the reading OR on the Shabbat morning of the reading proper. Because of this, the sheets arranged including the readings use two sizes – a larger size for the shorter first reading for weekdays, and a smaller size for the full first reading on Shabbatot. They can only be read when the first verse of the book is read. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
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| Shared on: |
ח׳ בניסן ה׳תשע״א (2011-04-12)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Magid
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| Tags: |
Freedom, North America, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., haggadah supplements, צדק צדק תרדוף tsedeq tsedeq tirdof
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
We are hereby ready to fulfill our obligation of K’vod Habriot, respect for the dignity of every human being. We pray that our fellow citizens shall not be the source of suffering in others. We commit ourselves to raise our voices in support of universal human rights, to know the heart of the stranger, and to feel compassion for those whose humanity is denied. May our compassion lead us to fight for justice. Blessed is the Source of Life, who redeemed our ancestors from Egypt and brought us together this night of Passover to tell the story of freedom. May God bring us security and peace, enabling us to celebrate together year after year. Praised are you, Source of Righteousness, who redeems the world and loves justice and freedom. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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| Shared on: |
ט׳ בניסן ה׳תשע״ט (2019-04-14)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Symbolic Foods, Seder l'Pesaḥ
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symbolic foods, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., סגולות segulot, סימנים simanim, haggadah supplements, cup of miriam, leeks, beets, miriam's fish, oranges, turnip peels, Maxwell House coffee
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
A Passover seder supplement containing seven additional symbolic foods and their associated ritual presentations, along with their collective organization on a second seder plate. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Daniel Raphael Silverstein and Applied Jewish Spirituality
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| Shared on: |
ז׳ בניסן ה׳תשע״ט (2019-04-12)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Erev Pesaḥ, Magid, Roleplaying
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| Tags: |
21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., haggadah supplements, Yetsiat Mitsrayim, liberation from mitsrayim, scripts, guided meditations
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
A meditation which can be used to prepare for Pesaḥ, or for sharing at the Seder, to deepen the experience of liberation for yourself and others. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Rachel Grant Meyer, Marisa Elana James and HIAS
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| Shared on: |
א׳ באב ה׳תשע״ח (2018-07-13)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Modern Miscellany, Tishah b'Av Readings
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| Tags: |
21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Alphabetic Acrostic, Cantillized readings in English, Immigration policy of Donald Trump, Trump administration family separation policy
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
As we prepare to observe Tishah b’Av and commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem that led to the exile of the Jewish people for centuries to come, we are acutely aware that we find ourselves in the midst of the worst refugee crisis in recorded history, with more than 68 million people displaced worldwide. Given these extraordinary numbers, the continued attacks on asylum and the refugee resettlement program in the United States over the last eighteen months are even more inhumane. Of course, we know that the proverbial 10th of Av will come, and we will rise up from our mourning with renewed resolve to support refugees and asylum seekers. First, though, we take time to dwell fully in the mourning demanded by the 9th of Av. We fervently lament the many cruel actions this administration has taken to limit the ability of refugees and asylum seekers to seek safety in our country, and we mourn for lives destroyed and lives lost. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Michael Rothbaum and New England Jewish Labor Committee
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| Shared on: |
ב׳ בניסן ה׳תש״פ (2020-03-27)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Labor, Fulfillment, and Parnasah, Epidemics & Pandemics
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21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, workers' rights, coronavirus, 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak, COVID-19 coronavirus, 2020 coronavirus outbreak in the United States, 2020 coronavirus pandemic
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| Description: |
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A prayer for workers and worker needs amid the 2020 COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
David Zaslow (translation)
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| Shared on: |
י״ז באדר ה׳תשפ״א (2021-02-28)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Mourning, Ḳaddish
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interpretive translation, English Translation, Aramaic, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Prayer by Proxy, interdependence, קדיש יתום Mourner's Ḳaddish, prayers of orphans
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| Description: |
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A creative, interpretive translation of the the Mourner’s Ḳaddish. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), David Evan Markus and Bayit: Your Jewish Home
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| Shared on: |
י׳ באדר ה׳תשע״ח (2018-02-25)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Modern Miscellany, Purim Readings
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| Tags: |
United States, social justice, civil rights, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Cantillized readings in English, Women's History Month, tropified texts, צדק צדק תרדוף tsedeq tsedeq tirdof
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• • • • • • • • • •
Purim affirms Esther’s stand against official silencing, abuse of power, misogyny and anti-Semitism. At first an outsider, Queen Esther used her insider power to reveal and thwart official hatred that threatened Jewish life and safety. We celebrate one woman’s courageous cunning to right grievous wrongs within corrupt systems. The archetype of heroic woman standing against hatred continues to call out every society still wrestling with official misogyny, power abuses and silencing. For every official silencing and every threat to equality and freedom, may we all live the lesson of Esther and all who stand in her shoes: “Nevertheless, she persisted.” . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Arthur Waskow, Marcia Falk, Tamara Cohen and the Shalom Center
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| Shared on: |
י״א בסיון ה׳תשע״ד (2014-06-08)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Modern Miscellany, Tishah b'Av Readings
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| Tags: |
eco-conscious, The Shalom Center, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M.
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
Tishah b’Av, the ninth day of the month of Av, has historically been a day to mourn the Destruction of the First and Second Temples, centers of Israelite practice before the rise of Rabbinic Judaism (First Temple 975 BCE – 586 BCE; Second Temple 515 BCE – 70 CE) and the exiles that followed those destructions. Over the course of Jewish history this day of mourning and fasting has also come to commemorate many other tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people throughout history. This year we are beginning a new tradition. We are suggesting that in addition to, or instead of (depending on the norms of your community and personal practice) the traditional observance of Tishah b’Av, the time has come to use this powerful day to mourn the ongoing destruction of the “temple” that is our Earth, a tragedy for all peoples, creatures and living things, but one that is not complete and thus, with sufficient will and action, is in part, reversible. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Ḥanan Schlesinger
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| Shared on: |
ג׳ באדר ב׳ ה׳תשע״ט (2019-03-10)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Social Justice, Peace, and Liberty, National Brotherhood Week, United Nations Day (October 24th)
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interconnectedness, תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Jewish particularism, particularism and universalism, Israelis and Palestinians, interdependence, human solidarity
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| Description: |
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A prayer for human solidarity to mitigate the danger that comes when our particular identity as Bnei Yisrael greatly eclipses our universal identity as Bnei Adam. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman
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| Shared on: |
ח׳ באדר ה׳תשפ״א (2021-02-19)
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| Terms: |
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
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| Categories: |
Birkat Ga'al Yisrael
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21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, affirmation, shame resilience, paraliturgical reflections, blessings following the shema, אמת ויציב emet v'yatsiv, ברכת גאל ישראל birkat ga'al yisrael, paraliturgical birkat ga'al yisrael
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| Description: |
• • • • • • • • • •
A paraliturgical reflection of the blessing following the Shema, the Birkat Ga’al Yisrael, for a shame resilience practice. . . . |
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