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tag: 8th century C.E. Sorted Chronologically (old to new). Sort most recent first? This is the schedule for the reading of psalms corresponding to Festivals and Commemorative Days, according to Tractate Soferim 18:2-3 and 19:2. Categories: Tags: 46th century A.M., 8th century C.E., geonic period, לוח lu'aḥ, Masekhet Soferim, Nusaḥ Erets Yisrael, תהלים Psalms Contributor(s): The “minor tractate” Soferim is one of our best sources for early liturgical practice. It is the oldest known source for multiple practices still followed today, such as the blessing for the haftarah. Such luminaries as the Vilna Gaon considered it a vital work. But some of its practices are… well, odd. There are customs in Tractate Soferim which are found nowhere else in classical rabbinics — blessings for the recitation of books in Writings other than the scrolls, a three-year cycle of Torah readings, and a custom to divide the scrolls in half when reading them. This service is constructed based on the descriptions and passages of Tractate Soferim, mostly following the Gra’s edition. In some ways it may be very familiar, especially to Ashkenazim, but in others it is a fascinating glimpse into a heretofore lost practice of Judaism. Categories: Tags: 46th century A.M., 8th century C.E., Geonic prayers, Masekhet Soferim, Nusaḥ Erets Yisrael, reconstructed text Contributor(s): This is a litanic Ḳiddush for a Rosh Ḥodesh meal, constructed based on the Ḳiddush for Rosh Ḥodesh in Jerusalem as described in Masekhet Soferim chapter 19:9, mostly following the GRA’s edition. Traditionally it would be done in the presence of twelve town elders and twelve scholars of ritual purity, but today we could adapt it to be recited at a festive meal for Rosh Ḥodesh in the presence of seven — the minyan count according to the traditional Western practice recorded elsewhere in Masekhet Soferim 10:7. Categories: Tags: 46th century A.M., 8th century C.E., Geonic prayers, Masekhet Soferim, new moon, Nusaḥ Erets Yisrael, reconstructed text Contributor(s): All Jews around the world today follow some variant of the annual cycle of Torah readings, developed in the Babylonian diaspora in the talmudic era. In this cycle, the entire Torah is read once a year. (Some Reform communities recite a selection from each parasha, while many Conservative communities follow an ersatz triennial system where a third of each parashah is read every week, but the parashiyot still follow the annual cycle.) The old Erets Yisrael rite had a triennial, or technically semiseptennial, cycle, going through the entire Torah once every three and a half years. But there is a third cycle that has otherwise been completely forgotten about: the semiannual cycle. This cycle was developed by ‘Anan ben David, the legendary founder (or if you ask the Ḳaraites, reviver) of the Ḳaraite movement, in his (only fragmentarily preserved) Sefer ha-Mitsvot. In it, the entire Torah is read twice a year, concluding on the intermediate sabbath of both Pesaḥ and Sukkot before starting anew the next week. This idea did not catch on, even among the Ḳaraites, who to this day use an adaptation of the rabbinic annual cycle instead. But it has largely been preserved. Here it is restored and reconstructed for those whose main complaint with the Torah reading is it isn’t long enough. Categories: Tags: 46th century A.M., 8th century C.E., הפטרות haftarot, Nusaḥ haKaraim, לוח lu'aḥ, תהלים Psalms, semiannual Torah reading cycle, Torah Reading Contributor(s): The Secrets of Rebbi Shimōn ben Yoḥai is a pseudepigraphal record of the divine visions of the second-century rabbi, Shimon ben Yoḥai. Scholarly opinion about the date of its composition is divided. Adolf Jellinek thought it was likely authored during the time of the Crusades, while Heinrich Graetz thought it was likely composed in the mid-8th century. The visions described in the secrets portrays the Yishmaelites being led by a violent saviour of the Jews from the hegemony of the Byzantine Empire. It describes the events and rulers of the eighth-century Umayyad Empire, as well as eight-century battles between the Byzantines (known in the text as the Ḳenites or the Kingdom of Edōm) and the Umayyads (known in it as the Kingdom of Yishmael). Categories: Tags: 46th century A.M., 8th century C.E., eschaton, geonic period, Needing Vocalization, pseudepigrapha, Umayyad Caliphate Contributor(s): | ||
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