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a community-grown, libre Open Access archive of Jewish prayer and liturgical resources — for those crafting their own prayerbooks and sharing the content of their practice
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a community-grown, libre Open Access archive of Jewish prayer and liturgical resources — for those crafting their own prayerbooks and sharing the content of their practice
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Alphabetic Acrostic —⟶ tag: Alphabetic Acrostic Sorted Chronologically (old to new). Sort most recent first? This prayer appears on page 11-12 of Hayyim Obadya’s Seder Akhilat haSimanim for 5781. It is a variant of the prayer, “Eloheinu Shebashamayim,” a supplication read in the sephardic tradition during seliḥot. This version contains twenty-five lines as found in Sefer Selihot haShalem, Hazon Ovadia, p.48-51/. Other variations have fifty or more lines. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Rav Saadia Gaon lists three additions to the Seder Pesaḥ which he considers not necessary, but acceptable. This is the third, a poetic insert of the blessing of redemption known as Ata Ga’alta. In the form of an alphabetical acrostic, this poem is still recited in many eastern communities including the Babylonians, Persians, and Yemenites, and was a feature of the the old Kaifeng rite. Here it is recorded and translated into English according to the nusaḥ of Saadia Gaon, with notes in several locations for additional phrases used in some customs. This is a poetic Birkat haMazon for Pesaḥ, from the Cairo Geniza (CUL T-S H11.88 1v). Much thanks to the work of Dr. Avi Shmidman, whose 2009 doctoral thesis is the foundational work for poetic Birkat haMazon studies. He marks it as Piyyut 64, and his Hebrew-language commentary begins on page 394 of his work. I’ve included two translations of the poetic portions — one literal and one preserving the acrostic and rhyme scheme. Categories: Tags: acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, ברכת המזון birkat hamazon, Cairo Geniza, פיוטים piyyuṭim, rhyming translation Contributor(s): This is a reconstruction of a liturgy for a Birkat haMazon for Purim witnessed in the Cairo Geniza fragment T-S H6.37 (page 1, recto and verso). Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A Birkat haMazon for Shavuot presenting an alphabetic acrostic from a manuscript preserved in the Cairo Geniza. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This is a reconstruction of a liturgy for a Birkat haMazon for Ḥanukkah witnessed in multiple Cairo Geniza manuscripts, including Cambridge, CUL: T-S H4.13; T-S H6.37; T-S 8H10.14; T-S NS 328.56; T-S NS 328.61; T-S AS 101.293; New York, JTS: ENA 2885.7; Oxford: MS heb. e.71/27 – MS heb. e.71/32; St. Peterburg: Yevr. III B 135. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A poetic Birkat haMazon text for the breakfast after Yom Kippur found in British Library MS Or. 9772 D. All the opening words of the alphabetical acrostic are from Psalms 111. Categories: Tags: acrostic, phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, Alphabetic Acrostic, ברכת המזון birkat hamazon, Break Fasts, Psalms 111 Contributor(s): “Elimelekh G’la” is a Byzantine-era Western Aramaic poetic retelling of the Book of Ruth. It was probably originally used as part of the liturgy for Shavuot, perhaps as a poetic addition to the recitation of a Targumic interpretation of the Book of Ruth. (The verses from Ruth and Psalms appended to the coda of the piyyuṭ would suggest such a Sitz im Leben.) But in any case, it has a great acrostic structure and rhyme scheme, and ought to be preserved! Here is included a vocalized text, largely based on the unvocalized text compiled in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic Poetry from Late Antiquity (ed. Yahalom and Sakaloff, 1999) where it’s the tenth poem recorded. ‘ve added a rhyming poetic translation that preserves the Hebrew acrostic. Credit to Laura Suzanne Lieber’s literal translations of these poems (in Jewish Aramaic Poetry from Late Antiquity: Translations and Commentaries, 2018), which have served as a very helpful resource for the project. Categories: Tags: acrostic, phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, Alphabetic Acrostic, Aramaic, Late Antiquity, פיוטים piyyuṭim, Ruth, תרגום targum, Western Aramaic Contributor(s): A Byzantine-era Aramaic piyyut for Purim, perhaps written as an introduction to the Megillah reading. It tells the narrative of the Jewish people from Abraham to the final redemption, focusing on the foes who sought to destroy us and their inevitable failure to do so. Uniquely among early-medieval poems, this one actively mentions the Romans (read: Christians) and Saracens (read: Muslims) and prays for their downfall in non-coded language. This translation loosely preserves the couplet rhyme scheme, as well as the alphabetical acrostic — perhaps with a phonetic punning reference to the name “Shlomo” at the end. The Minhag Polin (Eastern Ashkenazi) yotser (piyyut inserted into the beginning of the first blessing of the Shema service) for Shabbat haGadol, by the Sefaradi sage and paytan Joseph ibn Abitur. Translated with preserved acrostic and rhyme scheme. This piyyut juxtaposes the seven days of creation with the miracles of the Exodus as well as the promised future salvation in a three-by-three structure. Categories: Tags: acrostic, Acrostic signature, Alphabetic Acrostic, liberation from mitsrayim, Minhag Polin, פיוטים piyyuṭim, יוצר אור yotser ohr, יוצרות yotsrot Contributor(s): The poetic genre known as qerovot, brief poems woven throughout the repetition of the weekday Amidah, is nowadays most closely associated with Elazar haḲalir’s Purim “Ḳrovetz“, a majestically interwoven piece of piyyut if ever there was one. But there are many other ḳerovot that have historically been recited, many of which were discovered in the Cairo Geniza. This set of ḳerovot, composed by the prolific Spanish paytan Yosef ibn Abitur, is meant to be included within the Shaḥarit amidah for Ta’anit Esther, the fast day before Purim. Consequently, it only goes up to the sixth blessing (the blessing for forgiveness) and concludes by leading directly into Seliḥot, which (before R. Yosef Karo’s standardization of the liturgy, and even now among some Western Ashkenazim) were inserted into the aforementioned blessing. In order to demonstrate this structure on a large scale, the editor here has compiled a full Shaḥarit repetition, nusaḥ Ashkenaz, incorporating the qerovot of Yosef ibn Abitur as well as the three seliḥot piyyutim of the Ashkenazi rite. Categories: Tags: 11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, עמידה amidah, Cairo Geniza, fasting, קרובות ḳerovot, פיוטים piyyuṭim, Public Amidah, סליחות səliḥot Contributor(s): A seliḥah for the Fast of Gedalyah, attributed to Rav Saadia Gaon. Categories: Tags: 10th century C.E., 47th century A.M., acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, assassination, elegies, Prayers for leaders, קינות Ḳinōt, סליחות səliḥot Contributor(s): A rahit (a chain piyyut before the silluq) for the second day of Rosh haShanah, by R’ Shimon bar Isaac “the Great” of Mainz. Here translated preserving the acrostic, slightly edited from its form as part of a day 2 service maḥzor designed by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. Categories: Tags: 10th century C.E., 48th century A.M., acrostic, Acrostic signature, phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, Alphabetic Acrostic, Nusaḥ Ashkenaz, פיוטים piyyuṭim, רהיט rahit Contributor(s): A magen piyyut (recited as part of the first blessing of Shaḥarit) for the second day of Rosh haShanah by Rabbi Shimon bar Isaac “the Great” of Mainz. Here translated preserving the acrostic, slightly edited from its form as part of a day 2 service maḥzor designed by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. Categories: Tags: 10th century C.E., 48th century A.M., acrostic, Acrostic signature, phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, Alphabetic Acrostic, מגן אבות magen avot, Nusaḥ Ashkenaz, פיוטים piyyuṭim Contributor(s): An alphabetic acrostic seliḥah piyyut for Taanit Esther in Hebrew with English translation This is the piyyut “Ma’aseh Eloheinu (The work of our God)” a piyyut by Meshullam ben Ḳalonymous in the qerovot section of the reader’s repetition of the Yom Kippur shaḥarit amidah, published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Yom Kippur, Avodat Yom ha-Kippurim vol. 2 (1904), p. 67. Categories: Tags: 10th century C.E., 48th century A.M., acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, קרובות ḳerovot, פיוטים piyyuṭim Contributor(s): This is the piyyut “Asher Omets Tehilatekha (Thou, the might of whose praise)” a piyyut by an unknown paytan (possibly Meshullam ben Ḳalonymous) in the qerovot section of the reader’s repetition of the Yom Kippur shaḥarit amidah, published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Yom Kippur, Avodat Yom ha-Kippurim vol. 2 (1904), p. 68. Categories: Tags: 10th century C.E., 48th century A.M., acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, קרובות ḳerovot, פיוטים piyyuṭim Contributor(s): Israel Zangwill’s rhyming translation of “Otekha Edrosh” by Rabbi Shimon ben Yitsḥaq ben Abun of Mainz, was first published in Arthur Davis and Herbert Adler’s Maḥzor Avodat Ohel Moed: Avodat Yom haKippurim (Evening Service) (1904), pp. 41-43. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This is the alphabetic acrostic piyyut “Etén l’Foali Tsedeq” by Shimon bar Yitsḥaq (b. Abun of Mainz, identified via his acrostic signature), as translated into rhymed English verse by Elsie Davis, and published in Herbert Adler and Arthur Davis’s Maḥzor Avodat Ohel Moed: Avodat Yom haZikaron (1907), p. 104 (also, p. 200). This anonymous ofan, also recited on the second day of Shavuot in some communities, uses alliteration to describe the many hosts of angels descending upon Sinai in awe and reverence as the Torah was given. The translation preserves the alliteration over the alphabet, seeing as the ofan in this form doesn’t include the entire alphabet either. As an ofan, it is recited within the Ḳedusha d-Yotser, between the verses of Isaiah and Ezekiel (included here). The ofan is recited on the second day of Shavuot in some communities. Categories: Tags: 11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., Alphabetic Acrostic, Nusaḥ Ashkenaz, ofanim, פיוטים piyyuṭim, יוצר אור yotser ohr Contributor(s): | ||
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