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tag: Late Antiquity Sorted Chronologically (old to new). Sort most recent first? העמידה לימות החל עם טעמי המקרא | Weekday Amidah and Ḳaddish with Ta’amei haMiqra (cantillation), by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (Nusaḥ Ashkenaz)The full Weekday Amidah (or Eighteen Blessings), according to Nusach Ashkenaz with optional additions for egalitarian rites or for within Israel, fully marked with ta’amei miqra (also known as cantillation marks or trope). Ta’amei miqra originally marked grammar and divisions in any Hebrew sentences, and older Hebrew manuscripts such as those from the Cairo Geniza often show ta’amei miqra on all sorts of texts, not just the Biblical texts we associate them with today. This text has the Eighteen Blessings (which number nineteen) of the weekday Amidah, and is suitable to use as a text for any standard weekday service. Note: this does not include any of the pre- or post-Amidah texts, such as Ashrei, Kriyat Shema, Tachanun, or Aleinu. It also doesn’t include additions for festivals, fast days, or the Days of Repentance. Those may be coming in the future, though! . . . The text of the prayer Nishmat Kol Ḥai in Hebrew with a Latin translation . . . The text of the prayer Nishmat Kol Ḥai in Hebrew with English translation. . . . This “praying translation” of the piyyut Nishmat Kol Ḥai is included in Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s Sabbath Supplement to his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi ~ As I Can Say It (for Praying in the Vernacular) (2009). The translation includes several prayers that follow the piyyut: Ha-El B’ta’atsumot Uzekha, and Shoḥen Ad. . . . Tags: Amoraic prayers, Crowning, drought conditions, interpretive translation, Late Antiquity, נשמת כל חי Nishmat kol ḥai, Prayers in the Babylonian Talmud, rainfall, thanksgiving Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) בִּרְכַּת גּוֹמֵל חֲסָדִים טוֹבִים לְעַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל | Birkat Gomel Ḥasadim Tovim l’Amo Yisrael (translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included his translation of the Birkhot haShaḥar in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). . . . Categories: Preparing one's face Tags: 100 blessings a day, blessings, ברכות brakhot, challenge, Dawn, devotional interpretation, interpretive translation, Late Antiquity, Prayers in the Babylonian Talmud, wrestling, ישראל Yisrael Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) בְּרָכוֹת שֶׁעֲשָׁנִי | Blessings at your Dawn of Wakefulness: Berakhot she’Asani (blessings that made me) — translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-ShalomiRabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included his translation of the Birkhot haShaḥar in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). . . . Categories: Berakhot she'Asani Tags: 100 blessings a day, blessings, ברכות brakhot, challenge, Dawn, devotional interpretation, interpretive translation, Late Antiquity, Prayers in the Babylonian Talmud, wrestling, ישראל Yisrael Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) בְּרָכוֹת שֶׁנִּתָּנִי | Blessings at your Dawn of Wakefulness: Berakhot sheNatani (blessings that were given to me) — translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-ShalomiRabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l, included his translation of the Birkhot haShaḥar in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). . . . Categories: Berakhot sheNatani Tags: 100 blessings a day, blessings, ברכות brakhot, challenge, Dawn, devotional interpretation, interpretive translation, Late Antiquity, Prayers in the Babylonian Talmud, wrestling, ישראל Yisrael Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) אֱלֹהַי נְשָׁמָה שֶׁנָּתַתָּ בִּי | Neshamah Shenatata Bi (the breath you have given me), interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-ShalomiThis English translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l of “Neshama Shenatata Bi,” was first published in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). Linear associations of this translation according to the nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l by Aharon Varady. . . . Categories: Elohai Neshamah This English translation of the prayer “Asher Yatsar” by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l, was first published in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). Versification by Aharon Varady according to the nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l. . . . Tags: אדם קדמון Adam Ḳadmon, Amoraic prayers, אשר יצר Asher Yatsar, Asiyah, Bathroom etiquette, Bathroom Prayer, Body as Cosmos, Body as Earth, Body as Society, Body as Temple, devotional interpretation, English Translation, excretion, four worlds, internal plumbing, interpretive translation, Late Antiquity, plumbing as metaphor, Prayers in the Babylonian Talmud, Prayers of Pumbedita Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Abayyé ben Kaylil and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) This English translation of the blessing for Torah study by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l, was first published in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). Versification according to the Nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l by Aharon Varady. . . . הרקיע השביעי | The Seventh Heavenly Dome, a description and hymn of divine praise from Sefer ha-RazimA hymn of praise found in the description of the 7th dome of heaven in Sefer ha-Razim . . . Tags: Late Antiquity, Needing Vocalization, פיוטים piyyutim, the higher the fewer, יוצר אור yotser ohr Contributor(s): Michael A. Morgan (translation/English), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) ? מגילת אנטיוכס עם טעמי מקרא | Megillat Antiokhus, with a novel cantillation by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation by Tsvi Filipowski, 1851)Perhaps Megillat Antiokhus could be read a la Esther on Purim (the holiday with the most similarities), going to Eicha trope in the upsetting parts. A few notes: on the final mention of Bagris the Wicked I included a karnei-farah in the manner of the karnei-farah in Esther. I also included a merkha kefulah in the concluding section, which (according to David Weisberg’s “The Rare Accents of the Twenty-Eight Books”) represents aggadic midrash material. It also serves as a connection to the Chanukah haftarah, which is famously the only one that has a merkha kefulah. –Isaac Mayer . . . 💬 מְגִילַּת אַנטְיוּכַס | Megillat Antiokhus for Ḥanukkah in Aramaic, translated in Hebrew, Yiddish, and EnglishThe Megillat Antiochus was composed in Palestinian Aramaic sometime between the 2nd and 5th century CE, likely in the 2nd Century when the memory of the Bar Kochba revolt still simmered.. The scroll appears in a number of variations. The Aramaic text below follows the critical edition prepared by Menaḥem Tzvi Kaddari, and preserves his verse numbering. The English translation by Rabbi Joseph Adler (1936) follows the Hebrew translation in the middle column, the source of which is a medieval manuscript reprinted by Tzvi Filipowsky in 1851. Adler and Kaddari’s verse ordering loosely follows one another indicating variations in manuscripts. Where Aramaic is missing from Kaddari’s text, the Aramaic version from Adler’s work is included in parentheses. Adler also included a Yiddish translation which we hope will be fully transcribed (along with vocalized Hebrew text, a Hungarian translation, and perhaps even a Marathi translation from South India) for Ḥanukkah 5775 , G!d willing. . . . Tags: 2nd century C.E., 40th century A.M., Aramaic, Bar Kochba Rebellion, English Translation, ארץ ישראל Erets Yisrael, Hebrew translation, Late Antiquity, המקבים Maccabees, Megillat Antiokhus, Yiddish translation Contributor(s): Tsvi Hirsch Filipowski (translation), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) 💬 מְגִילַּת אַנטְיוּכַס | Megillat Antiokhus in Aramaic, critical text by Menaḥem Tsvi Kaddari with English translation by John C. ReevesThe critical text of Megillat Antiokhus in its original Aramaic, prepared by Menaḥem Tsvi Kaddari and translated into English by John C. Reeves. . . . Tags: 2nd century C.E., 40th century A.M., Aramaic, Bar Kochba Rebellion, English Translation, ארץ ישראל Erets Yisrael, Late Antiquity, המקבים Maccabees, Megillat Antiokhus Contributor(s): John C. Reeves (translation), Menaḥem Tsvi Kaddari, Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription) ? מְגִילַּת אַנטְיוּכַס | Megilat Antiokhos — in the original Aramaic, cantillated according to the British Library manuscript Or 5866This is a direct transcription, including cantillation and non-standard vocalizations, of the cantillated Megilat Antiokhos found in the British Library manuscript Or 5866, folios 105v-110r. . . . 💬 מַעֲשֶׂה חֲנֻכָּה א׳ | Ma’aseh Ḥanukkah “alef,” a tale of the people’s resistance to the Seleucid Greek occupationThis digital edition of Midrash Ma’aseh Ḥanukkah was transcribed from the print edition published in Otzar Hamidrashim (I. D. Eisenstein, New York: Eisenstein Press, 5675/1915, p.189-190). With much gratitude to Anat Hochberg, this is the first translation of this midrash into English. . . . אסו ית ארסינואי | Two healing prayers for Arsinoë’s recovery (Amulets 80.AM.55.1 & 80.AM.55.2, J. Paul Getty Museum)Healing prayers written on a pair of amulets for the recovery of a woman named Arsinoë . . . היסטוריולה של סממית וסידרוס | Historiola of Smamit and Sideros, a reconstruction based on Amulet 15 & Amulet Bowl 12aA very old tale told for the protection of pregnant women and their infant children as found in amulets from late Antiquity. . . . Categories: Incantations, Adjurations, & Amulets, Conception, Pregnancy, and Childbirth, Homes & Community Centers, Theurgy Tags: amulet bowls, Angelic Protection, Angels, Angels of Healing, apotropaic prayers of protection, cold iron, entering magical territory, epical narrative as ward, historiola, infants, iron in folklore, קמעות ḳame'ot, Late Antiquity, prayers concerning children, prayers for pregnant women, prophylactic אתי בשלם | ࠀࠕࠉ࠰ࠁࠔࠋࠌ | Itti Bishlam (Come in Peace), a Samaritan Aramaic Poem for the Festival Season by Marqeh ben Amram (ca. 4th c.)Itti Bishlam is a sixteen-hundred year old Samaritan Aramaic poem attributed to the great Samaritan sage Marqeh son of Amram. In twelve stanzas it tells the story of the night of the tenth plague and the Exodus. Samaritans traditionally recite it on the night before the holidays, the Sabbaths before the holidays, and the evening before the first day of the first month (the Samaritan new year, fourteen days before Passover). Largely a half-alphabetical acrostic, the fifth stanza of Itti Bishlam begins with an īt (ḥeth) rather than the expected īy (her), understandable considering the loss of guttural distinctions in Samaritan phonology. (See the number of Jewish poems which confuse sin and samekh for a parallel occurrence.) Itti Bishlam is, interestingly enough, lacking polemic or sectarian content — it never calls upon the Samaritan holy mountain of Aargaarizem (Mt. Gerizim), nor does it include any context that contradicts the traditional Jewish interpretation of the paschal narrative. It is worthwhile for Jews to learn about and understand the liturgical practices of their sister religion, and this poem is a great place to start! . . . Categories: Magid Reconstruction of a Greek text of the Shabbat Amidah preserved in the Constitutiones Apostolorum (circa 380 CE), by Dr. David FiensyThis is a reconstruction of a sabbath liturgy for the Tefillah of the Amidah, at least in some variant of its public recitation, in Greek and preserved in an early Christian work, the Constitutiones Apostolorum (Apostolic Constitutions), a Christian work compiled around 380 CE in Syria. Several prayers derived from Jewish sources appear in the Apostolic Constitutions and they can be found grouped together and labeled “Greek” or “Hellenistic Syanagogal Works” in collections of apocrypha and pseudepigrapha. Because explicitly Christian references appeared to be added onto a pre-existing text with familiar Jewish or “Old Testament” themes and references, scholars in the late 19th century were already suggesting that as many as 16 of the prayers in the Apostolic Constitutions books 7 and 8 were derived from Jewish prayers. A more modern appraisal was made by Dr. Fiensy and published in Prayers Alleged to Be Jewish (Scholars Press 1985). Based on a careful analysis of the prayers, he concludes that the only prayers which can be identified as Jewish with certainty are those found in sections 33-38 of book 7. . . . Categories: Shaḥarit l'Shabbat ul'Yom Tov “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: Shavuot רִבּוֹן הָעוֹלָמִים לֹא עַל־צִדְקוֹתֵֽינוּ | Ribon ha-Olamim, not in the merit of our righteousness — a variation from the Seder Tefilot of Maimonides, MS Constantinople 1509A variation of the prayer Ribon ha-Olamim from the section of prayers preceding Psukei d’Zimrah/Zermirot. . . . A “redemptive translation” of Aleinu emphasizing universalist Jewish values. . . . Categories: Aleinu 🆕 אחת סבום | 𐩱𐩢𐩩𐩽 𐩪𐩨𐩥𐩣𐩽 | חַד גַּדְיָא (ʔaħat sabawam) — a Sabaic translation of Ḥad Gadya, by Isaac Gantwerk MayerḤad Gadya has a place in Seder tables throughout the Jewish world, and in many communities it was read in translation. Probably not this one though, seeing as it was written almost a thousand years after the Sabaic language became extinct. But Sabaic, a South Semitic language somewhere between Arabic and Ge’ez, is worth studying for any Jewish scholar because of the light it sheds on the history of the Semitic languages and the Middle East as a whole. (Not to mention that it was a lingua franca of the Yemenite Jewish kingdom of Himyar!) This is a Sabaic translation, transcription, and hypothetical vocalization of Ḥad Gadya. . . . Categories: Nirtsah | ||
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