the Open Siddur Project ✍︎ פְּרוֹיֶּקט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ
a community-grown, libre Open Access archive of Jewish prayer and liturgical resources
This project is sustained through reciprocity for those sharing prayers and crafting their own prayerbooks.
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the song at the sea of ending one story and beginning another, by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit (February 2023)![]() ![]() ![]() This piece emerged in February 2023 upon realizing that instead of reading ים סוף as Yam Suf (generally understood at the Sea of Reeds), it could be read as Yam Sof: Sea of End[ing]. It was apparent to me that we may have approached this sea (escaping from slavery) thinking that it would be the end of us. It was not. But it was the end of *something*. . . . ![]() ![]() ![]() According to Rabbinic tradition, the 21st of Nissan is the day in the Jewish calendar on which Pharaoh’s army was drowned in the Sea of Reeds, and the redeemed children of Yisrael sang the Song of the Sea, the (Shirat Hayam, Exodus 15:1-19). The song, as included in the the morning prayers, comprises one of the most ancient text in Jewish liturgy. The 21st of Nissan corresponds to the 7th day of Passover, and the recitation of the Shirat HaYam is part of the daily Torah Reading. Rabbi Hillel Ḥayim Yisraeli-Lavery shares a performance of a melody he learned for the Shirat Hayam from צוף דבש Tzuf Devash, a Moroccan synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem. If there is something about this tune that strikes one as particularly celebratory, it might be because the relationship between G!d and the Jewish people is traditionally described as a marriage consummated with the Covenant at Mt. Sinai. The passage of Bnei Yisrael through the Sea of Reeds towards Mt. Sinai thus begins a bridal march commencing in the theophany at Mt. Sinai, 42 days later. . . . 📜 פָּרָשַׁת חֻקַּת | Parashat Ḥuqat (Numbers 19:1-22:1), color-coded according to its narrative layers![]() ![]() ![]() anti-predatory, safe passage, Miriam's well, authority vs. integrity, 35th century A.M., mythopoesis, חקת Ḥuqat, Midbar Tsyn, supplementary hypothesis, fast-forward, annual Torah reading cycle, missing years, פרשת השבוע Parashat haShavua, thirty-eight years later, 8th century B.C.E., midbar quest, redaction criticism, פרשות parashot The text of parashat Ḥuqat, distinguished according to the stratigraphic layers of its composition according to the Supplementary Hypothesis. . . . 📜 פָּרָשַׁת בָּלָק | Parashat Balaq (Numbers 22:2-25:9), color-coded according to its narrative layers![]() ![]() ![]() The text of parashat Balaq, distinguished according to the stratigraphic layers of its composition according to the Supplementary Hypothesis. . . . |