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tag: שיר המעלות Shir haMa'alot Sorted Chronologically (old to new). Sort most recent first? Psalms 133, translated into English by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): An English translation of Psalms 120 with color coding indicating the style of cantillation for each verse. This Psalms is read by some on Tsom Gedalyah (the Fast of Gedalyah). Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Tefilat haShir refers to an ancient (perhaps dating back to the Temple era!) custom of reciting the fifteen psalms of ascents (Psalms 120 to 134) before Psuqei d’Zimra. First identified as a unique segment of the Eretz-Yisrael rite by Prof. Ezra Fleischer z”l, this custom was so beloved by the Jews who followed the western rite that long after the rest of its prayer traditions were abandoned it was preserved by the Western-rite Jews of Cairo (see Vered Raziel-Kretzmer, “How Late was the Palestinian Rite Practiced in Egypt?” Tarbiz 85 [2018], heb.) Tefilat haShir was preserved in variant forms in several other communities. For instance, it is found in the Maḥzor Aram Ṣoba, published in 1560 for use of the Musta’aravi Jews of Aleppo. It is also found in the Krymchak variant of the Romaniote rite, also known as Minhag Kaffa. In both cases it would be recited exclusively on sabbaths and festivals. (Note that this was not the case in the old Eretz Yisrael rite, where it was a daily practice!) The Kaffa and Aram Ṣoba forms of the Tefilat haShir cycle are very similar, with a few differences in the introduction and the ending. Their core is the fifteen songs of ascents, interlaced with linking verses from elsewhere in Tanakh featuring a Leitwort (theme-word) related to the psalm. Both are included here, with color coding for substantial differences and footnotes to mark minor distinctions. In Minhag Kaffa, as printed in 1735, the Birkat haShir cycle is inserted after the morning Torah study cycle. In the Maḥzor Aram Ṣoba, it is the beginning of the service, the first thing recited in the synagogue after monring blessings, and consequently inserted before the Torah study cycle. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): These teḥinot on descending into and ascending out of a shelter were written as a response to the Iran war of 2026, which featured a lot of descending into and ascending out of shelters. The teḥinah on ascending is inspired by the minhag not to write the book of Eikha on klaf, because klaf represents permanence, and we pray someday to no longer need to recite it. | ||
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