the Open Siddur Project ✍︎ פְּרוֹיֶקְט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ
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 בסיעתא דשמיא | ||
🆕 תודה | Prayer of Thanksgiving for the Safe Return of Sir Moses Montefiore from Romania (Ḳ.Ḳ. Shaar haShamayim, 1867) Contributor(s): This thanksgiving prayer was offered by ḲḲ Shaar haShamayim (a/k/a Bevis Marks, the S&P Synagogue in London) upon the safe return of Sir Moses Montefiore from a trip to Romania on behalf of Romanian Jewry in 1867. The prayer was likely written by Rabbi Dr. Moses Gaster who served as rabbi for Bevis Marks during this period and who had emigrated from Romania. . . . הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה | Gebed voor het Koninklijk Huis | Prayer for the Royal Family of Queen Juliana and the city council of Amsterdam (ca. 1950) Contributor(s): A prayer for the government for the royal family of the Netherlands and the city council of Amsterdam copied in the late 19th and mid-20th century from earlier sources. . . . 📖 תפלות למועדים (מנהג הספרדים) | Tefilot l’Mo’adim, arranged and translated by Rabbi David de Sola Pool (1947) Contributor(s): A bilingual Hebrew-English maḥzor for the festivals of Pesaḥ, Shavuot, and Sukkot (with Shmini Atseret and Simḥat Torah) in the Sepharadic tradition compiled by David de Sola Pool in 1947. . . . 📖 תפלות ליום כיפור (מנהג הספרדים) | Tefilot l’Yom Kippur, arranged and translated by Rabbi David de Sola Pool (1939) Contributor(s): A bilingual Hebrew-English maḥzor for Yom Kippur in the Sepharadic tradition compiled by David de Sola Pool in 1939. . . . 📖 תפלות לראש השנה (מנהג הספרדים) | Tefilot l’Rosh haShanah, arranged and translated by Rabbi David de Sola Pool (1937) Contributor(s): A bilingual Hebrew-English maḥzor for Rosh haShanah in the Sepharadic tradition compiled by David de Sola Pool in 1937. . . . 📖 סדר התפלות לפסח ולשבועות (מנהג הספרדים) | Seder haTefilot l’Pesaḥ u’l’Shavuot, edited and revised by Moses Gaster (1906) Contributor(s): A bilingual Hebrew-English maḥzor for the festival of Pesaḥ and Shavuot, nusaḥ sefarad, with a translation for Rabbi David de Aaron de Sola, revised and edited by Moses Gaster. . . . 📖 סדר התפלות לחג הסכות (מנהג הספרדים) | Seder haTefilot l’Ḥag haSukkot, edited and revised by Moses Gaster (1906) Contributor(s): A bilingual Hebrew-English maḥzor for the festival of Sukkot, Shemini Atseret and Simḥat Torah, nusaḥ sefarad, with a translation for Rabbi David de Aaron de Sola, revised and edited by Moses Gaster. . . . 📖 סדר התפלות ליום כפור (מנהג הספרדים) | Seder haTefilot l’Yom Kippur, edited and revised by Moses Gaster (1904, amended 1934) Contributor(s): A bilingual Hebrew-English maḥzor for Yom Kippur, nusaḥ sefarad, with a translation for Rabbi David de Aaron de Sola, revised and edited by Moses Gaster, amended by Rabbi David Bueno de Mesquita. . . . 📖 סדר התפלות לראש השנה (מנהג הספרדים) | Seder haTefilot l’Rosh haShanah, edited and revised by Moses Gaster (1903) Contributor(s): A bilingual Hebrew-English maḥzor for Rosh haShanah, nusaḥ sefarad, with a translation for Rabbi David de Aaron de Sola, revised and edited by Moses Gaster. . . . 📖 סדר התפלות חלק א׳ (מנהג הספרדים) | Seder haTefilot vol.1: Daily and Occasional Prayers, translated by Rabbi David de Aaron de Sola (1835/1852), edited and revised by Moses Gaster (1901) Contributor(s): A bilingual Hebrew-English siddur, nusaḥ sefarad, with a translation for Rabbi David de Aaron de Sola, revised and edited by Moses Gaster. . . . תפלה על המגפה שתעצר | Prayer for Cessation of the Disease Now Raging, by Rabbi Dr. Moses Gaster (1892) Contributor(s): A prayer for the end of a cholera epidemic written by Rabbi Dr. Moses Gaster in 1892. . . . Contributor(s): A prayer of repentance and thanksgiving recited at the Shaare Shalom synagogue in Kingston, Jamaica in response to the massive Guadeloupe earthquake of 1843. . . . 💬 Haftarót for the First Two of the Three Weeks of Mourning with their Spanish translations from a compilation by Rabbi Isaac Lopez (Jamaica, ca. 1843) Contributor(s): In the 18th and 19th centuries, the common practice among Western Sephardim was to read some or all of the aftarót recited in the three weeks before the fast of Aḇ with a verse-by-verse “Ladino” (in this case meaning standard Early Modern Spanish, not Judezmo) translation. According to Joseph Jesurun Pinto (ḥazzan of Shearith Israel in New York from 1759 to 1766), it was customary in Amsterdam for only the final of the three aftarót, the aftará of Shabbat Ḥazon, to be recited with this Spanish targum, while in London it was customary for all three to be recited. This practice fell out of common usage in the past few centuries, although the Western Sephardic community of Bayonne preserved it up until the Shoah. But to this day a unique cantillation system is used in most Western Sephardic communities for the three aftarót before the fast. . . . 📖 סדור שפתי צדיקים (מנהג הספרדים) | Siddur Siftei Tsadiqim (The Form of Prayers) vol. 6: Seder haTefilot laTaaniyot (1838) Contributor(s): The sixth volume in a set of prayerbooks compiled for Spanish & Portuguese Jews in the United States, edited by Isaac Leeser, in 1838. . . . 📖 סדור שפתי צדיקים (מנהג הספרדים) | Siddur Siftei Tsadiqim (The Form of Prayers) vol. 3: Seder haTefilot l’Yom haKipurim (1838) Contributor(s): For Yom Kipur, the third volume in a set of prayerbooks compiled for Spanish & Portuguese Jews in the United States, edited by Isaac Leeser, in 1837. . . . 📖 סדור שפתי צדיקים (מנהג הספרדים) | Siddur Siftei Tsadiqim (The Form of Prayers) vol. 5: Seder haTefilot l’Pesaḥ u’l’Shavuot (1837) Contributor(s): For Pesaḥ and Shavuot, the fifth volume in a set of prayerbooks compiled for Spanish & Portuguese Jews in the United States, edited by Isaac Leeser, in 1837. . . . 📖 סדור שפתי צדיקים (מנהג הספרדים) | Siddur Siftei Tsadiqim (The Form of Prayers) vol. 4: Seder haTefilot l’Ḥag haSukkot (1837) Contributor(s): For Sukkot (and including Shemini Atseret and Simḥat Torah), the fourth volume in a set of prayerbooks compiled for Spanish & Portuguese Jews in the United States, edited by Isaac Leeser, in 1837. . . . 📖 סדור שפתי צדיקים (מנהג הספרדים) | Siddur Siftei Tsadiqim (The Form of Prayers) vol. 2: Seder haTefilot l’Rosh haShanah (1837) Contributor(s): For Rosh haShanah, the second volume in a set of prayerbooks compiled for Spanish & Portuguese Jews in the United States, edited by Isaac Leeser, in 1837. . . . 📖 סדור שפתי צדיקים (מנהג הספרדים) | Siddur Siftei Tsadiqim (The Form of Prayers) vol. 1: Seder haTefilot miKol haShanah (1837) Contributor(s): The first volume in a set of prayerbooks compiled for Spanish & Portuguese Jews in the United States, edited by Isaac Leeser, in 1837. . . . 📖 סדור התפלות (מנהג הספרדים) | Seder haTefilot: The Order of the Daily Prayers in Hebrew and English According to the Custom of the Spanish & Portuguese Jews, compiled and translated by David Levi (2nd ed. 1810) Contributor(s): One of the earliest bilingual Hebrew-English prayerbooks compiled for Spanish & Portuguese Jews in the British Empire. . . . Contributor(s): This is a prayer composed by David Hizkiahu Baruch Louzada (1750–1825) for Jewish Militiamen in Suriname mustered in the event of Maroon attacks. . . . Contributor(s): Bénissons is the French version of the well-known Bendigamos, a prayer and melody of the Spanish & Portuguese Jewish communities, most probably originating in Bordeaux, France. . . . 💬 מְגִלַּת וָשִׁעְתּוֹן | Megillat Washiŋton, a scroll for Thanksgiving Day by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (1790, 2018) Contributor(s): In many Jewish communities around the world, there have been traditional scrolls read for “local Purims,” celebrating redemptions for a specific community. Here in America, we don’t really have an equivalent to that. But we do have Thanksgiving, a day heavily inspired by Biblical traditions of celebration, and one long associated with all that is good about America. Some Jewish communities have a tradition on Thanksgiving of reading Washington’s letter to the Jews of Newport, where he vows to support freedom of religion, famously writing that the United States “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance” – thus rephrasing words originally written in a prior letter by Moses Seixas (say-shas), the sexton of the Touro Synagogue in Newport. This text includes the original English of both Moses Seixas’ letter to Washington and Washington’s return, as well as a somewhat simplified version of the story of Washington’s visit to Newport. Inspired largely by the style of the Book of Esther, it could be read on Thanksgiving morning during the service, using Esther melodies (or going on detours as per personal choice). . . . Contributor(s): A ḥatimah (closing) prayer delivered by Ḥazzan Gershom Seixas at a special Thanksgiving Day service by K.K. Shearith Israel in 1789. . . . תפילה לשלום המלכות | Prayer for the Welfare of George Washington, George Clinton, and the Thirteen States of America by Hendla Jochanan van Oettingen (1784) Contributor(s): Prayers recited on special occasions and thus not part of the fixed liturgy offered America’s foremost Jewish congregation far greater latitude for originality in prayer. At such services, particularly when the prayers were delivered in English and written with the knowledge that non-Jews would hear them, leaders of Shearith Israel often dispensed with the traditional prayer for the government and substituted revealing new compositions appropriate to the concerns of the day. A prayer composed in 1784 (in this case in Hebrew) by the otherwise unknown Rabbi (Cantor?) Hendla Jochanan van Oettingen, for example, thanked God who “in His goodness prospered our warfare.” Mentioning by name both Governor George Clinton and General George Washington, the rabbi prayed for peace and offered a restorationist Jewish twist on the popular idea of America as “redeemer nation”: “As Thou hast granted to these thirteen states of America everlasting freedom,” he declared, “so mayst Thou bring us forth once again from bondage into freedom and mayst Thou sound the great horn for our freedom.” . . . 📖 (מנהג הספרדים) Orden de las Oraciones Cotidianas Ros Hodes Hanuca y Purim (Spanish translation by Ḥakham Ishak Nieto, 1771) Contributor(s): Part two of Ḥakham Ishak Nieto’s two volume set of prayerbooks: Orden de las Oraciones Cotidianas Ros Hodes Hanuca y Purim (London, 1771), the basis of all subsequent S&P translations (e.g., those of Aaron and David de Sola). . . . 📖 (מנהג הספרדים) Prayers for Shabbath, Rosh-Hashanah, and [Yom] Kippur (translated by Isaac Pinto, 1766) Contributor(s): The first translation of the siddur into English and the first siddur published in the Americas. . . . 📖 (מנהג הספרדים) Orden de las Oraciones de Ros Ashanah y Kipur (Spanish translation by Ḥakham Ishak Nieto, 1740) Contributor(s): Part one of Ḥakham Ishak Nieto’s two volume set of prayerbooks: Orden de las Oraciones de Ros Ashanah y Kipur (London, 1740), the basis of all subsequent S&P translations (e.g., those of Isaac Pinto and of Aaron and David de Sola). . . . Contributor(s): In the 18th century, the common practice among Western Sephardim was to read some or all of the aftarót recited in the three weeks before the fast of Aḇ with a verse-by-verse “Ladino” (in this case meaning standard Early Modern Spanish, not Judezmo) translation. According to Joseph Jesurun Pinto (ḥazzan of Shearith Israel in New York from 1759 to 1766), it was customary in Amsterdam for only the final of the three aftarót, the aftará of Shabbat Ḥazon, to be recited with this Spanish targum, while in London it was customary for all three to be recited. This practice fell out of common usage in the past few centuries, although the Western Sephardic community of Bayonne preserved it up until the Shoah. But to this day a unique cantillation system is used in most Western Sephardic communities for the three aftarót before the fast. Attached is a transcript of a Spanish verse-by-verse targum of the aftará for the Shabbat before 9 Aḇ, based on one found in a publication from Amsterdam in 1766. Each verse is included in Hebrew, as well as the original Spanish text, and a slightly modernized Spanish text underneath to clarify archaic forms or words that have fallen out of use. . . . Contributor(s): A common practice among Sephardim both eastern and western is to read the aftará for the morning of the fast of Aḇ with a verse-by-verse midrashic translation. Western Sephardim use an Early Modern Spanish text, while Eastern Sephardim use a Judezmo (or Judeo-Spanish proper) text. Attached is a transcript of a Western Sephardic verse-by-verse targum of the aftará for the Shabbat before 9 Aḇ, based on the text found in Isaac Leeser’s Siddur Siftei Tsadiqim, volume 6: Seder haTefilot laTaaniyot (1838), pp. 174-184. Each verse is included in Hebrew, as well as the original Spanish text, and a slightly modernized Spanish text underneath to clarify archaic forms or words that have fallen out of use. Also included are from-scratch English translations. . . . הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה | The Prayer for the Safety of Kings, Princes and Commonwealths, presented by Menasseh ben Israel to Oliver Cromwell (1655) Contributor(s): The text of Hanoten Teshua in its English translation as presented by Menasseh ben Israel to Oliver Cromwell in 1655. We have reconstructed the corresponding Hebrew from the S&P nusaḥ of the Jewish community in Amsterdam. . . . Contributor(s): This qina is recited in the Spanish-Portuguese rite (as practiced in the Snoge in Amsterdam, the Bevis Marks Synagogue in London, and Shearith Israel in New York City among many other communities) at the conclusion of the recitation of qinot on the evening of the Ninth of Aḅ. Its refrain, taken from the Four Questions of the Passover liturgy, is reframed* as a reflection of the suffering of such a day, contrasting the celebration of salvation on Passover with the fear and desolation of the fast day. . . . Contributor(s): A singable translation of Maoz Tsur by the great ḥakham Frederick de Sola Mendes, here transcribed from the Union Hymnal (CCAR 1914), hymn 190. The translation largely reflects the Hebrew, omitting two verses — the final (and according to some, last added) verse, and the fourth verse about Purim and Haman. . . . מָעוֹז צוּר | Schirm und Schutz in Sturm und Graus, a German translation of Maoz Tsur by Leopold Stein (1906) Contributor(s): A German translation of Maoz Tsur, by the early Reform rabbi Leopold Stein. This singable German translation was cited as an inspiration for Gustav Gottheil and Marcus Jastrow’s well-known English edition. In some communities in the German Empire, for instance the community of Beuthen (now Bytom, Poland), it was recited during the morning service on Ḥanukkah. It poetically translates the first five verses in their entirety, avoiding the controversial sixth verse (said by some to have been added post-facto, and rejected by the early Reform movement). . . . | ||
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