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 Contributor(s): |
Aharon N. Varady (translation), Joshua de Sola Mendes (transcription), David Lévi Alvarès and Unknown Author(s)
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Blessings After Eating
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18th Century C.E., Western Sepharadim, paraliturgical birkat hamazon, Bendigamos, זמירות zemirot, Spanish-Portuguese, 56th century A.M.
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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. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
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Modern Miscellany, Thanksgiving Day Readings, Purim Sheni Readings
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State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Spanish-Portuguese, Revolutionary War, 56th century A.M., 18th Century C.E., Western Sepharadim, George Washington, American Jewry of the United States, Newport
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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). . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Abe Katz (translation) and Ḳ.Ḳ. Beit Shalome
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Government & Country, Inauguration Day (January 20th), Washington's Birthday (3rd Monday of February), United States of America
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18th Century C.E., Western Sepharadim, George Washington, American Jewry of the United States, Prayers for leaders, United States, acrostic, Presidents Day, 56th century A.M.
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The following prayer for the government was composed by Congregation Beth Shalome in Richmond, Virginia in 1789. Please note the acrostic portion of the prayer in which the initial letters of the succeeding lines form the name: Washington. . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Lyons Collection Committee (translation) and Hendla Jochanan van Oettingen
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Government & Country, Washington's Birthday (3rd Monday of February), United States of America
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18th Century C.E., K.K. Shearith Israel, Sepharadi Diaspora, American War of Independence, Western Sepharadim, American Jewry of the United States, United States, Presidents Day, Spanish-Portuguese, 56th century A.M.
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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.” . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Rabbi Jacob Jehudah Leão (translation)
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Government & Country, United Kingdom
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Sephardic Diaspora, Netherlandish Jewry, הנותן תשועה haNotén Teshuah, reconstructed text, Great Britain, 17th century C.E., 55th century A.M., Western Sepharadim
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Rabbi Jacob Judah Leon’s Prayer for King Charles II, from his 1675 booklet, was the first Jewish prayer in English for an English king (Mocatta Library, University College London). . . . |
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| Contributor(s): |
Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Gershom Mendes Seixas
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Conflicts over Sovereignty and Dispossession, Washington's Birthday (3rd Monday of February), War
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England, Revolutionary War, תחינות teḥinot, 56th century A.M., 18th Century C.E., Western Sepharadim, North America
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Fred MacDowell: “Then, as now, war was looked upon by many as a great evil, especially between brothers, and many American Colonists only wanted the oppressive measures of King George III to be lifted, bloodshed ended, and peace restored. The nascent American Congress called for a day of “Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer” along these lines for May 17, 1776. It was for this occasion that this prayer was recited in Congregation Shearith Israel in New York. As you can see, a complete service was arranged for this occasion, meant to invoke the solemnity and seriousness of the occasion; after morning prayer, Taḥanun was to be sung to the tune of a Yom Kippur pizmon; a dozen Psalms recited, and then the Ḥazan would recite this prayer written for the occasion, and of course all were to be fasting. The prayer hopes for a change of heart for King George III and his advisors, that they would rescind their wrath and harsh decrees against “North America,” that the bloodshed should end, and peace and reconciliation should obtain between the Americans and Great Britain once more, in fulfillment of the Messianic verse that Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Of course this was not meant to be, and six weeks later the American Congress declared independence from Great Britain, and there was no walking back from the hostilities which had already occurred.” . . . |
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