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a community-grown, libre Open Access archive of Jewish prayer and liturgical resources
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 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. . . . 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. . . . מזמור לתודה לכבוד משה איש האלהים | A Thanksgiving in Commemoration of Moses Maimonides, an octocentennial prayer by Ḥakham Shem Tov Gaguine (Bevis Marks Synagogue, 27 May 1935) Contributor(s):“A Thanksgiving in Commemoration of Moses Maimonides” with its accompanying Hashkabah is found in the Service of Praise and Thanksgiving to Commemorate the 800th Anniversary of the Birth of Moses Maimonides prepared by Bevis Marks Synagogue in London on 27 May 1935. . . . 📖 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):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). . . . Prayer for the Government in honor of George Washington, First President of the United States of America by Ḳ.Ḳ. Beit Shalome (1789) Contributor(s):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. . . . 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.” . . . A Jewish Prayer for Peace between England and her Colonies on a public day of fasting and prayer, 17 May 1776 Contributor(s):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.” . . . 📖 (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 | Prayer for the Prosperity of his Royal Majesty, delivered by Rabbi Jacob Jehudah Leon Templo to King Charles Ⅱ (1675) Contributor(s):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). . . . 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 beautiful piyyut of unknown authorship is recited in most Sephardic, Mizrahi and Yemenite traditions on Tisha B’ab at Minḥah. In its stanzas, rich and replete with biblical references (as is particularly common in Sephardic Piyyut), God speaks to Jerusalem and promises to comfort her, and comfort and redeem her people. . . . |
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