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Category Archives: Contributions

יגדל | Yigdal by Daniel ben Judah (translation by Chajm Guski)

31-Aug-10

Chajm Guski contributes with a public domain declaration a new German translation of the famous piyyut, Yigdal, by Daniel ben Judah Dayyan. Yigdal (Hebrew: יִגְדָּל‎; yighdāl, means “Magnify [O Living God]“) is based on the 13 Articles of Faith formulated by Maimonides. Daniel ben Judah spent eight years in improving it, completing the piyyut in [...]

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From the Freedman archives: Tefillah Minḥah l’Shabbat (Jakob J. Petuchowski, 1966)

26-Aug-10

Over the course of Rabbi Freedman’s work on the Polychrome Historical Siddur and Haggadah, Dr.  Jakob J. Petuchowski (1925-1991), professor of theology and liturgy at HUC-JIR, provided valuable and challenging feedback. For example, in one letter dated April 4th, 1975, Dr. Petuchowski considers the color coding schema Rabbi Freedman devised to communicate historical context via [...]

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The Nusaḥ Ha-Ari (for Travelers.) Modular segments transcribed by Shmuel Gonzales

08-Aug-10

When Rav Yiztḥak Luria, zt”l, also known as the Holy Ari, davvened in Eretz Yisroel he brought about a series of liturgical innovations witnessed in later siddurim. His particular nusaḥ bridged minhag Ashkenaz and minhag Sefarad (the customs of the Rheinland Jews and the customs of the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula) with the teachings [...]

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A Prayer for the Government by Louis Ginzberg (translation by R’ Tim Bernard)

07-Aug-10

Rabbi Louis Ginzberg’s “A Prayer for the Government,” was originally published in 1927 in the Festival Prayer Book, edited by Jacob Kohn and Maurice H. Farbridge. In his article “Conservative Prayerbooks” written for the Jewish Spectator in 1976, Dr. Eric Friedland had this to say about the Festival Prayer Book and Louis Ginzburg’s Prayer for [...]

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The Singer Siddur (R’ Simeon Singer, Bloch 1915)

05-Aug-10

Before the Koren-Sachs Siddur (2006), and before Rabbi Jonathan Sach’s Authorised Daily Prayer Book of the British Commonwealth (1992), there was the Authorized Daily Prayer Book first published in 1890 and used by Jews throughout the British Empire, while there was a British Empire. It was originally published under the authorization of the Britain’s first [...]

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Simḥat Bat (by Dr. Devora Steinmetz and Rabbi David Silber, 1987)

03-Aug-10

Many thanks to Dr. Devora Steinmetz and Rabbi David Silber for sharing the Simḥat Bat ceremony they prepared for their oldest daughter in 1987. From the Simhat Bat explanatory notes: We name our daughters on their fifteenth day of life. This is based on Vayiqra 12:1-5, which describes the length of a woman’s period of [...]

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תנ״ך | The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation (JPS 1917)

03-Aug-10

The 1985 JPS may be on the Amazon best seller list but it won’t be until 2080 before its contents enter the Public Domain. Thankfully an excellent English translation of the TaNaKh already exists that we can use, modify, and importantly, update: The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text: A New Translation with the [...]

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Siddur Torah Ohr (according to the text of R’ Schneur Zalman of Liadi)

28-Jul-10

The Open Siddur Project seeks to digitize siddurim and manunscripts witnessing the origin, evolution, and diversity of every nusaḥ. Besides our work transcribing the Seder Avodat Yisroel, we are also transcribing the Siddur Torah Ohr, originally prepared by the Alter Rebbe, R’ Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), the founder of the ח״בד ḤaBaD movement within [...]

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Seder Avodat Yisroel (by R’ Seligman Baer, 1868)

28-Jul-10

One of the first siddurim we are transcribing is Rabbi Seligman Baer‘s (1825-1897) Seder Avodat Yisrael. Seder Avodat Yisroel was originally published in 1868 by the Rödelheim printing press. The edition we are transcribing is from 1901. Avodat Yisrael is respected as a carefully edited work. Its sources are cited in the introduction, and Baer’s [...]

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On Standing Before God-Who-Sees-Me (a kavanah by Virginia Avniel Spatz)

26-Jul-10

The Amidah’s choreography is designed to call to mind an appearance before a sovereign so as to invoke the proper “stance.” Consider, though, the variety of God-communications depicted just in the book of Genesis: God talks to Adam and Eve, to Cain, Noah, and Abimelech. God even talks to the serpent. God heeds Ishmael “where [...]

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