“For the Miracles” according to Se‘adya’s Siddur
“[We thank you] for the miracles, the mighty deeds, the acts of salvation, the battles, the redemption and the rescue that you performed for us and for our forefathers in those days and at this time. In the days of Mattathias son of Johanan the High Priest, the Hasmonean, and his sons, when the kingdom of Greece arose against your people with the aim of making them forget your Torah and transgress your express instructions, you stood up for them in your manifold mercies in their time of trouble, pleaded their cause, represented their case, took revenge for them, handing the mighty into the power of the weak, the many into the power of the few, the impure into the power of the pure, the wicked into the power of the righteous and the insolent into the power of those who engage in Torah. You enhanced your great and holy reputation and brought about great salvation and rescue for your people Israel. Afterwards your people entered the shrine of your temple, cleansed your palace, purified your sanctuary and kindled lights in your holy courtyards. For all these things may you be blessed and exalted.”
Some then add here “They instituted eight days of praise and gratitude to your name. Just as you performed miracles for earlier generations, so do likewise for the later ones and save us these days as in those days. And for all these things. . . . ”
[Another version:] [ . . . J]ust as you performed miracles for earlier generations, do act similarly for their descendants and save us in these days as in those times.”
Notes
Words in brackets appear in the original translation.
Credits
Se‘adya Ga’on, “For the Miracles (‘Al ha-nisim),” trans. Stefan C. Reif, from Stefan C. Reif, “The Emergence and Textual Evolution of a post-Talmudic Prayer: The Case of ‘al ha-nissim,” from Manuscrits hébreux et arabes: Mélanges en l'honneur de Colette Sirat, ed. Nicholas de Lange and Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (Turnout, Belgium: Brepols, 2014), 372, 376. Used with permission of the publisher.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.