Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Rabbi Dr. Zalman Meshullam Schachter-Shalomi, affectionately known as “Reb Zalman”, (28 August 1924 – 3 July 2014) was one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement. Born in Żółkiew, Poland (now Ukraine) and raised in Vienna, he was interned in detention camps under the Vichy Regime but managed to flee the Nazi advance, emigrating to the United States in 1941. He was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi in 1947 within the ḤaBaD Hasidic movement while under the leadership of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, and served ḤaBaD communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He subsequently earned an M.A. in psychology of religion at Boston University, and a doctorate from the Hebrew Union College. He was initially sent out to speak on college campuses by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, but in the early 1960s, after experimenting with “the sacramental value of lysergic acid”, the main ingredient in LSD, leadership within ḤaBaD circles cut ties with him. He continued teaching the Torah of Ḥassidut until the end of his life to creative, free and open-minded Jewish thinkers with humility and kindness and established warm ecumenical ties as well. In September 2009, he became the first contributor of a siddur to the Open Siddur Project database of Jewish liturgy and related work. Reb Zalman supported the Open Siddur Project telling its founder, “this is what I’ve been looking forward to!” and sharing among many additional works of liturgy, an interview he had with Havurah magazine in the early to mid-1980s detailing his vision of “Database Davenen.” The Open Siddur Project is proud to be realizing one of Reb Zalman’s long held dreams.

Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project, which he founded and directs. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin, Ministarot Nakeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי “Who can know all one’s flaws? From hidden errors, correct me” (Psalms 19:13). If you’d like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. Besides his transcription work, Varady occasionally translates prayers and contributes his own original work. (Varady also serves as editor and administrator of the Open Siddur Project website, opensiddur.org, and is an outspoken advocate for open-source in Judaism more of which can be read about in this interview in the Atlantic Magazine.)

Abayyé ben Kaylil

Oft-quoted in the Babylonian Talmud, Abayyé (also, Abaye, Hebrew: אַבַּיֵי‎‎) was an Amoraic rabbi born about the close of the 3rd century CE and who died 339 CE. His father, Kaylil, was the brother of Rabbah bar Naḥmani, a teacher at the Yeshiva (Rabbinic Academy) of Pumbedita. Abayyé’s real name was Naḥmani, after his grandfather. Left an orphan at an early age, he was adopted by his uncle, Rabbah bar Naḥmani, who nicknamed him Abayyé (“Little Father”), to avoid confusion (perhaps out of respect for his father) with his grandfather of the same name; thenceforth he was known as Abayyé, without any other title. It is a curious fact that he perpetuated the memory of his foster-mother by mentioning her name in many popular recipes and dietetic precepts. He introduced each recipe with the phrase, “My mother told me.” Abayyé’s teachers were his uncle Rabbah and Yosef bar Ḥama, both of whom successively became presidents of the Pumbedita Academy. When Yosef died (324 CE), this honor was conferred upon Abayyé, who retained it until his death some five years later. Rabbah trained him in the application of the dialectic method to halakhic problems, and Yosef, with his stores of traditional lore, taught him to appreciate the value of positive knowledge. (adapted from wikipedia)