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Elsie Davis (translation)

Elsie Naomi Davis Schryver (1876-1933), born in Derby, England, was a Jewish translator of liturgy and a mother. She was born at Friarfield House, Derby, the oldest of two children of Louisa (née Jonas) and Arthur Davis. Her father's family were secular Jewish precision instrument makers, who had immigrated to England from Bavaria in the early nineteenth century. A civil engineer by trade, Arthur Davis became religiously observant and mastered the Hebrew language, becoming an accomplished Hebraist noted for his study of cantillation marks in the Tanakh. The family moved to Kilburn, London when Nina was six weeks old, later settling in Bayswater. There, Davis gave his daughters an intensive scholarly education in Hebrew and Jewish studies, teaching them himself each morning before breakfast from the age of four, and taking them regularly to the synagogue. The Davis's moved in learned Jewish circles, and friends of Nina's parents included the families of Nathan Adler, Simeon Singer, Claude Montefiore, Solomon Schechter, Herbert Bentwich, and Elkan Adler. Arthur Davis was one of the "Kilburn Wanderers"—a group of Anglo-Jewish intellectuals that formed around Solomon Schechter in the 1880s—members of which took an interest in Nina's work and helped her find publication for her writings. Eleven of Elsie's translations of piyyutim are credited in the maḥzorim of Herbert Adler and her father Arthur Davis. With her husband, Samuel Barnett Schryver, she was the parent of two daughters, Rosalind Leah Schryver and Priscilla Naomi Schryver. Elsie was the older sister of Nina Salaman Davis (1877-1925), who also translated medieval piyyutim.

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אֲיֻמָּה נִכְתָּרָה | Ayumah Nikhtarah (Lo! the mighty nation wore a crown), a piyyuṭ for the second night of Shavuot by Isaac ben Meshulam (translated by Elsie Davis)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Isaac ben Meshulam

This is the piyyut “Eyumah Nikhtrah (Lo, the Mighty Nation…)” by Isaac ben Meshulam for maariv (after the shema) on the second night of Shavuot, was first published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Shavuot, Avodat Ḥag ha-Shavuot (1909), pp. 178-179.


שִׁיר הַיִּחוּד לְיוֹם רְבִיעִי | Hymn of Divine Unity for the Fourth Day, by an unknown paytan (ca. 12th c.)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation), Elsie Davis (translation), Unknown

This is the shir ha-yiḥud l’yom revi’i (hymn of unity for the fourth day), as translated by Nina Salaman and published in the maḥzor for Rosh ha-Shanah by Arthur Davis and Herbert Adler (1907).


כִּי הִנֵּה כַּחֹֽמֶר | Ki Hinéh kaḤomer, a pizmon for leil Yom Kippur (translated by Elsie Davis)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Unknown

This is the piyyut “Ki Hinéh kaḤomer (Lo! as the potter…)” a piyyut by an unknown paytan for maariv on Yom Kippur, published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Yom Kippur, Avodat Yom ha-Kippurim vol. 1 (1904), p. 39.


The Confession, an excerpt from Kether Malkhut (Crown of Royalty) by Shlomo ibn Gabirol adapted by Elsie Davis

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Shlomo ibn Gabirol

An adaptation in rhymed English verse of an excerpt of Shlomo ibn Gabirol’s Keter Malkhut Elsie Davis. First published in The Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 7, No. 3 (April 1895), pp. 461-464. The adaptation begins with section 34 of the piyyut.


יָרֵאתִי | Yaréti (“Trembling”), a piyyut by Yequtiel bar Mosheh of Speyer (rhyming English translation by Elsie Davis, 1907)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Yequtiel bar Mosheh of Speyer

This is the reshut “Yareti” by Yequtiel bar Mosheh (known from the acrostic signature), as translated into rhymed English verse by Elsie Davis, and published in Herbert Adler and Arthur Davis’s Maḥzor Avodat Ohel Moed: Avodat Yom haZikaron (1907), pp. 95-96. This reshut is offered by the shaliaḥ tsibbur at the outset of their repetition of the Amidah for shaḥarit on Rosh haShanah in the Ashkenazi nusaḥ, minhag Polin.


פֶּֽסַח אֱמוּנִים שִׁיר | Pesaḥ Emunim Shir (At Passover the faithful sang), a piyyuṭ for the seventh night of Pesaḥ by Yosef ben Yaaqov (translated by Elsie Davis)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Yosef ben Yaaqov

This is the piyyut “Pesaḥ Emunim (At Passover, the faithful…)” by Yosef bar Yaaqov Kalai for maariv (after the shema) on the seventh night of Pesaḥ, published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Shavuot, Avodat Ḥag ha-Matzot (1909), pp. 219-222.


אֶתֵּן לְפוֹעֲלִי צֶֽדֶק | Ètén l’Fōali Tsedeq (“My Maker’s Justice”), a piyyut by Rabbi Shimon bar Yitsḥaq of Mainz (rhyming English translation by Elsie Davis, 1907)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Shimon bar Yitsḥaq of Mainz

This is the alphabetic acrostic piyyut “Etén l’Foali Tsedeq” by Shimon bar Yitsḥaq (b. Abun of Mainz, identified via his acrostic signature), as translated into rhymed English verse by Elsie Davis, and published in Herbert Adler and Arthur Davis’s Maḥzor Avodat Ohel Moed: Avodat Yom haZikaron (1907), p. 104 (also, p. 200).


אֲשֶׁר אֵימָתֶֽךָ | Asher Eimatekha (Thou whose fear…), a qerovah piyyuṭ by Meshullam ben Ḳalonymous for Yom Kippur (translated by Elsie Davis)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Meshullam ben Ḳalonymus

This is the piyyut “Asher Eimatekha (Thou whose fear…)” a piyyut by Meshullam ben Ḳalonymous for the reader’s repetition of the Yom Kippur musaf amidah, published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Yom Kippur, Avodat Yom ha-Kippurim vol. 2 (1904), pp. 147-149.


אַשֶׁר אֹֽמֶץ תְּהִלָּתֶֽךָ | Asher Omets Tehilatekha (Thou, the might of whose praise), a qerovah piyyuṭ for Yom Kippur (translated by Elsie Davis)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Meshullam ben Ḳalonymus

This is the piyyut “Asher Omets Tehilatekha (Thou, the might of whose praise)” a piyyut by an unknown paytan (possibly Meshullam ben Ḳalonymous) in the qerovot section of the reader’s repetition of the Yom Kippur shaḥarit amidah, published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Yom Kippur, Avodat Yom ha-Kippurim vol. 2 (1904), p. 68.


מַעֲשֵׂי אֱלֹהֵינוּ | Ma’aseh Eloheinu (The work of our God), a qerovah piyyuṭ by Meshullam ben Ḳalonymous for Yom Kippur (translated by Elsie Davis)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Meshullam ben Ḳalonymus

This is the piyyut “Ma’aseh Eloheinu (The work of our God)” a piyyut by Meshullam ben Ḳalonymous in the qerovot section of the reader’s repetition of the Yom Kippur shaḥarit amidah, published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Yom Kippur, Avodat Yom ha-Kippurim vol. 2 (1904), p. 67.


כְּהשַֽׁעְתָּ אֵלִים | Kehoshata Élim (Savior of mighty ones…), a hoshana piyyuṭ for the second day of Sukkot by Elazar Kilir (translated by Elsie Davis)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Elazar ben Qallir

This is the piyyut “Kehoshata Elim (Savior of mighty ones…)” by Eleazar Kalir for the hoshanot on the second day of Sukkot, published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Sukkot, Avodat Ḥag ha-Sukkot (1908), pp. 144-145.


בְּנֵי עָפָר מִי מָנָה | B’nei Afar Mi Manah (Thy sons—the dust of Jacob who hath told?), a zulat piyyuṭ for the first day of Sukkot (translated by Elsie Davis)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Unknown

This is the piyyut “Az K’einei Avadim (As slaves, with eyes beseeching,…)” by an unknown paytan for the seventh circuit of the Hoshana Rabba service (on the seventh and final day of Sukkot), published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Sukkot, Avodat Ḥag ha-Sukkot (1908), pp. 183.


אַז הָיְתָה חֲנָיַת סֻכּוֹ | Az Haytah Ḥanayat Sukō (Of yore, abode His dwelling place), a qerovah piyyuṭ by Elazar Kalir for the first day of Sukkot (translated by Elsie Davis)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Elazar ben Qallir

This is the piyyut “Az Haytah Ḥanayat Sukō (Of yore, abode His dwelling place,)” a qerovah piyyut by Elazar Kalir for the first day of Sukkot, published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Sukkot, Avodat Ḥag ha-Sukkot (1908), pp. 212.


אָז כְּעֵינֵי עֲבָדִים | Az K’einei Avadim (As slaves, with eyes beseeching…), a piyyuṭ for the seventh circuit of Hoshana Rabba (translated by Elsie Davis)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation), Unknown

This is the piyyut “Az K’einei Avadim (As slaves, with eyes beseeching,…)” by an unknown paytan for the seventh circuit of the Hoshana Rabba service (on the seventh and final day of Sukkot), published in Adler and Davis’s Maḥzor for Sukkot, Avodat Ḥag ha-Sukkot (1908), pp. 183.