|
|||||
This prayer is based on the personal prayer said on holidays before Torah reading. The grammar has been adapted as plural rather than singular, so that the couple says the prayer together before their ritual of Kiddushin (betrothal). . . . → Read More: תפילה לפני קידושין | Prayer before Kiddushin for couples by Sarah Groner The transition ritual poems below are an effort to hear in the Torah the voices of the various parts of the trans self calling one another toward wholeness. . . . → Read More: Transition Ritual Poems God, may my work feel redemptive even when an ocean of need feels like it will pull me down. May I feel the supported when I feel alone in my work. O God, remind me when I fail that I can learn, and that my life is more than my work. O God, remind me . . . → Read More: A Prayer for Health 
Almost everyone who is Jewish knows that Kol Nidre is about releasing vows and has participated in the ceremony. Few know the parallel ritual done in small groups before Rosh Hashanah. Traditionally, right before Rosh Hashanah one performs this simple ritual with three friends, each in turn becoming the petitioner, while the other three act as the beit din, the judges in a court. The ritual is a wonderful way to enter the holidays as well as to prepare oneself for what will happen on Yom Kippur. . . . → Read More: Hatarat Nedarim: The Release of Vows by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi 
In honor of the birth of their son born 23 Shvat 5772 ~ 15 February 2012, Rabbi Emma Kippley-Ogman and Benjamin Kamm share their Brit Shmot (Naming Covenant). The ceremony took place February 23rd, 2012 (Rosh Ḥodesh Adar ~ 30 Shvat 5772) at Congregation Kehillath Israel, Brookline, Massachusetts. . . . → Read More: ברית שמות | Naming Covenant by Rabbi Emma Kippley-Ogman and Benjamin Kamm 
A translation of the Seven Blessings shared just in time for Shavuot, and in honor of several of my friend’s weddings. . . . → Read More: Sheva Brakhot: The Seven Blessings over a Wedding I have been asked to write a healing prayer So I tried But I can’t do it I don’t have the soothing words I’m in pain Right now And it’s been going on for a while And it looks like it’s going to last longer than it takes to write this prayer So instead I offer to you A pain prayer . . . → Read More: Heal Me
The following is a meditation I wrote (with the help of my friend Shira Gura, who teaches meditation and Yoga) to be used on Friday before Shabbat at the mikveh. It is based on midrashim related to Shabbat (for example, the notion that we receive an additional soul on Shabbat), as well as meanings behind mikveh in general (for example, the connection between the waters of Creation and the mikveh waters), and on some kavanot (sacred intentions) that came out of the Kabbalah and Ḥassidut movements. There is a strong tradition to write kavanot to use before immersing in the mikveh, since, as Maimonides writes in his Mishneh Torah 11:15, “If a person immerses but without buttressing him or herself [with sacred intention], it is as though he or she has not immersed at all.” . . . → Read More: Mikveh Meditation for Erev Shabbat by Rabbi Haviva Ner-David and Shira Gura By Andrew Meit, written upon the death of his mother, Sonie Meit, the 28th of Sivan 5771 –כ״ח בְּסִיוָן תשע״א. . . . → Read More: Kiss of death: a prayer upon the death of a parent 
As the month of Elul wanes, we are preparing. We prepare for the new moon, we prepare for Rosh Hashanah, and we prepare for the zombie invasion. I have it on good authority, as do you, that the onslaught is imminent. The alarm blares every morning — a shofar blast and a warning… . . . → Read More: A D’var Tefillah on Zombies, Elul, and Psalms 27 by Jessica Minnen Traditional Judaism offers a confessional prayer, or vidui, to be recited during a time of serious illness or near death. If the patient is unable to recite the prayer, others may do so on his or her behalf. This modern adaptation [of vidui] places less emphasis on atonement for sins, and more on the bonds connecting the patient to his or her loved ones. It can be recited by a friend, family member, or chaplain on behalf of a person who is very ill, especially when life and death are hanging in the balance. . . . → Read More: Prayer in a Time of Serious Illness by Rabbi Gilah Langner 
Almost two years ago my best friend passed away and I had the honour of chanting this maleh rachamim for him. In mid-May this year another friend approached me and said he really liked the way I did it at the time and could I record it for him because he was going to do . . . → Read More: אל מלא רחמים | El Maleh Raḥamim (Prayer for the Departed) translated and sung by Effron Esseiva 
Jews use the Kaddish to mourn the dead, though it has in it only one word — “nechamata,” consolations – which hints at mourning. And this word itself is used in a puzzling way, once we look at it with care. As we will see below, it may be especially appropriate in time of war. The interpretive English translation below may also be appropriate for prayers of mourning and hope in wartime by other spiritual and religious communities. In this version, changes in the traditional last line of the Hebrew text specifically include not only peace for the people Israel (as in the traditional version) but also for the children of Abraham and Hagar through Ishmael (Arabs and Muslims) and for all the life-forms who dwell upon this planet. . . . → Read More: Mourner’s Kaddish in Time of War and Violence 
Yakov Green shares a short kavvanah (intention, meditation) which he wrote in Hebrew one morning at Beit Midrash Elul in Jerusalem. He later translated it into English. תפילת דרך משולשת | Triple Prayer for the Road . . . → Read More: A Kavvanah for Crossroads: Triple Prayer for the Road by Yakov Green 
Ruler of Creation, Master of the world: Have mercy on all those who are suffering from the raging waters and the storming waves. Have compassion on Your creatures – Look, O Lord, and see their distress; Listen, God, and hear their cries. Strengthen the hands of those who would bring relief, comfort the mourners, Heal, please, the wounded. Grant us wisdom and discernment to know our obligations, and open our hearts so that we may extend our hands to the devastated. Bless us so that we may walk in Your ways, “compassionate ones, children of compassionate ones.” Grant us the will and the wisdom to prevent further disaster and death; Prevent plague from descending upon Your earth, and fulfill Your words, “Never again shall there be another flood to destroy the earth.” Amen. So may it be your will. . . . → Read More: Prayer in the Wake of the Tsunami 
In 1806, Rebbe Naḥman of Breslov taught that the recitation of ten psalms could act as a powerful Tikkun (remedy) in a process of t’shuva leading to an awareness of the divine presence that permeates and enlivens this world but is alas, hidden though an accretion of transgressive thoughts and actions. Five years later, Rebbe Naḥman revealed the specific ten psalms of this Tikkun to two of his closest disciples, Rabbi Aharon of Breslov and Rabbi Naftali of Nemirov… . . . → Read More: The Tikkun Haklali according to Rebbe Naḥman of Breslov 
Tired of people who can’t tell their kiddish (blessings for the Sabbath) from their kaddish (prayer for the dead)? Well, it sets Samuel L. Jackson off too! But he found a way of making a bracha (blessing) and mourning the dead at the same time. Now I can’t vouch for the origins of his nusaḥ (custom) but it sounds very effective! Most people haven’t noticed, the only real part from the Bible is that last section, the first part is actually his own spiel: . . . → Read More: PULP Kaddish הַמַּפִּיל | Prayer for a Newborn’s Safe Sleep This is a prayer for parents to say for safe sleep for their newborn children. It is based almost entirely on the longer form of the traditional prayers before sleep. Because of gender there are two forms, for a boy and for a girl. I . . . → Read More: הַמַּפִּיל | A Parent’s Prayer for the Safe Sleep of their Newborn Child by Aurora Mendelsohn DOWNLOAD: Simḥat Bat by Devora Steinmetz and David Silber PDF | ODT | TXT From the ceremony: 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 impurity after childbirth. If she gives birth to a son, she is impure . . . → Read More: Simḥat Bat (by Dr. Devora Steinmetz and Rabbi David Silber, 1987) 
R’ Elie Kaunfer and Lisa Exler kindly shared the Simḥat Bat ceremony they prepared for their daughter this past Monday, May 31st, at Fort Tryon Jewish Center. This Simḥat Bat is really distinguished by Rabbi Kaunfer’s innovation in using milk in the context of a covenant ceremony. From the explanatory notes: In place . . . → Read More: Simḥat Bat (by Rabbi Elie Kaunfer and Lisa Exler, 2010) |
 |
 Copyleft 2009-2013 Contributors to the Open Siddur Project. חלק מהזכויות שמורות | Some Rights Reserved.
All copyrighted work published on opensiddur.org remains the ©pyright of its respective copyright holders. All copyright holders have graciously shared their work under one of the following free/libre, free-culture licenses until the term of their copyright expires and their work enters the Public Domain.Unless otherwise indicate, the license under which all content is shared on this site is the Creative Commons Attribution/ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA) 3.0 Unported* license. Please look for license iconography indicating the license under which the copyright owner has chosen to share their work.
Powered by WordPress & Atahualpa |
|||
