Translation of Birkhat Hamazon based on the translation of Rabbi Simeon Singer in the Authorised Daily Prayer Book (1895), by Aharon Varady (Copyright 2010-2011), version 0.3, for the Open Siddur Project. Shared with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA) 3.0 Unported license. A Song of Ascents. When YHVH restores us to Her dwelling place, Tzion, we will be like dreamers: our mouths filled with laughter, our tongues with ululations! All the other peoples of the world will say: YHVH does amazing things for Her people. YHVH does awesome things for us - we are so happy! Restore our lost tribes, YHVH, like (rain in) desert streams. Those who plant with tears shall reap with joy. Though one may go to their field weeping, carrying a pail full of seeds, they shall return home with joy, bearing a mighty harvest. (Psalms 126) When three or more people with understanding eat together, initiate the birkhat hamazon with this invitation: Friends, let us Bless! Everyone responds: May the name YHVH be blessed from here to the ends of the world! The leader continues. (If there are ten or more the leader invokes the divine name (in parentheses)): May the name YHVH be blessed from here - unto the ends of the world! With the permission of my friends, let us bless (Eloheinu) whose food we have eaten... Everyone responds with the following blessing (which the leader then repeats): Bless (Eloheinu) whose food we have eaten — and through whose goodness our life depends! Everyone says together: Bless Him and bless His Name Blessing for the Nourishment: Bless you, YHVH Eloheinu, Protector of the World, who nourishes the whole world with goodness, with grace, with lovingkindness, and with compassion. You feed all creatures because your lovingkindness is everywhere (Psalms 136:25). Through your great goodness we have never been starved for food: May we never ever go hungry - for the sake of your great name - because you are the god that nourishes and sustains all beings. You are good to everything and you provide food for all your creatures. As it is written, "You open your hand, and satisfy the desires of all living creatures" (Psalms 145:10). Bless you YHVH, the nourisher of everything. Blessing for the Earth: We thank you, YHVH Eloheinu, for the lovely, good and expansive world you gave to our ancestors (to serve and to guard); and for our liberation, YHVH Eloheinu, from a land of confinement, redeeming us from a house of slavery; and for the promise we made with each other - a promise you made part of of our very being; and for your Torah that you teach us, and for your mysteries which you reveal to us, and for the life, grace and lovingkindness that you bestow on us, and for the food with which you constantly nourish and sustain us — every day, in every season, and in every moment... On Ḥanukah add: and for the miracles, and for your interventions, for your mighty deeds, saving and wondrous acts that you performed for our ancestors in days of old, during this season. In the days of the Ḥashmonean, Mattityahu son of Yoḥanan, the High Priest, and his sons, when the iniquitous power of the Syrian-Greeks rose against your people Yisrael to make them forgetful of your Torah, and to force them to transgress the statutes you commanded them. Then, in your abundant mercy, you rose up for them in their time of trouble; you plead their cause, you judged their complaint, you avenged their wrong; you delivered the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands of the pure, the wicked into the hands of the righteous, and the arrogant into the hands of those who occupied themselves in your Torah. For yourself you made a great and holy name in your world, and for your people Yisrael you made a great deliverance and redemption - as at this day. And afterward, your children came into the oracle of your house, cleansed your temple, purified your sanctuary, kindled lights in your holy courts, and appointed these eight days of Ḥanukah in order to give thanks and praises unto your great name. For all this, YHVH Eloheinu, we thank and bless you. May your name be blessed by all life, by each creature in its own way, continually and for all time. As it is written, "and eat and be satisfied and bless YHVH Elohekha for the good land given you" (Deuteronomy 8:10). Bless you, YHVH, for the earth and for its food. Blessing for the City of Peace: Have compassion, YHVH Eloheinu, upon Yisrael your people, upon the City of Peace - Yerushalayim, upon Tzion the place upon which your Kavod - your Glory - dwells, upon the kingdom of the house of David your chosen servant, and upon the great and holy house wherein your Ineffable Name was pronounced. Eloheinu, our Protector, feed us, nourish us, sustain, support and relieve us. Speedily, YHVH Eloheinu, relieve us from all our troubles. We beg you, YHVH Eloheinu, let our bodies never be indebted to others. Rather, may we only ever rely on your helping hand that is full, open, holy and ample, so that we may never be ashamed nor ever be put to shame. On Rosh Ḥodesh (the occurrence of a new moon): Eloheinu and Elohei of our Ancestors! May we rise and come before you and be accepted with the memory of our holy ancestors, with the memory of the moshiaḥ - the son of David your servant, of the your holy City of Peace, Yerushalayim, and of all your people - the community called Yisrael. (Please) save us with goodness, with grace and lovingkindness, with compassion, with life, and with peace on this day of the New Moon. Remember us, YHVH Eloheinu, for our well-being, and (please) keep us in mind for a blessing. Save our lives as you promised to save us with compassion. Spare us and be gracious to us; have mercy on us and save us; for our eyes look to you, because you are a loving and compassionate Protector (cf. Neḥemiah 9:31). And rebuild the City of Peace, Yerushalayim, the holy city speedily in our days. Bless you YHVH, who with compassion builds the City of Peace. Amen. Blessing for Goodness Sake: Bless you, YHVH Eloheinu, Protector of the World, the god that is our Guide, our King, our Mighty One, our Creator, our Redeemer, our Maker, our Holy One, the Holy One of Yaakov, our Shepherd, the Shepherd of Yisrael. O King who is kind and acts kindly with all creation, day by day you act kindly, are kind, and will be kind with us. You brought, you bring, and you will always bring goodness to us - with grace, lovingkindness, compassion and relief, deliverance and prosperity, blessing and salvation, with comfort and food, compassion, life, and peace - you bring everything that is really really good. For everything good that we need let us never be needy. May the compassionate One's majesty watch over us for ever and ever. May the compassionate One be blessed in the cosmos and on this earth. May the compassionate One be praised throughout all generations, glorified among us at all times, and honored among us in every age and in every world. May the compassionate One grant us an honorable livelihood. May the compassionate One send a plentiful blessing upon this dwelling place, and upon this table at which we have eaten. May the compassionate One remove the yoke of alienation from our necks, and reconnect us with the earth we rely upon. May the compassionate One send us Eliyahu the prophet - may he be remembered for good - who will bring us good news, salvation, and comfort. May the compassionate One bless each and every one of those here, their families, the seeds they carry, and all that is theirs. (Also bless) us and all that is ours: just as our ancestors Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov were each blessed in every way throughout their lives, (cf. Genesis 24:1; 27:33; 33:11) so may the compassionate One bless all of us together with a perfect blessing - and let us say, Amen! May the merit of our blessed ancestors advocate in Heaven on our behalf and bring us a lasting peace on Earth. May we receive a blessing from YHVH, and justice from the Elohei that intervenes at times of danger. May we be considered graceful and thoughtful in the vision of Elohim and in the perception of our fellow earthlings (cf. Proverbs 3:4). On Rosh Ḥodesh (the occurrence of a new moon): May the compassionate One renew for us this month for good and for blessing. May the compassionate One make us worthy of the days of the moshiaḥ and of a life in the next Age. The compassionate One intervenes for Her king, bringing lovingkindness to Her chosen servant, to David and to his descendants, throughout the world (Psalms 18:51). The One who makes peace in lofty places, may He make peace here below for us and for all Yisrael - and let us say, Amen! Be in awe of YHVH, you holy ones; for those in awe suffer no want. Young lions will suffer the pangs of hunger: but those who seek YHVH shall not lack anything good (Psalms 34:10-11). Give thanks unto YHVH, for goodness is His unconditional ceaseless lovingkindness (Psalms 136:1). You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing (Psalms 145:10). Blessed is the one that trusts in YHVH, and whose trust YHVH is (Jeremiah 17:7). I have been young and now I am old; yet have I not seen a righteous person forsaken, nor their children begging for bread (Psalms 37:25). YHVH will give strength to people; YHVH will bless his people with peace (Psalms 29:11).