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a community-grown, libre Open Access archive of Jewish prayer and liturgical resources — for those crafting their own prayerbooks and sharing the content of their practice |
על השואה ועל התפלתה | Prayer in the Shoah, an essay and a prayer by Rabbi Dr. David Weiss Halivni (2000)A meditation on a unique prayer heard by Rabbi Dr. David Weiss Halivni at the Rosh Hashanah services at the Wolfsberg Labor Camp in 1944. . . .  Categories: Holocaust & Genocide Memorial Day Readings, International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), Kristallnacht, Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), Davvening, Pedagogical Essays on Jewish Prayer Tags: Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust (DRVH), 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., the Holocaust, non-dual theology Contributor(s): Peter W. Ochs (translation), David Weiss Halivni and Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)Blessings and Ethics: The Spiritual Life of Justice, a dvar tefillah on berakhot by Rabbi Dr. Joshua Gutoff (1997)An article looking at the questions of why there aren’t brakhot for ethical mitsvot, in which an approach to the function brakhot as part of a spiritual and imaginative discipline is proposed. At the same time, it is argued that all ethical practices are first exercises in listening. . . . Categories: Pedagogical Essays on Jewish PrayerThese are the lyrics of the song, Miryam haNevi’ah, written by rabbis Leila Gal Berner and Arthur Waskow (with Hebrew by Leila Gal Berner) as found published in My People’s Prayer Book, vol. 7: Shabbat at Home, (ed. L. Hoffman, 1997), section 3, p. 189. The English lyrics are from an article published several years earlier — “Memories of a Jewish Lesbian Evening” by Roger McDougle appearing in Bridges (vol. 4:1, Winter/Spring 1994), on the top of page 58. No specific date is given for the havdalah program described in the article, alas. If you know the earliest reference for the publication or use of Miryam haNevi’ah, please contact us. . . . Categories: Motsei ShabbatPrayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Rachmiel Liberman on 13 May 1992The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 13 May 1992. . . . The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 2 April 1992. . . . The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 20 February 1992. . . . The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 7 November 1991. . . . Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Chaplain Jonathan A. Panitz on 16 October 1991The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 16 October 1991. . . . The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 16 October 1991. . . . The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 12 June 1991. . . . The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 14 May 1991. . . . The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 8 May 1991. . . . The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 20 March 1991. . . . The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 19 March 1991. . . . Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Jay Marcus on 13 September 1990The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 13 September 1990. . . . Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Irving Spielman on 12 September 1990The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 12 September 1990. . . . Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi David Saltzman on 6 September 1990The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 6 September 1990. . . . Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Arthur Schneier on 8 May 1990The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 8 May 1990. . . . “[I’m Spending] Hanukkah in Santa Monica” by Tom Lehrer was first written at the request of Garrison Keillor for his radio show The American Radio Company on which it was performed twice, in 1990 and 1992. The song was later released on the album, Bible & Beyond (Larry Milder, 1999). The first recording of Tom Lehrer singing his song can be heard on The Remains of Tom Lehrer (Disc 3) (2000). In 2022, Tom Lehrer gave an enormous Ḥanukkah present to the world, dedicating his entire oeuvre to the Public Domain including this song. . . . Categories: Ḥanukkah💬 Proklamation der Grundrechte der Tiere | Proclamation of Fundamental Animal Rights | Proclamation des Droits Fondamentaux de L’animal (Die Grünen Bundesarbeitsgruppe “Mensch und Tier,” April 1989)A Proclamation of Fundamental Animal Rights drafted by the West German Green Party in 1989 upon the 200th anniversary of the “Declaration of the Rights of Man” (1789), in German with translations in English, French, and Portuguese. . . . The Universal Declaration of Animal Rights (UDAR) was first proclaimed in Paris on 15 October 1978 at the headquarters of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) with the ambition of it being formally adopted in the United Nations General Assembly. The French League of Animal Rights spurred the development of a revised text written during the General Assembly of the International League of Animal Rights, held June 3–4, 1989 in Luxembourg, and adopted on October 21, 1989. The declaration was submitted to the UNESCO Director General in 1990 however it has never been formally adopted. . . . Meaning What We Pray, Praying What We Mean: The Otherness of the Liturgy, by Rabbi Dr. Joshua Gutoff (1989)A discussion of the nature of truth and belief in Jewish liturgical prayer, suggesting that fixed liturgy is less a vehicle for conveying theological or philosophical outcomes than a practice for developing an emotionally religious personality. Shabbat musaf is used as an example. “Meaning What We Pray, Praying What We Mean: The Otherness of the Liturgy” by Rabbi Dr. Joshua Gutoff was first published in Conservative Judaism, Vol. 42(2), Winter 1989-90, pp. 12-20. . . . Pledge of Allegiance to the Family of Earth, by Bella Abzug & Mim Kelber (Women’s Foreign Policy Council, 1989)The “Pledge of Allegiance to the Family of Earth” was offered by the Women’s Foreign Policy Council (co-chaired by Bella Abzug and Mim Kelber). The earliest publiclation of the pledge that we were able to located is as found in the article, “Earthlings Unite” by Nina Combs in Ms. Magazine, vol. 18:1&2 (July/August 1989), p. 19. . . . This “Global Pledge of Allegiance” by Edna A. Meisner-Reitz was first published in The Quest, vol. 2, issue 4, Winter 1989 (Theosophical Society of America), back cover. . . . “Just Walk Beside Me” (לֵךְ פָּשׁוּט לְצִדִּי | امشي بجانبي | נאָר גיין לעבן מיר), lines from an unknown author circulating in 1970; Jewish adaptation with translations in Aramaic, Hebrew, Yiddish, and ArabicVariations of the original three lines culminating with “…walk beside me…” first appear in high school yearbooks beginning in 1970. The earliest recorded mention we could find was in The Northern Light, the 1970 yearbook of North Attleboro High School, Massachusetts. In the Jewish world of the early to mid-1970s, a young Moshe Tanenbaum began transmitting the lines at Jewish summer camps. In 1979, as Uncle Moishy, Tanenbaum published a recording of the song under the title “v’Ohavta” (track A4 on The Adventures of Uncle Moishy and the Mitzvah Men, volume 2). . . . The “Dona Nobis Pacem” blues from Leonard Bernstein’s MASS (1971), original Hebrew translation by Isaac Gantwerk MayerAn original Hebrew translation of the blues-rock portion of the Agnus Dei movement from Leonard Bernstein’s MASS (note: always spelled with ALL CAPS), where the crowd of disaffected and disillusioned young parishioners interrupts the offertory to demand peace now, and hold God to account for not giving it to us. It’s unsurprising that for a composer as proudly and openly Jewish as Bernstein that even his setting of the Tridentine Mass has major “shaking your fist at God” energy. Not gonna lie, I was listening to this on a plane out of Jerusalem as the war was starting, and I started to tear up. I immediately started writing this translation and finished it up in the process of about an hour while stuck somewhere a few thousand feet above Greenland. It’s amazing and moving and tragic and enraging and a little full of itself in exactly the right way to hit me in the heart. . . . Categories: Social Justice, Peace, and Liberty“National Brotherhood Week” by Tom Lehrer was first released on his album “That Was The Year That Was” (1965). National Brotherhood Week in February was first established in the 1930s by the National Conference of Christians and Jews as a means of promoting the values of inter-religious tolerance and civic interdependence. The week gained federal support from President Franklin Roosevelt during World War Ⅱ as a means of combatting fascist and nativist objections to a vision of democracy built on the foundation of a multicultural civil society. By the time Tom Lehrer lampooned the civic commemoration in 1965, the McCarthyite oppressions of the Red Scare and Lavender Scare during the Cold War, the manufactured Vietnam War, lingering anti-Semitic prejudice and suspicion, the continued struggle for civil rights with its continued lynchings, the assassination of JFK and increasing political violence had all exposed National Brotherhood Week for many young adults as phony, a historical relic that had lost the import of any cultural imperative it might have once possessed. . . . Categories: National Brotherhood WeekRabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel from “Yom Kippur” [“Remarks on Yom Kippur”] Mas’at Rav (A Professional Supplement to Conservative Judaism), August 1965, pp. 13–14 — as found in Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity (ed. Dr. Susannah Heschel, 1997), pp. 146-147. . . . Categories: Yom Kippur Readingsברכות־הנפטרין על פי האמונה הבוקוניסטית | the Last Rites of Bokonon, by Kurt Vonnegut (1963, Hebrew translation by Amatsyah Porat 1978)This is an adaptation of the “Last Rites of Bokonon” from the 99th chapter of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Cat’s Cradle (1963) translated by Amatsyah Porat for the 1978 Hebrew language edition of the novel. . . . Categories: Dying Contributor(s): Amatsyah Porat (translation), Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)This closing ceremony for Flag Day was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), pp. 133-135. . . . Categories: US Flag Day (June 14) Tags: American Jewry of the United States, 20th century C.E., ecumenical prayers, United States, 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, civic prayers Contributor(s): Mordecai Kaplan, Eugene Kohn, John Paul Williams and Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)Opening Prayer on the Significance of Flag Day, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)This opening prayer for Flag Day, “The Significance of the Day,” was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p. 117 . . . Categories: US Flag Day (June 14) Tags: English vernacular prayer, civic prayers, American Jewry of the United States, 20th century C.E., ecumenical prayers, United States, 58th century A.M. Contributor(s): Mordecai Kaplan, Eugene Kohn, John Paul Williams and Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)The Union Home Prayer Book (1951) is an anthology of prayers for family and personal use following in the tradition of the Seder Teḥinot and many earlier anthologies of private (non-communal) prayer practice. . . . The Many and the Few | רַבִּים בְּיַד מְעַטִּים (Rabim b’Yad M’atim) — a Hebrew adaptation of Woody Guthrie’s Ḥanukkah ballad by Isaac Gantwerk MayerDid you know that the great songwriter and activist Woody Guthrie wrote Ḥanukkah music? It’s true. Though Guthrie himself was not Jewish, Marjorie Greenblatt, his second wife and their children were, and he would write Ḥanukkah songs for the kids in his neighborhood in the 1940s. Two of these songs were recorded by Moses Asch, head of Folkways Records, in 1949 — a kid’s song called “Hanuka Dance,” and a twenty-verse ballad retelling the story of Ḥanukkah called “The Many and the Few.” Below is an original Hebrew translation of “The Many and the Few,” preserving the meter of the original. With a simple melody and a lot of historical research, it could certainly be sung at a Ḥanukkah event. . . . Categories: ḤanukkahA paraliturgical adaptation of the prayer/curse, “Shfokh Ḥamatekha,” this prayer, likely written during, or just after the Holocaust, recognizes those nations and righteous gentiles who fought and risked their lives to aid and rescue European Jewry. . . . Categories: Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), Kristallnacht, Barekh, Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the HolocaustThis is an undated El Malé Raḥamim prayer for the victims of the Shoah translated into Dutch for a Yom Kippur ne’ilah service, likely sometime soon after the Holocaust had ended. To this I have added an English translation for those not fluent in Dutch or Hebrew. We are grateful to Shufra Judaica (Ellie Fisher and David Selis) for sharing a digital copy of this prayer. . . . Categories: Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), Kristallnacht, Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust Tags: נעילה neilah, 20th century C.E., Dutch Jewry, השואה the Shoah, אל מלא רחמים El Malé Raḥamim, 58th century A.M., Netherlandish Jewry, the Holocaust Contributor(s): Unknown Translator(s), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)This “Special Prayer for Our Soldiers and Sailors” edited by Rabbi Aaron Dym is found just after the preface to the siddur, סדור תפלת ישראל: כולל כל התפלות לכל השנה (Ziegelheim: 1943). . . . Categories: Military Personnel & VeteransA guide and reader for use on the Festival of Ḥanukkah in Portuguese translation, according to Portuguese Jewish custom, prepared by Artur Carlos de Barros Basto under the auspices of the Insituto Teológico Israelita (Yeshiba Rosh-Pinah) in 1943. . . . Categories: Ḥanukkah MadrikhimA birkon containing the Birkat haMazon in Portuguese translation by Artur Carlos de Barros Basto under the auspices of the Insituto Teológico Israelita (Yeshiba Rosh-Pinah) in 1941. . . . Categories: Birkonim (בענטשערס Bentshers)This is a vocalized transcription and translation of the World War Ⅱ era song, “Shir haGe’ulah (Song of Redemption)” from the source images shared in A Tribute to Rabbi Mordechai Meir Hakohen Bryski v”g Bryski (Rabbi Mordechai A. Katz, 2017), pp. 19-20. The song is also known by its incipit, “Heḥayyeinu El.” . . . Categories: Kristallnacht, Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, Se'udah haShlishitA prayer pamphlet containing a Hallel service in Portuguese translation by Artur Carlos de Barros Basto under the auspices of the Insituto Teológico Israelita (Yeshiba Rosh-Pinah) in 1940. . . . Categories: Rosh Ḥodesh📖 Oração Antes de Deitar (Prayers before Bedtime), a prayer-pamphlet compiled by Artur Carlos de Barros Basto (1940)A prayer-pamphlet containing the bedtime prayer service in Portuguese translation by Artur Carlos de Barros Basto under the auspices of the Insituto Teológico Israelita (Yeshiba Rosh-Pinah) in 1940. . . . Categories: Bedtime SiddurimA Friday night Sabbath evening prayer guide by Artur Carlos de Barros Basto under the auspices of the Insituto Teológico Israelita (Yeshiba Rosh-Pinah) in 1940. . . . Categories: Shabbat SiddurimPrayer for the Success of the Conference on Palestine Convened by His Majesty’s Government (Office of the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, 19 February 1939)A prayer for the success of the London Conference of 1939 which ultimately resulted in the publication of the 1939 White Paper. . . . A Saturday morning Shabbat shaḥarit/Torah reading/musaf prayer guide by Artur Carlos de Barros Basto under the auspices of the Insituto Teológico Israelita (Yeshiba Rosh-Pinah) in 1939. . . . Categories: Shabbat SiddurimThis is the Hanoten Teshua formula of the Prayer for the Wellbeing of the Government as translated by Artur Carlos de Barros Basto in Portuguese on page 34 of his Shabbat morning prayer-pamphlet Oração Matinal de Shabbath (1939). I have set Barros Basto’s Portuguese translation side-by-side with the Hebrew text of Hanoten Teshua (the variation of the prayer corresponding to Barros Basto’s translation). . . . Categories: Portugal Contributor(s): Artur Carlos de Barros Basto, Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)This is a prayer for captives, written in November 1938 in Hamburg, following Kristallnacht (my translation following the Hebrew). “May each and every one of them return to their family…who are worrying about them.” . . . Categories: Kristallnacht📖 Liberal Jewish Prayer Book vol. Ⅰ: Services for Weekdays, Sabbaths, etc. (Liberal Jewish Synagogue, London 1937)Liberal Jewish Prayer Book vol. Ⅰ: Services for Weekdays, Sabbaths, etc. (1937) is the revised “new” edition edition of the communal prayerbook of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue (London) first published in 1926. . . . Categories: Comprehensive (Kol Bo) Siddurimמזמור לתודה לכבוד משה איש האלהים | A Thanksgiving in Commemoration of Moses Maimonides, an octocentennial prayer by Ḥakham Shem Tov Gaguine (Bevis Marks Synagogue, 27 May 1935)“A Thanksgiving in Commemoration of Moses Maimonides” with its accompanying Hashkabah is found in the Service of Praise and Thanksgiving to Commemorate the 800th Anniversary of the Birth of Moses Maimonides prepared by Bevis Marks Synagogue in London on 27 May 1935. . . . Categories: Bnei (Bar/Bat) Mitsvah & Other Birthday Prayers📖 סדר תפלת ישורון (מנהג הספרדים) | Seder Tefilat Yeshurun, a bilingual Hebrew-English prayerbook translated by Menaḥem-Gershon Glenn (1935)This is סדר תפלת ישורון Book of prayers Tephilath Jeshurun: containing all the prayers for the year according to the custom of the holy congregations of the Sephardim in the Orient and elsewhere translated by Menaḥem ben Mosheh Yeḥezqel and published by the Hebrew Publishing Company in 1935. . . . Categories: Comprehensive (Kol Bo) Siddurimספר רפואת הנפש, פרק ב׳ — תפלה | Sefer Refuat haNefesh — chapter 2: Prayer, by Rabbi Morris Lichtenstein (Society of Jewish Science 1934)A brief explanation of the role of prayer in the Jewish Science movement of Rabbi Morris Lichtenstein and his wife Tehilla Lichtenstein, co-founders of the Society of Jewish Science, in Yiddish with an English translation. . . . Categories: Pedagogical Essays on Jewish Prayer Contributor(s): Unknown Translator(s), Morris Lichtenstein and Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription) |
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