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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 | ||
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August 2024 יהי רצון | An alternative closing meditation at the end of the Amidah on the restoration of the Temple, by Dr. Sam FleischackerAn alternative yehi ratson prayer at the very end of the Amidah. . . . Categories: Weekday Amidah Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff on 23 August 2024The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 23 August 2024. . . . The invocation offered by Rabbi Sharon Brous of IKAR (Los Angeles, California) on the second night of the Democratic National Convention, Tuesday, 20 August 2024. Her invocation was offered together with that of Imam Dr. Talib M. Shareef of The Nation’s Mosque (Washington, DC). . . . אַהֲבָה תְּלַבְלֵב כְּמוֹ־פֶֽרַח | Ahava T’lavlev K’mo Peraḥ (Love blossoms like a flower) — a yotser for Tu b’Av by Isaac Gantwerk MayerA yotser for Tu b’Av, the first part of an intended cycle of yotsrot. A retelling of the list of reasons for Tu b’Av given in the Talmud, with repeated refrains from Psalm 45 for the alphabetical verses and the rest of the Tanakh for the name-acrostic choruses. Written in honor of my friend Eliran’s wedding. . . . Categories: Tu b'Av “Listen up, y’all: An interpretive rendering of V’haya im shamoa” by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat was originally published 1 February 2016 at her website, Velveteen Rabbi. There she provided the following description, “This is a creative rendering of the second paragraph of the shema, Deuteronomy 11:13-21. It was written for the service I’m leading this morning with Rabbi David [Evan Markus] at Rabbis Without Borders. (I offer deep thanks to David both for co-leading davvenen with me, and for reading an early draft of this poem and offering wise suggestions.)” . . . Categories: Shema תחנה פֿאַר צוריקקערן זיך נאָך דורות צו המקום | A Tkhine for Returning to a Place After Generations, by Maia BrownA tkhine written to return to an ancestral place for the first time — especially diaspora homes that hold lineages of rich life as well as histories of flight and genocide. . . . Categories: Travel The author of this qinah is a survivor of the slaughter in Kibbutz Kfar Azza. The qinah was first published in an article by Tamar Biala appearing in The Times of Israel, “O how she sat alone: New laments for a beloved land” on 4 August 2024, appended with the note: “These Lamentations will appear in Dirshuni: Contemporary Women’s Midrash Vol. 2.” . . . אֵיכָה יָשְׁבָה בָּדָד | Eikhah Yashvah Badad (O How She Sat Alone), a qinah by Nurit Hirschfeld-SkupinskyThe author of this qinah is a survivor of the slaughter in Kibbutz Nahal Oz. The qinah was first published in an article by Tamar Biala appearing in The Times of Israel, “O how she sat alone: New laments for a beloved land” on 4 August 2024, appended with the note: “These Lamentations will appear in Dirshuni: Contemporary Women’s Midrash Vol. 2.” . . . קינה על מאורעות חרבות ברזל | Qinah al Me’or’ot Ḥarvot Barzel, by Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon (World Mizrachi Movement)This qinah for the horrors of October 7th was written by Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon, president of World Mizrachi and first published to their website for the Nine Days (Rosh Ḥodesh Av to Tishah b’Av). . . . A full prayerbook for the maariv service on Tishah b’Av, compiled by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer from resources shared through the Open Siddur Project. . . . Categories: Seder Seliḥot and Tefilot l'Taaniyot מי שברך לשלום המדינה | Mi sheBerakh for the Peace of the State of Israel, by the Masorti Movement in IsraelThis prayer for the peace of the nation, first published in the siddur VeAni Tefillati (second edition, page 133), was circulated by the Masorti Movement in Israel on social media on 1 August 2024, amidst increased anxieties over impending retaliatory strikes by Iran and its proxy armies in Lebanon and elsewhere. . . . Tags: 2023-2024 Israel–Hamas war, 2024 Iran–Israel conflict, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Assassination of Fuad Shukr, Assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Assassination of Mohammed Deif, Assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, Iranian support for Hamas, מי שברך mi sheberakh, religious Zionist prayers Contributor(s): Masorti Movement in Israel, Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) 📰 “The Open Siddur: A next generation communal Jewish educational resource,” by Dr. Efraim Feinstein and Dr. Devorah Preiss (Jewish Educational Leadership, Lookstein Center 2010 )In this article, the authors introduce the concept of sharing in a free culture context as a model for the future of online Jewish educational resources, presenting a new resource-sharing/creating project that they hope will revolutionize the study of the siddur. . . . Categories: Press & Research Articles Tags: pedagogy This Prayer for Peace by Samuel Avital was composed in January 1984 for a gathering of spiritual teachers from all over the world at Mt. Sinai in March 1984. A month later, the State of Israel would return the Sinai to Egyptian sovereignty. While that event was not documented in any media, the prayer was first published in Four Worlds Journal vol. 2 no. 4, (January 1985), pp. 16-17. Of the event itself, Samuel Avital adds, “I performed there some of my mime performances like Jacob & Angel, Black & White and others.” The prayer for peace is included in Samuel Avital’s Passover Haggadah (2021). . . . מי שברך לחיילי צה״ל | Mi sheBerakh for the Welfare of Israel Defense Forces Soldiers, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (1956)The mi sheberakh for the IDF composed by Rabbi Shlomo Goren in the context of the Suez Crisis and Israel-Egypt conflict of 1956. . . . This is a restatement of the Decalogue offered as life wisdom by Rabbi Dr. Mordecai Kaplan for his daughters, sometime in the 1920s, possibly as early as 1922 at the Bat Mitsvah of his oldest daughter Judith. The document was found by Mel Scult and shared by him from his Mordecai Kaplan Discussion Group on Facebook. . . . Prayer for the Peace of the Union, by Rabbi M.J. Michelbacher on a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer (4 January 1861)This prayer for the peace of the United States was offered by Rabbi M.J. Michelbacher at Congregation Beit Ahabah (Richmond, Virginia) on the occasion of a national day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer proclaimed by President James Buchanan for January 4th, 1861. The prayer was published in the Richmond Daily Gazette and reprinted as “Another Prayer for the Union” in The Occident and American Jewish Advocate (17 January 1861), page 4. . . . Categories: War קדיש דרבנן (נוסח ארץ ישראל) | Ḳaddish d’Rabanan variant from the Cairo Geniza (nusaḥ Erets Yisrael, ca. 11th c.)A unique Nusaḥ Erets Yisrael variant of the Qaddish found in the Cairo Geniza, most well known for including the names of the leading rabbis of the community in its text. . . . Categories: Ḳaddish A blessing before the recitation of psalms, used in the old Eretz Yisrael rite as found in the Cairo Geniza. Since its structure is similar to the blessing before the haftara which is often cantillated, I have taken the liberty of adding psalmodic cantillation to the text. . . . Categories: Birkhot haTorah The custom of reciting BaMeh Madliqin, the second chapter of Mishnah Shabbat, on Friday nights probably originated as an anti-Karaite polemic. While the Karaites were opposed to any use of fire on Shabbat, rabbinic Jews kindle lights before Shabbat, and the recitation of BaMeh Madliqin — the laws of Shabbat lights — emphasized this distinction. One of the best firsthand sources we have for this is the following introductory blessing from the Cairo Genizah (T-S NS 299.150 verso) for the recitation of BaMeh Madliqin, first published by Naftali Wieder in this article. This blessing emphasizes the continuity of the Torah both written and oral from Sinai to the sages and elders. . . . Categories: Erev Shabbat Tabula Smaragdina (The Emerald Tablet) in Arabic and Judeo-Arabic, with Hebrew and English translationsThe Tabula Smaragdina, or the Emerald Tablet, is a cryptic and compact work, part of the Technical Hermetica — a genre of mystical and magical texts of great popularity in the medieval and renaissance era. Traditionally attributed to the legendary figure Hermes Trismegistus, it is considered a foundational text for Near Eastern and European alchemy. It is the ultimate source of the popular occultist expression “as above, so below,” although that specific expression doesn’t appear in the original Arabic text as found in the ninth-century Secret of Creation. . . . Categories: Incantations, Adjurations, & Amulets | ||
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