תפילה להתחדש | A Prayer for Renewal, by Hillel Zeitlin

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription), Eugene Kohn and Hillel Zeitlin

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31 December 2018 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

Rosh haShanah la-Melakhim, Repenting, Resetting, and Forgiveness

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אלהי נשמה Elohai neshamah, 20th century C.E., hymns of creation, 57th century A.M., Needing citation references

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Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
אֲבִי־כׇל־בָּאֵי עוֹלָם. אַתָּה בוֹרֵא אֶת־עוֹלָמְךָ בְּכׇל־מְעוּף־עָֽיִן. אִם כְּהֶֽרֶף־עַֽיִן תָּסִיר אֶת־חֶֽסֶד יְצִירָתֶֽךָ. וְהָיָה הַכֹּל אַֽיִן וָאָֽפֶס׃	Father of all that are born. You create your world anew every moment. Would you but for a moment withhold your creative love, The whole universe would come to an end.
אֲבָל אַתָּה מֵרִיק עַל־יְצִירֶֽיךָ צִנּוֹרֵי בְרָכָה בְּכָל־רֶֽגַע וַרֶֽגַע.	But you pour out your blessings on your creatures every instant.
וְעוֹד פַּֽעַם יוֹפִיעוּ כּוֹכְבֵי־שַֽׁחַר וְשָׁרוּ שִׁירַת־אַהֲבָה לְפָנֶֽיךָ. וְעוֹד פַּֽעַם יֵצֵא שֶֽׁמֶשׁ בִּגְבוּרָתוֹ וְשָׁר שִׁירַת־עֹז לְפָנֶֽיךָ.	So the morning stars renew their song of love to you; The sun in its might keeps singing its song of strength to you.
וְעוֹד פַּֽעַם יָשִֽׁירוּ מַלְאָכִים שִׁירַת־קֹדֶשׁ לְפָנֶֽיךָ. וְעוֹד פַּֽעַם תָּשַֽׁרְנָה נְשָׁמוֹת שִׁירַת־צִמָּאוֹן לְפָנֶֽיךָ.	The angels chant over and over their song of holiness to you; The souls of mortals repeat the song of their thirst for you.
וְעוֹד פַּֽעַם יָשִֽׁירוּ עֲשָׂבִים שִׁירַת־גַּעְגּוּעִים לְפָנֶֽיךָ. וְעוֹד פַּֽעַם תָּשַֽׁרְנָה צִפֲּרִים שִׁירַת־גִּיל לְפָנֶֽיךָ.	The blades of grass take up the tune of their yearning for you; The birds keep chirping and twittering their carols of joy to you.
וְעוֹד פַּֽעַם יִתְעַטְּפוּ אִילָנוֹת כְּשְׁלִיחֵי צִבּוּר לְפָנֶֽיךָ. וְעוֹד פַּֽעַם יִלְחַשׁ מַעְיָן אֶת־תְּפִלָּתוֹ לְפָנֶֽיךָ.	The trees wrap themselves in their talit of leaves and offer their worship to you; The fountains in whispered cadences murmur their prayer to you.
וְעוֹד פַּֽעַם יַעֲטֹף עָנִי וְשָׁפַךְ אֶת־שִׂיחוֹ לְפָנֶֽיךָ. וְעוֹד פַּֽעַם נִשְׁמָתוֹ־תְפִלָּתוֹ בּוֹקַֽעַת רְקִיעֶֽיךָ בַּעֲלוֹתָהּ לְפָנֶֽיךָ.	And the voice of one, poor and crushed, pours forth his plaint to you, And lo, the soul of his prayer cleaves a path through the heavens to you;
וְעוֹד פַּֽעַם פּוֹר יִתְפּוֹרֵר גֵּווֹ מֵאֵימַת כְּבוֹדֶךָ. וְעוֹד פַּֽעַם עֵינוֹ נְשׁוּאָה אֵלֶֽיךָ׃	And, though bent his back ’neath the weight of awe at your majesty, His eye is uplifted to you.
רַק קַו אֶחָד מֵאוֹרְךָ וְהָיִֽיתִי חֲדוּר אוֹרָה. רַק דָּבָר אֶחָד מִדְּבָרֶֽיךָ וְקַמְתִּי לִתְחִיָּה.	Turn on me but one ray of your light and, lo, I am steeped in light; Let but one word issue from you and I rise resurrected;
רַק תְּנוּעָה אַחַת מֵחַיֵּי נִצְחֶֽךָ וְהָיִֽיתִי רְווּי טַל־יַלְדּוּת.	But one throb of your life eternal and I am drenched in the dew of youth.
הֲלֹא אַתָּה בוֹרֵא הַכֹּל מֵחָדָשׁ. בְּרָא־נָא אָבִי אוֹתִי יַלְדְּךָ מֵחָדָשׁ.	Do you not continually renew your creation, O my Father? Take me your child and make me over.
נְשֹׁם בִּי מִנִּשְׁמַת אַפֶּֽיךָ וְחָיִֽיתִי חַיִּים חֲדָשִׁים. חַיֵּי יַלְדּוּת חֲדָשָׁה׃	Breathe your spirit into me that I may live, that I may start life afresh With childhood’s unbounded promise.

This prayer by Hillel Zeitlin was published as “That We Be Reborn” with an English translation by Eugene Kohn in the Sabbath Prayer Book (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1945) of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan. The prayer is undated and likely was published earlier and elsewhere. (I have provided the title for the prayer as it appears here at the Open Siddur Project, “תפילה להתחדש | A Prayer for Renewal/to be renewed.”) If you have more information on the original publication of this prayer, please contact us or leave a comment.

Source(s)

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“תפילה להתחדש | A Prayer for Renewal, by Hillel Zeitlin” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Eugene Kohn

Eugene Kohn (January 26, 1887 - April 1, 1977) was an American Reconstructionist rabbi, writer and editor. Born in Newark, New Jersey he attended the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and in 1912 received ordination. It was here that he met Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan who taught him homiletics. Between 1912 and 1939 he served as a congregational rabbi in Conservative synagogues in the U.S. states of Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Wisconsin and Ohio. He also served as the president of the Rabbinical Assembly 1936-1937. He played a central role in the Reconstructionist movement. He edited its journal The Reconstructionist and, alongside Kaplan and Ira Eisenstein, edited The New Haggadah (1941), The Sabbath Prayer Book (1945) and The Reconstructionist Prayer Book (1948). Alongside Jack Cohen, Eisenstein and Milton Steinberg he was one of Kaplan's main disciples.

Hillel Zeitlin

Hillel Zeitlin (הלל צייטלין 1871-1942) was the leading figure of what may be called “philosophical neo-Hasidism” among Eastern European Jews in the pre-Holocaust era. A tireless author, journalist, and polemicist, he published constantly in both the Yiddish and Hebrew presses, offering a bold new vision of contemporary spiritual life grounded in his reading of Hasidic sources. But Zeitlin sought to become an activist as well as a literary figure. He was especially concerned with the situation of the rootless Jewish youth. Throughout his career as a public figure, beginning shortly after World War I, he issued calls for a new organization of Jewish life. In a series of articles published in the 1920s, he sought to form an elite Jewish spiritual fraternity to be called Yavneh, which was the most fully elaborated of his attempts at intentional community. (via his introduction by Arthur Green at In Geveb)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17