Exercise for the Anniversary of a Parent’s Decease (יאָרצײַט), translated by Rabbi Morris Jacob Raphall (1852)

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Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription) and Morris Jacob Raphall

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9 December 2021 under the Public Domain (17 U.S. Code §105 - Subject matter of copyright: United States Government works)

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Mourning

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prayers on behalf of parents, English vernacular prayer, יאָרצײַט‎ yahrẓeit, 19th century C.E., תחינות teḥinot, 57th century A.M., Jewish Women's Prayers

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Exercise for the Anniversary of a Parent’s Decease, (YahrZeit.)
	“If I forget thee, may my right hand forget ME; may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I remember thee not.” (Cf. Psalms 137:5-6)
	The year has completed its course, and (once more) I witness the anniversary of that solemn and sorrowful day, on which the mortal remains of my dear parent were consigned to their last narrow abode. I recall the hour with all its sad recollections; And though the healing influence of time, and submission to the will of God, has soothed my sorrows; the tear will, unbidden, start into my eye.
	O my dearest (father, mother) from your blissful abode, in the realms of life everlasting, can you, will you look down upon your child whose love for you absence has not lessened— whose tender affection your departure has not impaired; and whose veneration for your memory time does not lengthen. You are gone before me to that better land, to which I likewise am bound. And each year, as the anniversary of your departure returns, methinks I am permitted to address you— even as the child writes a letter to its parents from abroad— to tell you I am yet here, my reverence for you undiminished, and I am one stage nearer to my journey’s end, which reunites us.
	And thou, merciful God! when on the anniversary of this minor day of judgement, thy all-seeing eye takes congnizance of me, and my conduct and actions, have mercy on me, Lord God! Extend unto me thy loving-kindness, for the sake of the pure soul of my dear parent who supplication, I am convinced, intercedes for (his, her) child. Let me and mine find grace and favour before thee; and let thy blessing rest upon us as we walk on that thorny path of alternating joys and sorrows, which is the common lot of mortality.
	As for thee thou pure and glorified soul of my dear (father, mother) grant me thy intercession; plead for me before the throne of mercy; second the supplications which I address to thy Lord and mine: Be nigh unto thy child, when in the hour of need and of trial, she seeks refuge with thy God and her God.
	Peace be with thee, in heaven; peace with thy ashes in the quiet lap of earth: Until the voice of the Almighty shall arouse those who sleep in death, and summon them to awake and arise; when thou likewise wilt awake and arise to a blissful and God-pleasing resurrection. Amen.

“Exercise for the Anniversary of a Parent’s Decease, (YahrZeit.)” appears on page 138-139 of רֻחָמָה (Ruḥamah): Devotional Exercises for the Use of the Daughters of Israel (1852) edited by Rabbi Morris Jacob Raphall (1798–1868) from selections made from the teḥinot anthologies in German of Meir Letteris (1800-1871), Max Emanuel Stern (1811-1873), and Yehoshua Heshil Miro. We are not certain from which of these compilations this particular tehinah was derived. If you know, please leave a comment or contact us.

Source(s)

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“Exercise for the Anniversary of a Parent’s Decease (יאָרצײַט), translated by Rabbi Morris Jacob Raphall (1852)” 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.)

Morris Jacob Raphall

Rabbi Morris Jacob Raphall (1798–1868), born in Stockholm, Sweden, was a prominent rabbi and orator in the United States in the mid-19th century. At the age of nine Raphall was taken by his father, who was banker to the King of Sweden, to Copenhagen, where he was educated at the Hebrew grammar school. "He was educated for the Jewish ministry in the college of his faith in Copenhagen, in England, where he went in 1812, and afterward in the University of Giessen, where he studied in 1821-24." He devoted himself to the study of languages, for the better acquisition of which he subsequently traveled in France, Germany, and Belgium. He received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Erlangen (Germany). After lecturing on Hebrew poetry in 1834 he began to publish the Hebrew Review, and Magazine of Rabbinical Literature, the first Jewish periodical in England; he was forced to discontinue it in 1836 owing to ill health. For some time he acted as honorary secretary to Solomon Herschell, chief rabbi of Great Britain. He made translations from Maimonides, Albo, and Herz Wessely; conjointly with the Rev. D. A. de Sola he published a translation of eighteen treatises of the Mishnah; he also began a translation of the Pentateuch, of which only the first volume appeared. In 1840, when the blood accusation was made at Damascus, he traveled to Syria to aid in the investigation, and published a refutation of it in four languages (Hebrew, English, French, and German). He also wrote a defense of Judaism against an anonymous writer in the London Times. Raphall was also the author of a text-book of the post-Biblical history of the Jews (to the year 70 C.E.). In 1841 he was appointed minister of the Birmingham Synagogue and master of the school. He continued in these capacities for eight years, and then sailed for New York City in 1849. That year, he gave a series of lectures on biblical poetry at the Brooklyn Institute, and was appointed rabbi and preacher of Manhattan's Bnai Jeshurun congregation, at the time called the Greene Street Synagogue. He continued there until 1866, his duties then being relaxed owing to his poor health. He died in New York on June 23, 1868.

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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