והנה שוב במוצאי מנוחה, סליחה בצל עזה | Here again we gather at the end of a day of rest, a seliḥah piyyuṭ in the shadow of Gaza by Aryeh Cohen (translated by Maeera Shreiber)

Contributor(s):

Maeera Shreiber (translation) and Aryeh Cohen

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1 October 2025 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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2023-2025 Israel–Hamas war, Gaza, פיוטים piyyuṭim, סליחות səliḥot, Yom Kippur

This is a seliḥah in piyut form. The first line borrows from the famous seliḥah במוצאי מנוחה. The seliḥah is driven by the question: How can we ask for forgiveness as the death and destruction in Gaza continues?

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
וְהִנֵּה שׁוּב בְּמוֹצָאֵי מְנוּחָה בָּאנוּ לְבַקֵּשׁ סְלִיחָה כִּבְכָל שָׁנָה וְשָׁנָה אֲבָל אֵיךְ נִשָּׂא תְּפִלָּה לְאַחַר הַחֻרְבָּן בְּעַזָּה	Here again we gather at the end of a day of rest We come to ask forgiveness as we do year after year But how to offer up prayer in the wake of the catastrophe that is Gaza?
בְּמוֹ עֵינֵינוּ רָאִינוּ אֶת אֲשֶׁר קָרָה הֶרֶס וּשְׁכוֹל בִּנְיָנִים וְאָדָם נִמְחֲקוּ בְּקוֹל רְעָדָה וְאֵיךְ נִתְוַדֶּה ב״עַל חֵטְא״ כְּשֶׁהַסִּיּוּט עוֹד נִמְשָׁךְ בְּעַזָּה	With our own eyes we saw what happened Devastation and bereavement, buildings and people obliterated in the bombings how can we confess, “al ḥet” even as the nightmare continues in Gaza
טַף וְנָשִׁים נִמְלָטִים בָּרָעָב וּבְצָמָא כְּבַחֲלוֹם בַּלָּהוֹת מְחַפְּשִׂים מִקְלָט מֵהַפְגָּזָה וְאֵיךְ נַזִּיל דְּמָעוֹת עַל ״שִׂיחַ שִׂפְתוֹתֵינוּ״ וְלֹא עַל רֶצַח עַם בְּעַזָּה.	Children, women fleeing famine and drought as in a nightmare seeking shelter from the attacks how to weep over “wounding words” and not over the genocide in Gaza?
נִרְגָּזִים וְנֶאֱנָחִים הָיִינוּ לְאַחַר אוֹתָהּ שִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה בָּטַחְנוּ בַּאֲמִתַּת הַאִמְרוֹת שֶׁיֻּחְזְרוּ הַחֲטוּפִים כָּל דַּקָּה וְלֹא חָשַׁבְנוּ לְרֶגַע שֶׁיֻּפְקְרוּ בְּעַד כֹּחַ הַשִּׁלְטוֹן והֶמְשֵׁךְ הַלְּחִימָה. בְּעַזָּה	We were enraged, grieving after that Simḥat Torah we trusted that the hostages would be returned at any moment Not for a minute did we think that they would be abandoned for the sake of war, power. In Gaza
כִּבְנֵי בְּרִית בּוֹכִים אָנוּ מוֹרִידִים דִּמְעָה בֹּשְׁנוּ וְנִכְלַמְנוּ עַל אֲדִישׁוּתֵנוּ מוּל רֶצַח עַם וּמִשְׁפָּחָה לָכֵן בַּעַל הָרַחֲמִים רַק בְּךָ תְּלוּיָה הַתִּקְוָה בְּעַזָּה	As children of the Covenant we weep, we shed tears embarrassed, humiliated before the murder of a people, of kin Master of Mercy, hope depends only on you, in Gaza.

Maeera Shreiber (translation)

Maeera Y. Shreiber is Associate Professor of English, and former Director of Religious Studies, at the University of Utah, where she teaches and writes about poetry, Jewish American literature, ethnic American studies, religious studies, and interfaith relations. Professor Shreiber is the author of, among other books, Singing in a Strange Land: A Jewish American Poetics.

Aryeh Cohen

Aryeh Cohen is a professor, a social justice activist, a rabbi, and a lecturer. He teaches all things Rabbinic Literature (Mishnah, Talmud, midrash) and social justice at the Ziegler School for Rabbinic Studies of the American Jewish University. Prof. Cohen is a founder and member of the Shtibl Minyan, a former chair of the Boards of the Progressive Jewish Alliance, and CLUE. He is the co-convener of the Black Jewish Justice Alliance and is the author of Justice in the City: An Argument from the Sources of Rabbinic Judaism (2012).

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Palestine refugees enforced to flee Hamad quarter in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, after receiving an evacuation warning from Israeli army (credit: Ashraf Amra, license: CC BY-SA)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "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)