Resources employing Hebrew language← Back to Languages & Scripts Index “A Prayer for Yom Hazikaron and Yom ha-Atsma’ut 5785” (2025) was prepared by Rabbi Tzachi Lehman in advance of the State of Israel’s days of remembrance and declaration of independence and published by Tzohar on its website on 23 April 2025. . . . This Al ha-Nisim (addition to the Amidah) prayer for May the 4th, marks the success of the Rebel Alliance in defeating the Galactic Empire. . . . An original set of weekday yotsrot, in the style of those found in the Cairo Geniza (and compiled at Weekday Yotzrot, thanks to the work of Dr. Avi Shmidman), for Yom ha-Atsma’ut. The weekday yotsrot of the Cairo Geniza have a structure quite different from normative Ashkenazi festival yotsrot, and much closer to that of Ashkenazi maaravot. There are no yotser or ofan piyyutim — each blessing has a stanza of an extended, unified poem before its ḥatimah, and the only stanzas inserted into the guf ha-berakha are in the final blessing, surrounding the Mi Khamokha. They’re also generally much shorter and more user-friendly than the complex and intricate mysticism of Ashkenazi festival yotsrot. This cycle is written in an alphabetical acrostic, followed by the author tag “Yitzḥaq Harel son of Avraham the Kohen and Ya’el, be strong and courageous, amen.” Each stanza begins with a different word from Isaiah 47:4, and ends with a citation of a different relevant verse. . . . In preparation for the coming days of Remembrance, which are the days of longing and questions about the meaning of life on this planet and the meaning of its end, I share in a prayer I wrote at the request of Nikki, a member of our family, who lost her only sister, Andy, to Alzheimer’s disease at such a young age (58). We also translated this prayer into English and it was recited in Melbourne, Australia, at a funeral service. During the shiva, the community rabbi asked for permission to recite it at more funerals, and since then it has been repeated and I am happy that it comforts more and more families. I am releasing it here in Israel as well and dedicating it to all the good souls who decided to watch over us from another dimension, and to the loving relatives who are left to miss and fix the world from within. –Limor Rubin . . . A Passover seder haggadah containing the traditional form of the text as well as other lesser known forms from across Jewish history and the Jewish world. . . . “Intentions for Dilation” (כוונות להתרחבות) by the Em haBanim is the sixth of seven prayers offered in their סדר תפילות לניתוח שינוי מין (The Em haBanim’s Prayers for Vaginoplasty). . . . “Prayer Before Surgery” (תפלה לפני הניתוח) by the Em haBanim is the fourth of seven prayers offered in their סדר תפילות לניתוח שינוי מין (The Em haBanim’s Prayers for Vaginoplasty). . . . “Prayer After Surgery” (תפלה לאחר הניתוח) by the Em haBanim is the fifth of seven prayers offered in their סדר תפילות לניתוח שינוי מין (The Em haBanim’s Prayers for Vaginoplasty). . . . “Prayer for the Night Before Surgery” (תפלה לליל ערב הניתוח) by the Em haBanim is the third of seven prayers offered in their סדר תפילות לניתוח שינוי מין (The Em haBanim’s Prayers for Vaginoplasty). . . . “Intention for Immersion [before Vaginoplasty]” (כוונה לפני הטבילה) by the Em haBanim is the second of seven prayers offered in their סדר תפילות לניתוח שינוי מין (The Em haBanim’s Prayers for Vaginoplasty). . . . “A Prayer upon Hair Removal for Vaginoplasty” (תפילה על הסרת שער תחתוני כהכנה לניתוח שינוי מין) by the Em haBanim is the first of seven prayers offered in their סדר תפילות לניתוח שינוי מין (The Em haBanim’s Prayers for Vaginoplasty). . . . Purim in walled cities (meaning, practically, in Jerusalem) occurs on the day after it does outside of them. This means that when Purim falls on a Friday, it falls on Shabbat in Jerusalem. This unique occurrence is called Purim Meshulash, “Threefold Purim,” because the practices for the day are divided into three. The megillah is read and gifts are given to the poor on Friday, the Torah reading is on Shabbat, and the festive meal and gifts to friends on Sunday. Since this practice of Shabbat Purim is unique to Jerusalem, and for much of Ashkenazi poetic history the Jewish community in Jerusalem was negligible, there are very few liturgical texts designed for Shabbat Purim Meshulash. This is, in the author’s opinion, a shame, because all the other special shabbatot surrounding it have a plethora of special piyyuṭim to insert into their cycles. This cycle of a shiv’ata (sevenfold piyyut) and an eloheikhem (Qedushah insertion) is meant to fill that void. . . . This is a prayer for reading the news, composed at the request of Rabbi Ariana Katz of Hinenu (Baltimore, Maryland). It is written in Hebrew, English, and Yiddish. . . . This is an original qinah written in response to the attack of October 7. Since the attack occurred on Simḥat Torah, this text is designed to follow the structure of the haqafot recited on Simḥat Torah. But it’s meant to be read on Tisha b’Av, or at least on another fast day. . . . This prayer by the Masorti Movement in Israel and the Knesset HaRabanim b’Yisrael was first shared on 20 February 2025 in the final days of the first phase of the Three-phase Israel-Hamas war ceasefire, via the Masorti Movement website. . . . A prayer for a friend who needs prompt and useful data in response to their Internet queries. . . . This prayer was composed with gratitude by Rabbi Nathalie Lastreger, the Masorti minyan in Kfar Vradim. The prayer was first published to Rabbi Nathalie Lastreger’s Facebook page on 19 January 2025. The English translation was offered in a Facebook post by Susan Rand-Lakritz to accompany a video of the prayer being offered. . . . This Ḥanukkah prayer for the well-being of the captives taken during the massacres of HAMA”S and its allies on 7 October 2023, and for all in Israel affected by the ensuing war, was prepared by Rabbi Yuval Cherlow for Tzohar and Atid l’Otef. The prayer and its English translation were disseminated by social media and news services before Ḥanukkah on 25 December 2024. . . . This prayer for the safe release of the hostages taken by HAMA”S and its allies on 7 October 2023 was shared by the Masorti Movement in Israel and the Knesset haRabanim b’Yisrael on 17 January 2025 in anticipation of the release of the remaining living hostages in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. The prayer was first published via the Masorti Movement website, here. . . . This is an original ḳedushtaot cycle for Yom Meturgeman, the eighth of Tevet, to be inserted into the ‘amidah. . . . This prayer for the safe return of the captives taken by HAMA”S and its allies on 7 October 2023 was offered by Rabbi Noa Mazor in the period anticipating the release of the surviving captives in January 2025 as part of a larger ceasefire agreement between the State of Israel and HAMA”S in Gaza. It was first published on her Facebook page on 13 January 2025. . . . An additional stanza to the popular Ḥanukkah song, Maoz Tsur, for the second Ḥanukkah after the massacres on 7 October 2023. . . . An original announcement, or hakhraza, for days of thanksgiving (Purim and Ḥanukkah). Written in the style of other more well-known announcements, like the Sephardic announcement of fasts, or the Italian-rite announcement for Pesaḥ, and to be recited in the same location in the Torah service after the haftara. . . . El Malé Raħamim, the Prayer for the Dead, is recited in the Yizkor service on special days of the year. The prayer has been adapted for various groups on these and other memorial days, notably for victims of the Holocaust. This adaptation commemorates victims of lethal hate-crimes against Transgender people. This version was originally written for Queer Jews at Brandeis’s Transgender Day of Remembrance Services on 20 November 2024. . . . This “Prayer Before Seeking Healing in a Psychedelic Journey” by Zac Kamenetz was first published by the author to the Jewish Entheogenic Society group on Facebook, 1 December 2024. . . . “So That Your People May Be Rescued, Deliver Through Your Right Hand, and Answer Us” by Yael Levine was first published in Az Nashir – We Will Sing Again: Women’s Prayers for Our Time of Need, compiled & edited by Shira Lankin Sheps, Rachel Sharansky Danziger, and Anne Gordon (The Shvili Center: Jerusalem 2024). . . . Rabbi Lior Bar-Ami shared this prayer for a change of name and gender marker via their Facebook page on 1 November 2024. . . . A plea for the manifestation of righteous civic virtues on Election Day in the shadow of Hoshana Rabba. . . . This prayer for Yom haShoah in Germany (27 January) containing the El Malé Raḥamim for those who perished in the Holocaust was offered by Rabbi Lior Bar-Ami sometime before May 2024. . . . This prayer for the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) was first offered by Rabbi Lior Bar-Ami sometime before May 2024. . . . A prayer for commencing testosterone therapy. . . . A prayer by Dr. Yael Levine for salvation, comfort, and healing during the Ḥarvot Barzel War, first published in Olam Katan, issue 973 (21 November 2024, parashat Ḥayyei Sarah). . . . Additions to the Amidah for the sake of democracy and justice for offering now through US election day 2024. . . . This “Prayer for an end to injustice on Earth” by an anonymous author, was first published in בצרור החיים: A Yizkor Supplement for Palestinian Life (Halachic Left 2024), pages 34-35. . . . A Hoshana for Sukkot 5785 with a forward-looking perspective because Sukkot is a time for building, even if that building is fragile. It was written for the weekday minyan at Kehillat Hod veHadar. . . . This prayer, “Memorial Prayer for Sacred Life Lost” by Netanel Zellis-Paley, was first published in בצרור החיים: A Yizkor Supplement for Palestinian Life (Halachic Left 2024), pages 12-13. . . . This El malé prayer, “For activists, journalists, and doctors in Palestine” by Avi Garelick, was first published in בצרור החיים: A Yizkor Supplement for Palestinian Life (Halachic Left 2024), p. 11. . . . “For the Children in Gaza” by Avital Raff, was first published in בצרור החיים: A Yizkor Supplement for Palestinian Life (Halachic Left 2024). . . . A new and original cycle of yotsrot in the style of the weekday yotsrot of the Cairo Geniza, for the day after Yom Kippur, referred to either as Yom Simḥat Kohen or Yom Shem ha-El depending on the custom. . . . A selïhah piyyut for the massacres of 7 October prepared for Seliḥot services in advance of the first anniversary of 7 October. . . . A plea for retributive justice at the end of aseh l’maan shemekha (“Act for the Sake of Your Name”) in the Seliḥot of Elul and the Days of Awe, in response to the suffering endured on and after 7 October 2023. . . . This seliḥah was written for Seliḥot in Los Angeles, Elul, 5784, 2024, in the light of the horrific killing that the IDF has perpetrated in Gaza since October 8 (after the Hamas massacre of October 7), 2023. The opening frame is from the Tokheḥah and the closing line from Eikhah. The only hope is that we do teshuvah and stop the war and the violence now. The language is an adaptation of Hebrew of piyyutim and seliḥot. –Aryeh Cohen . . . This prayer by Devorah Brous (fromsoil2soul), “A blessing for the bees (5785),” was first shared by the author on Shoreshshuk. The version here reflects some reordering of lines and other edits made by the author, shared also on Canvas. . . . An alternative yehi ratson prayer at the very end of the Amidah. . . . A 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. . . . A 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. . . . 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.” . . . The 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.” . . . 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. . . . |