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אָבִינוּ שֶׁבַּשָּׁמַיִם בּוֹנֵה צִיּוֹן וִירוּשָׁלַיִם וּמְכוֹנֵן מַלְכוּת יִשְׂרָאֵל, הַשְׁקִיפָה מִמְּעוֹן קָדְשֶׁךָ מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם וּבָרֵךְ אֶת עַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאֶת הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר נָתַתָּ לָנוּ כַּאֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתָּ לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ. |
Our father in Heaven, builder of Tsiyon and Yerushalayim, and founder of the kingdom of Yisra’el, look down from your holy domain in Heaven, and bless your people Yisra’el, and the land that you presented to us that you promised to our ancestors. |
רְצֵה ה׳ אַרְצֶךָ וְהַשְׁפַּע עָלֶיהָ מִטּוּב חַסְדֶּךָ תֵּן טַל לִבְרָכָה וְגִשְׁמֵי רָצוֹן הוֹרֵד בְּעִתָּם לְרַוּוֹת הָרֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַעֲמָקֶיהָ וּלְהַשְׁקוֹת בָּהֶם כָּל צֶמַח, עֵץ, וּנְטִיעוֹתֵינוּ הַעֲמֵק שָׁרְשֵׁיהֶם וְגָדֵל פְּאֵרָם, לְמַעַן יִפְרְחוּ לְרָצוֹן בְּתוֹך שְׁאַר עֲצֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לִבְרָכָה וּלְתִפְאָרָה. |
Take pleasure in your land and bestow abundance upon it from the goodness of your lovingkindness — Give dew for a blessing and cause[1] The girsah we were given provides, “לִרְווֹת”, however “לְרַוּוֹת” suggested by Zeev Kainan recalls the Birkat Hashanim in the Sepharadi nusaḥ: “תֵן טַל וּמָטָר לִבְרָכָה עַל כָּל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה. וְרַוֵּה פְּנֵי תֵבֵל וְשַׂבַּע אֶת הָעולָם כֻּלּו מִטּוּבָךְ.” beneficial rains to precipitate in their season to satiate the mountains of Yisra’el and her valleys and to water upon them, every shrub, (and) tree, and our plantings. Make deep their roots and grow their crown so that they blossom according to your will among all the trees in Yisra’el for blessing and for splendor. |
וַחֲזֵק יְדֵי כָּל אַחֵינוּ הָעֲמֵלִים בַּעֲבוֹדַת אַדְמַת הַקֹּדֶשׁ וּבְהַפְרָחַת שִׁמְמָתָהּ. בָּרֵךְ ה׳ חֵילָם וּפֹעַל יָדָם תִּרְצֶה. |
And strengthen the hands of all our comrades who toil in the labor of the holy Earth, and make her desolate areas fruitful. Bless, YHVH, their might and may the work of their hands be favored by you. |
אָמֵן. |
Amen. |
This is the תפילת הנוטע (Prayer for Planting [trees]) by Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Ḥai Uziel. We have not been able to learn yet exactly where and when this prayer was written. There are two photographs I have seen of Rav Uziel participating in tree plantings, and he may have composed the prayer for either of them (or for one in which no photographer was present). One shows him in Kfar Yavetz in 1942.
הראשל”צ הרב בן ציון מאיר חי עוזיאל זצ”ל – הרב הראשי לישראל, שחיבר את “תפילת הנוטע, נוטע עץ בכפר יעבץ בט”ו בשבט תש”ב 1942
Another is undated on Har Herzl, site of the JNF’s first forest project beginning in 1900. See below. (I’ve retouched the image, increasing it’s size and removing some text written above the ceremony shown). Perhaps it might be dated from the clothing of those present.:
There are several subtle variations of this prayer floating around the web. The most well known version is that circulated by the JNF. However, in her curriculum for teaching the prayer, Devorah Freedman includes a slightly different version. Unfortunately, we could not locate a manuscript presenting the prayer in its earliest form. However, the copy provided to Devorah Freedman cites her source as that of Mr. Ezra Barnea, of the Committee for the Publication of the Writings of Rabbi Uziel zt “l (Heichal Shlomo – Jerusalem). Freedman writes, “הערה חשובה: תפילת הנוטע אומצה ע”י קק”ל והם מחלקים אותה לנוטעים בט”ו בשבט. אולם, חשוב לדעת, כי במהלך ה’אימוץ’ הושמטו חלקים שונים מהתפילה המקורית ולכן חשוב להשתמש בטקסט המקורי.” (It is important to note that during the adoption of this prayer by קק״ל (the JNF) for distribution to planters on Tu biShvat, parts of the original prayer were omitted, so it is important to use the original text). The most significant of the variations concludes the same text the prayer begins with (“look down from your holy domain in Heaven and bless your people Yisra’el and the land that you presented to us that you promised to our ancestors”) emphasizing by repetition a religious Zionist and irredentist message. In our transcription above, we have hewed to the version provided by Mr. Barnea, but included the text “look down…” only at the beginning, since it seems unusual to us that the language of blessing found at the end of the prayer be superceded by anything other than an Amen, as found in every other teḥinah I have read.
Source(s)
[gview file=”https://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Tefilat-HaNoteia-Prayer-for-Planting-Ben-Zion-Meri-Hai-Uziel-JNF.pdf”]
[gview file=”https://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Tefilat-HaNoteia-Prayer-for-Planting-Ben-Zion-Meri-Hai-Uziel-per-Ezra-Bernea.pdf”]
Notes
| 1 | The girsah we were given provides, “לִרְווֹת”, however “לְרַוּוֹת” suggested by Zeev Kainan recalls the Birkat Hashanim in the Sepharadi nusaḥ: “תֵן טַל וּמָטָר לִבְרָכָה עַל כָּל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה. וְרַוֵּה פְּנֵי תֵבֵל וְשַׂבַּע אֶת הָעולָם כֻּלּו מִטּוּבָךְ.” |
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“תְּפִילַּת הַנּוֹטֵעַ | Prayer for a Tree Planting in Israel, by Rav Ben-Tsiyon Meir Ḥai Uziel (before 1942)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.
Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)
Ben Tsiyon Meir Ḥai Uziel
הראשל”צ הרב בן ציון מאיר חי עוזיאל זצ”ל – הרב הראשי לישראל, שחיבר את “תפילת הנוטע, נוטע עץ בכפר יעבץ בט”ו בשבט תש”ב 1942(This image is set to automatically show as the "featured image" in category lists and in shared links on social media.)- Properly attribute the work to Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription) and Ben Tsiyon Meir Ḥai Uziel.
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