תפילה לשלום העיר תל אביב־יפו | Prayer for the Welfare of Tel Aviv-Yafo, by Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman (1959), amended by Rabbi Esteban Gottfried (2009)

Contributor(s):

Louis Polisson, Esteban Gottfried and Isser Yehuda Unterman

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23 November 2012 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Beit Tefillah Yisraeli, Jaffa, Needing Translation (into Arabic), peace, prayers for municipalities, Tel Aviv, Yaffo, Yapho, ישראל Yisrael

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)	Contribute a translation
רִבּוֹן הָעוֹלָמִים, מוֹדִים אֲנַחְנוּ לְךָ עַל שֶׁהִפְלֵאתָ חַסְדֵךָ לָנוּ בְּהַקָמַת עִיר גְּדוֹלָה וּמְפֹאָרָה וְרַבַּת־עַם בְּאַרְצֵנוּ בְּשֵׁם תֵּל אָבִיב־יָפוֹ.	Master of all Worlds, we give thanks to you for have been wondrous [in sharing] your lovingkindness with us, in establishing this great and magnificent city, and [in bringing] multitudes of people in our land, by the name of Tel Aviv-Yafo.
אַתָּה הִשְׁפַּעְתָּ לִפְנֵי לְמַעְלָה מִמֵאָה שָׁנָה רוּחַ עֵצָה וּתְבוּנָה עַל קְבוּצַת בּוֹנִים מִבְּנֵי צִיוֹן הַיְקָרִים, לִתְקֹעַ יָתֵד עַל שְׂפַת הַיָּם לְעִיר עִבְרִית וְחֲנַנְתַּם עֹז וְעָצְמָה לְבַצֵּעַ שְׁאִיפָתָם זוֹ בְּאֹמֶץ וּגְבוּרָה וּבִמְסִירוּת נֶפֶשׁ, וְקַבְעוּ בָהּ סְדָרִים מְתֻקָּנִים, וְהֶעֱמִידוּ מוֹסָדוֹת נַעֲלִים לַתַרְבּוּת עִבְרִית, לְתּוֹרָה וּלִתְפִילָה, לְבָתֵי חִנּוּךְ וְלִמוּד, לְמִסְחַר וּלְחֲרשֶׁת הַמַּעֲשֶׂה וּלִפְעֻלּוֹת־חֶסֶד.	For over a hundred years, you have showered a spirit of wisdom and understanding on a group of builders from our dear Children of Zion, planting a stake at the edge of the sea for a Hebrew city. And you graciously gave them the strength and fortitude to carry out their aspiration with courage, heroism, and devoted self-sacrifice. And they announced in this [city] reformed organizations, and they set up lofty institutions for Hebrew culture, for Torah and for prayer, for houses of education and learning, for commercial trade and for active production, and for acts of lovingkindness.
וְהִנֵה הָעִיר גָּדְלַה וַתִיף, וְרַבִּים מֵאָחֵינוּ וְאַחֲיוֹתֵינוּ נָהֲרוּ אֵלֶיהָ וְנִהְיְתָה לְמֶרְכָּז הַחַיִּים בָּאָרֶץ. תָּמִיד הוֹמִיָּה מֵאֲנָשִׁים וּמְלֵאָה חַיִּים וּתְנוּעָה, קוֹל תִּקְוָה נִשְׁמַע בִּשְׁעָרֵיהָ וְהַלְמוּת עֲמֵלִים בְּחוֹמוֹתֵיהָ וּמַרְכֹּלֶת רָבָּה בִּשְׁוָקֵיהָ.‏	And behold, the city has become great and beautiful, and many of our brethren and sisters [and siblings] have flocked to her, and she has become a center of life in the land. She is always bustling with people and full of life and movement. The voice of hope is heard in her gates, and the beat of laborers within her walls, and many wares are in her marketplaces.
הַמְּחַדֵּשׁ בְּכָל יוֹם תָּמִיד מַעֲשֶׂה בְּרֵאשִׁית, מְשׁוֹךְ חַסְדֵּךָ עָלֵינוּ גַּם לְיָמִים יָבוֹאוּ. הָגֵן עַל עִירֵנוּ וְעַל תּוֹשָׁבֵיהָ, הַדְרֵךְ אֶת רֹאשֵׁי הָעִיר לְהוֹלִיכָהּ בְּדַרְכֵי הַחָכְמָה, הַיֹּשֶׁר וְהַצֶּדֶק. עֲזֹר לָנוּ, תּוֹשָׁבֵי הָעִיר שֶׁל הַיּוֹם וּמְעַצְבֵי הָעִיר שֶׁל הַמָּחָר, לִשְׁמוֹר אֶת מַתְנוֹת הַטֶּבַע שֶׁל הָעִיר, כְּחוֹפֵי הַיָּם, וּבַרֵךְ אֶת תּוֹשְבֵי עִירֵנוּ בְּאַהֲבַת אָדָם בַּאֲשֶׁר הוּא אָדָם. “עוֹד אֶבְנֵךְ וְנִבְנֵית בְּתוּלַת בַּת צִיוֹן” (כמו ירמיה לא:ד) מִי יִתֵן וְנַמְשִׁיךְ לִבְנוֹת וּלְהִבָּנוֹת בָּעִיר העִבְרִית הָרִאשׁוֹנָה לְאֹרֶךְ יָמִים. אָמֵן.‏	The One who renews each day, continually, the act of creation, draw your lovingkindness upon us also in the days to come. Protect our city and her inhabitants. Guide the heads of the city to lead her in the ways of wisdom, integrity, and justice. Help us, residents of the city of today, and designers of the city of tomorrow, to protect the natural gifts of the city, like the shores of the sea, and bless the inhabitants of our city with love of their fellow human being because they are also human. “I will build you again, and you will be rebuilt, Maiden, Fair Zion.” (Cf. Jeremiah 31:4) May the One grant that we continue to build and to be built up in this first Hebrew city for many long years. Amen.

This is a prayer composed by Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman, chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, for the city’s 50th anniversary (Jubilee) celebration, amended by Rabbi Esteban Gottfried of Beit Tefillah Yisraeli for the centennial celebration in 2009. English translation added in 2022 by Rabbi Louis Pollison. (Thank you!)

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“תפילה לשלום העיר תל אביב־יפו | Prayer for the Welfare of Tel Aviv-Yafo, by Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman (1959), amended by Rabbi Esteban Gottfried (2009)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Louis Polisson

Louis Polisson is a musician, poet, and rabbi, ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2018, where he also earned an MA in Jewish Thought focusing on Kabbalah and Ḥasidut. He currently serves as the Associate Rabbi and Music Director at Congregation Beth Sholom in Teaneck, New Jersey. He previously served for five years as the solo clergy of Congregation Or Atid in Wayland, Massachusetts. Louis and his wife Gabriella Feingold released an album of original Jewish and nature-based spiritual folk music in November 2018 - listen here.

Esteban Gottfried

Rabbi Esteban Gottfried is a Director, Playwright and actor and is the leader of Beit Tefilah Israeli (The Israeli House of Prayer) in Tel Aviv, which he founded with Rani Jaeger, and other friends.

Isser Yehuda Unterman

Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman (איסר יהודה אונטרמן‬, April 19, 1886 – January 26, 1976) was born in Brest-Litovsk, now Belarus. He studied at the Etz Chaim Yeshiva in Maltsch under Rabbi Shimon Shkop. Returning to Lithuania to complete his studies, Unterman was ordained as a rabbi by Rabbi Refael Shapiro, and by Rabbi Simcha Zelig Reguer, the Dayan of Brisk. He founded his own yeshiva in the town of Vishnyeva around 1910. Unterman served a variety of roles in the Lithuanian Jewish community until 1924, when he was selected to become the head rabbi of Liverpool. Unterman served in Liverpool for 22 years, becoming an important figure in the English Zionist movement and working to relieve the suffering of refugees in England during the Second World War. In 1946, Unterman became the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, a position he held for twenty years before being appointed the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel in 1964 (which he held until 1972).

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Yaffo seen from Tel Aviv (credit: Cédric Boismain, license: CC-BY 2.0)

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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

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