תְּפִלָּה לִפְנֵי יְצִיאָה לַקְרָב | Prayer Before Setting Off to Battle, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (IDF, 1963)

Contributor(s):

Abe Katz (translation), Aharon N. Varady (translation), Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription), Shlomo Goren and Tsva ha-Haganah l'Yisrael

Shared on:

26 March 2022 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Military Personnel & Veterans, War

Tags:

20th century C.E., צה״ל IDF, מדינת ישראל Medinat Yisrael, 58th century A.M.

TOGGLE COLUMNS (on/off):

ADJUST COLUMN POSITIONS: select the column header cell and drag it where you want. show me!

COPY INDIVIDUAL COLUMN(S): use CopyTables, a browser extension.

TABLE HELP

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
יְיָ צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל יוֹשֵׁב הַכְּרוּבִים! (ישעיה לז:טז)	Hashem Tseva’ot elo’ah of Yisrael, who sits upon the Keruvim! (Isaiah 37:16)
אַתָּה צִוִּיתָנוּ בְתוֹרָתְךָ לֵאמֹר: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל אַתֶּם קְרֵבִים הַיּוֹם לַמִּלְחָמָה עַל אֹיְבֵיכֶם, אַל יֵרַךְ לְבַבְכֶם אַל תִּירְאוּ וְאַל תַּחְפְּזוּ וְאַל תַּעַרְצוּ מִפְּנֵיהֶם, כִּי יְיָ אֱלֹהֵיכֶם הַהֹלֵךְ עִמָּכֶם לְהִלָּחֵם לָכֶם עִם אֹיְבֵיכֶם לְהוֹשִׁיעַ אֶתְכֶם. (דברים כ:ג-ד)	You commanded in Your Torah as follows: Listen Yisrael, you are about to enter a battle against your enemies. May your hearts not melt from fear. Do not be afraid. Do not hurry. Do not venerate the enemy because Hashem, your elo’ah, is accompanying you to fight alongside you against your enemies in order to protect you. (Deuteronomy 20:3-4)
וְעַתָּה הִנֵּה אֹיְבֶיךָ יֶהֱמָיוּן וּמְשַׂנְאֶיךָ נָשְׂאוּ רֹאשׁ, עַל עַמְּךָ יַעֲרִימוּ סוֹד וְיִתְיָעֲצוּ עַל צְפוּנֶיךָ, אָמְרוּ לְכוּ וְנַכְחִידֵם מִגּוֹי וְלֹא יִזָּכֵר שֵׁם יִשְׂרָאֵל עוֹד. (תהלים פג:ג-ה)	Now, behold, your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate you have lifted up their heads. They have taken crafty counsel against your people, and consulted against your hidden ones. They have said, come, let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may no longer be remembered. (Psalms 83:3-5)
הֱיֵה נָא עִם חַיָּלֵי צְבָא הֲגַנָּה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל שְׁלוּחֵי עַמְּךָ הַקְּרֵבִים הַיּוֹם לַמִּלְחָמָה עַל אוֹיְבֵיהֶם, חַזְּקֵנוּ וְאַמְצֵנוּ, רִיבָה אֶת יְרִיבֵנוּ לְחַם אֶת לֹחֲמֵינוּ, הַחֲזֵק מָגֵן וְצִנָּה וְקוּמָה עֶזְרָתָה לָּנוּ וּפְדֵנוּ לְמַעַן חַסְדֶּךָ.	May you please be with the Israel Defense forces, emissaries of your people, who are entering the battlefield today against their enemies. Strength us and encourage us. Fight alongside us. Do battle with us. Make us strong; defend us; shield us; come forward and assist us; provide us victory for the sake of your compassion.
אֱלֹהַי, שִׁיתֵמוֹ כַּגַּלְגַּל, כְּקַשׁ לִפְנֵי רוּחַ, כְּאֵשׁ תִּבְעַר יָעַר, וּכְלֶהָבָה תְּלַהֵט הָרִים. כֵּן תִּרְדְּפֵם בְּסַעֲרֶךָ וּבְסוּפָתְךָ תְּבַהֲלֵם מַלֵּא פְּנֵיהֶם קָלוֹן וִיבַקְשׁוּ שְׁמְךָ יְיָ יֵבֹשׁוּ וְיִבָּהֲלוּ עֲדֵי־עַד וְיַחְפְּרוּ וְיֹאבֵדוּ. (תהלים פג:יד-יח)	O my elo’ah, make them like whirling tumbleweed, like chaff before the wind. As the fire burns a wood, and as the flame sets the mountains on fire; so pursue them with your tempest, and terrify them with your storm. Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek your name, Hashem. Let them be put to shame and dismayed for ever; and let them be put to shame, and perish. (Psalms 83:14-18)
אָנָּא יְיָ הוֹשִׁיעָה נָא׃ אָנָּא יְיָ הַצְלִיחָה נָּא׃ (תהלים קיח:כה)	Please Hashem, save us now! Please Hashem, bring success, now! (Psalms 118:25)
הָבָה לָּנוּ עֶזְרָת מִצָּר, וְשָׁוְא תְּשׁוּעַת אָדָם. בֵּאלֹהִים נַעֲשֶׂה חָיִל וְהוּא יָבוּס צָרֵינוּ (תהלים ס:יג-יד)	Provide us help against the enemy; for futile is the salvation of man. Through Elohim we shall act bravely; for it is He who shall trample down our enemies. (Psalms 60:13-14)

Rabbi Shlomo Goren’s “Tefilah Lifnei Yetsiah laQrav,” a prayer for IDF soldiers before embarking on a combat mission was first published in his Siddur Tefilot l’Ḥayyal (pp. 72-73 in the 1963 printing). The earliest edition of the siddur that we have seen is from 1963 but there may be an earlier publication of this prayer. (If you know, please leave a comment or contact us.)

Abe Katz prepared a working draft of this prayer (shared over the Passages of Rite Facebook group), which I edited. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“תְּפִלָּה לִפְנֵי יְצִיאָה לַקְרָב | Prayer Before Setting Off to Battle, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (IDF, 1963)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Abe Katz (translation)

Abe Katz is the director of the Burei HaTefila Institute. The Beurei Hatefila Institute was established in order to encourage the study of the words of the Siddur as a Jewish text in Jewish schools. To assist educators developing courses on Tefila, the Institute publishes a weekly e-mail newsletter in which it traces the sources for the words and structure of the prayers within the Siddur. These and other resources can be downloaded on PDF from the Burei HaTefila Institute website.

Mr. Katz is also available to teach courses on Tefila at your synagogue or Jewish Community Center and as a scholar-in-residence. He is available to meet with school administrators to assist them in establishing a course in Beurei Hatefila at their schools and to train teachers on using Hebrew-English word processing and Judaic libraries on CD-ROM.

Aharon N. Varady (translation)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer translator for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his translations, 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 transcribes prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes for the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

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.)

Shlomo Goren

Shlomo Goren (Hebrew: שלמה גורן) (February 3, 1917 – October 29, 1994), was an Orthodox Religious Zionist rabbi in Israel, a Talmudic scholar and foremost authority on Jewish law. Following the establishment of the State of Israel, Goren was appointed Chief Rabbi of the Military Rabbinate of the IDF with the rank of Major-General, a position he held until 1968 when he was chosen as Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv. Later he served as the third Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983, after which he established a yeshiva in Jerusalem, which he headed until his death. He served in the Israel Defense Forces during three wars, wrote several award-winning books on Jewish law. (via wikipedia)

Tsva ha-Haganah l'Yisrael

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; Hebrew: צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל Tsva ha-Haganah l'Yisrael, lit. 'The Army of Defense for Israel'), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym Tsahal (צה״ל), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and the Israeli Navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security apparatus, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel. The IDF is headed by the Chief of the General Staff, who is subordinate to the Israeli Defense Minister.

Pocket Pinterest Reddit 𝕏 Facebook Telegram WhatsApp SMS Email

Works of related interest:

תְּפִלַּת הַדֶּרֶךְ לְטַיָּס | Traveler’s Prayer of a Fighter Pilot, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (IDF, 1963)

תְּפִלַּת הַדֶּרֶךְ לְצַנְחָן | Traveler’s Prayer of a Paratrooper, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (IDF, 1963)

תְּפִלַּת הַדֶּרֶךְ לְצֶוֶת הַצּוֹלְלוֹת | Traveler’s Prayer for a Submarine Crew, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (IDF, 1963)

Siddur Tefilot l'Ḥayyal (chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren, IDF 1963) - title

📖 סדור תפלות לחייל לכל השנה (נוסח אחיד) | Siddur Tefilot l’Ḥayyal, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (IDF, 1963)

Qalqilya (credit: Paolo Vuttitta, license: CC BY 2.0 Unported)

מי שברך לחיילי צה״ל | Mi sheBerakh for the Welfare of Israel Defense Forces Soldiers, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (1956); amended by Dr. Alex Sinclair (2012)

prayer before a battle (office of the chief rabbi 1940) - cropped

Prayer Before a Battle (Office of the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire 1940)

Tefilat al Malei Rahamim for those murdered on 7 October and fallen during the Iron Swords War (IDF 2024)

תפילת אל מלא רחמים לנרצחי התקפות החמאס והנופלים בקרבות | El Malé Raḥamim prayer for the victims of the HAMA”S attacks and those fallen in battle afterward (IDF 2024)

prev next

Comments, Corrections, and QueriesCancel reply

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=43444

Associated Image:

IDF prepares for war (credit: Yoav Pinus, IDF)

(This image is set to automatically show as the "featured image" in shared links on social media.)

Source Data: XML | JSON

Re-formatted: HTML | ODT

Terms of Use: Be a mentsch (a conscientious, considerate person) and adhere to the following guidelines:

Properly attribute the work to Abe Katz (translation), Aharon N. Varady (translation), Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription), Shlomo Goren and Tsva ha-Haganah l'Yisrael.
Clearly indicate the date you accessed the work and in what ways, if any, you modified it. (If you have adapted the work, let us know so that the contributor might consider endorsing your revision.)
Provide the stable link to this resource: <https://opensiddur.org/?p=43444>.
Indicate that the original work was shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license. (To redistribute or remix this work in any format, modified or unmodified, you must refer to the terms of the license under which the work is shared.)

Additional Notes:

The views expressed in this work represent the views of their creator(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Open Siddur Project's developers, its diverse community of contributors, patrons, or institutional partners.
We strongly advise against printing sacred texts and art containing divine names as these copies must be regarded with reverence, complicating their casual treatment and disposal.
If you must dispose of a printed sacred text (one containing Divine Names), please locate the closest genizah (often established by a synagogue) and contact its custodians for further instructions. We also recommend using Morah Yehudis Fishman's Prayer for Adding a Work to the Genizah.

Support this work: The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture. If you like what you've found here, please help keep our project alive and online with your financial contribution.

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