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Almost two years ago my best friend passed away and I had the honour of chanting this maleh rachamim for him. In mid-May this year another friend approached me and said he really liked the way I did it at the time and could I record it for him because he was going to do it too for an unrelated unveiling. So, I recorded it on May 18, 2011. I didn’t compose it. It’s a traditional tune, but it’s my voice and I hope someone else can perhaps learn it with this material. The more resource there are out there through means such as Open Siddur the better we can learn and share. The recording is shared with a Public Domain Dedication (CC0).
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| Source (Hebrew) | Translation (English) |
|---|---|
אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים שׁוֹכֵן בַּמְּרוֹמִים, הַמְצֵא מְנוּחָה נְכוֹנָה עַל כַּנְפֵי הַשְּׁכִינָה, בְּמַעֲלוֹת קְדוֹשִׁים וּטְהוֹרִים כְּזוֹהַר הָרָקִיעַ מַזְהִירִים, בורך טוב בן בלימע ושלמה אֶת נִשְׁמַת שֶׁהָלַךְ לְעוֹלָמוֹ, בְּגַן עֵדֶן תְּהֵא מְנוּחָתוֹ. |
Compassionate source of all that is, who is present in the heavens, take our loved one [name] under your holy, pure and glorious wings that shine like the sky, as we provide charity in the name of the soul of our loved one. |
[אָנָא,] בַּעַל הָרַחֲמִים יַסְתִּירֵהוּ בְּסֵתֶר [כְּנָפֶיךָ] כְּנָפָיו לְעוֹלָמִים, וְיִצְרֹר [וּצְרֹר] בִּצְרוֹר הַחַיִּים אֶת נִשְׁמָתוֹ, יְיָ הוּא נַחֲלָתוֹ, וְיָנוּחַ בְּשָׁלוֹם עַל מִשְׁכָּבוֹ, וְנֹאמַר אָמֵן׃ |
[Please] Compassionate one, provide rest for the soul of our loved one in Ga’an Eden and never withdraw your protective wings and take [bundle] this soul into the bond of life. Hashem is this soul’s everlasting inheritance and peaceful resting place, and let us say: Amen. |
We are grateful to Effron Esseiva of the Shirat Hayam on Bowen Island havurah and Or Shalom Synagogue in Vancouver for sharing his recording and abbreviated translation (below) of El Malei Raḥamim (lit. “God, full of Compassion”), the prayer for the departed traditionally read at the unveiling of the headstone. Effron is studying davvening leadership through Aleph with teachers Rabbi Marcia Prager, Rabbi Shawn Zevit, and Hazzan Jack Kessler.
“אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים | El Malé Raḥamim (Prayer for the Departed), translated and sung by Effron Esseiva” is shared by the living contributor(s) with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.
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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
Tonight begins the seventh day of Pesach. It’s a yontif (Yom tov, a non-work holiday day), like the first day (or two) of Passover, and I invite you to light candles to mark the beginning of this ending. Such markers of time are especially important for those of us whose days are blending into each other as we stay home and struggle to create structure for ourselves. Notice the last day of Passover.
And then, on Wednesday night for those who celebrate 7 days of Pesach, and Thursday for those who celebrate 8, it’s eat chametz night! Time for pasta and toast, bagels and bread, cereal and — who knows? — doughnuts. Enough with the bread of affliction already.
And if you are a Jew whose roots are in North Africa, you already know about Mimuna (Maimouna), a joyous community-wide celebration of the return to chometz-dikeh eating. (OK. that’s a little too cross-cultural — an Ashkenazi pronunciation for a Sephardi celebration.) One of my college professors, Dr. Joelle Bahloul, grew up in Morocco and from her I learned of the close collaboration between Jewish and Muslim neighbors in the celebration of Mimuna. After all, how could you throw a party full of chametz (leavened/fermented food) starting immediately after sunset when you have had nary a crumb nor drop of it in your house for the past 8 days? Only if your neighbors had ready for you to purchase, borrow, or “buy back” all that you would need!
Joyful Maimuna follows the last day of Pesach. But the last day itself, whether 7th or 8th, is a solemn one. It is one of four days on the Jewish calendar designated for Yizkor, the memorial service whose centerpiece is a prayer asking “May God remember” people who have died. It concludes with El Maley Rachamim, a prayer asking “God, full of compassion” to shelter the souls of the departed beneath the wings of God’s presence, and then Kaddish.
This year, we have need for pausing and remembering at Yizkor. It’s not that God needs a reminder. We do.
Yizkor is recited on days which traditionally would bring family to mind, Yom Kippur and the three major agricultural festivals: Pesach/Passover, Shavu/ot/“Weeks,” and Sukkot/“Booths.” (Technically on Shmini Atseret, the holiday at the end of Sukkot.) Here, at the end of Pesach 5780, family is very much on our minds, whether we have it or not. Family with whom we are hunkered down at home, and family we can only see on a screen and speak to through the ether. Family we will never see again in this world, and family who aren’t there to care for us if we get sick.
Originally, Yizkor was recited only on Yom Kippur. Its primary purpose was to honor the deceased by committing to giving tzedakah [charity] in their memory, on the theory that the good deeds of the survivors elevate the souls of the departed. It also enhanced the chances for personal atonement by doing a deed of lovingkindness. Since the Torah reading on the last day of the pilgrimage festivals [the holidays of Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot] mentions the importance of donations, Yizkor was added to these holiday services as well.
It was the custom in medieval Germany for each community to read a list of its martyrs at the Yizkor service. The practice was eventually expanded to include the names of other members of the community who had died. (MyJewishLearning.com)
We have many names to recite this year … and cannot. As of this writing, the World Health Organization reports that 117,217 people have died worldwide from the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. We know that this number is too low to accurately represent reality. There will never be a complete accounting, and most names are unknown to anyone but the people who love them and the people who held their hands, if they could, as they died. And, if so you believe, to God.
But our people have known mass death before. There is a version of El Maley Rachamim for Jews who died in the Shoah (otherwise known at the Holocaust). There are others as well, with the exact language changed depending on what tragedy has occurred. For instance, this 2017 El Maleh Rachamim for Victims of Racial Violence. Undoubtedly there were similar memorial prayers after the Black Death and the massacres of Jews, who accused of causing it by poisoning wells.
So this year, we might pray:
אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים, שׁוֹכֵן בַּמְרוֹמִים
הַמְצֵא מְנוּחָה נְכוֹנָה תַחַת כַּנְפֵי הַשְּׁכִינָה
בְּמַעֲלוֹת קְדוֹשִׁים וּטְהוֹרִים כְּזֹהַר הָרָקִיעַ מַזְהִירִים
אֶת נִשְׁמוֹת כָּל בְּנֵי וּבְנוֹת אָדָם וְחָוָה
אֲנָשִׁים נָשִׁים וְטַף
שֶׁנִּגְעוּ בַּמַּגֵּפָה וָמֵתוּ
.מִפְּנֵי גִזְעֲנוּת וְשַׁאֲנַנוּת, בְּמִקְרֶה וּמֵמָצָבִים רְפוּאִיִים
בַּעֲבוּר שֶׁבְּלִי נֶֽדֶר
אֶתֵּן צְדָקָה בְּעַד הַזְכָּרַת נִשְׁמוֹתֵיהֶם
.בְּגַן עֵדֶן תְהִי מְנוּחָתָם
אָנָּא בַּעַל הָרַחֲמִים,
הַסְתִּירֵם בְּסֵתֶר כְּנָפֶיךָ לְעוֹלָמִים
.וּצְרוֹר בִּצְרוֹר הַחַיִּים אֶת נִשְׁמוֹתֵיהֶם
ה’ הוּא נַחַלָתָם, וְיָנוּחוּ בְשָׁלוֹם עַל מִשְׁכּבוֹתֵיֶהם. וְנֹאמַר אָמֵן
God full of compassion, dwelling on high,
grant perfect rest beneath the sheltering wings of Your Presence,
among the holy and the pure who shine with the light of the heavens,
for the souls of our brothers and sisters, all people,
men, women, and children,
who have been struck by the plague and died
because of complacency and racism, chance and underlying conditions.
I hereby commit (without making a vow)
to do acts of justice in their memory.
May the Garden of Eden be their resting place.
Oh please, God of compassion,
keep them in the shelter of Your wings for eternity
and bind up their souls in the bond of life.
The ETERNAL is their inheritance; may they rest in peace,
and let us say, Amen.
If you have a yahrzeit candle, I invite you to light it tonight or tomorrow night (depending on whether you observe 7 or 8 days of Pesach) just before you light holiday candles. Take a moment for your own meditation or a prayer, or just stand silent to honor the memories of uncounted thousands of our fellow human beings who have died in this pandemic.
!עֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם בִּמְרוֹמָיו, הוּא יַעֲשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם עָלֵֽינוּ וְעַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְעַל כָּל יוֹשְׁבֵי תֵבֵל, וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן
Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya’aseh shalom, aleynu ve’al kol yisra’el, ve’al kol yoshvey teyvel, ve’imru: Amen!
May the One who makes peace in the heights, make peace for us,
for all Jews everywhere,
and for all the inhabitants of the planet,
and let us say: Amen!
[…] took the box out and laid some of the stones on the grave. We recited the El Maleh and reflected for a few minutes. I knew Dan the best of the three of our congregants who were […]