https://opensiddur.org/?p=32072Prayers Previous to Initiation on Attaining the Age of Twelve, by Marcus Heinrich Bresslau (1852)2020-06-11 16:49:48A prayer for a young woman on her Bat Mitsvah.Textthe Open Siddur ProjectAharon N. Varady (transcription)Aharon N. Varady (transcription)Marcus Heinrich Bresslauhttps://opensiddur.org/copyright-policy/Aharon N. Varady (transcription)https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/Bnei (Bar/Bat) Mitsvah & Other Birthday Prayers19th century C.E.תחינות teḥinot57th century A.M.Jewish Women's PrayersEnglish vernacular prayer
Creator in Heaven! Thou who art the father of all men, look down from Thy holy dwelling on High upon me, Thy faithful child, I am now ready publicly to acknowledge Thy unity and Thy Providence, to make a voluntary and a solemn vow, continually to observe and to practice Thy law revealed through Moses, and to swear everlasting fidelity to the faith of my ancestors. I Pray Thee, be Thou also my father, and receive me as Thy child. Have indulgence with my foibles, and preserve me from every failing. Should I stumble through the allurement to sin, help me with Thy affectionate hand, and forgive my levity. Lend me Thy spirit, to strengthen me in the dangers of youth and comfort me in sorrow. Let me guided by noble principles, consider above all how to live according to Thy will, and to become still more perfect. Let me never be in want of noble-minded friends and supporters. Crown my undertakings with Thy paternal blessing, support me in the discharge of my duties as a daughter, sister and friend; and assist me like a father in the exercise of all that is good. When the hour arrives, in which I shall have to depart from this life of preparation, and enter the true fatherland; O fortify me by faith in Thee and Thy prophets, and let me richly feel the comfort which I may have prepared for myself through a pious course, so that I may tranquilly repose in sleep, like our pious mothers, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, and arrive yonder, where the palm of reward is waving for the virtuous. Amen.
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 naqeniשְׁגִיאוֹת 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.)
Marcus Heinrich (also Mordecai Ḥayyim/Hyman/Heyman) Bresslau (ca. 1808-15 May 1864) was a Hebraist and newspaper editor. Born in Hamburg, he settled in England when young. For some time from 1834 he was Baal Ḳoreh (reader) at the Western Synagogue. He then taught Hebrew at the Westminster Jews’ Free School and went on to tutor privately. A maskil, he became involved with M. J. Raphall’s Hebrew Review and Magazine of Rabbinical Literature (1834-6). In October 1844 he was appointed editor of the relaunched Jewish Chronicle by proprietor Joseph Mitchell. Prickly and quarrelsome, he resigned in July 1848 but returned in around September. He remained until about October 1850. After Mitchell’s death in June 1854 he became proprietor (his middle name appearing as Heyman) and edited it until February 1855 when new proprietor Abraham Benisch succeeded him. Bresslau, who tried vainly to revive the Hebrew Review, wrote Hebrew poetry, produced a Hebrew grammar and a Hebrew dictionary, and translated various Hebrew manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. Bresslau compiled (we think) the first compilation of teḥinot in English for women. (Much of this information via Bresslau's entry in The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History)
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