On Taking a Journey (CCAR 1951)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown and Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

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24 March 2026 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, protection, תחינות teḥinot, teḥinot in English

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	“The Lord shall guard thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and forever.” (Psalms 121:7)
	Lord of the Universe, the whole world is full of Thy glory. Wherever I may journey, Thou art near me to shield and to guide. “If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea; even there would Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand would hold me” (Psalms 139:9-10).
	With grateful heart I thank Thee, O Lord, for all Thy guidance in the past. Thou hast been a light to my path. Thou hast shielded me on my journeying in the past and brought me safely back to my home.
	Now that I begin a new journey, I turn to Thee, O Lord, confident of Thy guidance. O guard Thou me against the perils of the road. Keep me in health and bring me safely to my destination. Grant that this journey be not in vain but that the purposes of my travel be fulfilled. Shield me on my return and bring me back in health to my dear ones. Bestow Thy blessing upon me as I depart and when, with Thy help, I shall return. Amen.

“On Taking a Journey” is the first prayer in the “Personal Prayers for Special Occasions” section of the Union Home Prayer Book (CCAR 1951), p. 41. Unfortunately, as with so many of the prayers published as a result of CCAR committees from this period and earlier, we cannot yet attribute this prayer to any known author. (If you know, please leave a comment or contact us.)

Source(s)

Aharon N. Varady (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.)

Unknown

Sometimes the best we can do in attributing a historical work is to indicate the period and place it was written, the first prayer book it may have been printed in, or the archival collection in which the manuscript was found. We invite the public to help to attribute all works to their original composers. If you know something not mentioned in the commentary offered, please leave a comment or contact us.

Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada.

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "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)

On Taking a Journey (CCAR 1951)

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