תפילת הדרך | Tefilat haDerekh, a traveler’s prayer for safety and peace (trans. Rabbi David Seidenberg, neohasid.org)

Contributor(s):

David Seidenberg, neohasid.org and Unknown Author(s)

Shared on:

18 April 2018 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Conflicts over Sovereignty and Dispossession, Travel, Social Justice, Peace, and Liberty

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תחינות teḥinot, תפילת הדרך tefilat haderekh

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Hebrew

English

יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְפָנֶיךָ
יי אֱלֹהֵינוּ וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ,
שֶׁתּוֹלִיכֵנוּ לְשָׁלוֹם
וְתַצְעִידֵנוּ לְשָׁלוֹם
וְתַדְרִיכֵנוּ לְשָׁלוֹם,
וְתַגִּיעֵנוּ לִמְחוֹז חֶפְצֵנוּ
לְחַיִּים וּלְשִׂמְחָה וּלְשָׁלוֹם.

May the holy desire come from You,
YHVH, our Source and our ancestors’ Source,
that You will lead us toward peace
and make our every step be a step toward peace,
and our path be a path of peace,
May You help us reach the true target of our desire:
life, joy, and peace.

וְתַצִּילֵנוּ מִכַּף כָּל אוֹיֵב וְאוֹרֵב וְלִסְטִים
וְחַיּוֹת רָעוֹת בַּדֶּרֶךְ.
הַגָּן בַּעֲדֵינוּ מִכָּל מִינֵי מַשְׁחִית
וּמִכָּל מִינֵי פֻּרְעָנֻיּוֹת
הַמִּתְרַגְּשׁוֹת לָבוֹא לָעוֹלָם,
וְתִשְׁלַח בְּרָכָה בְּכָל מַעֲשֵׂה יָדֵינוּ.
וְתִתְּנֵנוּ לְחֵן וּלְחֶסֶד וּלְרַחֲמִים
בְּעֵינֶיךָ וּבְעֵינֵי כָל רֹאֵינוּ,
כִּי אל שׁוֹמֵעַ תְּפִלָּה
כָּל פֶּה.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה שׁוֹמֵעַ תְּפִלָּה׃

Rescue us from all enmity and ambush and theft
and predation (from all impulses to harm that confront us) on this path.
Be a shield on our side against all manner of destruction
and from any dangerous complications that may arise
from the passions that come into the world.
Bless our actions and handiwork
and grant us grace, love, and compassion
in Your eyes and in the eyes of all who behold us,
for You are the one who is listening to hear the prayer
of every mouth of every creature.
Blessed be You who listens for prayer.

In this Tefilat haDerekh (the prayer for travel), I’ve made a synthesis of Ashkenazi and Sefardi nusaḥ. Even though the translation is pretty close to literal in most places, it comes across as an extraordinary and activist prayer for peace. So I think of this prayer not just as a prayer for the beginning a physical journey, but for any spiritual journey, and especially for any campaign or action for justice and peace that a person or group might undertake. When applied to activism, the “enmity and ambush and theft and predation” we ask to be rescued from could also be interpreted as hatred, deceit, jealousy, and aggression, i.e., the kinds of feelings that cause people to work against each other, even within an organization, instead of working together. I first used this version of the prayer at the beginning of a tour of Israel and Palestine focused on the human rights and non-violent resistance, when the group passed through the first checkpoint of the trip.

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“תפילת הדרך | Tefilat haDerekh, a traveler’s prayer for safety and peace (trans. Rabbi David Seidenberg, neohasid.org)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

David Seidenberg

Rabbi David Seidenberg, founder of NeoHasid.org, teaches text and music, Jewish thought and spirituality, in their own right and in relation to ecology and the environment. With smikhah (ordination) from the Jewish Theological Seminary and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, he has taught at over 100 synagogues, communities, retreats and conferences across North America (and a few in Europe and Israel). Rabbi Seidenberg's teaching empowers learners to become creators of Judaism through deep study and communion with texts and tradition. Areas of specialty include Kabbalah and Ḥasidut, Talmud, davenning, evolution and cosmology, sustainability, Maimonides, Buber, and more. Rabbi Seidenberg has published widely on ecology and Judaism and is the author of Kabbalah and Ecology: God's Image in the More-Than-Human World (Cambridge University Press, 2015).

neohasid.org

NeoHasid.org was created by Rabbi David Seidenberg to help folks integrate ḥasidic song, learning, and nusaḥ into their davenning and communities and to explore embodied Torah. It evolved to focus on eco-Torah and to share liturgy that honors our relationship with the Earth and/or expresses gender parity.

Unknown Author(s)

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.

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Works of related interest:

תפילת הדרך | Tefilat haDerekh (Traveler’s Prayer), by Rabbi Michal Ratner Ken-tor

תפילת הדרך | Tefilat haDerekh (Traveler’s Prayer), by Rabbi Tamar Duvdevani

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תפילה להצבעה | A Prayer for Voting with a Pledge to Help Repair the World, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org 2008/2020)

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Associated Image:

Demining in AfghanistanMembers of the Afghan National Army search a road for improvised explosive devices. —A significant offensive operation, which takes the independence and self-sufficiency of British-trained Afghan forces to a new level, has begun in central Helmand. As the new year was seen in around the world, Afghan troops were opening a new chapter which sets the scene for their future autonomy and long-term role in the defence of their nation against extremism and terror.Operation OMID PANJ (ÔHope FiveÕ in English) follows on from the successful Operation OMID CHAR which, at the time, was the largest operation in size, number of soldiers and duration to have been planned, led and conducted by the Afghan National Army.But OMID PANJ takes things a step further, with the Afghans relying on even less support from British troops, who are present only in a supporting role. One of the key areas where significant development of Afghan capability is being demonstrated is their growing ability to find and render safe improvised explosive devices, the indiscriminate weapon of choice for the insurgency.Being conducted in the Green Zone, north of the Helmand River, the operation is pushing the Afghan governmentÕs influence and security bubble further out. By the time of its conclusion, it will see a new patrol base established east of Gereshk between the River Helmand and the Bandi Barq Road. This rural area, filled with irrigation ditches, canals and small farm plots, interspersed with residential compounds, has suffered from significant insurgent intimidation due to its proximity to smuggling routes into Gereshk city.

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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