https://opensiddur.org/?p=41759A General Prayer for Adult Transitions, by Rabbi Elliot Kukla2022-01-03 16:47:16"A Prayer for Transitions" was written by Rabbi Elliot Kukla. He writes that this prayer was written "for all adult transitions including gender as well as things like starting medication."Textthe Open Siddur ProjectElliot KuklaElliot Kuklahttps://opensiddur.org/copyright-policy/Elliot Kuklahttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/Well-being, health, and caregivingmedical treatment21st century C.E.58th century A.M.transitiongender transition
☞ Need to adjust a column of text to the right or left? Click on the header row and drag the column where you want. Here's an animated GIF showing the process. ☞ Need to copy a column or column(s) of text? We recommend the CopyTables extension.
May the One who blessed our ancestors—
Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah;
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—
bless me as I enter into this new chapter in my life.
The world was not formed by a single act.
Each and every day God renews the work of creation.
May God grant me the strength
to constantly renew my own creation.
May I open my heart and mind
to continuous growth,
unexpected change,
and the perpetual unsettling, liberating expansion of being alive;
may I have the courage to name and sanctify
this moment of change
that is shaping my body and soul
in the image of the ever-evolving Divine.
Blessed are You,
El Shaddai, our God,
the Renewing One of the world,
who has allowed me to reach this time of transformation.
And let us say: Amen.
“A Prayer for Transitions” was written by Rabbi Elliot Kukla. He writes that this prayer was written “for all adult transitions including gender as well as things like starting medication.” It was first published as “A Prayer for Transitioning Gender” in Where Healing Resides (CCAR 2013), p. 45. A more specific blessing upon the occasion of a gender transition ceremony may be found here.
Rabbi Elliot Kukla (he/they) is a rabbi, chaplain, author, artist, and activist. Elliot has been tending to the spiritual needs of grief, dying, and becoming (more) ill or disabled since 2007 and he has been engaged in justice work since 1996. He is currently faculty at Svara: A traditionally radical yeshiva where he is also the founder and director of the Communal Loss and Adaptation Project (CLAP). He was a rabbi at the Bay Area Jewish Healing Center from 2008 to 2021 where he co-directed Kol Hanshama, the multiple award-winning volunteer spiritual care hospice program. Elliot’s essays on disability and spirituality have been featured numerous times in the New York Times, as well as many other anthologies and magazines. In 2006, he was the first openly transgender rabbi to be ordained by a mainstream denomination (the Reform seminary, Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles) and in 2007 he trained as a chaplain at UCSF medical center. He currently lives on Oholone Land (Oakland, California) with his partner, their kid, queer chosen family, two Boston Terriers, and a cat named Turkey.
Comments, Corrections, and Queries