Modeh Ani first appeared as an addendum in Seder ha-Yom (1599) by Moshe ibn Makhir of Safed. Around February 2012, I was sitting with Ya’qub ibn Yusuf in his bookstore, Olam Qatan (then at 54 Emek Refaim in South Jerusalem), asking if he might share some useful practice that I might share through the Open Siddur Project. He offered this thought which he had heard from someone else. (Unfortunately, Ya’qub could not remember who taught this insight. If you know its origin, please contact us or share in the comments.) The Hebrew adaptation and translation I’ve offered is based upon Ya’qub’s teaching. Read more on Modeh Ani from Shmuel Gonzales at Hardcore Mesorah. –Aharon Varady

“מוֹדה אֲנִי | Returning the body to the soul: an adaptation of Modeh Ani by Moshe ibn Makhir” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Aharon N. Varady (translation)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer translator for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his translations, 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 transcribes prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes for the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Ya'qub Ibn Yusuf

Ya'qub Ibn Yusuf is the proprietor of Olam Qatan bookstore in South Jerusalem. A really wonderful story of his personal journey can be found on youtube, here.

Mosheh ben Yehudah ibn Makhir

Rabbi Moshe ben Yehudah ibn Makhir was a kabbalist who flourished among the luminaries in 16th century Tsfat. He is best known for the author of the waking prayer "Modeh Ani" and for his work Seder HaYom, printed for the first time in Venice in 1599. He also founded a yeshiva in the village of Ein Zeitoun (near Tsfat).

Stable Link:    https://opensiddur.org/?p=5924

Associated Image:   

I don’t Like Being Woken Up (Credit: Mac_NZ, license: CC-BY 2.0)

(This image is set to automatically show as the "featured image" in category lists and in shared links on social media.)

This post, editable:    XML | ODT

Terms of Use:    Be a mentsch (a conscientious, considerate person) and adhere to the following guidelines:

1. Properly attribute the work to Aharon N. Varady (translation), Ya'qub Ibn Yusuf and Mosheh ben Yehudah ibn Makhir.
2. Clearly indicate the date you accessed the work and in what ways, if any, you modified it. (If you have adapted the work, let us know so that the contributor might consider endorsing your revision.)
3. Provide the stable link to this resource: <https://opensiddur.org/?p=5924>.
4. Indicate that the original work was shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license. (To redistribute or remix this work in any format, modified or unmodified, you must refer to the terms of the license under which the work is shared.)

Note:    The views expressed in this work represent the views of their creator(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Open Siddur Project's developers, its diverse community of contributors, patrons, or institutional partners.

Support this work:    The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture. If you like what you've found here, please help keep our project alive and online with your financial contribution.

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

Works of related interest:

 

מודה אני | Modah/Modeh Ani, by Moshe ibn Makhir (translation by Andrew Shaw)

מודה אני | Modeh Ani by Moshe ibn Makhir (interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)

An Evening Modeh Ani, by Rabbi Menachem Creditor

ביעור חמץ | Kavvanah for Returning Our Ḥametz to the Earth by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org)

מי שבירך לתלמידים החוזרים מחופשת הקיץ | A Mi sheBerakh prayer for students returning to school after their summer break, by Rabbi Esteban Gottfried

Kavvanot when Washing One’s Body Before Shabbes, by Eyal Raviv

A Kavvanah for Waking Up, by Andrew Shaw

prev next