בִּרְכָּת הַמַּפִּיל | Blessing at Bed Time (for children), a rhyming translation by Jessie Ethel Sampter (1919)

Contributor(s): Jessie Ethel Sampter and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Shared on: 13 June 2023 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories: Bedtime Shema

Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Before Sleep, ברכת המפיל birkat hamapil, rhyming translation

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Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
	(Before saying the Sh’ma)
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֺהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַמַּפִּיל חֶבְלֵי שֵׁנָה עַל עֵינָי וּתְנוּמָה עַל עַפְעַפָּי׃ וִיהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶֽיךָ יְיָ אֱלֹהַי וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתַי שֶׁתַּשְׁכִּיבֵֽנִי לְשָׁלוֹם וְתַעֲמִידֵֽנִי לְשָׁלוֹם׃	O blessed God, our Lord and King, Sleep to my tired eyes you bring; In peace I hope to shut my eyes. In peace again I hope to rise.
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ יְיָ ׀ אֶחָֽד׃ (דברים ו:ד) בָּרוּךְ שֵׁם כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתוֹ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד׃ (משנה יומא ג:ח, פסחים נו א, מדרש תנחומא – בובר קדושים ו׳, ועוד)
	(After saying the Sh’ma)
בָּרוּךְ יְיָ בַּיּוֹם׃ בָּרוּךְ יְיָ בַּלַּֽיְלָה׃ בָּרוּךְ יְיָ בְּשָׁכְבֵּֽנוּ׃ בָּרוּךְ יְיָ בְּקוּמֵֽנוּ׃	Blessed is God in the daylight, Blessed is God in the dark night, Blessed is God who shuts my eyes, Blessed is God when I arise.
הִנֵּה לֹא־יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ (תהלים קכא:ד) בְּיָדְךָ אַפְקִיד רוּחִי פָּדִֽיתָה אוֹתִי יְיָ אֵל אֱמֶת׃ (תהלים כא:ו) לִישׁוּעָתְךָ קִוִּֽיתִי יְיָ׃ (בראשית מט:יח)	And He that Israel does keep Shall never slumber, never sleep. (Psalms 121:4) He holds me safe within His hand The while I rest in slumberland. O Lord and God of truth is He (Psalms 31:6) Who watches over mine and me.

This rhyming translation and paraphrase of the blessing at bedtime (birkat hamapil) was written by Jessie Ethel Sampter and published in her Around the Year in Rhymes for the Jewish Child (1920), pp. 89-90.

Source(s)

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“בִּרְכָּת הַמַּפִּיל | Blessing at Bed Time (for children), a rhyming translation by Jessie Ethel Sampter (1919)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Jessie Ethel Sampter

Jessie Sampter (March 22, 1883 – 1938) was a Jewish educator, poet, and Zionist pioneer. Born in New York City to Rudolph Sampter, a New York attorney, and Virginia Kohlberg Sampter, she contracted polio at thirteen which prevented her from leaving home. Unable to attend school her family hired tutors. Later she audited courses at Columbia University. In her twenties she joined the Unitarian Church and began writing poetry. Her poems and short stories emphasized her primary concerns: pacifism, Zionism, and social justice. Around this time, she began spending time in the home of Henrietta Szold and began to appreciate the Eastern European Jews of New York City. She moved into a settlement house on the Lower East Side, then to a Young Women's Hebrew Association. Assuming the role of Hadassah's leading educator, she produced manuals and textbooks and organized lectures and classes, training speakers and leaders for both Hadassah and other Zionist organizations like the Federation of American Zionists (then the Zionist Organization of America). She composed educational manuals with Alice Seligsberg and edited a textbook on Zionism. In 1919 she settled in Palestine where she helped organize the country's first Jewish Scout camp. Sampter developed a strong commitment to assisting Yemenite Jews, founding classes and clubs especially for Yemenite girls and women. She adopted a Yemenite orphan. At the time of her death she had established a vegetarian convalescent home at Kibbutz Givat Brenner.

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.)

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=51648

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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

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