Gebete bei dem Anzünden der Lichter Freitag nachts | Prayer at the kindling of the Friday night lights, a teḥinah by Wolf Mayer (1828)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (translation), Daniel Bar Sadeh-Weise (transcription) and Wolf Mayer

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31 January 2022 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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Erev Shabbat

Tags:

19th century C.E., Light, kindling, candle lighting, תחינות teḥinot, 56th century A.M., Jewish Women's Prayers, German vernacular prayer, German Jewry, lamp lighting

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Source (German)	Translation (English)
Gebete bei dem Anzünden der Lichter Freitag nachts.	Prayer at the kindling of the Friday night lights.
Himmlischer Vater! Wie herzlich danke ich dir, das du mich diese Woche mit deiner Allmacht geschützt, und mir in diesem Tage der Ruhe, eine Erholung verschafft hast.	Heavenly Father! How sincerely I thank you for protecting me this week with your omnipotence, and for this day of calm, a rest you have given me.
Aber nicht zum Müßiggange und Wohlleben, nicht zum geschäftlosen Ruhen und untätigen Rasten, hast du Allvater diesen heiligen Tag bestimmt. Nein, Allgütiger! Durch Untätigkeit ehret dich der Mensch nicht, deine väterliche Huld hat uns die Ruhe dieses Tages bloß darum verliehen, auf das wir frei von allen irdischen Sorgen und von aller Arbeit ruhend, desto eifriger über das Heil unserer Seele, über deine unendliche Güte, über die grenzenlosen Wohltaten die du uns täglich erweisest, über unsere Bestimmung, und über den Lohn der uns jenseits erwartet; ungestöhrt nachdenken sollen.	But not for idleness and well-being, not for indolent rest and idle rest, you All-Father have appointed this holy day. No, All-good One! Man does not honor you by idleness, your fatherly grace has given us the rest of this day only so that we, free from all earthly worries and resting from all work, may think all the more eagerly about the well-being of our soul, about your infinite goodness, about the boundless benefits you show us every day, about our destiny, and about the reward that awaits us on the other side; undisturbed.
Darum hast du Allgütiger Vater! Uns befohlen das wir die Feier dieses heiligen Tages durch das Anzünden der Lichter beginnen sollen, damit wir uns erinnern mögen, das es unsere heilige Bestimmung sei, nach dem ewigen Lichte der göttlichen Gnade zu ringen, und das wir dir danken für das Licht der wahren Religion und der heiligen Gesetze, womit du uns beleuchtet hast.	That is why you, All-good Father! commanded us to begin the celebration of this holy day by kindling the lights, so that we may remember that it is our holy destiny to strive for the eternal light of the divine grace, and that we thank you for the light of the true religion and the holy laws with which you have illuminated us.
Oh Vater im Himmel! Dieses vorgeschriebene Gebot habe ich mit Inbrunst und mit Andacht verrichtet. Ich flehe nun zu dir, gnadenvoller Schöpfer aller Wesen! Sende dein Licht deine Wahrheit und belichte meine Schritte auf das ich nie den Pfad der Finsternis betrete, sondern immer nur im Licht deiner beseeligenden Religion wandle. Beschütze mich auch an diesem geheiligten Tage vor jeder Gefahr und vor jedem Unglücke auf das ich mit Seelenruhe und mit freudiger Heiterkeit den Schabbat nach deinem göttlichen Willen feiere.	O Father in Heaven! I have performed this prescribed commandment with fervor and devotion. I now beseech you, gracious Creator of all beings! Send your light, your truth, and illuminate my steps so that I may never tread the path of darkness, but always walk in the light of your blessed religion. Protect me also on this holy day from every danger and from every misfortune, so that I may celebrate the Shabbat with peace of mind and with joyful serenity according to your divine will.
Gelobt seist du Gott! Der du den Schabbat heilgst. Amen!	Praise be to you, God! who sanctifies the Shabbat. Amen!

“Gebete bei dem Anzünden der Lichter Freitag nachts” was translated/adapted by Mayer Wolf and published in his anthology of teḥinot, תְּחִנּוֹת בְּנוֹת יְשֻׁרוּן Gebethbuch für gebildete israelitisch Frauenzimmer (1828) on pp. 107-109.

Daniel Bar Sadeh-Weise prepared a transcription/conversion into Latin script of the original German set in Hebrew script and vaybertaytsh/mashket type. No changes were made to the German itself (to modernize the language or style). This transcription provided machine-readable text for a machine translation by DeepL, which I then proofread for accuracy. We welcome corrections and improvements. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“Gebete bei dem Anzünden der Lichter Freitag nachts | Prayer at the kindling of the Friday night lights, a teḥinah by Wolf Mayer (1828)” 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.)

Daniel Bar Sadeh-Weise (transcription)

Daniel Bar Sadeh-Weise, from Jerusalem, was born in 1984 in Gemany, grew up in Greece, and made Aliyah to Israel to study in Yeshivah. He is of a mixed Ashkenazi and Sefaradi background and speaks seven languages.

Wolf Mayer

Zev Wolf ben Ḥayyim Mayer (or Maier, 1778-1850) was a Jewish educator, maskil, poet and author. The following was adapted from his obituary; "The talents that were already evident in his boyhood were the reason why Wolf Mayer was destined for a scientific career. At the age of thirteen he was one of the most distinguished in Talmud study. In his youth he came to Prague, where Rabbi Ezekiel Landau was the last chief rabbi in Bohemia and enjoyed his instruction. Under Landau's guidance, Mayer made excellent progress, but since he belonged to the Progress Party and made no secret of his liberal way of thinking, he was repeatedly attacked by the Zealot Party. Subsequently, in order to obtain a marriage license, he applied for the position of an extraordinary teacher of the Hebrew language at the Prague secondary school, which he received. For forty years he held this teaching post at the secondary school at which Pereẓ (Peter) Beer and Simon Gunz were his colleagues. Mayer was also active as a writer and as a Hebrew poet he had an important reputation. He also published numerous poems and various articles in Hebrew journals. Mayer was a well-known and popular personality in Jewish circles in Prague at the time. Several years before his death he suffered a stroke, was deprived of the use of all his senses, and became completely paralyzed. However, he retained his mental vigor to the last moment. A new, serious misfortune befell him when, three years before his death, his only daughter, the nurse and guardian of his ailing body, died, and he was left in dreadful misery."

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Works of related interest:

"Shabbat at Beth Chai - lighting the candles" (credit: Alan Kotok, license: CC BY)

Gebet beim Eingange des Sabbath, vor dem Anzünden der Lichter Freitag Nachts | Prayer Before Lighting the Sabbath Lamp, a teḥinah by Meïr Letteris (1846)

Gebete einer Geschäftsfrau | Prayer of a Business Woman, a teḥinah by Wolf Mayer (1828)

Gebete einer Frau wenn ihr Kind zur Beschneidung getragen wirds (Wolf Mayer 1828) cropped

Gebete einer Frau wenn ihr Kind zur Beschneidung getragen wird | Prayer of a woman when her child is carried for circumcision, a teḥinah by Wolf Mayer (1828)

Beim Lichtzünden (Yehoshua Heshil Miro 1835) - cropped

Beim Lichtzünden | When kindling the lights (for Shabbat and Yontef), by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)

From Sefer Minhagim, Frankfurt am Main 5489/1729

ברכות לנרות חנוכה | Die Segenssprüche beim Anzünden der Ḥanukkah-Lichter (German trans. by Chajm Guski)

תְחִינָה פון דיא מִצְוה הַדְלָקַת הַנֵר | Prayer for the Mitsvah of Kindling the Shabbat Lights, by Sarah bat Tovim from the Tkhine of Three Gates (ca. early 18th c.)

Teḥinot Benot Yeshurun Ein Gebetbuch für gebildite israelitisch Frauenzimmer (Wolf Mayer 1828) - title page

📖 תְּחִנּוֹת בְּנוֹת יְשֻׁרוּן | Techinôs Benôs Jeschurun ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer, an anthology of teḥinot in German by Wolf Mayer (1828)

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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