Master of the Cosmos, merciful Father, have mercy on us, accept our plea. You have commanded your people Yisro’el to blow the shofar to confuse the Satan,^[1] Talmud Bavli, Rosh Hashanah 16b   so that they will not be able to accuse us. You have commanded your people Yisro’el to blow teqiah, shvorim, tru’ah. The first is tkiyeh. Teqiah is sounded smoothly and curved. Thus do we bow before you and pray, merciful Father, that the Satan may not accuse us. The next is shvorim, which means broken. Therefore we break our hearts, just as it is written in Tehilim: “Hashem does not reject a broken heart.”^[2] Psalms 51:19   And we accept the obligation to break the yetser hara (predatory inclination). The third is tru’ah, which means “cry and lament.” Therefore, have mercy upon us, confuse the Satan who accuses us, so that they will not be able to accuse us any more. And may a lamentation and an outcry – ḥas v’ḥolilah – not be decreed in our home. Do not take away our little children. Have mercy in judging us, for today you reveal our sentence.

Master of the Cosmos, if I am indeed guilty, let your attribute of mercy overpower your attribute of justice and forgive us our sins, for among your thirteen attributes, compassion and mercy are the first. Therefore, your attribute of mercy must be very great, especially now with the sounding of the shofar. For you have written in your holy Torah: “When Rosh Hashanah comes, you will blow the shofar as a sign for all the slaves in Erets Yisro’el to be free of their masters.”^[3] Leviticus 25:9-10   Merciful Father, if you consider us to be your children, have mercy upon us, like a father, upon your children. If, however, we have, through our bitter sins, acted in such a way as to be considered mere slaves, may your judgment set us free with the sound of the shofar. Blow away all of our sins with the blowing of the shofar. As we blow the shofar nine times,^[4] Mishnah, Rosh Hashanah 4:9   so may the merit of the four imahot (matriarchs) and the merit of the three avot (patriarchs) and the merit of Mosheh and Aharon help us during this time of judgment.

First, we beseech our mother Sarah that she pray for us at this hour of judgment, so that we may be judged innocent. Since Hashem, blessed be they, added the letter Hey from their name to hers,^[5] Genesis 17:15   so must she also have the attribute of mercy. Have mercy, our mother, on your children. Make a special plea that our children not be separated from us. You know full well how bitter it is when a child is taken away from its mother, as happened to you when your son Yitsḥaq was taken away from you^[6] Genesis 22   and you yearned for him. Today is the appropriate time for you to pray, when a shofar made from a ram’s horn is blown, so that the merit of Yitsḥaq, who allowed himself to be bound like a sheep, is remembered. Thereby the Satan will become confused and will not be able to accuse us. Therefore, now is the time for you to plead for us that the attribute of mercy will be roused on our behalf.

I also beseech our mother Rivqah to pray for her children and for our father and mother, that they should not – ḥas v’shalom – be separated from us. You know very well what it is like to yearn for one’s father and mother, for when Eliezer, the servant, took you away from your father and mother and brought you to your husband Yitsḥaq,^[7] Genesis 24   you, too, wept very much. Thus you know how painful it is to be without a father and a mother. Therefore, pray for our father and mother that they may have a year of life and a year of goodness, and that I, my husband, and my children may earn a decent living.

We also beseech our mother Raḥel to pray for us that we may be inscribed and sealed for a good year and that we may never know any sorrow. We know full well that you cannot bear to hear of any sorrow, for when your beloved son Yosef was taken away to Egypt,^[8] Genesis 37:28   the Yishmaelim caused him great anguish. He fell upon your grave and began to cry: “Mama! Have pity upon your child! How can you bear to see my anguish? You loved me so much, and now I am so unhappy, and no one has mercy upon me.”^[9] As noted by Louis Ginzberg in Legends of the Jews vol. 5, p.330-331 “Joseph”: Sefer haYashar, parshat Vayeshev, 82b-84a and 85b-86a. “The author [of Sefer haYashar] was perhaps acquainted with the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. Comp. vol. II, pp. 34-42 and 220-221.”   you could not bear to hear the anguish of your child and so you answered him: “My dear child, I hear your weeping and your bitter cry. I will always have mercy upon you and will pray for you and will hear your anguish.” Therefore, have mercy on our sorrow and anguish and trembling before the judgment, and pray that a good year may be inscribed for us so that we may never know sorrow. Amen.

We also beseech our mother Leah to plead for us. May you all pray for us now, for today is the first day of ten days of tshuvah (repentance/return) and this is our last chance. I know that I have failed to repent for a long time.

The following yehi rotson’s (“May it be your will”s) are said together with the blessings between each set of shofar blowings. The first time the shofar is blown:

May it be your will, God, my God, and God of my ancestors, that this blowing of the shofar which we have done today be made into a crown by the angel who is appointed to do so, and that the crown be brought up and set upon the head of my God.^[10] From the ḳedusha in the shabbat and yom tov liturgy   May you show us a positive sign and may you feel compassion towards us. Praised be you, merciful God.

The second time the shofar is blown:

May it be your will, God, my God and God of my ancestors, that this blowing of the shofar which we have done today be accepted by the angel who is appointed to do so as you have accepted it through Eliyahu and may you be compassionate towards us. Praised be you, merciful God.

The third time the shofar is blown:

May it be your will, God, my God and God of our ancestors, that the angels who go forth from the shofar and from the various blowings may arise before your Resplendent Throne and may they be our defenders so that we may be forgiven all our sins.