תְּפִלַּת הַדֶּרֶךְ לְצֶוֶת הַצּוֹלְלוֹת | Traveler’s Prayer for a Submarine Crew, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (IDF, 1963)
Contributed by: Abe Katz (translation), Shlomo Goren, Tsva ha-Haganah l'Yisrael, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“Tefilat haDerekh l’Tsevet haTsolelot,” a prayer by Rabbi Shlomo Goren for missions of submariners in the service of the IDF was first published in his Siddur Tefilot l’Ḥayyal (p. 76 in the 1963 printing). . . .
תְּפִלָּה לִפְנֵי יְצִיאָה לַקְרָב | Prayer Before Setting Off to Battle, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (IDF, 1963)
Contributed by: Abe Katz (translation), Shlomo Goren, Tsva ha-Haganah l'Yisrael, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Rabbi Shlomo Goren’s “Tefilah Lifnei Yetsiah laQrav,” a prayer for IDF soldiers before embarking on a combat mission was first published in his Siddur Tefilot l’Ḥayyal (pp. 72-73 in the 1963 printing). . . .
תְּפִלַּת הַדֶּרֶךְ לְטַיָּס | Traveler’s Prayer of a Fighter Pilot, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (IDF, 1963)
Contributed by: Abe Katz (translation), Shlomo Goren, Tsva ha-Haganah l'Yisrael, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“Tefilat haDerekh l’Tayas,” a prayer for sorties by military aviators in the service of the IDF by Rabbi Shlomo Goren was first published in his Siddur Tefilot l’Ḥayyal. . . .
תְּפִלַּת הַדֶּרֶךְ לְצַנְחָן | Traveler’s Prayer of a Paratrooper, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (IDF, 1963)
Contributed by: Abe Katz (translation), Shlomo Goren, Tsva ha-Haganah l'Yisrael, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“Tefilat haDerekh l’Tsanḥan,” a prayer by Rabbi Shlomo Goren for missions of paratroopers in the service of the IDF was first published in his Siddur Tefilot l’Ḥayyal (p. 75 in the 1963 printing). . . .
📄 עשרה בטבת | Asarah b’Tevet and the Tragic Side of Ḥanukkah, by Rabbi Shem Tov Gaguine (1934)
Contributed by: Shem Tov Gaguine, Abe Katz (translation)
Why is the military victory of the Maccabees not referred to in the Mishna or Gemara but is mentioned only in later writings and in the prayer of Al Ha’Nissim? . . .
שריך לינקאלען | Memorial Prayer for Abraham Lincoln, by Isaac Goldstein haLevi (1865)
Contributed by: Abe Katz (translation), Isaac Goldstein, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Exalted are you Lincoln. Who is like you! You were highly respected among Kings and Princes. All that you accomplished you did with a humble spirit. You are singular and cannot be compared to anyone else. Who among the great are like Lincoln? Who can be praised like you? . . .
Prayer for the Government in honor of George Washington, First President of the United States of America by Ḳ.Ḳ. Beit Shalome (1789)
Contributed by: Abe Katz (translation), Ḳ.Ḳ. Beit Shalome, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The following prayer for the government was composed by Congregation Beth Shalome in Richmond, Virginia in 1789. Please note the acrostic portion of the prayer in which the initial letters of the succeeding lines form the name: Washington. . . .
After Shaḥarit: Abiding Advice for Daily Living, by Eliyahu Carmi (1767)
Contributed by: Abe Katz (translation)
In Avignon, France, in 1767, Eliyahu Karmi (Elijah Crémieux) compiled a siddur preserving the nusaḥ of the Comtat Venaissin titled the סדר התמיד (Seder HaTamid). Just after the section for תפלת שחרית (the morning prayers), Karmi provides the following advice for how to organize one’s workday. . . .
וִדּוּי בַּיָּמִים מֵחֲמִשִּׁים שָׁנָה וְאֵלֶךְ | Vidui for those fifty years old and over, by Rabbi Mosheh Halperin (1611)
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation), Abe Katz (translation), Mosheh Halperin
This vidui prayer for those privileged to live past the age of 50 is found in Rabbi Mosheh ben Zevulun Eliezer Halperin’s Zikhron Mosheh (Lublin: 1611), siman 13. . . .
להבין את התפלה | Rav Amram Gaon’s letter to Rav Yitzḥok b. Shimon of Sepharad, circa 9th century
Contributed by: Amram ben Rav Sheshna, Abe Katz (translation)
The opening letter of Rav Amram to a community in Spain from his 9th century order of prayer (Seder Rav Amram Gaon). . . .