תְּפִילַּת הַנּוֹטֵעַ | Prayer for a Virtual Tree Planting in Israel, by Rabbi Eliyahu Yosef She’ar Yashuv Cohen (2012)
Contributed by: Eliyahu Yosef She'ar Yashuv Cohen, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
This is the prayer for planting trees by the late chief rabbi of Haifa, Eliyahu Yosef She’ar Yashuv Cohen zt”l (1927-2016). . . .
מי שברך לחיילי צה״ל | Mi sheBerakh for the Welfare of Israel Defense Forces Soldiers, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (1956); amended by Dr. Alex Sinclair (2012)
Contributed by: Alex Sinclair (emendation), Shlomo Goren, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
The prayer for the welfare of IDF soldiers by Rabbi Shlomo Goren, with additional text as added by Dr. Alex Sinclair emphasizing our desire for soldiers to engage in righteous and ethical conduct in accord with the IDF code of conduct. . . .
על הניסים ליום העצמאות | Al haNissim for Yom ha-Atsma’ut, by Amos Ḥakham (2012)
Contributed by: Amos Ḥakham, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
An al hanissim formulation for Yom Ha-Atsma’ut by the scholar Amos Hakham. . . .
בִּרְכַּת הָאִילָנוֹת | The Blessing of Flowering Fruit Trees in the Spring Season in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres
Contributed by: Jacob Chatinover (translation), David Seidenberg, Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
When the spring (Aviv) season arrives, a blessing is traditionally said when one is in view of at least two flowering fruit trees. In the northern hemisphere, it can be said anytime through the end of the month of Nissan (though it can still be said in Iyar). For those who live in the southern hemisphere, the blessing can be said during the month of Tishrei. . . .
תפילה לשלום ירושלים | Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem, by Rabbi Eliyahu Yosef She’ar Yashuv Cohen
Contributed by: Eliyahu Yosef She'ar Yashuv Cohen, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
The “Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem” by the late chief rabbi of Ḥaifa, Eliyahu Yosef She’ar Yashuv Cohen zt”l (1927-2016), is often included in programs praying for peace in Jerusalem in periods of conflict. . . .
The path of the righteous man (הַדֶרֶךְ שֶׁל הַצָדִיק Ha-derekh shel ha-tsadiq) — from the film The Bodyguard (1976), adapted by Jules Winnfield in the film Pulp Fiction (1994)
Contributed by: Shmueli Gonzales (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation), Unknown
Tired of people who can’t tell their ḳiddish (blessings for the Sabbath) from their ḳaddish (prayer for the dead)? Well, it sets Samuel L. Jackson off too! But he found a way of making a bracha (blessing) and mourning the dead at the same time. Now I can’t vouch for the origins of his nusaḥ (custom) but it sounds very effective! Most people haven’t noticed, the only real part from the Bible is that last section, the first part is actually his own spiel: . . .
תפילה לשלום צוות אח״י אילת | Prayers for the Welfare of the Navy Personnel of the “INS Eilat,” by rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau & Arnold Resnicoff (1993)
Contributed by: Arnold E. Resnicoff, Yisrael Meir Lau, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
A prayer for the well-being of the Navy personnel assigned to the newly built Sa’ar 5 corvette, INS Eilat, in 1993. . . .
Pledge of Allegiance to the Family of Earth, by Bella Abzug & Mim Kelber (Women’s Foreign Policy Council, 1989)
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (translation), Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Mim Kelber, Bella Savitzky Abzug
The “Pledge of Allegiance to the Family of Earth” was offered by the Women’s Foreign Policy Council (co-chaired by Bella Abzug and Mim Kelber). The earliest publication of the pledge that we were able to located is as found in the article, “Earthlings Unite” by Nina Combs in Ms. Magazine, vol. 18:1&2 (July/August 1989), p. 19. . . .
“Just Walk Beside Me” (לֵךְ פָּשׁוּט לְצִדִּי | امشي بجانبي | נאָר גיין לעבן מיר), lines from an unknown author circulating in 1970; Jewish adaptation with translations in Aramaic, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Arabic
Contributed by: Moshe Tanenbaum, Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
Variations of the original three lines culminating with “…walk beside me…” first appear in high school yearbooks beginning in 1970. The earliest recorded mention we could find was in The Northern Light, the 1970 yearbook of North Attleboro High School, Massachusetts. In the Jewish world of the early to mid-1970s, a young Moshe Tanenbaum began transmitting the lines at Jewish summer camps. In 1979, as Uncle Moishy, Tanenbaum published a recording of the song under the title “v’Ohavta” (track A4 on The Adventures of Uncle Moishy and the Mitzvah Men, volume 2). . . .
אֶחָד | One, a song by Harry Nilsson (1967)
Contributed by: Harry Nilsson, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
A Hebrew translation of the lyrics to Harry Nilsson’s “One” (1967) as sung by Aimee Mann (1995) . . .
מי שברך לחיילי צה״ל | Mi sheBerakh for the Welfare of Israel Defense Forces Soldiers, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (1956)
Contributed by: Shlomo Goren, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation)
The mi sheberakh for the IDF composed by Rabbi Shlomo Goren in the context of the Suez Crisis and Israel-Egypt conflict of 1956. . . .
A Scholar’s Prayer for Intellectual Honesty, adapted from a prayer quoted by Dr. Leslie Weatherhead (1951)
Contributed by: Leslie Weatherhead, Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
A prayer for intellectual honesty before study. . . .
תפלה לדוד (נוסח איטלקי מנהג הרומית) | Tefilah l’David: Preghiere di Rito Italiano, a bilingual Hebrew-Italian prayerbook compiled by the chief Rabbi of Rome, David Prato (1949)
Contributed by: David Prato (translation), Aharon N. Varady (translation)
A bilingual Hebrew-Italian prayerbook compiled by the chief Rabbi of Rome according to the Nusaḥ Italḳi. . . .
תפילת המדינה | Prayer for the State [of Israel], by S.Y. Agnon (1948)
Contributed by: Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
In September 1948, while editing Rabbi Yitshak haLevi Hertzog’s new Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel, S.Y. Agnon (1888-1970) drafted this adaptation. . . .
Ohne dich | Without you, a prayer for Natalie Baeck by Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck (7 March 1937)
Contributed by: Leo Baeck, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation)
This is Rabbi Dr. Leo Beack’s prayer for his wife Natalie Baeck née Hamburger (1878-1937), dated 7 March 1937. Natalie had died two days prior on 5 March. . . .
Gebet im Judentum | Prayer in Judaism, by Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck (1935)
Contributed by: Leo Baeck, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation)
Rabbi Leo Baeck’s essay on prayer “Gebet im Judentum,” was published in the “Judentum und Gebet” issue of Bne Briss (September/October 1935), top of page 82. . . .
הַתִּקְוָה | Hatiḳvah (the Hope), by Naphtali Herz Imber (1878)
Contributed by: Hillel Meitin (translation), the Ben Yehuda Project (transcription), Naphtali Herz Imber, Aharon N. Varady (translation), Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The poem, Hatiḳvah, in its original composition by Naphtali Herz Imber, later chosen and adapted to become the national anthem of the State of Israel, with a full English translation, and the earliest, albeit abbreviated, Yiddish translation . . .
הָאִינְטֶרְנַצְיוֹנָל | the Internationale, by Eugène Pottier (1871); Hebrew translation by Avraham Shlonsky (1921)
Contributed by: Ron Kuzar (translation), Avraham Shlonsky (translation), Eugène Edine Pottier, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
The Chanson Internationale (‘International Song’) was originally written in 1871 by Eugène Pottier, a French public transportation worker, member of the International Workingmen’s Association (The First International), and activist of the Paris Commune. He wrote it to pay tribute to the commune violently destroyed that year. The song became the official anthem of The Second International, of the Comintem, and between 1921 and 1944 also of the Soviet Union. Most socialist and communist parties adopted it as their anthem during the last decades of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, adapting it in local languages (Russian, Yiddish, etc.) to their particular ideological framework. The anthem was first translated into Hebrew by Avraham Shlonsky in 1921. . . .
Am Zerstörungstage Jerusalems, den 9. des Monats Aw (תשעת באב) | [Prayer] on the day of Jerusalem’s destruction: the 9th of Av, by Fanny Neuda (1855)
Contributed by: Fanny Schmiedl-Neuda, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
A supplicatory prayer for mourning on Tish’a b’Av. . . .
Während einer Seefahrt | [Prayer] during an ocean voyage, by Fanny Neuda (1855)
Contributed by: Fanny Schmiedl-Neuda, Aharon N. Varady (translation)
A prayer for travel offered during an ocean voyage. . . .