May the words we are with Your help sharing today,
Speak deeply –- with Your help — to our nation and the world.
Help us all to know that the sharing of our breath with all of life
Is the very proof, the very truth, that we are One.

Categories:

Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System, Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit), 🌐 Earth Day (22 April)

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., eco-conscious, English vernacular prayer, global climate change, global warming, interbreathing, interconnectedness, Memorial prayers

Contributor(s):

Arthur Waskow and the Shalom Center

עַל הַנִּסִּים בִּימֵי הוֹדָיָה לְאֻמִּיִּים | Al haNissim prayer on Civic Days of Patriotic Gratitude, by Aharon Varady

Opportunities to express gratitude on civic days of patriotic thanksgiving demand acknowledgement of an almost unfathomably deep history of trauma — not only the suffering and striving of my immigrant ancestors, but the sacrifice of all those who endured suffering dealt by their struggle to survive, and often failure to survive, the oppressions dealt by colonization, conquest, hegemony, natural disaster. Only the Earth (from which we, earthlings were born, Bnei Adam from Adamah) has witnessed the constancy of the violent deprivations we inflict upon each other. The privilege I’ve inherited from these sacrifices has come at a cost, and it must be honestly acknowledged, especially on civic days of thanksgiving, independence, and freedom. I insert this prayer after Al Hanissim in the Amidah and in the Birkat Hamazon on national days of independence and thanksgiving.

Categories:

Conflicts over Sovereignty and Dispossession, Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System, 🇮🇱 Yom ha-Atsma'ut (5 Iyyar), 🇺🇸 Flag Day (June 14), 🇺🇸 Independence Day (July 4th), 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November)

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., acquisition, על הנסים al hanissim, colonization, conquest, eco-conscious, Gratitude, hegemony, immigration, Indigenous Peoples, מודים Modim, Needing Translation (into Hebrew), נודה לך Nodeh L'kha, primordial scream, refugees, sanctuary, settlement, shomrah ul'ovdah, stewardship, subjugation

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady

הָרַחֲמָן עַל שְׁנַת הַשְׁמִיטָה | A Haraḥaman for the Shmitah Year in the Birkat haMazon, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid·org)

This Haraḥaman (prayer to the merciful or compassionate One) for the Shmitah or sabbatical year can be added to Birkat Hamazon (blessing after meals) during the whole Shmitah year, in order to remember and open our hearts to the sanctity of the land. Say it right before the Haraḥaman for Shabbat, since Shmitah is the grand shabbat, and right after the paragraph beginning with Bamarom (a/k/a, Mimarom).

Categories:

Blessings After Eating, Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System, the Shmitah Year (Earth's Shabbat)

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., eco-conscious, ecoḥasid, HaRaḥaman

Contributor(s):

David Seidenberg and Neohasid·org

Oración por nuestra tierra | תְּפִילָת הָאָרֶץ | A Prayer for Our Earth, an ecumenical prayer by Pope Francis, translated and adapted by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid·org)

An ecumenical prayer by Pope Francis from his encyclical, Laudato Si (praise be to you) from May 24th, 2015. Here’s my draft of a Hebrew translation of Pope Francis’ prayer for our earth. It turns out no one had translated it yet. The translation includes sparks from the High Holiday liturgy. I thought we should have it available for Rosh Hashanah, even though I’m sure the translation could use more work and more feedback.

Categories:

Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System, 🌐 Earth Day (22 April)

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Catholic and Apostolic Church, eco-conscious, ecoḥasid, ecumenical prayers, Hebrew translation, North America, Northampton, Vatican City

Contributor(s):

David Seidenberg (translation), Neohasid·org, Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Jorge Mario Bergoglio

The Earth is Our Temple, a d’var tefilah on making blessings over foods by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid·org)

The Talmud (Brakhot 35a-b) teaches that eating food without saying a brakhah (a blessing) beforehand is like stealing. A lot of people know that teaching, and it’s pretty deep. But here’s an even deeper part: the Talmud doesn’t call it “stealing”, but מעילה ׁ(“me’ilah“), which means taking from sacred property that belongs to the Temple. So that means that everything in the world is sacred and this Creation is like a HOLY TEMPLE.

Categories:

Fasting, Blessings Before Eating, Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System, Tishah b'Av Readings

Tags:

blessings, ברכות brakhot, eco-conscious, ecoḥasid

Contributor(s):

David Seidenberg, Neohasid·org and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

תפילה לעולם החי | Prayer for the Living Earth, by Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

I offer here a prayer for the Earth, which you may wish to use in your personal prayer practice or as part of a community to which you belong. It could be included as one of the prayers after reading the Torah.

Categories:

Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System, 🌐 Earth Day (22 April)

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., eco-conscious, North America, תחינות teḥinot

Contributor(s):

Katy Z. Allen

תְּפִלָּה לְמַעַן תֵּבֵל וּמְלוֹאָהּ | Prayer for the Preservation of the Environment, by Richard Shavei-Tzion

Richard Shavei-Tzion writes, “At this time when mankind is wreaking havoc on our Eco-System, we pray to God to preserve the treasure that is the earth and to grant us the wisdom to make pro-active efforts to protect it for the sake of our future generations and all which dwell upon it.”

Categories:

Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System, 🌐 Earth Day (22 April)

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., eco-conscious, second chances

Contributor(s):

Richard Shavei-Tzion

Gebet für die Anbringung von Solarkollektoren | Prayer for the Installation of Solar Panels, by Lior Bar-Ami

This prayer by Lior bar-Ami for the installation of solar energy generating panels was first offered in German and English in 2020.

Categories:

Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., German vernacular prayer, solar

Contributor(s):

Lior Bar-Ami

כַּוָּנָה וּבְרָכָה עַל רְאִיַּת נְחִיל רֶמֶשׂ גָּדוֹל עַד־מְאוֹד | Kavvanah and Blessing for Observing a Massive Swarm of Creeping Things, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

There are blessings for beautiful vistas, and there are blessings for powerful weather. But is there a blessing for giant swarms of bugs? Certainly! There just wasn’t a kavvanah for it… yet. Inspired by the appearance of Brood X in May 2021, this is a meditation and blessing for the unique experience of seeing an enormous number of non-dangerous insects. Cicadas are NOT a plague — they don’t eat crops or spread disease, but they do help revitalize the soil and keep forest ecosystems healthy. As a natural part of the universal order, we should work to see the divinity and goodness in them, even if we might normally think of them as gross.

Categories:

the Dry Season (Spring & Summer), Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Brood X, crawling things, insects, Periodical cicadas

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

תחינה לחזק ידינו במצוות ”כיבוד אב ואם“ ביחס לאמנו, האדמה | A prayer for strengthening our commitment to the commandment of “Honoring our Parents” in relation to Mother Earth, by Rabbi Gila Caine

This teḥinah calls us to remember that we are all personally, as well as communally, responsible for our relationship with the Earth. It also calls us to action, and to recall that even small actions realigning ourselves with the work of the Earth, can be seen as a mitsvah.

Categories:

Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System, 🌐 Earth Day (22 April), Ecotastrophes, 🇺🇸 Mother's Day (2nd Sunday of May)

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., earth, eco-conscious, eco-feminism, כיבוד אב ואם kibud av va-em, מי שברך mi sheberakh, prayers for mothers, טבע Teva

Contributor(s):

Gila Caine

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "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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