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Military Personnel & Veterans

This is an archive of prayers composed for the well-being and safety of active and veteran military personnel.

If you have composed a prayer for military personnel, please share it here.

Resources filtered by CATEGORY: “War” (clear filter)

Sorted Chronologically (old to new). Sort most recent first?

Prayer of the Confederate States Soldiers, by Rabbi Max Michelbacher (ca. 1861)

This “Prayer of the C.S. Soldiers” was written by Max Michelbacher of Congregation Beth Ahabah, Richmond, Virginia, and distributed to Jewish soldiers in the Confederate armed forces during the Slaveholders’ Rebellion (1861-1865). While this prayer is undated, we have tentatively given the date ca. 1861 given the proximity of Richmond, Virginia to the First Battle of Bull Run. . . .

Categories: War, 🇺🇸 United States of America, Military Personnel & Veterans

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Slaveholders' Rebellion (1861-1865), Confederate States of America, English vernacular prayer, Problematic prayers

Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Maximilian Joseph Michelbacher

Prayer [of Military Personnel] for Home (National Jewish Welfare Board 1941)

This “Prayer for Home” can be found in the Abridged Prayer Book for the Jews in the Armed Forces of the United States (Jewish Welfare Board 1941), p. 119. . . .

Categories: War, Military Personnel & Veterans

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, World War Ⅱ

Contributor(s): David de Sola Pool, Eugene Kohn, Solomon B. Freehof, the National Jewish Welfare Board and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer [for Military Personnel] in Temptation (National Jewish Welfare Board 1941)

This “Prayer in Temptation” can be found in the Abridged Prayer Book for the Jews in the Armed Forces of the United States (Jewish Welfare Board 1941), p. 120. As far as we know, this prayer is unique to this prayerbook, although the text recalls the waking prayer “Elohai Neshama.” . . .

Categories: War, Military Personnel & Veterans

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., אלהי נשמה Elohai neshamah, English vernacular prayer, sexual conduct, World War Ⅱ, יצר הרע yetser hara

Contributor(s): David de Sola Pool, Eugene Kohn, Solomon B. Freehof, the National Jewish Welfare Board and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer for Armed Forces in Combat, by Rabbi Dr. Philip S. Bernstein (1951)

This prayer by Rabbi Philip S. Bernstein, then President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, was included in the anthology, The Prayer Book of the Armed Forces (ed. Daniel A. Poling, 1951), p. 11. . . .

Categories: War, Military Personnel & Veterans

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., Cold War (1947–1953), English vernacular prayer, United States in the Korean War

Contributor(s): Philip S. Bernstein and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer for Armed Forces in Combat, by Rabbi Dr. Edgar Magnin (1951)

This prayer by Rabbi Dr. Edgar Magnin, then serving as rabbi of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, was included in the anthology, The Prayer Book of the Armed Forces (ed. Daniel A. Poling, 1951), p. 51. . . .

Categories: War, Military Personnel & Veterans

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., Cold War (1947–1953), English vernacular prayer, United States in the Korean War

Contributor(s): Edgar Magnin and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer for Armed Forces in Combat, by Rabbi Dr. David de Sola Pool (1951)

This prayer by Rabbi Dr. David de Sola Pool was included in the anthology, The Prayer Book of the Armed Forces (ed. Daniel A. Poling, 1951), pp. 72-73. . . .

Categories: War, Military Personnel & Veterans

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., Cold War (1947–1953), English vernacular prayer, paraliturgical elohai neshamah, United States in the Korean War

Contributor(s): David de Sola Pool and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

תְּפִלָּה לִפְנֵי יְצִיאָה לַקְרָב | Prayer Before Setting Off to Battle, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (IDF, 1963)

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). . . .

Categories: War, Military Personnel & Veterans

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., צה״ל IDF, מדינת ישראל Medinat Yisrael

Contributor(s): Abe Katz (translation), Shlomo Goren, Tsva ha-Haganah l'Yisrael and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

לזכרם של ההרוגים במלחמה באדמות אוקראינה | Молитва в пам’ять про загиблих у війні на землях України | Yizkor for those killed in the war in Ukraine, by Rabbi Miriam Klimova (2022)

A prayer for a Yizkor service on Yom Kippur during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. . . .

Categories: Conflicts over Sovereignty and Dispossession, Mourning, War, 🇺🇦 Ukraine, Military Personnel & Veterans

Tags: 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Ukrainian translation, יזכור yizkor

Contributor(s): Miriam Klimova and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

תפילה לחיילי צהל ולשבויים חרבות ברזל | Prayers for the welfare of the IDF soldiers and the captives of the Ḥarvot Barzel War, by Ze’ev Kainan (16 October 2023)

This prayer for the welfare of IDF soldiers and the captives of HAMA”S in Gaza was written by Ze’ev Kainan on 16 October 2023 in the days following the terrible events of 7 October 2023. . . .

Categories: Slavery & Captivity, War, Military Personnel & Veterans

Tags: 2023-2024 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M.

Contributor(s): Ze'ev Kainan

תוספת לסליחות לזיכרון המוסרים נפשם בחרבות ברזל | Supplement to the Seliḥot following “Aseh l’Maan Shemekha” in remembrance of the fallen in the Ḥarvot Barzel War, by Dr. Yael Levine

A plea for retributive justice at the end of aseh l’maan shemekha (“Act for the Sake of Your Name”) in the Seliḥot of Elul and the Days of Awe, in response to the suffering endured on and after 7 October 2023. . . .

Categories: Mourning, 🇮🇱 Medinat Yisra'el (the State of Israel), War, Military Personnel & Veterans

Tags: 2023-2024 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., צה״ל IDF, retributive justice, סליחות səliḥot

Contributor(s): Yael Levine

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=1257

Associated Image:

IDF forces prepare themselves before entering Gaza, 2014 (IDF)

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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

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