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Slavery & Captivity

This is an archive of prayers composed for, or relevant to, forced labor and captivity endured under a variety of conditions spanning chattel slavery, forced marriages and the plight of agunot, unjust imprisonment and hazardous living conditions of prisoners, and the welfare of hostages taken captive by terrorists and unlawful combatants in contravention of the laws of war.

Click here to contribute a prayer you have written, in concern for those enduring slavery and captivity.

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

תהלים קמ״ב | Psalms 142, a maskil with translations in English and Arabic

Psalms 142, traditionally attributed to King David, with translations in English and Arabic. . . .

Categories: Tehilim Book 5 (Psalms 107–150), Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., abduction, Arabic translation, Maskil, Psalms 142, געולה ge'ulah (redemption)

Contributor(s): Ephraim Mirvis, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth and David ben Yishai (traditional attribution)

📄 Scaling the Walls of the Labyrinth: Psalms 67 and Ana b’Khoaḥ

Psalms 67 is a priestly blessing for all the peoples of the earth to be sustained by the earth’s harvest (yevulah), and it is a petition that all humanity recognize the divine nature (Elohim) illuminating the world. Composed of seven verses, the psalm is often visually depicted as a seven branched menorah. There are 49 words in the entire psalm, and in the Nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l there is one word for each day of the Sefirat haOmer. Similarly, the fifth verse has 49 letters and each letter can be used as a focal point for meditating on the meaning of the day in its week in the journey to Shavuot, the festival of weeks (the culmination of the barley harvest), and the festival of oaths (shevuot) in celebration of receiving the Torah. Many of the themes of Psalms 67 are repeated in the prayer Ana b’Koaḥ, which also has 49 words, and which are also used to focus on the meaning of each day on the cyclical and labyrinthine journey towards Shavuot. . . .

Categories: Pesaḥ, Tehilim Book 2 (Psalms 42–72), Sefirat ha-Omer, Shavuot, Shabbat, Sukkot, Ḥanukkah, Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 42 letter divine name, a red ribbon, acrostic, אנא בכח Ana b'Khoaḥ, anxiety, barley, captives, cyclical, Divine name acrostic, first fruits, labyrinth, Psalms 67, Raḥav, shalmah, walled cities, wheat

Contributor(s): Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady

אַחֵֽינוּ | Aḥeinu (Our siblings)

“Aḥeinu” is the final prayer in a set of supplications recited on Mondays and Thursdays as the Torah scroll is being prepared to be returned to the Aron. The prayer is first found with variations in wording in the surviving manuscripts of the Seder Rav Amram Gaon (ca. 9th c.). . . .

Categories: Congregation & Community, After the Aliyot, Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 2023-2024 Israel–Hamas war, captives, Distress, Geonic prayers

Contributor(s): Anonymous (translation), Unknown Author(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

אָנָּא בְּכֹחַ | Ana b’Khoaḥ, with Spanish translation by Rabbi Isaac ben Shem Tov Cavallero (1552)

An early printing of the 42 divine name letter acrostic piyyut, Ana b’Khoaḥ. . . .

Categories: Dying, Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 15th century C.E., 42 letter divine name, 54th century A.M., acrostic, אנא בכח Ana b'Khoaḥ, Divine name acrostic, Spanish Translation

Contributor(s): Isaac ben Shem Tov Cavallero and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

אָנָּא בְּכֹחַ | Ana b’Khoaḥ, a 42 letter name piyyut with a singing translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

The most well-known 42 letter divine name acrostic piyyut. . . .

Categories: Dying, Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 42 letter divine name, acrostic, אנא בכח Ana b'Khoaḥ, devotional interpretation, Divine name acrostic, interpretive translation, Jewish Renewal, Philadelphia, פיוטים piyyutim, singing translation

Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation) and Unknown Author(s)

תפילה לעגונות | Prayer for the Liberation of Agunot, by Shelley Frier List (2005)

Shelley Frier List’s prayer for agunot was originally printed in JOFA JOURNAL, Summer 2005 (5:4), p.5, wherein was added a Hebrew adaptation made by the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA). . . .

Categories: 🌐 Agunah Day (Adar 13), Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., agunot, divorce, English vernacular prayer, מסרבות גט mesorvot get, North America, תחינות teḥinot

Contributor(s): Shelley Frier List

מִי שֶׁבֵּרַךְ לְהַתָּרַת עֲגוּנוֹת וּמְסֹרְבוֹת גֵּט | Mi she’Berakh for the Release of Agunot and Women Denied a Writ of Divorce, by Dr. Yael Levine (2006)

“Mi she-Berakh Prayer for Agunot and Women who are Denied a Writ of Divorce (mesorvot get)” was written by Dr. Yael Levine in the summer of 2006 and first published in the journal De’ot in advance of Purim 2007. The Hebrew version of the prayer was subsequently reprinted in the monumental Sefer ha-Shabbat, edited by Yonadav Kaploun and issued by Yediot Aharonot in 2011 (p. 260). The English translation was first published in The Jerusalem Post 16 March 2016 (Comment & Features), p. 13. The Hebrew annotation of the sources appeared already in the initial article in De’ot, and was subsequently published, inter alia, in an article published on kipa.co.il on 13 March 2019. . . .

Categories: After the Aliyot, 🌐 Agunah Day (Adar 13), Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., agunot, divorce, מסרבות גט mesorvot get, מי שברך mi sheberakh

Contributor(s): Yael Levine

מִי שֶׁבֵּרַךְ | Mi sheBerakh for Victims of Slavery, by Rabbi Joshua Boettiger (2009)

We are grateful to Rabbi Joshua Boettinger and Rabbis for Human Rights–North America (RHR-NA) for sharing the following petitionary prayer, A Misheberakh for Victims of Slavery. Originally published by RHR-NA on their website in 2009, the prayer attends to the desperate need to eradicate all forms of slavery that persist today, especially in advance of the holiday celebrating our Z’man Cheruteinu, the season of our freedom, every Spring, every Pesaḥ. . . .

Categories: After the Aliyot, Pesaḥ Yamei Ḥag, Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., human trafficking, מי שברך mi sheberakh, Needing Vocalization, North America, slavery

Contributor(s): Joshua Boettiger and T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

מִי שֶׁבֵּרַךְ לְפִדְיוֹן שְׁבוּיִם | Mi sheBerakh for the redemption of those in captivity (or whose whereabouts are unknown)

This mi sheberakh was published by the Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain and the Commonwealth in June 2014, as “Prayer Issued for Missing Israeli Teenagers,” writing: “The prayer…currently being recited across Israel for missing teenagers Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach, was issued today to Rabbanim of the United Hebrew Congregations by Chief Rabbi Mirvis.” Recitation of this psalm and mi sheberakh seem appropriate to me in the case of unconscionable, immoral, and unjust state policies that separate children from their caregivers. To help fulfill the mitsvah of ransoming captives, please contribute to funds paying out bail bonds and demonstrate your opposition to these policies. . . .

Categories: After the Aliyot, Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., abduction, Arabic translation, מי שברך mi sheberakh, Needing Translation (into Arabic), געולה ge'ulah (redemption)

Contributor(s): Ephraim Mirvis, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth and Unknown Author(s)

Prayer for the Abducted Nigerian Schoolgirls, by Rabbi Hillel Lavery-Yisraëli (2014)

God of all people’s souls: Hasten, we pray, to rescue the hundreds of Nigerian young girls, innocent students who, in horrific cruelty, were abducted from their houses and schools by inhumane criminals intending to sell them into slavery and torture them. . . .

Categories: Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., abduction, Arabic translation, Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping, children, Dapchi schoolgirls kidnapping, Igbo translation, kidnapping, Nigeria, Psalms 142, students, Swedish translation, women

Contributor(s): R' Hillel Ḥayyim Lavery-Yisraëli

תפילה להצלתם של הבחורים החטופים | Prayer for the rescue of the kidnapped youths, by Rabbi Shlomo Mosheh Amar (16 June 2014)

This prayer for the safe return of captives was offered by the (former) Sephardi chief rabbi of Jerusalem, Shlomo Moshe Amar, as published on the website, Srugim on 16 June 2014, amidst the crisis that summer sparked by the abduction and murder of three Yeshivah boys by HAMAS operatives in the West Bank. . . .

Categories: Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Needing Vocalization

Contributor(s): Shlomo Mosheh Amar and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Newly Huddled Tender Masses: A Prayer for Children, by Rabbi Menachem Creditor (2018)

A plea to not become numb in the face of overwhelming cruelty. . . .

Categories: Slavery & Captivity, 🇺🇸 United States of America

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Donald Trump, English vernacular prayer, Immigration policy of Donald Trump, תחינות teḥinot, Trump administration family separation policy, United States Immigration Policy

Contributor(s): Menachem Creditor

מי שברך לעגונות | Mi sheBerakh to Support Agunot and Call Get Refusers to Account, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

This prayer, following the structure of the Mi Sheberakh supplications during the Torah service, is meant to call get refusers to account, by name, and make a statement that their behavior is evil and will not be tolerated. . . .

Categories: After the Aliyot, 🌐 Agunah Day (Adar 13), Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., agunot, divorce, מסרבות גט mesorvot get, מי שברך mi sheberakh, שבת זכור Shabbat Zakhor

Contributor(s): Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

תפילה לעגונות ומסורבות הגט | Prayer for Agunot refused a Get, by Rabbi Alona Lisitsa

A prayer for women caught up in the torment of ‘get’ refusal from a husband who refuses to grant them the document required for a religious divorce. . . .

Categories: 🌐 Agunah Day (Adar 13), Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., agunot, Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, מסרבות גט mesorvot get, Needing Translation (into English)

Contributor(s): Alona Lisitsa

תְּפִלָּה לְפִדְיוֹן שְׁבוּיִם | Prayer for the Redemption of Israelis Taken Captive [during the war begun on Shemini Atseret 5784], by Rabbi Ofer Sabath Beit Halachmi (2023)

This prayer for the liberation of abducted Israeli citizens and military personnel was offered by Rabbi Ofer Sabath Beit Halachmi in response to the war initiated by Hamas from Gaza on Shemini Atseret 5784. The English translation was prepared by Rabbi Dr. Rachel Sabath Beit Halachmi. . . .

Categories: Conflicts over Sovereignty and Dispossession, Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 2023-2024 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., captives, Needing Translation (into Arabic)

Contributor(s): Rabbi Ofer Sabath Beit-Halachmi and Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi, Ph.D.

תפילה לשלומם ולחזרתם של הנעדרים והשבויים בין אחינו ואחיותינו | Prayer for the Welfare and the Return of Israel’s Captured and Missing from Among our Sisters and Brothers (Masorti Movement in Israel 2023)

This prayer for the captives was prepared for the Masorti Movement in Israel by the Knesset haRabanim b’Yisrael and disseminated in Hebrew, English, French, and Spanish. These were published online for the Masorti Solidarity Shabbat (27-28 October 2023). . . .

Categories: Slavery & Captivity

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

Contributor(s): Ehud Bandel, Masorti Movement in Israel and Knesset haRabanim b'Yisrael

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

Upon My Heart, a prayer-poem by Rabbi Menachem Creditor

“Upon My Heart” was offered by Rabbi Menachem Creditor and shared via the Open Siddur Project discussion group on 20 November 2023. The added hashtag “#bringthemhomenow” helps to contextualize the prayer-poem, as written to express the yearning for the return of the captives taken hostage during the 7 October massacres by HAMA”S and its allies. . . .

Categories: Slavery & Captivity, Terror

Tags: 2023-2024 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., captives, English vernacular prayer, North American Jewry, Prayers as poems

Contributor(s): Menachem Creditor

קהלת לא צדק | Kohelet Wasn’t Right, by Rabbi Oded Mazor (24 November 2023)

This prayer was written on Friday, November 24th 2023, 11th of Kislev 5784, early afternoon (Israel Time), when we were all waiting to witness the first group of hostages come back home from captivity in the hands of Hamas. Having close friends who have relatives kidnapped who do not fit into the criteria of being released now, I was looking for words to pray at this moment. Referring to the words of Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai z”l, and his “remarks” on Kohelet’s “For everything there is a season”, I tried to describe how all feelings are mixed in these awful hours, and in the days since. I am thankful to Rabbi Ayelet Cohen for her translation of this prayer into English. –Rabbi Oded Mazor . . .

Categories: Slavery & Captivity

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

Contributor(s): Ayelet Cohen and Oded Mazor

תְּפִלָּה לַהֲשָׁבַת הַחֲטוּפִים | Prayer for the Return of the Captives, by Rabbi David Lau (Office of the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel 2024)

This prayer for the well-being of the captives taken hostage by ḤAMA”S and its allies on 7 October 2023 was written by the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the State of Israel, David Lau, and shared by his office in the month preceding Pesaḥ 2024. The prayer is intended to be read at the Passover seder in the Maggid section before והיא שעמדה (v’hi she’amda). . . .

Categories: Magid, Slavery & Captivity

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

Contributor(s): David Lau and Shimshon Nadel (translation)

זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה לְךָ חָמָאס | Remember That Which Hamas Did, an adaptation on the liturgical reminder to obliterate Amaleq by Aryeh Barukh (2024)

A riff on the mitsvah to obliterate Amaleq in Parashat Zakhor, adapted to the horrors committed by HAMA”S and its allies on 7 October 2023. . . .

Categories: Pogroms & Genocide, Slavery & Captivity, Terror

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

Contributor(s): Aryeh Baruch

תפילה לשלום | صلاه لاجل السلام | A prayer for Peace (רוח גלילית Spirit of Galilee, 29 April 2024)

This prayer for peace was written on 29 April 2024, at the end of Passover, by Rabbi Shira Levine as part of an ecumenical assembly, the “Spirit of Galilee.” The Arabic translation was made by Malek Hujerat. . . .

Categories: Slavery & Captivity, War

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

Contributor(s): Noa Mazor and Shira Levine

אֵיכָה יָשְׁבָה בָּדָד | Eikhah Yashvah Badad (O How She Sat Alone), a qinah by Nurit Hirschfeld-Skupinsky

The author of this qinah is a survivor of the slaughter in Kibbutz Nahal Oz. The qinah was first published in an article by Tamar Biala appearing in The Times of Israel, “O how she sat alone: New laments for a beloved land” on 4 August 2024, appended with the note: “These Lamentations will appear in Dirshuni: Contemporary Women’s Midrash Vol. 2.” . . .

Categories: Tishah b'Av, Pogroms & Genocide, Slavery & Captivity, Terror

Tags: 2023-2024 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Prayers after acts of terrible violence, קינות Ḳinōt

Contributor(s): Yehudah Mirsky (translation) and Nurit Hirschfeld-Skupinsky

קִינָה לְאֶרֶץ אֲהוּבָה | Qinah l’Erets Ahuvah (Lamentation for a Beloved Land), by Liora Eilon

The author of this qinah is a survivor of the slaughter in Kibbutz Kfar Azza. The qinah was first published in an article by Tamar Biala appearing in The Times of Israel, “O how she sat alone: New laments for a beloved land” on 4 August 2024, appended with the note: “These Lamentations will appear in Dirshuni: Contemporary Women’s Midrash Vol. 2.” . . .

Categories: Tishah b'Av, Pogroms & Genocide, Slavery & Captivity, Terror

Tags: 2023-2024 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Prayers after acts of terrible violence, קינות Ḳinōt

Contributor(s): Yehudah Mirsky (translation) and Liora Eilon

אֵלֶּה אֶזְכְּרָה | These I Remember, a seliḥah before the anniversary of October 7th by Ze’ev Kainan

A selïhah piyyut for the massacres of 7 October prepared for Seliḥot services in advance of the first anniversary of 7 October. . . .

Categories: Pogroms & Genocide, Slavery & Captivity, Terror

Tags: 2023-2024 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., פיוטים piyyutim, rhyming translation, סליחות səliḥot

Contributor(s): Ze'ev Kainan

לְמַעַן יֵחָלְצוּן יְדִידֶיךָ הושִׁיעָה יְמִינְךָ וַעֲנֵנוּ | So That Your People May Be Rescued, Deliver Through Your Right Hand, and Answer Us — by Dr. Yael Levine (2024)

“So That Your People May Be Rescued, Deliver Through Your Right Hand, and Answer Us” by Yael Levine was first published in Az Nashir – We Will Sing Again: Women’s Prayers for Our Time of Need, compiled & edited by Shira Lankin Sheps, Rachel Sharansky Danziger, and Anne Gordon (The Shvili Center: Jerusalem 2024). . . .

Categories: Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 2023-2024 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., עננו anenu, in the merit of our ancestors

Contributor(s): Yael Levine

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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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