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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.

Resources filtered by TAG: “2023-2024 Israel–Hamas war” (clear filter)

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

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.). . . .

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

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

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, the 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

קֹהֶלֶת לֹא צָדַק | Qohelet Lo Tsadaq (“Ḳohelet Wasn’t Right”) — a prayer 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): Oded Mazor and Ayelet Cohen (translation)

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 piyyuṭim, 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

Supplemental stanza to Maoz Tsur for Ḥanukkah 2024, by Eitan Meshullam Chai

An additional stanza to the popular Ḥanukkah song, Maoz Tsur, for the second Ḥanukkah after the massacres on 7 October 2023. . . .

Categories: Ḥanukkah, 🇮🇱 Medinat Yisra'el (the State of Israel), Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 2023-2024 Israel–Hamas war, מעוז צור Maoz Tsur, Needing Vocalization

Contributor(s): Eitan Meshullam Chai Runyan

תְּפִלָּה לְשִׁחְרוּר הַחֲטוּפִים | Prayer for the Release of the Hostages, by Rabbi Noa Mazor

This prayer for the safe return of the captives taken by HAMA”S and its allies on 7 October 2023 was offered by Rabbi Noa Mazor in the period anticipating the release of the surviving captives in January 2025 as part of a larger ceasefire agreement between the State of Israel and HAMA”S in Gaza. It was first published on her Facebook page on 13 January 2025. . . .

Categories: Slavery & Captivity

Tags: 2023-2024 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., מי שברך mi sheberakh, Needing Translation (into Arabic), Three-phase Israel–Hamas war ceasefire agreement

Contributor(s): Noa Mazor and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

תְּפִלָּה לְהֲשָׁבַת אַחֵינוּ וְאַחְיוֹתֵינוּ אֲשֶׁר בַּשֶּׁבִי | Prayer for the Return of Our Brothers and Sisters from Captivity (Masorti Movement in Israel & Knesset haRabanim b’Yisrael, January 2025)

This prayer for the safe release of the hostages taken by HAMA”S and its allies on 7 October 2023 was shared by the Masorti Movement in Israel and the Knesset haRabanim b’Yisrael on 17 January 2025 in anticipation of the release of the remaining living hostages in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. The prayer was first published via the Masorti Movement website, here. . . .

Categories: Slavery & Captivity

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

Contributor(s): Shoshana Michael Zucker (translation), Aharon N. Varady (transcription), the Masorti Movement in Israel and Knesset haRabanim b'Yisrael

Blessings and prayer for healing after the return of the first hostages in the Three-Phase Ceasefire Agreement — by Rabbi Nathalie Lastreger (Masorti Family Minyan, Kfar Vradim)

This prayer was composed with gratitude by Rabbi Nathalie Lastreger, the Masorti minyan in Kfar Vradim. The prayer was first published to Rabbi Nathalie Lastreger’s Facebook page on 19 January 2025. The English translation was offered in a Facebook post by Susan Rand-Lakritz to accompany a video of the prayer being offered. . . .

Categories: Slavery & Captivity

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

Contributor(s): Nathalie Lastreger and the Masorti Movement in Israel

תפילה עם שובם של חללי המלחמה | Prayer for the Return of Slain Hostages (Masorti Movement in Israel, 2025)

This prayer by the Masorti Movement in Israel and the Knesset HaRabanim b’Yisrael was first shared on 20 February 2025 in the final days of the first phase of the Three-phase Israel-Hamas war ceasefire, via the Masorti Movement website. . . .

Categories: Mourning, Slavery & Captivity

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

Contributor(s): the Masorti Movement in Israel and Knesset haRabanim b'Yisrael

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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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