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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: “English vernacular prayer” (clear filter)

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

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

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

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:

2023-2025 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

Mi sheBerakh for the safety and safe return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, by Rabbi David Seidenberg

This mi sheberakh by Rabbi David Seidenberg, for the safety and safe return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia detained by the United States government and deported “in error” to captivity under dangerous and vulnerable conditions in El Salvador, was first shared on his Facebook page on 10 April 2025.

Categories:

Slavery & Captivity

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Donald Trump, English vernacular prayer, מי שברך mi sheberakh

Contributor(s):

David Seidenberg

A Shavuot Prayer for the Release of the 58 Hostages, by Rabbi Menachem Creditor

This prayer for the return of the hostages taken captive by HAMA”S amidst their depraved devastation on 7 October 2023 was offered by Rabbi Menachem Creditor, published to his Facebook page, and shared through the Open Siddur Project’s Facebook discussion group on erev Shavuot 5785 (1 June 2025).

Categories:

Shavuot, Slavery & Captivity

Tags:

2023-2025 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer

Contributor(s):

Menachem Creditor

A Prayer for Burying ‘Bring Them Home Now’ Dog Tags, by Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Other rituals will surely arise — songs, prayers, art, and silence — each guided by the wisdom and imagination of artists, rabbis, and ritual leaders who help us make meaning in the wake of sorrow and hope. Let us honor both the moment and the movement — the courage to create holiness even as we live toward wholeness.

Categories:

Slavery & Captivity

Tags:

2023-2025 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., burial service, English vernacular prayer, Genizah

Contributor(s):

Menachem Creditor

Prayer of Thanksgiving & Hope on the Occasion of the Release of the Remaining Living Hostages Held in Gaza, by Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis (Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations, 2025)

“The Chief Rabbi’s Prayer of Thanksgiving & Hope on the Occasion of the Release of the Remaining Living Hostages Held in Gaza” by the Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth was first shared via social media on erev Shabbat Bereshit (17 October 2025) by Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.

Categories:

Slavery & Captivity

Tags:

2023-2025 Israel–Hamas war, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., British Jewry, English vernacular prayer, thanksgiving

Contributor(s):

Ephraim Mirvis and Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=1106

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An image taken inside an immigration detention center under the Trump immigration policy

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The views expressed on this page and in these shared works represents the views of their creator(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Open Siddur Project's developers, its diverse community of volunteer contributors, or its institutional partners.
We strongly advise against printing sacred texts and art containing divine names as these copies must be regarded with reverence, complicating their casual treatment and disposal.
If you must dispose of a printed sacred text (one containing Divine Names), please locate the closest genizah (often established by a synagogue) and contact its custodians for further instructions. We also recommend using Morah Yehudis Fishman's Prayer for Adding a Work to the Genizah.

Support this work: The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-commercial, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture.

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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