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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 LANGUAGE: “English”” (clear filter)

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

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. . . .

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

Contributor(s):

Aryeh Baruch

صلاه لاجل السلام | תפילה לשלום | 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. . . .

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Slavery & Captivity, War

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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.” . . .

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

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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

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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. . . .

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Pogroms & Genocide, Slavery & Captivity, Terror

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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). . . .

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Slavery & Captivity

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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. . . .

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

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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. . . .

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Slavery & Captivity

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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. . . .

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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. . . .

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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

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

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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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