This is an archive of prayers composed for, or relevant to, conflicts over sovereignty and dispossession. Click here to contribute a prayer you have written, or a transcription and translation of a historical prayer. Filter resources by Collaborator Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
In this Tefilat haDerekh (the prayer for travel), I’ve made a synthesis of Ashkenazi and Sefardi nusaḥ. Even though the translation is pretty close to literal in most places, it comes across as an extraordinary and activist prayer for peace. So I think of this prayer not just as a prayer for the beginning a physical journey, but for any spiritual journey, and especially for any campaign or action for justice and peace that a person or group might undertake. When applied to activism, the “enmity and ambush and theft and predation” we ask to be rescued from could also be interpreted as hatred, deceit, jealousy, and aggression, i.e., the kinds of feelings that cause people to work against each other, even within an organization, instead of working together. I first used this version of the prayer at the beginning of a tour of Israel and Palestine focused on the human rights and non-violent resistance, when the group passed through the first checkpoint of the trip. . . . Fred MacDowell: “Then, as now, war was looked upon by many as a great evil, especially between brothers, and many American Colonists only wanted the oppressive measures of King George III to be lifted, bloodshed ended, and peace restored. The nascent American Congress called for a day of “Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer” along these lines for May 17, 1776. It was for this occasion that this prayer was recited in Congregation Shearith Israel in New York. As you can see, a complete service was arranged for this occasion, meant to invoke the solemnity and seriousness of the occasion; after morning prayer, Taḥanun was to be sung to the tune of a Yom Kippur pizmon; a dozen Psalms recited, and then the Ḥazan would recite this prayer written for the occasion, and of course all were to be fasting. The prayer hopes for a change of heart for King George III and his advisors, that they would rescind their wrath and harsh decrees against “North America,” that the bloodshed should end, and peace and reconciliation should obtain between the Americans and Great Britain once more, in fulfillment of the Messianic verse that Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Of course this was not meant to be, and six weeks later the American Congress declared independence from Great Britain, and there was no walking back from the hostilities which had already occurred.” . . . A translation in Arabic and English of Rabbi Nava Hafetz’s prayer for the children of the world. . . . Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Arabic translation, English Translation, ארץ ישראל Erets Yisrael, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Jewish-Muslim Friendship, Prayers on behalf of children, safety, תחינות teḥinot, the Next Generation, Universal Peace A prayer for Israeli-Palestinian solidarity to mitigate the danger that comes when our particular identities greatly eclipse our universal identity as Bnei Adam. . . . Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, human solidarity, interconnectedness, interdependence, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israelis and Palestinians, Jewish particularism, particularism and universalism, תחינות teḥinot |
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