According to the Rabbi Sacks Legacy Trust (RSLT), “A Prayer for Peace in Israel” was composed by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks following terror attacks in Israel in 2003 (i.e., during the Second Intifada). The text of the prayer appearing here was shared by the RSLT via their Facebook page in the context of the 2022 Tel Aviv Shooting.

Categories:

Conflicts over Sovereignty and Dispossession, Terror

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, peace, Second Intifada, ישראל Yisrael

Contributor(s):

Jonathan Sacks, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer After the Bombing in Boston, by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat (2013)

I wrote this a few days after the Boston Marathon bombing. It arose out of a meditation service which I led at my synagogue. The doors to our sanctuary were open, so we had the sounds of the nearby wetland in our ears, and I invited the meditators to join me in cultivating compassion and sending it toward Boston. The line “My heart is in the east and I am in the west” is adapted from the medieval Spanish poet Judah haLevi.

Categories:

Terror

Tags:

2013 Boston Marathon Bombing, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Boston, elegy, English vernacular prayer, Massachusetts, Prayers as poems, קינות Ḳinōt, United States

Contributor(s):

Rachel Barenblat

A Prayer for Pittsburgh [after the Tree of Life synagogue massacre], by Rabbi Menachem Creditor (2018)

“A Prayer for Pittsburgh” was first published by Rabbi Menachem Creditor at his website, and shared with the Open Siddur Project via our Facebook discussion group.

Categories:

Mass Shootings & Gun Violence, Terror

Tags:

2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, mass murder inside a synagogue, prayers for municipalities

Contributor(s):

Menachem Creditor

Gratitude Prayer, by Rabbi Menachem Creditor on the first anniversary of the Pittsburgh Tree of Life massacre (2019)

A prayer on the first anniversary of the Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh.

Categories:

Hateful Intolerance, Prejudice, and Bigotry, Mass Shootings & Gun Violence, Terror

Tags:

2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Gratitude

Contributor(s):

Menachem Creditor

A Prayer from a Traumatized Jewish Heart, by Rabbi Menachem Creditor (10 October 2023)

“A Prayer from a Traumatized Jewish Heart” was written by Rabbi Menachem Creditor and shared by the author via the Open Siddur Project discussion group on Facebook, 10 October 2023.

Categories:

Conflicts over Sovereignty and Dispossession, Terror, War

Tags:

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

Contributor(s):

Menachem Creditor

Prayer for Israel at Temple Micah’s Lunch & Learn, by Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff (11 October 2023)

This prayer by Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff was offered at the Temple Micah, Lunch and Learn, on 11 Oct 2023.

Categories:

Terror, War

Tags:

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

Contributor(s):

Arnold E. Resnicoff

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

Prayer Following the Heaton Park Synagogue Terror Attack on Yom Kippur 5786, by Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis (Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations, 4 October 2025)

The Office of the Chief Rabbi’s prayer on the day following the terror attack in Manchester on Yom Kippur 5786 (2025).

Categories:

Terror

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., British Jewry, English vernacular prayer, Manchester synagogue attack

Contributor(s):

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

A Prayer for the Shabbat After Bondi Beach, by Rabbi Menachem Creditor

“A Prayer for the Shabbat After Bondi Beach” by Rabbi Menachem Creditor was offered via Open Siddur Project’s discussion group on Facebook, 19 December 2025, in response to the Bondi Beach shootings in Sydney, Australia on 14 December 2025.

Categories:

Mass Shootings & Gun Violence, Terror

Tags:

2025 Bondi Beach shooting, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Australian Jewry, English vernacular prayer

Contributor(s):

Menachem Creditor

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=777

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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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