This is an archive of prayers composed in response to, or in anxious anticipation of, war. 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
This prayer for victory and deliverance in the war against Nazi Germany, simply titled “War Prayer,” appears in the Prayer Book of Jewish Members of H.M. Forces (Office of the Chief Rabbi 1940), pp. 16-17. Sections of the prayer were adapted from the prayer on the declaration of war by Rabbi Hertz in 1914 at the outset of World War I. In the preface to the payer book, Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz specifically mentions this prayer, among others, as having been newly revised for this publication. The initial version of the prayer, likely to have been written by Rabbi Hertz, was published by the Office of the Chief Rabbi for a 17 Tammuz service in July 1938. A revision was disseminated after Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938). This is the third version of the prayer. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A prayer for the welfare of the government in Yiddish from A Naye Shas Tkhine Rav Pninim (after 1933). . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A memorial prayer for service members lost in times of war, given by a chaplain who sacrificed his life for others during WWII. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 5 June 1944 on the eve of D-Day in World War Ⅱ. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer by Rabbi Philip S. Bernstein, then President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, was included in the anthology, The Prayer Book of the Armed Forces (ed. Daniel A. Poling, 1951), p. 11. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer by Rabbi Dr. Edgar Magnin, then serving as rabbi of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, was included in the anthology, The Prayer Book of the Armed Forces (ed. Daniel A. Poling, 1951), p. 51. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer by Rabbi Dr. David de Sola Pool was included in the anthology, The Prayer Book of the Armed Forces (ed. Daniel A. Poling, 1951), pp. 72-73. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This “Prayer for the Success of the Four-Power Conference at Geneva, Switzerland (18 July 1955)” was composed in 1955 by the Office of the Chief Rabbi (of the United Hebrew Congregations of the UK and the Commonwealth) for the success of a meeting of the “Big Four” (President Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States, Prime Minister Anthony Eden of Britain, Premier Nikolai A. Bulganin of the Soviet Union, and Prime Minister Edgar Faure of France), ostensibly to promote international trade, but hopefully as well, to reduce international tensions and make some progress towards ending the Cold War. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): “[Prayer] For Peace Among the Nations” by Rabbi Morrison David Bial was first published in his anthology, An Offering of Prayer (1962), p. 59, from where this prayer was transcribed. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Rabbi Shlomo Goren’s “Tefilah Lifnei Yetsiah laQrav,” a prayer for IDF soldiers before embarking on a combat mission was first published in his Siddur Tefilot l’Ḥayyal (pp. 72-73 in the 1963 printing). . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): “baShanah haBa’ah” (Next Year) by Ehud Manor written in 1968 in memory of his brother Yehudah. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The closing prayer at the Nov 13, 1982 dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. by Rabbi (Navy Chaplain) Arnold E. Resnicoff. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A prayer for peace written in the context of the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies in 2003. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., civilian casualties, civilian non-combatants, Gaza, Gaza War (2008-2009), Israeli–Palestinian conflict, מדינת ישראל Medinat Yisrael, Needing Vocalization, Operation Cast Lead, فلسطين Filasṭīn Palestine, prayers concerning children Contributor(s): This prayer for the peace of the Syrian people was composed in 2013 by Rabbi Yuval Cherlow and translated by Elli Sacks of Modi’in. Our Hebrew source of the text was first published in this YNet article. Our source for Elli Sacks’s translation is this post in Alan Brill’s blog. Rabbi Cherlow suggests that Psalms 37 and Psalms 120 are particularly appropriate for praying for peace in Syria. Both psalms speak of the plight of the innocent righteous when evil men plot against them. Thank you to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency for informing us of this prayer, and to YNet, and Alan Brill for providing the source text. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A prayer for empathy and compassion in the face of calls for violence and vengeance. . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): |
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