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 Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
This prayer was offered by Rabbi Andy Vogel and Rabbi Seth Goldstein and published at each of their websites on 3 April 2024. On Rabbi Vogel’s site, the prayer included the statement, “We encourage you to use the words of this prayer as you see fit; no attribution is needed.” Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): On Passover we end the prayers for rain that began on October 7, and begin the prayers for dew. The prayers end, but the war that began with the October 7 attack does not. Here is a reflection on that. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): 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. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer for the peace of the nation, first published in the siddur VeAni Tefillati (second edition, page 133), was circulated by the Masorti Movement in Israel on social media on 1 August 2024, amidst increased anxieties over impending retaliatory strikes by Iran and its proxy armies in Lebanon and elsewhere. Categories: Tags: 2023-2025 Israel–Hamas war, 2024 Iran–Israel conflict, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Assassination of Fuad Shukr, Assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Assassination of Mohammed Deif, Assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, Iranian support for Hamas, מי שברך mi sheberakh, religious Zionist prayers Contributor(s): This seliḥah was written for Seliḥot in Los Angeles, Elul, 5784, 2024, in the light of the horrific killing that the IDF has perpetrated in Gaza since October 8 (after the Hamas massacre of October 7), 2023. The opening frame is from the Tokheḥah and the closing line from Eikhah. The only hope is that we do teshuvah and stop the war and the violence now. The language is an adaptation of Hebrew of piyyutim and seliḥot. –Aryeh Cohen Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A plea for retributive justice at the end of aseh l’maan shemekha (“Act for the Sake of Your Name”) in the Seliḥot of Elul and the Days of Awe, in response to the suffering endured on and after 7 October 2023. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): “For the Children in Gaza” by Avital Raff, was first published in בצרור החיים: A Yizkor Supplement for Palestinian Life (Halachic Left 2024). Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This El malé prayer, “For activists, journalists, and doctors in Palestine” by Avi Garelick, was first published in בצרור החיים: A Yizkor Supplement for Palestinian Life (Halachic Left 2024), p. 11. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer, “Memorial Prayer for Sacred Life Lost” by Netanel Zellis-Paley, was first published in בצרור החיים: A Yizkor Supplement for Palestinian Life (Halachic Left 2024), pages 12-13. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This “Prayer for an end to injustice on Earth” by an anonymous author, was first published in בצרור החיים: A Yizkor Supplement for Palestinian Life (Halachic Left 2024), pages 34-35. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A prayer by Dr. Yael Levine for salvation, comfort, and healing during the Ḥarvot Barzel War, first published in Olam Katan, issue 973 (21 November 2024, parashat Ḥayyei Sarah). Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer for Ukraine was first offered by Rabbi Lior Bar-Ami sometime before May 2024. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): “A Prayer for Yom Hazikaron and Yom ha-Atsma’ut 5785” (2025) was prepared by Rabbi Tzachi Lehman in advance of the State of Israel’s days of remembrance and declaration of independence and published by Tzohar on its website on 23 April 2025. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer by Devorah Brous (fromsoil2soul), “A blessing for the bees (5786)” was first published as text rendered inside a video compiled by the author. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Rabbi David Seidenberg writes, “This piyyut is a response to what I think of as the second war with Gaza since October 7, the one started on March 18, 2025, when Israel broke the ceasefire. At that point it became clear that war was being driven not by the hostages or even by eliminating Hamas, but rather by Netanyahu’s coalition and its fascist members and elements eager to colonize Gaza. I am also responding to examples of the glee to destroy that accompanied some soldiers’ desire to punish all of Gaza, expressed in song, tik tok, etc., and the repeated declaration made by various Hardal rabbis that all of Gaza is Amalek, and the apparent careless way of that life gets taken by sniper and drone. I have put those feelings in the first person, in the spirit of all of us taking responsibility for any of our sins, as a community. What is real above all is the sin enumerated in the Syrian Vidui Hagadol: ‘Lo Bacharta Bachayyim, We did not choose Life.'” Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This is a seliḥah in piyut form. The first line borrows from the famous seliḥah במוצאי מנוחה. The seliḥah is driven by the question: How can we ask for forgiveness as the death and destruction in Gaza continues? Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): 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: Tags: Contributor(s): A prayer for the welfare of the State of Israel, its people and its military personnel during the war with Iran begun at the end of February 2026. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): “Geula for Shaagat HaAri” by Benny Powers was first published to the author’s website on 11 March 2026. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): |
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