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🖖︎ Prayers & Praxes // 🌳︎ Life cycle // Dying, Death, and Mourning // Mourning
תוספת לסליחות לזיכרון המוסרים נפשם בחרבות ברזל | Supplement to the Seliḥot following “Aseh l’Maan Shemekha” in remembrance of the fallen in the Ḥarvot Barzel War, by Dr. Yael Levine 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. . . . תפילת אל מלא רחמים לנרצחי התקפות החמאס והנופלים בקרבות | El Malé Raḥamim prayer for the victims of the HAMA”S attacks and those fallen in battle afterward (IDF 2024) Contributor(s): An adaptation of El Malei Raḥamim for victims of the 7 October massacres, and for the soldiers and other security personnel fallen in its aftermath was prepared for the Yizkor services held on the 7th day of Passover 5754 (2024) by Lt. Col. Shai Abramson, Chief Cantor of the IDF. The English translation was made by Ematai and published on their website and on social media. . . . Contributor(s): Qinat Be’eri was written by Yagel Haroush in the month of Marḥeshban after the massacres on 7 October and disseminated on social media. . . . Contributor(s): “An infinity of amens” was written by Hanna Yerushalmi on 15 October 2023 in the aftermath of the massacres on Shemini Atseret 5784. . . . אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים לְנִשְׁמוֹת תּוֹשָׁבֵי מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל מֶהַיִשּׁוּבֵי עוֹטֵף עַזָּה | El Malé Raḥamim for the residents of the State of Israel from the communities on the Gaza Border, by Cantor Amnon Seelig Contributor(s): This is an El Malé Raḥamim prayer by Cantor Amnon Seelig for the victims of the invasion of HAMA”S from Gaza on Shemini Atseret 5784, with an English translation by Rabbi Oren Steinitz. . . . אל מלא רחמים לזכר הנרצחים | El Malé Raḥamim Prayer for the Victims of Terrorism in the Land of Israel Contributor(s): An El Malé Raḥamim prayer for Victims of Terror in Erets Yisrael, with an English translation by Rabbi Hillel Ḥayyim Lavery-Yisraeli from Prayers for Israel, for Protection from Terror Attacks, and In Memory of the Victims (15 October 2023), page 6. . . . אֵל מָלֵא לְאַסְטְרוֹנָאוּטִים וְגָּשׁוֹשִׁיתוֹת | El Malé for Astronauts and Probes, by Aryeh Baruch Contributor(s): In 2016 after reading David Brin’s Earth (1990), I wrote this blog post and later felt inspired to write this variant of El Malé for the vessels and probes that carry our dream of space science, and then also for the astronauts who died while pursuing that dream. . . . Things That Are Not To Be, a prayer-poem in the event of a pregnancy loss by Rabbi Hanna Yerushalmi (LGPC) Contributor(s): “Things that are not to be,” a prayer-poem by Rabbi Hanna Yerushalmi (LGPC) in the event of a pregnancy loss was first published in Mishkan R’fuah: Where Healing Resides (CCAR 2013), p. 49-50. . . . לזכרם של ההרוגים במלחמה באדמות אוקראינה | Молитва в пам’ять про загиблих у війні на землях України | Yizkor for those killed in the war in Ukraine, by Miriam Klimova (2022) Contributor(s): A prayer for a Yizkor service on Yom Kippur during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. . . . Contributor(s): The Mourner’s Ḳaddish, in Hebrew with English translation by Everett Fox after Franz Rosenzweig. . . . קדיש יתום בלי מנין או אם לבד (אשכנז) | Abbreviated, Personal Mourner’s Ḳaddish for when Praying Alone or Without a Minyan (Nusaḥ Ashkenaz), by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer Contributor(s): This text takes the basic idea of the Baladi-rite ‘Brikh Shmeh d’Kudsha Brikh Hu’ and adapts it for the Askenazi nusach of the Kaddish. It can be used when praying alone wherever a minyan would say the entire Kaddish. It could also be recited by a community in unison out loud when it can’t make a minyan, to show that even if we don’t have a full minyan, we still welcome mourners as part of our community. . . . Contributor(s): A meditation on living through the lens of dying. . . . קדיש יתום | Mourner’s Ḳaddish for a Minyan of Ten People (including Jews and non-Jews), by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org) Contributor(s): A “secular” kaddish after my mother died so that I could say kaddish under circumstances where I could gather ten people but not ten Jews. . . . Contributor(s): A creative, interpretive translation of the the Mourner’s Ḳaddish. . . . Contributor(s): This eulogy by Andrew Meit was read at Temple Beit Ami in Rockville, Maryland at the funeral of Benjamin Meit. Andrew writes, “Ben would have turned 19 next week. He died from complications from depression and mental illness.” Donations in Ben’s memory may be made here. If you or anyone you know is in need of help, please call 911, or 1-800 273 8255, the national suicide prevention hotline. . . . Contributor(s): This prayer was written to introduce the service at a shiva minyan. . . . Contributor(s): A paraliturgical yizkor prayer. . . . Contributor(s): My bones whisper that your pages and your inks will return to the trees and the plants from where they once came. They say that someday they will even come back to life with words never yet heard. . . . Contributor(s): This is an English language interpretation of Kaddish, intended to capture the spirit of translations/interpretations that I have seen in various sources and also to capture the sound and rhythm of the Aramaic text, including syllables which, when read simultaneously with the Aramaic, rhyme with the Aramaic. . . . Contributor(s): Jews use the Kaddish to mourn the dead, though it has in it only one word — “nechamata,” consolations – which hints at mourning. And this word itself is used in a puzzling way, once we look at it with care. As we will see below, it may be especially appropriate in time of war. The interpretive English translation below may also be appropriate for prayers of mourning and hope in wartime by other spiritual and religious communities. In this version, changes in the traditional last line of the Hebrew text specifically include not only peace for the people Israel (as in the traditional version) but also for the children of Abraham and Hagar through Ishmael (Arabs and Muslims) and for all the life-forms who dwell upon this planet. . . . Contributor(s): By Andrew Meit, written upon the death of his mother, Sonie Meit, the 28th of Sivan 5771 –כ״ח בְּסִיוָן תשע״א. . . . אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים | El Malé Raḥamim (Prayer for the Departed), translated and sung by Effron Esseiva Contributor(s): Almost two years ago my best friend passed away and I had the honour of chanting this malé raḥamim for him. In mid-May this year another friend approached me and said he really liked the way I did it at the time and could I record it for him because he was going to do it too for an unrelated unveiling. So, I recorded it on May 18, 2011. I didn’t compose it. It’s a traditional tune, but it’s my voice and I hope someone else can perhaps learn it with this material. The more resource there are out there through means such as Open Siddur the better we can learn and share. . . . אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים | El Malé Raḥamim (Prayer for the Departed), interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi Contributor(s): The prayer El Malé Raḥamim, translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. . . . Contributor(s): A prayer for a beloved animal first compiled in English by Aharon N. Varady for Nethaniel Puzael, his family’s cat, in 1994. . . . בַּשָּׁנָה הַבָּאָה | baShanah haBa’ah (Next Year), an elegy by Ehud Manor for his brother killed during the War of Attrition (1968) Contributor(s): “baShanah haBa’ah” (Next Year) by Ehud Manor written in 1968 in memory of his brother Yehudah. . . . תפלה למספד על המלך גארג | Prayer for the Memorial Service of King George Ⅵ (Office of the Chief Rabbi of the UK & the Commonwealth, 15 February 1952) Contributor(s): This is the prayer offered at the “Memorial Service on Friday, 15th February, 1952 (Eve of Sabbath, 19th Shebat, 5712) at the New West End Synagogue (London, W. 2) for His Late Majesty King George (VI)” as given by the Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (officiated by Dayan Dr. I. Grunfeld and Rabbi Dr. A. Altmann, M.A. [Joint Deputies for the Chief Rabbi], the Rev. Ephraim Levine, M.A., the Rev. R.H. Levy, M.A.). Many thanks to Jeffrey Maynard for providing the page images of the service containing this prayer at his blog, Jewish Miscellanies. . . . “Ein Mensch ist ein räumlich und zeitlich beschränktes” (A human being is…limited in time and space) — a letter of consolation by Albert Einstein (1950) Contributor(s): In a poignant reflection on human limitation and the role of religion, Albert Einstein (1879-1955) consoled two rabbis each grieving the painful loss of their children. The first letter dated 12 February 1950, drafted in German before its translation into English, was written for Rabbi Robert S. Marcus after the death of the rabbi’s eleven-year-old son, Jay, from polio in September 1949. The second letter, dated 4 March 1950, was written for Rabbi Norman Salit after the death of Salit’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Miriam. Einstein’s letter to Rabbi Salit borrowed from and expanded upon the composition of his letter to Rabbi Marcus. In a few short lines, the letter expresses Einstein’s opinion on the prison-like delusion of consciousness — and the work of “true” religion to escape this prison through the intentional expansion of compassion beyond one’s self. . . . Contributor(s): This is Rabbi Dr. Leo Beack’s prayer for his wife Natalie Baeck née Hamburger (1878-1937), dated 7 March 1937. Natalie had died two days prior on 5 March. . . . Contributor(s): Basil L.Q. Henriques’s prayer “For those in sorrow” was first published in The Fratres Book of Prayer for the Oxford and St. George’s Synagogue Jewish Lads Club in 1916, and later reprinted in the Prayer Book of the St. George’s Settlement Synagogue (1929), “Special Prayers” section, page 99. . . . Am Grabe einer jungen Schwester | At the grave of one’s younger sister, a teḥinah by Lise Tarlau (1907) Contributor(s): “Am Grabe einer jungen Schwester” by Lisa Tarlau can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages 547-549. . . . Am Grabe eines jungen Bruders | At the grave of one’s younger brother, a teḥinah by Lise Tarlau (1907) Contributor(s): “Am Grabe eines jungen Bruders” by Lisa Tarlau can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages 546-547. . . . Contributor(s): “Am Grabe des Gatten” by Lisa Tarlau can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages 544-545. . . . Contributor(s): “Am Grabe der Mutter” by Lisa Tarlau can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages 540-541. . . . Contributor(s): “Am Grabe der Eltern” by Anna Lachmann can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages 538-540. . . . Contributor(s): “Gebet eines Waisenkindes” by Lise Tarlau can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), page 530. . . . Contributor(s): “Der Schmerz” by Lise Tarlau can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages 523-525. . . . Contributor(s): “Beruria” by Lisa Tarlau is an eponymous ode provided as the preface to Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), pages v-viii. . . . Contributor(s): “On the loss of a beloved one (in the evening)” was written by Annie Josephine Levi and published in her anthology of teḥinot in English, Meditations of the Heart (1900), pp. 156-157. . . . Contributor(s): “On the loss of a beloved one (in the morning)” was written by Annie Josephine Levi and published in her anthology of teḥinot in English, Meditations of the Heart (1900), pp. 148-149. . . . Contributor(s): “Prayer for a Dear Relation or Friend Who is Ill” was written by Lilian Helen Montagu and published in Prayers for Jewish Working Girls (1895), pp. 26-27. . . . Contributor(s): This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais after the death of President Ulysses S. Grant (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) concludes a eulogy published in the The Jewish Record on 14 August 1885, “General Grant: Substance of a Discourse Delivered Last Sabbath by the Rev. S. Morais.” A note in the preface to the article dates the eulogy to the preceding Sabbath, 8 August 1885. The article was preserved in a newspaper clipping found on page 338 of the Sabato Morais Ledger. . . . Contributor(s): This prayer in eulogy for Rabbi George Jacobs is found in conclusion to “In Memoriam. Address Delivered Last Sabbath by Rev. S. Morais” in the Jewish Record, 18 July 1884, a clipping of which was preserved on page 231 of the Sabato Morais Ledger. . . . Contributor(s): This prayer in eulogy for Vice President Henry Wilson was preserved on page 78 of the Sobato Morais Scrapbook (a/k/a, the Morais Ledger) in a clipping from the Evening Telegraph on 1 December 1875, “The Late Vice-President: A Eulogy by Rev. S. Morais, of the Seventh Street Synagogue.” . . . Contributor(s): A prayer for one’s parent or parents during Yizkor. . . . Contributor(s): A prayer of a daughter for mourning on the yortseit of one or both of her parents. . . . Contributor(s): A prayer of an orphan after the death of one or both of her parents. . . . Contributor(s): A prayer of a woman and mother who has lost her husband and is contemplating desperate circumstances. . . . Contributor(s): A prayer for a woman mounrning at the grave of her child. . . . Contributor(s): A prayer for a woman visiting the grave of her brother or sister. . . . Contributor(s): A prayer for a daughter mounrning at the grave of her mother. . . .
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The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-commercial, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture.
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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