This is an archive of prayers composed for mourning. Some are for personal or private use. Others are for public, communal, and ceremonial functions. Some follow the formula of a Mourner’s Ḳaddish (Qaddish Yatom), others that of El Malé Raḥamim, and still others are adaptations or free-form with or without Hebrew, reflecting upon grief and interconnection and composed in a vernacular tongue. Click here to contribute your own prayers of mourning. Filter resources by Collaborator Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
“[Fürbitte für die Verstorbenen] (Unsterblichkeit)” was translated/adapted by Yehoshua Heshil Miro and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaicher Religion. It first appears in the 1829 edition, תחנות Teḥinot ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaicher Religion as teḥinah №39 on pp. 50-51. In the 1835 edition, it appears as teḥinah №38 on pp. 60-62. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №40 on pp. 63-65. . . . “Fürbitte für die Verstorbenen [no.2]” was included by Yehoshua Heshil Miro in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaicher Religion. It first appears in the 1829 edition, תחנות Teḥinot ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaicher Religion as teḥinah №38 on pp. 47-49. In the 1835 edition, it appears as teḥinah №36 on pp. 56-58. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №38 on pp. 59-61. In a note to “Gebet am Tage der Gedächtnißfeier verstorbener Eltern, an deren Grabe zu sprechen” published in the 1835 edition, Miro records that Isaak Plessner sent this prayer to him, and from this we infer that its authorship may also be attributed to him. . . . “[Fürbitte für die Verstorbenen (no.3)]” was translated/adapted by Yehoshua Heshil Miro and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaicher Religion. It first appears in the 1829 edition, תחנות Teḥinot ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaicher Religion as teḥinah №38 on pp. 47-49. In the 1835 edition, it appears as teḥinah №37 on pp. 58-60. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №39 on pp. 61-63. . . . “Gebet einer Wittwe” was translated/adapted by Yehoshua Heshil Miro and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaischer Religion. It first appears in the 1829 edition, תחנות Teḥinot ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaischer Religion as teḥinah №83 on pp. 131-133. In the 1835 edition, it appears as teḥinah №83 on pp. 154-157. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №86 on pp. 159-162. . . . “Fürbitte für die Verstorbenen [no.1]” was translated/adapted by Yehoshua Heshil Miro and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaicher Religion. It first appears in the 1833 edition, תחנות Teḥinot ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaicher Religion on pp. 48-51. In the 1835 edition, it appears as teḥinah №35 on pp. 53-56. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №37 on pp. 56-59. . . . “Gebet am Tage der Gedächtnißfeier verstorbener Eltern, an deren Grabe zu sprechen” was included by Yehoshua Heshil Miro in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaischer Religion. It first appears in the 1835 edition as teḥinah №111 on pp. 214-216. In a note to this prayer, Miro records that Rabbi Salmon Plessner sent this prayer to him, and from this we infer that its authorship may also be attributed to him. . . . This is a prayer for those fallen in the battle of Kápolna, a decisive battle during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, written by István Roboz (1826-1916). Translated into numerous languages, the prayer was widely misattributed to enlightened president of Hungary, Lajos Kossuth. Circulated in translation and attributed to Kossuth, the prayer helped to cement his popularity among Jews worldwide praying for liberty from despotic regimes inclined for various reasons towards Jew hatred. . . . 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. . . . 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. . . . This prayer after the horrors of 7 October 2023 perpetrated by Hamas and its allies was first offered by Rabbi Lior Bar-Ami sometime before May 2024. . . . |
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