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
An interpretive translation of the Mourner’s Kaddish, by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l. . . .
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. . . .
A creative, interpretive translation of the the Mourner’s Ḳaddish. . . .
A prayer written by a son upon the death of his mother. . . .
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. . . .
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. . . .
This prayer in lament for three Jewish youths taken captive and killed by Hamas in 2014, was written by Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum and published by the Masorti Movement in Israel through their Facebook page on 4 July 2014. English translation by Shoshana Michael Zucker. . . .
A paraliturgical yizkor prayer. . . .
This prayer was written to introduce the service at a shiva minyan. . . .
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. . . .
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. . . .
A meditation on living through the lens of dying. . . .
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. . . .
A prayer for a Yizkor service on Yom Kippur during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. . . .
“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. . . .
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. . . .
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. . . .
“An infinity of amens” was written by Hanna Yerushalmi on 15 October 2023 in the aftermath of the massacres on Shemini Atseret 5784. . . .
Qinat Be’eri was written by Yagel Haroush in the month of Marḥeshban after the massacres on 7 October and disseminated on social media. . . .
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. . . .
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. . . .
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. . . .
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. . . .
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. . . .
El Malé Raħamim, the Prayer for the Dead, is recited in the Yizkor service on special days of the year. The prayer has been adapted for various groups on these and other memorial days, notably for victims of the Holocaust. This adaptation commemorates victims of lethal hate-crimes against Transgender people. This version was originally written for Queer Jews at Brandeis’s Transgender Day of Remembrance Services on 20 November 2024. . . .
This prayer by the Masorti Movement in Israel and the Knesset HaRabanim b’Yisrael was first shared on 20 February 2025 in the final days of the first phase of the Three-phase Israel-Hamas war ceasefire, via the Masorti Movement website. . . .
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