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Mourning

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.

Resources filtered by TAG: “Grief” (clear filter)

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אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים | El Malé Raḥamim (Prayer for the Departed), interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

The prayer El Malé Raḥamim, translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. . . .

Categories: Mourning

Tags: burial service, אל מלא רחמים El Malé Raḥamim, Grief, יזכור yizkor

Contributor(s): Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Unknown Author(s)

The Body Speaking to the Soul Which Just Left It, a poem by Rosa Emma Salaman (1842)

The poem, “The Body Speaking to the Soul Which Just Left It.” by Rosa Emma Salaman, was written in March 1842 and first published in the Occident and American Jewish Advocate 2:4, Tamuz 5604, July 1844, p. 200-202. . . .

Categories: Mourning

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Anglo Jewry, British Jewry, English Romanticism, Grief, mourning, Prayers as poems, sleep

Contributor(s): Rosa Emma Salaman and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Song of the Spirit, a poem by Rosa Emma Salaman (1848)

The poem, “Song of the Spirit” by Rosa Emma Salaman, was first published in the Occident 6:7, Tishrei 5609, October 1848. . . .

Categories: Mourning

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Anglo Jewry, British Jewry, אלהי נשמה Elohai neshamah, English Romanticism, Grief, mourning, neshamah, Prayers as poems

Contributor(s): Rosa Emma Salaman and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

On the Loss of a Beloved One, a prayer in the morning by Annie Josephine Levi (1900)

“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. . . .

Categories: Mourning

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Grief, Jewish Women's Prayers, teḥinot in English, תחינות teḥinot

Contributor(s): Annie Josephine Levi and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

On the Loss of a Beloved One, a prayer in the evening by Annie Josephine Levi (1900)

“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. . . .

Categories: Mourning

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Grief, Jewish Women's Prayers, teḥinot in English, תחינות teḥinot

Contributor(s): Annie Josephine Levi and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Am Grabe der Mutter | At the grave of one’s mother, a teḥinah by Lise Tarlau (1907)

“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. . . .

Categories: Mourning, 🇺🇸 Mother's Day (2nd Sunday of May)

Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., cemetery prayers, chronic pain, German vernacular prayer, Grief, Jewish Women's Prayers, prayers on behalf of parents, תחינות teḥinot, Teḥinot in German

Contributor(s): Lise Tarlau and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Am Grabe des Gatten | At the grave of one’s husband, a teḥinah by Lise Tarlau (1907)

“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. . . .

Categories: Mourning

Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., cemetery prayers, German vernacular prayer, Grief, Jewish Women's Prayers, marriage, תחינות teḥinot, Teḥinot in German

Contributor(s): Lise Tarlau and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

תפילה על מת בהמה או חיה מחמד | Prayer on the Death of a Beloved Animal, by Aharon Varady (1994)

A prayer for a beloved animal first compiled in English by Aharon N. Varady for Nethaniel Puzael, his family’s cat, in 1994. . . .

Categories: Mourning

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., animals, בהמות behemot, burial service, domesticated animals, Grief, interspecies relationships

Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים | El Malé Raḥamim (Prayer for the Departed), translated and sung by Effron Esseiva

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. . . .

Categories: Mourning

Tags: burial service, אל מלא רחמים El Malé Raḥamim, Grief, יזכור yizkor

Contributor(s): Effron Esseiva

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=326

Associated Image:

the mourning woman (Bekah Starr Art)

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Additional Notes:

The views expressed on this page and in these shared works represents the views of their creator(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Open Siddur Project's developers, its diverse community of volunteer contributors, or its institutional partners.
We strongly advise against printing sacred texts and art containing divine names as these copies must be regarded with reverence, complicating their casual treatment and disposal.
If you must dispose of a printed sacred text (one containing Divine Names), please locate the closest genizah (often established by a synagogue) and contact its custodians for further instructions. We also recommend using Morah Yehudis Fishman's Prayer for Adding a Work to the Genizah.

Support this work: 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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