This is an archive of prayers generally having to do with learning — as a living experience, as preparation and acquisition of skills, and as appreciation for the subject of learning, teachers, schools, and fellow learners. If you have composed a prayer for “Learning, Study, and School,” please share it here. Filter resources by Collaborator Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
In Yemenite Jewish children’s schools, this prayer of unknown authorship is said before the lesson in unison. The teacher conducts and the children sing together to a melody. The prayer is printed in tajjim (Yemenite trilingual Pentateuch codices) before the book of Leviticus, traditionally the starting point for a child’s education. The first twenty-two lines of the prayer are an alphabetical acrostic wherein each line spells out the entire letter in which it starts. For instance, the first line spells out Alef, Lamed, and Pe, which spells out the full name of the letter Alef. This is followed by three Biblical verses all starting with the word “Good,” a brief poem in Hebrew, and a concluding passage largely in Judeo-Arabic. Here the editor has included the original text, along with a non-gendered English translation and a transcription of the Judeo-Arabic text into Arabic script. . . . An original Hebrew translation of the popular medieval commercium song and graduation anthem “De Brevitate Vitæ,” more commonly known as “Gaudeamus Igitur.” First attested in 1287, this Latin poem is irrevocably associated with college life for academics all over the world. It has been translated into many languages, and this Hebrew edition can be added to the list. . . . A traditional prayer before studying classic texts of ḳabbalah, by a celebrated ḳabbalist of the 16th century, in pointed Hebrew with an English translation. . . . “A Student’s Prayer,” was adapted by Rabbi Morrison David Bial from Reb Nosson Sternhartz of Nemyriv’s Liqutei Tefilot I:58.1, itself adapted from the teachings of Rebbe Naḥman of Bratslav in Liqutei Moharan I:58.1. The adaptation by Rabbi Bial was first published in his anthology, An Offering of Prayer (1962), p. 83, from where the English was transcribed. I have set his adaptation side-by-side with the Hebrew as well as I could determine, providing for a reference Yaacov David Shulman’s translation as originally published by the Breslove Research Insitute in 2009. –Aharon Varady . . . This is the traveling song Gerer Chassidim would sing on their way to see the Gerrer Rebbe in Góra Kalwaria, Poland before World War Ⅱ. . . . A “Prayer for the University” found in the Seder ha-Tefilah (Order of Service) arranged by the Jewish community of Oxford, England in 1931 at a special event celebrating the centenary of the scholar and librarian at the Bodleian Library, Dr. Adolf Neubauer (1831-1907). . . . A prayer for intellectual honesty before study. . . . A prayer before commencing the study of Torah in groups, in ḥavrutah study, or alone. . . . A Jewish Prayer for Graduation and an Interfaith Meditation on Wisdom and Learning, by Rabbi Jonah Rank (2010) . . . I wrote this kavvanah [around 2010]. At that time I lived in Ithaca, NY. I was a substitute teacher in the Ithaca Central School District. There was a community event at Fall Creek Elementary school, and the way families, faculty, students, and people from the area came together inspired the poem. . . . Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., אחדות aḥdut (togetherness), children, Lehrer, Prayers of Jewish Educators, professional intention, public performance, statements of belief, Teacher, universalist A mi sheberakh prayer by Rabbi Esteban Gottfried for the parents of students leaving school for their summer break. . . . A prayer for the safety and success of those leaving home to go off to college and university. When children go off to college, parents can feel worried about the future of their children. Empty-nest syndrome can set in and spiritual guidance is often needed. This prayer uses the idioms of Biblical and siddur language to create a text for parents who worry about their children’s future as they head off on their own. It could be said 49 days after Tekufat Tammuz in the diaspora (August 28 or 29 after a leap year – approximately the time when college terms begin in the US) or on the first Saturday after Shmini Atzeret ba’aretz (approximately when college terms begin in Israel) . . . This Graduation Blessing by Rabbi Dr. Laura Duhan-Kaplan was written for Convocation 2017 at the Vancouver School of Theology. . . . A mi sheberakh prayer by Rabbi Esteban Gottfried for the parents of students returning to school from their summer break. . . . A “mi sheberakh” blessing for children and the parents of children returning to school at the beginning of the new school year. . . . A prayer for a teacher to say or adapt as needed at the beginning of their school year. . . . A prayer for teachers at the onset of the school year. . . . A prayer for children at the onset of the school year. . . . A prayer for a friend who needs prompt and useful data in response to their Internet queries. . . . This is a prayer for reading the news, composed at the request of Rabbi Ariana Katz of Hinenu (Baltimore, Maryland). It is written in Hebrew, English, and Yiddish. . . . |
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