Khaf Sivan • the Open Siddur Project

Some Jewish communities, especially those in the region of the Four Lands, have a custom of fasting on the 20th of Sivan. This day has a full seliḥot service, commemorating a series of horrors that occurred on that day, most prominently the Chmielnicki (Khmielnetsky) massacres of 1648-49.

If you have written a prayer or transcribed and translated a historic prayer for Khaf Sivan, please share it here.

Looking for something else?

For prayers composed for or relevant to Tisha b’Av, please visit here.

אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים | A poetic El Malei Raḥamim for 20 Sivan, composed in memory of Yəḥiel Mikhel ben Eliezer, the Martyr of Nemirov (ca. late 17th c.)

Contributor(s): Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Unknown Author(s)
Shared on כ״א בסיון ה׳תשפ״א (2021-05-31) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories:

Khaf Sivan
Tags:

סליחות seliḥot, אל מלא רחמים El Malé Raḥamim, 17th century C.E., 55th century A.M., Chmielnicki massacres of 1648–1649

One of the most prominent martyrs in the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648–1649 was the kabbalist and sage Yəḥiel Mikhel ben Eliezer ha-Kohen, known to posterity as the Martyr of Nemirov. This unique poetic El Malei Raḥamim was said in his honor, and communities that fast on 20 Sivan still recite it to this day. . . .

אֱמוּנֵי שְׁלוּמֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל | Emunei Shlumei Yisrael — a seliḥah witnessing the Blois incident of 1171 by Hillel ben Yaaqov of Bonn

Contributor(s): Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Hillel ben Yaaqov of Bonn
Shared on כ׳ בסיון ה׳תשפ״א (2021-05-30) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories:

Khaf Sivan, Tishah b'Av
Tags:

סליחות seliḥot, acrostic, קינות Ḳinnot, 12th century C.E., Alphabetic Acrostic, 50th century A.M., Blois Incident of 1171

Some Jewish communities, especially those in the region of the Four Lands, have a custom of fasting on the 20th of Sivan. This day has a full seliḥot service, commemorating a series of horrors that occurred on that day, most prominently the Chmielnicki (Khmielnetsky) massacres of 1648-49. But this poem was written for another horrific occurrence on 20 Sivan, the blood libel of Blois in 1171. This was the first time the accusation of ritual murder was ever made against the Jews of France, but it wasn’t the last. This seliḥah poem, written by Hillel ben Jacob of Bonn, starts with the dramatic accusation that God has abandoned the people Israel, continuing by listing those who died in myriad horrid ways, and ending with several citations from the apocalyptic final chapter of the book of Joel. . . .

שַׁאֲלִי שְׂרוּפָה בָּאֵשׁ | Sha’ali Serufah ba-Esh (Question, Burnt in the Fire), a Ḳinah for Tisha b’Av, Translated by Gershom Scholem

Contributor(s): Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Paula Schwebel (translation), Gershom Scholem (translation) and Meir ben Barukh of Rothenburg
Shared on כ״ט בתמוז ה׳תש״פ (2020-07-20) — under the following terms: Fair Use Right (17 U.S. Code §107 - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use)
Categories:

Khaf Sivan, Tishah b'Av
Tags:

קינות Ḳinnot, 13th century C.E., 51st century A.M., Disputation of Paris

A translation in German and English of the kinnah “Sha’ali Serufah ba-Esh.” . . .

Ḳinah for the Chmielnicki Massacres of 1648–1649 in Sefer Ḳol Yaaqov (1658)

Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation), Jacob Chatinover (translation) and Unknown Author(s)
Shared on כ״ד באדר א׳ ה׳תשע״ט (2019-02-28) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication
Categories:

Khaf Sivan
Tags:

קינות Ḳinnot, 17th century C.E., 55th century A.M., Chmielnicki massacres of 1648–1649, Needing Vocalization

A kinah/elegy for those massacred in the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648–1649 composed by a possible eyewitness to the tragedy. . . .

the Open Siddur Project ✍︎ פְּרוֹיֶּקט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

CONTRIBUTED CONTENTS

אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים | A poetic El Malei Raḥamim for 20 Sivan, composed in memory of Yəḥiel Mikhel ben Eliezer, the Martyr of Nemirov (ca. late 17th c.)

אֱמוּנֵי שְׁלוּמֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל | Emunei Shlumei Yisrael — a seliḥah witnessing the Blois incident of 1171 by Hillel ben Yaaqov of Bonn

שַׁאֲלִי שְׂרוּפָה בָּאֵשׁ | Sha’ali Serufah ba-Esh (Question, Burnt in the Fire), a Ḳinah for Tisha b’Av, Translated by Gershom Scholem

Ḳinah for the Chmielnicki Massacres of 1648–1649 in Sefer Ḳol Yaaqov (1658)