Khaf Sivan • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶּקט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

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.

תפילה למי שצריך לאכול בימי צום | Prayer for those who need to eat on fast days (A Mitzvah to Eat, 2022)

Contributor(s):

Anat Sharbat (translation), Sarah Osborne and A Mitzvah to Eat

Categories:

Fasting, Khaf Sivan, Shiv'ah Asar b'Tamuz, Tishah b'Av, Tsom Gedalyah, Asarah b'Tevet, Shiv'ah b'Adar, Ta'anit Esther

Tags:

עינוי Innui (self-affliction), fasting, פיקוח נפש piqoaḥ nefesh, תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Needing Vocalization

This prayer for those who must eat on Jewish fast days, was shared by Sarah Osborne for A Mitzvah to Eat on Facebook. The Hebrew translation of the prayer was offered by Rabba Dr. Anat Sharbat. . . .

אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים | El Malé Raḥamim for the victims of the Chmielnicki massacre (1648-1649), composed in memory of Yəḥiel Mikhel ben Eliezer, the Martyr of Nemyriv (ca. late 17th c.)

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Unknown Author(s)

Categories:

Khaf Sivan

Tags:

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

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. . . .

Ḳinah for the Chmielnicki Massacres of 1648–1649, by Yaaqov Ḳoppel ben Tsvi Margoliyot (1658)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation), Jacob Chatinover (translation) and Yaaqov Ḳoppel ben Tsvi Margoliyot

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. . . .

שַׁאֲלִי שְׂרוּפָה בָּאֵשׁ | Sha’ali Serufah ba-Esh (Question, Burnt in the Fire), a Ḳinah for Tishah 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

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 ḳinnah “Sha’ali Serufah ba-Esh.” . . .

אֱלֹהִים בְּעָלֽוּנוּ | Elohim B’alunu — a seliḥah on the York massacre of 1190 by Joseph ben Asher of Chartres (trans. Isaac Gantwerk Mayer)

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Yosef ben Asher (of Chartres)

Categories:

Khaf Sivan, Tishah b'Av

Tags:

קינות Ḳinnot, British Jewry, 12th century C.E., Alphabetic Acrostic, 50th century A.M., York Massacre of 1190, King Richard I, סליחות seliḥot, acrostic

This seliḥah poem, written by R. Joseph of Chartres, commemorates the martyrdom of approximately 150 Jews in Clifford’s Tower, York, England, in the year 1190. A summary of the events of 1190, sometimes referred to as “the English Masada,” can be found here. Like many medieval Jewish poems about massacres, Elohim B’alunu carefully treads the line between assuming guilt and declaring innocence. This poem, interestingly enough, directly calls out the person seen by R. Joseph of Chartres as ultimately responsible — the crusader King Richard Ⅰ. Beloved in Christian memory, this radical zealot of a king has a much darker, more horrific reputation among Jewish and Muslim groups. . . .

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

Categories:

Khaf Sivan, Tishah b'Av

Tags:

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

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. . . .