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🖖︎ Prayers & Praxes // 🌔︎ Prayers for the Moon, Month, and Festival Calendar // Commemorative Festivals & Fasts // Fast Days //   Contributor(s):While we focus on the Temple’s destruction and all that is related to the ninth of Av I believe that our internal work reflects how we see and perceive the external. . . . Contributor(s):This is an original piyyut, inspired by the structure of the beloved Yom Kippur Ne’ilah piyyut El Nora ‘Alila. In the era of the Sanhedrin, every fast day would have a Ne’ilah service between Minḥa and the conclusion of the fast. While these are no longer in practice for any days other than Yom Kippur, the editor personally feels like it could be worth bringing them back. As part of this idea, this piyyut is meant to be sung after the end of Tishah b’Av mincha but before the fast ends, as we prepare for the weeks of comfort. It is expressly *not* a qinah. . . . Contributor(s):“Comfort in Ruin: Tishah b’Av” was written by Rabbi Menachem Creditor and shared by the author via the Open Siddur Project Discussion Group on Facebook, 27 July 2023. . . . תפילה לתשעה באב | Prayer for the Wellbeing of the State of Israel on Tishah b’Av 5783, by Rabbi David Bigman Contributor(s):Former students felt the need for a special prayer for peace in the State of Israel in her present condition. I wrote this prayer yesterday (the eve of 7th Av 5783) and I felt as if I was praying while I wrote it. Students and friends, please send your constructive criticism. The prayer is for you to use on Tishah b’Av, on Shabbatot and in synagogues or in any other context. . . . Contributor(s):This qinah purposely follows the structure of, and borrows phrases from, the text of Ma’oz Tzur. It was inspired by, of all things, a “Ruin a song by changing the first three words” Facebook post – someone had responded to it with “Ma’oz Tzarot…” and the rest all but wrote it itself. . . . תפילה למי שצריך לאכול בימי צום | Prayer for those who need to eat on fast days (A Mitzvah to Eat, 2022) Contributor(s):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. . . . ברכת המזון לסעודה מפסקת ערב תשעה בעב | Birkat haMazon for the Seudah Mafseqet (Pre-Fast Meal) of Tishah b’Av, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer Contributor(s):A Birkat haMazon with additions for the pre-Fast meal of Tisha b’Av . . . על אלה אנו בוכים | Al eleh anu bokhim (For these we weep), a lamentation for humanity’s destruction of habitat and species, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org) Contributor(s):A ḳinnah for humanity’s willful, negligent, and callous destruction of habitat and species known and unknown. . . . אֱלִי צִיּוֹן וְעָרֶיהָ | Eli Tsiyon v’Arehah — Coronavirus, by Daniel Olson & Rabbi Benjamin Goldberg (2020) Contributor(s):An adaptation of the kinnah, “Eli Tsiyon v’Ar’eha,” Composed for Tisha B’Av 5780 in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. . . . Contributor(s):A meditation on living through the lens of dying. . . . How Desolate Lie Our Borders, a prayer adaptated from Eikhah for a Tishah b’Av vigil at an immigrant detention center by Rabbi Brant Rosen (2019) Contributor(s):A prayer for the correction of the United States immigration policy in support of immigrants and open borders. . . . אוֹי לַלֵב שֶׁאֵינָה שְׁבוּרָה | Woe to the Heart that is not Broken, a ḳinnah by Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Cohen (2019) Contributor(s):A ḳinnah composed in response to the agonizing and cruel United States immigration policy implemented under the presidency of Donald Trump. . . . Contributor(s):“For Tisha be’Av: Our Cherished Litany of Loss” by Rabbi Menachem Creditor was first published on his website, here. . . . Contributor(s):A Tishah b’Av seliḥah for Gaza during the 2014 Gaza War. . . . ברכת המזון לסעודת ההבראה במוצאי תשעה באב | Birkat Hamazon additions for the Break Fast Meal after Tishah b’Av Contributor(s):Supplemental prayers for the Birkat Hamazon for the break fast meal after Tisha b’Av. . . . Contributor(s):Supplemental prayers for the Birkat Hamazon on Tisha b’Av, Tu b’Av, and Shabbat Naḥamu. . . . Contributor(s):A playful, expansive, embodied riff on “Hashiveinu Hashem eilecha v’nashuva, ḥadesh yameinu k’kedem.” Suitable for Tisha B’Av, Elul, the Days of Awe, and every day. . . . Contributor(s):“A Memory’s fire burns within me still” was adapted by Andrew Meit from Gabriel Seed’s translation of the kinah, Aish Tukad b’kirbi (“A Fire Shall Burn Within Me”). . . . Contributor(s):“Kinah Lekhurban Gan Eden” was written by Richard Kaplan and first published as the fourth track to his album Life of the Worlds: Journeys in Jewish Sacred Music (2003). This work is under the copyright stewardship of the estate of Richard Kaplan and was republished here at the request of Barak Gale who made a recording of the song with the permission of Richard Kaplan while he was alive. . . . Contributor(s):This untitled prayer written by Isaac Bashevis Singer on the back of a receipt (dated 1 March 1952) was discovered by David Stromberg in 2014 in the archives at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas, and published online by Tablet (1, 2) with permission of the Susan Schulman Literary Agency. . . . Contributor(s):“That Religion Be Not a Cloak for Hypocrisy,” by Rabbi Mordecai Menaḥem Kaplan can be found on p. 435-5 of his The Sabbath Prayer Book (New York: The Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945). . . . Contributor(s):This prayer for “The Ninth of Ab” by Rabbi Abraham Cronbach is found in his, Prayers of the Jewish Advance (1924), on pages 60-65. . . . Contributor(s):“The City of Light” is a poem written by Felix Adler. The earliest publication I could find for it dates to 1882, in Unity: Freedom, Fellowship and Character in Religion vol. 8, no. 12 (16 Feb. 1882), p. 477. . . . Prayer for the Anniversary of the Destruction of the Temple (תשעה באב), by Rabbi Moritz Mayer (1866) Contributor(s):A prayer for Tisha b’Av. . . . Am Zerstörungstage Jerusalems, den 9. des Monats Aw (תשעת באב) | [Prayer] on the day of Jerusalem’s destruction: the 9th of Av, by Fanny Neuda (1855) Contributor(s):A supplicatory prayer for mourning on Tish’a b’Av. . . . Announcement of the Count of Years since the Destruction of the (First) Temple, from the Yemenite Baladi-Rite (Tikhlal Ets Ḥayyim of Yiḥya Tsalaḥ) Contributor(s):Many communities have a custom of announcing on the night of 9 Av the years since the destruction of the Temple. The Yemenite rite is unique in that it announces both the years since the destruction of the second, but also the years since the destruction of the first, in this poetic form recited after the conclusion of the evening kinnot. Why? Because the Yemenite community traced its origins back to the destruction of the first temple, claiming not to have returned under Ezra. Here the original Hebrew text is included along with a new translation and a transcription in the Yemenite pronunciation style. . . . Prayer on the Ninth Day of Aḇ תשעה באב the anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem, by Marcus Heinrich Bresslau (1852) Contributor(s):A prayer for the 9th of Av, the anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem. . . . Contributor(s):This prayer and “A Prayer for Knowledge of the Messiah” were published as “Two Short Prayers” with a lengthy introduction probably penned by Isaac Leeser in the Occident 9:5, Ab 5611/August 1851, p.253-255. . . . Contributor(s):This prayer and “A Prayer for the Love of God” were published as “Two Short Prayers” with a lengthy introduction probably penned by Isaac Leeser in the Occident 9:5, Ab 5611/August 1851, p.253-255. . . . Contributor(s):“Naḥamu (Comfort Ye!),” by J.C.L., published in 1842, appears as Hymn 2 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), p. 7. . . . Mournfully Chant! For Our Choir Accords – a hymn for Tishah b’Av by Penina Moïse (Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim 1842) Contributor(s):“Mournfully chant! for our choir accords,” by Penina Moïse, published in 1842, appears under the subject “Commemoration of the Destruction of Jerusalem (Tishnga Beab)” as Hymn 74 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), p. 77. . . . Contributor(s):“Wo unto Zion! she is spoiled,” by Penina Moïse, published in 1842, appears under the subject “Commemoration of the Destruction of Jerusalem (Tishnga Beab)” as Hymn 73 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), pp. 76-77. . . . Contributor(s):“Why mourneth Zion’s daughter now,” by Penina Moïse, published in 1842, appears under the subject “Commemoration of the Destruction of Jerusalem (Tishnga Beab)” as Hymn 72 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), pp. 75-76. . . . אָב הָרַחֲמִים שׁוֹכֵן מְרוֹמִים | Av haRaḥamim Shokhein Meromim, a prayer for the martyred during the First Crusade & Rhineland massacres Contributor(s):A prayer for those martyred in the First Crusade and Rhineland Massacres, and by extension, all subsequent pogroms up until and including the Holocaust. . . . Am Tage der Zerstörung Jerusalems (תשעה באב) | On the Fast of the 9th of Av, a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829) Contributor(s):“Am Fasttage des vierten Monats” was translated/adapted by Yehoshua Heshil Miro and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaicher Religion. It first appears in the 1829 edition, תחנות Teḥinot ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaicher Religion as teḥinah №28 on pp. 36-37. In the 1835 edition, it appears as teḥinah №28 on pp. 42-43. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №30 on pp. 45-46. . . . Contributor(s):The hymn “Although the vine its fruit deny” by Abraham Moïse (ca.1799-1869), is presented as Hymn 1 in The Sabbath service and miscellaneous prayers, adopted by the Reformed society of Israelites, founded in Charleston, S.C., November 21, 1825 (1830), p. 55. . . . Contributor(s):“Brich aus in lauten Klagen” by Heinrich Heine was preserved in a letter he wrote to his friend Moses Moser dated 25 October 1824. The poem is included in Heinrich Heine’s Letters on The Rabbi of Bacharach, the manuscript of which only survived in a fragment, the rest having been lost, according to Heine, in a fire. The English translation here by Nina Salaman was transcribed from her anthology, Apples & Honey (1921) where it appears under the title of “Martyr-Song,” published at an earlier date in The Jewish Chronicle. . . . 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):A translation in German and English of the ḳinnah “Sha’ali Serufah ba-Esh.” . . . וְאָהִימָה מִיָּמִים יָמִימָה | v’Ahimah Miyamim Yamimah: I Will Wail for All Time (translated by Hillary and Daniel Chorny) Contributor(s):“V’ahimah Miyamim Yamimah” is a ḳinah that recounts the tragic tale of the children of Rabbi Yishmael as told in the Babylonian Talmud (Gittin 58a). The handsome brother and fair sister were separated and sold into slavery during the conquest of Jerusalem. Their respective masters, not knowing the two were siblings, paired them with the intent of creating beautiful offspring. In their shared cell, the two wept all night until morning, when they recognized one another. They cried on each other’s necks until their souls departed from their bodies. The narrator of our story laments their terrible fate, ending each verse with a haunting refrain: “And so I will wail for all time.” . . . Contributor(s):This beautiful piyyut of unknown authorship is recited in most Sephardic, Mizrahi and Yemenite traditions on Tisha B’ab at Minḥah. In its stanzas, rich and replete with biblical references (as is particularly common in Sephardic Piyyut), God speaks to Jerusalem and promises to comfort her, and comfort and redeem her people. . . . Contributor(s):One of the most well-known of the kinot (liturgical poems for mourning), Eli Tsiyon v’Areha is an alphabetical acrostic describing the destruction of Jerusalem. It is recited towards the conclusion of ḳinot, due to the hopeful note in the comparison of Zion to a woman about to give birth, thought by many to be a messianic reference. The author of the work is unknown. . . . אֵשׁ תּוּקַד בְּקִרְבִּי | Aish Tuqad b’Qirbi: A Fire Shall Burn Within Me, translated by Gabriel Seed Contributor(s):Aish Tukad is a ḳinah for Tishah b’Av, usually recited towards the conclusion of the set of dirges for the morning service (in Goldshmidt’s numbering, it is number 32 of our 46 Kinot). According to Goldshmidt’s introduction, the structure of this Piyyut is based on a Midrash in Eicha Zuta 19, where Moses’ praises for God and Israel are seen as parallel to Jeremiah’s laments, thus creating the concept of a comparison between the joy of the Exodus and the pain of the Temple’s destruction. . . . Contributor(s):This qina is recited in the Spanish-Portuguese rite (as practiced in the Snoge in Amsterdam, the Bevis Marks Synagogue in London, and Shearith Israel in New York City among many other communities) at the conclusion of the recitation of qinot on the evening of the Ninth of Aḅ. Its refrain, taken from the Four Questions of the Passover liturgy, is reframed* as a reflection of the suffering of such a day, contrasting the celebration of salvation on Passover with the fear and desolation of the fast day. . . . בּוֹרֵא עַד אָנָּה | Borei Ad Anah (“Creator! How long”), a ḳinah after the Spanish Expulsion (ca. 16th c.) Contributor(s):“Bore ‘Ad Anah” is a ḳinah recited in a number of Sephardic communities on Tishah b’Av (or in some cases on Shabbat Hazon, the Shabbat preceding Tishah b’Av), particularly in the Spanish-Portuguese and North African traditions. The author is unknown, but his name is likely Binyamin based on the acrostic made up of the first letters of the verses. In the kinah, the Children of Israel are compared to a wandering dove caught in a trap by predators, crying out its father, God. The ḳinah was likely written as a poignant response to the Spanish Inquisition, appropriate to Tishah b’Av since the expulsion of the Jews from Spain occurred on the 9th of Av in the year 1492. The version presented here was likely censored, as many manuscripts have the fifth verse presented in the following manner directly calling out their Catholic oppressors,” יועצים עליה עצות היא אנושה זרים העובדים אלילים שלושה אם ובן ורוח כי אין להם בושה גדול ממכאובי.” “They counsel against her and she languishes, the strangers who worship three idols, father, son and spirit, for they have no shame and great is my suffering.” . . . אַף אֹרַח מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ | Af Oraḥ Mishpatekha — an Ofan for Shabbat Ḥazon by Rabbi Elazar ben R’ Yehudah of Worms Contributor(s):“Af Oraḥ Mishpatekha” is an ofan, a type of piyyut recited as a part of the Ḳedushah d-Yotzer liturgy as an introduction to Ezekiel 3:12. Specifically, it is an ofan written by the Rokeaḥ, R. El’azar ben R. Yehuda of Worms, for the morning liturgy on Shabbat Ḥazon, the Shabbat before Tishah b’Av. It is here included along with an original translation and with cited verses marked. Also included is a series of images from a 1714 maḥzor printed in Frankfurt au Main that includes the piyyut. To note, the text included above is not exactly the same as that of the 1714 maḥzor, having been edited in accordance with Isaac Meiseles’s 1993 critical edition of the Rokeaḥ’s work. . . . 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):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):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. . . . אוֹי מֶה הָיָה לָנוּ | Oy Meh Haya Lanu (Oy What Has Happened to Us), by Barukh ben Shmuel of Mainz (ca. 12th c.) Contributor(s):“Oy Meh Haya Lanu” is a ḳinah traditionally recited on the night of Tisha b’Av directly after the reading of Eikha. According to the Koren Mesorat HaRav Kinot, it is number 1 of 50. The title is the refrain of the poem, a reflective lament. This ḳinah is based on the fifth and final chapter of Eikha, taking the opening phrase of each line of the megillah as the first line of each couplet and poetically expanding the description for the second. This translation is an attempt to convey the vulgarity and horror of the paytan’s depiction of the destroyed Jerusalem in vernacular English. The ḳinah ends just as the megillah ends, with the four verses of pleas for redemption. . . . שׁוֹמְרוֹן קוֹל תִּתֵּן (אשכנז) | Shomron Qol Titein, a qinah for Tishah b’Av by Shlomo ibn Gabirol (ca. 11th c.) Contributor(s):This is a variation of the qinah for Tishah b’Av, “Shomron Qol Titein” in its Ashkenazi nusaḥ. Isaac Gantwerk Mayer first shared this translation via his Facebook page on Tishah b’Av, 2022. . . . Contributor(s):“Alelai Li” is a ḳinah recited on the morning of Tisha bAv. It was written by HaKalir around the 7th century. According to the Koren Mesorat HaRav Kinot, it is number 17 of 50. The title is the refrain of the poem and is an onomatopoeic whimper (try saying it aloud, focusing on the alliteration). It is difficult to translate the opening word “im” which means “if” or “should”. This is an allusion to Job 10:15, “If I have done evil, then woe unto me.” I have decided to translate the ḳinah not in the conditional tense (which would render “If these horrible things happened, then woe is me!”) but as a lament upon memory; however, the former would be a more accurate (if not more awkward in English) translation. Adding to the awkwardness of the poem’s language is the feminine conditional verb that each line has after the word “im”. I have maintained this strange verb tense and placement in my translation by using the English progressive tense. The ḳinah ends with a collection in lines in a different meter suggesting that the Holy One (and the paytan himself) is angered that the Jewish people announce their sufferings but not their transgressions. . . .
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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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