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This is an archive of prayers, prayer-poems, and songs for Yom haKippurim.

Click here to contribute a prayer you have written, or a transcription or translation of a historical work by someone else.


Looking for something else?

For maḥzorim (festival prayerbooks) for Yom haKippurim, visit here.

For special Yom Kippur readings, go here.


פעלד־מעסטען | Feldmesten | Measuring of the Graves, a prayer-poem by Morris Rosenfeld (before 1898)

An Alternate Yom Kippur Vidui, by Ron Lee Meyers (2022)

An Intention for Eating on Yom Kippur, by Rabba Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez (2022)

A Prayer for Eating on Yom Kippur, by A Mitzvah to Eat (2022)

“Avinu Malkeinu,” dvar tefillah by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org)

עֲנֵֽנוּ‏ | Egalitarian Aneinu, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

כַּפָּרוֹת | Kaparōt (using money dedicated for charity), the ritual for the expiation of offenses before Yom Kippur

אדמה ושמים | Adamah v’Shamayim (Earth & Heaven), a prayer-poem by Rabbi Louis Polisson after the song by Shimon Lev-Tahor (Suissa)

Al Ḥeyt, a paraliturgical translation by Shelby Handler & Maia Brown

ברכת המזון לסעודה מפסקת לפני יום הכפורים | Birkat haMazon for the Pre-Fast Meal for Yom Kippur, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

תפלה לשליח ציבור | Hineni: The Prayer of the Shaliaḥ Tsibur, interpretive translation by Rabbi Oren Steinitz

A Prayer for Yom Kippur, by Andy Izenson

קדוש לסעודה מפסקת לפני יום הכפורים | Ḳiddush for the Seudah Mafseket before Yom Kippur, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Additions to Piyyutim on the High Holidays for the Shemitah Year, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org)

וִדּוּי | Vidui (confession), translated by Naomi Socher-Lerner

A Mini-Seliḥot, by Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Between the Fires: A Kavvanah for Lighting Candles of Commitment, by Rabbi Arthur Waskow (the Shalom Center)

On the Reconciliation of Yitsḥaq: a meditation on the Offering of the Two Goats on Yom Kippur, by Rabbi Arthur Waskow (the Shalom Center)

מִי שֶׁעָנָה…הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ | Mi she’Anah…Hu Ya’anenu :: A Star Trek Seliḥah, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

וידוי הגדול | Vidui HaGadol: The Great Confession, an Al Ḥeyt litany by Michal Talya

עַל חֵטְא | Interpretive Al Ḥeyt for Yom Kippur, by Rabbi Emily Aviva Kapor-Mater

A Story of the World (for the Avodah Service on Yom Kippur) by R’ Yonah Lavery-Yisraeli

Kavvanah before eating or drinking on Yom Kippur for military personnel on active service (IDF 2017)

מִי שֶׁעָנָה לָאִמָּהוֹת | Mi she-Anah la-Imahot (He who answered the foremothers), by Dr. Yael Levine (2017)

ודוי | Vidui meditation, by Danny Cohen

ודוי חיובית | Positive Vidui, by Rabbi Avi Weiss

עשרת ימי תשובה | My Ten Days of Repentance Writing Exercise, by David Wolkin

הַוִּדּוּי הַמַּשְׁלִים | HaVidui haMashlim (Complementary Confession), by Rabbi Binyamin Holtzman

Seliḥah to the Inner Child Within Us, by Miriam Rubin

A Prayer before Candle-lighting, by Chaya Kaplan-Lester

A Confession of Communal Complicity, an Al Ḥet supplement for Yom Kippur by Rabbi Brant Rosen

A Personal Vow to Accept upon Oneself the Way of Non-violence on Yom Kippur, by Rabbi Brant Rosen

על חטא | For the Sin of Destroying God’s Creation by Rabbi Danny Nevins, adapted by Rabbi David Seidenberg (2007)

Al Ḥeyt, by Stew Albert & Judy Gumbo (2006)

Meditation before Yom Kippur for One who Cannot Fast, by Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub (2005)

מִי שֶׁעָנָה…הוּא יַעֲנֵֽנוּ | Mi She’anah… Hu Ya’anenu — A Seliḥah for Yom Kippur (egal adaptation by Lisa Exler and Rabbi Julia Andelman, 2004)

Kavvanah before eating or drinking on Yom Kippur for those who must eat for the safety of their life, as found in Torat ha-Yoledet (Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein 1983)

The Open Door of the Heart, a prayer by Rabbi Morrison David Bial (1962)

Atonement Prayer, by Lilian Helen Montagu

סליחה לימים הנוראים | Seliḥah for the Days of Awe, by Rabbi Ben-Tsiyon Meir Ḥai Uziel

אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים | El Malé Raḥamim for Victims of the Shoah (the Netherlands, ca. late 1940s)

[Children’s] Prayer for Shabbat Teshuvah, by Lilian Helen Montagu (27 September 1941)

כׇּל נִדְרֵי | Alternative Kol Nidre from Synagogen-Gemeinde Hannover (1937)

אֲדוֹן הַסְּלִיחוֹת | Adon haSeliḥot, a pizmon for Seliḥot and Yom Kippur with an alphabetic acrostic translation by Rabbi David de Sola Pool (1937)

“Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin,” a prayer-poem by Miriam del Banco (1932)

הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחֹל | Hamavdil Ben Ḳodesh l’Ḥol, a piyyut attributed to Yitsḥaq ben Yehudah ibn Ghayyat (German translation by Franz Rosenzweig 1921)

Day of God, Leopold Stein’s “O Tag des Herrn!” (1840) adapted from Frederick Lucian Hosmer’s translation (1904) as a hymn for Yom Kippur by Angie Irma Cohon (1921)

Feldmesten or Measuring the Graves, a poem by Alter Abelson (1913)

Sündenbekenntnis (Widduj) | A prayer upon completing the Vidui on Yom Kippur, by Lise Tarlau (1907)

O Day of God, an English translation of Leopold Stein’s paraliturgical Kol Nidrei “O Tag des Herrn!” by Frederick Lucian Hosmer (1904)

הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחֹל | Hamavdil Ben Ḳodesh l’Ḥol, a piyyut attributed to Yitsḥaq ben Yehudah ibn Ghayyat (rhymed translation by Alice Lucas, 1898)

כִּי הִנֵּה כַּחֹֽמֶר | Ki Hineh Kaḥomer, rhymed translation by Alice Lucas (1898)

A Penitential Prayer, by Rabbi Sabato Morais (October 1867)

[Prayer] for the Day of Atonement, by Rabbi Moritz Mayer (1866)

Prayer for the Evening of the Day of Atonement (נעילה), by Rabbi Moritz Mayer (1866)

O Day of God, Leopold Stein’s paraliturgical Kol Nidrei “O Tag des Herrn” (1840) adapted in English by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise (1866)

Betrachtung am Neujahrsund Versöhnungstage | Meditation on Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur, by Fanny Neuda (1855)

Am Tage vor dem neuen Jahre oder dem Versöhnungsfeste, wenn man die Gräber besucht | [Prayer] for when you visit the graves on Erev Rosh haShanah or Yom Kippur before the Seudah Mafseket, by Fanny Neuda (1855)

Lord of the World! When I Behold – a hymn for Yom Kippur by Penina Moïse (Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim 1842)

My Heart is Bared to Thee, Oh Lord – a hymn for Yom Kippur by Penina Moïse (Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim 1842)

Eternal Love is Thine, a hymn for Yom Kippur by Caroline de Litchfield Harby (Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim 1842)

O Tag des Herrn! (O Day of YHVH), a paraliturgical Kol Nidrei by Leopold Stein (1840)

Meditation for the Penitential Days, by Grace Aguilar (ca. 1830s)

Prayer for the Penitential Days, by Grace Aguilar (ca. 1830s)

Am Neujahrstag und am Versöhnungstag, wenn der Vorbeter knieend spricht: וַאַנַחֲנוּ כּוֹרְעִים | On Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur, when the prayer leader kneels saying “va-anaḥnu kor’im”, a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1835)

כִּי־בַיּוֹם הַזֶּה | Ki vaYom haZeh, a Ḳaraite song for Yom Kippur

Gebet am Tage vor Neujahr und am Tage vor dem Versöhnungsfeste | Prayer on the day before Rosh haShanah and on the day before Yom Kippur, a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1835)

בָּרֲכִי נַפְשִׁי | Preise ihn, meine Seele! | Barkhi Nafshi, a piyyut by Yehudah haLevi in abridged translation by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1835)

Am Neujahrs⸗, am Versöhnungstage und am siebenten Tage des Laubhüttenfestes, wenn man Behufs der üblichen Vorlesungen die Gesetzrolle aus der heiligen Lade nimmt | On Rosh haShanah, Yom Kippur, and Hoshana Rabbah when one removes the Torah from the holy Ark, a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)

Am Neujahrstag und Versöhnungstag wenn der Vorbether Alenu sagt | On Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur at Aleinu, a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)

Betrachtungen für die zehn Bußtage | Reflections for the Ten Days of Penance, a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)

Andachtsübung über das Verhältniß der Kinder zu ihren Eltern | Devotional exercise on the relationship of children to their parents, a teḥinah for those with living parents during the Yizkor service by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)

Am Vorabend des Versöhnungstages (כל נדרי) | On the Eve of Yom Kippur (Kol Nidrei), a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)

Am Versöhnungstage, wenn aus der heiligen Schrift vorgelesen wird | During the Torah Reading Service on Yom Kippur, a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)

Am Versöhnungstag zu מנחה (über die Geschichte von Jona) | On reading the story of Yonah on Yom Kippur at Minḥah, a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)

Vor Neïla (Schlußgebet) | For Neïlah, a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1829)

א דוּדעלע (אַיֵּה אֶמְצָאֶךָּ)‏ | A Dudele (Where shall I seek you?), by Rabbi Levi Yitsḥaq of Berditchev (ca. 18th c.)

תחנה אמהות | Prayer for Yizkor, from the Tkhine of the Matriarchs by Seril Rappaport (ca. 18th century)

ברכת המזון ליום הכפורים | Poetic Birkat haMazon for the break-fast meal after Yom Kippur, as found in British Library MS Or. 9772 D

תחנה פאר די ליכט מאכין אום ערב יום כפור | Tkhine for Candlemaking on Erev Yom Kippur, by Sarah bat Tovim (ca. early 18th c.)