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Yom Kippur

This is an archive of prayers, prayer-poems, and songs for Yom haKippurim (the Day of Expiation), the second of the three Yamim Nora'im (Days of Awe).

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

PrayersMahzorim Readings

Resources filtered by TAG: “English vernacular prayer” (clear filter)

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The Confession, an excerpt from Kether Malkhut (Crown of Royalty) by Shlomo ibn Gabirol adapted by Elsie Davis

An adaptation in rhymed English verse of an excerpt of Shlomo ibn Gabirol’s Keter Malkhut Elsie Davis. First published in The Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 7, No. 3 (April 1895), pp. 461-464. The adaptation begins with section 34 of the piyyut.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, interpretive translation, rhyming translation, וידוי vidui

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Elsie Davis (translation) and Shlomo ibn Gabirol

מִי יִתְּנֵנִי עֶבֶד אֱלוֹהַּ עוֹשֵׂנִי | Mi Yitneni Eved Elo’ah Oseni (“Servant of God”), a piyyut by Yehudah ha-Levi (adapted rhyming English translation by Alice Lucas, 1894)

“Servant of God” is an adapted English rhmying translation by Alice Montefiore Lucas of a piyyut by Yehudah haLevi, first published in the former’s first collection of translations Songs of Zion by Hebrew Singers of Mediæval Times (1894), pp. 9-12.

Categories:

Yom Kippur Qatan, Yom Kippur

Tags:

English vernacular prayer, rhyming translation, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Alice Montefiore Lucas (translation), the Ben Yehuda Project (transcription) and Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi

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

“Prayer for the Penitential Days” by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in the UK edition of Sacred Communings, pp. 90-91. It is not found in the US edition.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., Aseret Yemei Tshuvah, English vernacular prayer, paraliturgical seliḥot, סליחות səliḥot, תחינות teḥinot, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

Grace Aguilar and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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

“Meditation for the Penitential Days” by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in the UK edition of Sacred Communings, pp. 88-90. It is not found in the US edition.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., Aseret Yemei Tshuvah, English vernacular prayer, paraliturgical reflections, paraliturgical seliḥot, סליחות səliḥot

Contributor(s):

Grace Aguilar and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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

“Eternal love is Thine,” by Caroline de Litchfield Harby (ca.1800-1876), first publishedin 1842, appears under the subject “Day of Atonement: Yom HaKippureem” as Hymn 62 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), p. 64.

Categories:

Yom Kippur, Repenting, Resetting, and Reconciliation

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., ABAB rhyming scheme, English vernacular prayer, hymns, South Carolina, תשובה teshuvah

Contributor(s):

Caroline de Litchfield Harby, Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim (Charleston, South Carolina) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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

“My heart is bared to thee, oh Lord,” by Penina Moïse, published in 1842, appears under the subject “Day of Atonement (Yome Hakipureem)” as Hymn 61 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), pp. 63-64.

Categories:

Yom Kippur, Repenting, Resetting, and Reconciliation

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., ABAB rhyming scheme, English vernacular prayer, hymns, South Carolina

Contributor(s):

Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim (Charleston, South Carolina), Penina Moïse and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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

“Lord of the world! when I behold ,” by Penina Moïse, published in 1842, appears under the subject “Day of Atonement (Yome Hakipureem)” as Hymn 63 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), pp. 64-65.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., ABAB rhyming scheme, English vernacular prayer, hymns, South Carolina

Contributor(s):

Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim (Charleston, South Carolina), Penina Moïse and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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

One of the most revolutionary alterations made by the early Reform movement in Germany was their replacement of Kol Nidre with a German hymn, sung to the same melody: O Tag des Herrn. But when the early Reformers came to the United States, they adopted a new language, English. In 1866, the American Reform Jewish community was largely bilingual in German and English, and Isaac Mayer (No Relation) Wise’s 1866 service for the Day of Atonement took account for that, including a singable English translation of the singable German replacement for Kol Nidre. I have also included a musical score which uses I. M. Wise’s English text in Louis Lewandowsky’s original setting of O Tag des Herrn.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Classical Reform, English Translation, English vernacular prayer, German vernacular prayer, O Tag des Herrn, paraliturgical kol nidrei

Contributor(s):

Isaac Mayer Wise, Leopold Stein and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut)

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

A prayer for a woman pleading for atonement in the final service of Yom Kippur at sunset.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Jewish Women's Prayers, תחינות teḥinot

Contributor(s):

Moritz Mayer and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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

A prayer for a woman pleading for atonement on Yom Kippurim.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Angelic Protection, English vernacular prayer, Jewish Women's Prayers, תחינות teḥinot

Contributor(s):

Moritz Mayer and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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

This penitential prayer dated “Tishri 5628 [October 1867]” was offered in conclusion to “A Penitential Sermon” reprinted in The Jewish Messenger on 25 November 1867. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 34, clipping 041), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.)

Categories:

Yom Kippur, Hoshana Rabba, Repenting, Resetting, and Reconciliation

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Philadelphia, Ḳ.Ḳ. Miḳveh Israel (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), סליחות səliḥot, תשובה teshuvah

Contributor(s):

Sabato Morais and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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)

Angie Irma Cohon’s “Day of God” is a hymn for Yom Kippur, an abbreviated adaptation of “O Tag des Herrn!,” a paraliturgical Kol Nidrei by Leopold Stein, translated from German to English by Frederick Lucian Hosmer. Cohon’s abridged rendering is published in תפלת ישראל (Tefilat Yisrael) A Brief Jewish Ritual (Women of Miẓpah 1921), p. 20.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, hymns, O Tag des Herrn, paraliturgical kol nidrei

Contributor(s):

Angie Irma Cohon, Frederick Lucian Hosmer, Leopold Stein and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Yom Kippur—The Day of Atonement, a prayer for at-One-ment (CCAR 1923)

“Yom Kippur—The Day of Atonement” is the sixteenth prayer found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 57-60. Unfortunately, we do not yet know of a resource providing clear attribution of authorship for any of the prayers in this volume.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., alienation, Aseret Yemei Tshuvah, atonement, English vernacular prayer, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown and Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

God is Near, a prayer against alienation (CCAR 1923)

“God is Near” is the fifteenth prayer found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 53-56.

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Yom Kippur, Well-being, health, and caregiving

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., alienation, אנה אמצאך ana emtsaeka, Aseret Yemei Tshuvah, depression, English vernacular prayer, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown and Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

The Child’s Al Ḥet, by Rabbi Abraham Cronbach (1924)

This prayer for “The Child’s Al Chet” by Rabbi Abraham Cronbach is found in his, Prayers of the Jewish Advance (1924), on pages 124-126.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., children's prayers, English vernacular prayer, וידוי vidui

Contributor(s):

Abraham Cronbach and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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

The prayer-poem ““Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin”” by Miriam del Banco (1858-1931) was included in her posthumously published anthology, Poetry and Prose (1932), p. 94-95.

Categories:

Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit), Yom Kippur, Hoshana Rabba

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English poetry, English vernacular prayer, Prayers as poems, תשובה teshuvah, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah

Contributor(s):

Miriam del Banco and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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

This is the Kol Nidrei as offered by the Hannover Synagogue on Yom Kippur in 1937 according to the text provided in a poster, “Agende für Kol-nidre und Seelenfeier in der Synaogen-Gemeinde Hannover” (10 September 1937). Thank you to David Selis for providing digital images of the poster.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Classical Reform, English Translation, English vernacular prayer, German Jewry, German vernacular prayer, paraliturgical kol nidrei, Third Reich

Contributor(s):

Samuel Freund, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

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

This “Prayer for Service” on Shabbat Teshuvah (27 September 1941) by the Hon. Lily H. Montagu (1873-1963) from the archives of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, London, was published in, Lily Montagu: Sermons, Addresses, Letters, and Prayers (ed. Ellen M. Umansky, 1985), pp. 350-351.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., British Jewry, children's prayers, English vernacular prayer, שבת תשובה Shabbat Teshuvah, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah

Contributor(s):

Lilian Helen Montagu and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Repentance (CCAR 1951)

“Repentance” is the thirty-sixth prayer in the “Meditations” section of the Union Home Prayer Book (CCAR 1951), p. 200. It is one of only three new prayers found in this section (the others having been reprinted from CCAR’s 1923 collection of teḥinot).

Categories:

Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit), Yom Kippur, Hoshana Rabba

Tags:

20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, determinism, English vernacular prayer, self, תשובה teshuvah, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown and Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

Atonement Prayer, by Lilian Helen Montagu

This undated “Atonement Prayer” by the Hon. Lily H. Montagu (1873-1963) from the archives of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, London, was published in, Lily Montagu: Sermons, Addresses, Letters, and Prayers (ed. Ellen M. Umansky, 1985), p. 352.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, סליחות səliḥot, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah

Contributor(s):

Lilian Helen Montagu and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=406

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Eli Wallach (1915-2014), z"l, as "The Ugly" in THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY (dir. Sergio Leone, 1966) - cemetery scene

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "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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