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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 LANGUAGE: “English”” (clear filter)

Sorted Chronologically (old to new). Sort most recent first?

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

“Feldmesten or Measuring the Graves” by Alter Abelson, appears in the section “The Modern Period” in The Standard Book of Jewish Verse (Joseph Friedlander and George Alexander Kohut, 1917), pp. 698-699. The poem may have first been published in the 26 September 1913 edition of the Hebrew Standard, p.10.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., ABAB rhyming scheme, English poetry, פעלד־מעסטען feldmesten, memento mori, ḳever mesten

Contributor(s):

Alter Abelson 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.

Categories:

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)

Prayer for all Jewish Communities in Germany for the Eve of the Day of Atonement, by Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck (10 October 1935)

This is the prayer which Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck had disseminated to Jewish communities throughout Germany to recite on Yom Kippur, 10 October 1935. The German text here is as found in the archival notes of Helmut Grünewald, Ein Judenjunge durfte kein Deutscher sein (Bristol, 1998), pp. 20-21 in the collection of the Leo Baeck Institute. The English translation is as published by Dr. Michael Meyer in Rabbi Leo Baeck: Living a Religious Imperative in Troubled Times (2020), pp. 106-107.

Categories:

🇮🇱 Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), Kristallnacht (9-10 November, 16 Marḥeshvan), Yom Kippur

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., עמידה amidah, German Jewry, German vernacular prayer, standing meditation, Third Reich, Yom Kippur

Contributor(s):

Leo Baeck 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]

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

“The Open Door of the Heart” by Rabbi Morrison David Bial was first published in his anthology, An Offering of Prayer (1962), pp. 43-44, from where this prayer was transcribed.

Categories:

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

Tags:

20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., exhortation, Prayers for Praying, רשויות reshuyot, self-care, תשובה teshuvah, תוכחות tokheḥot, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah

Contributor(s):

Morrison David Bial and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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)

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)

This is a kavvanah (intention) for anyone in a desperate circumstance of needing to eat or drink for their mortal health, to do so with the full confidence that they are fulfilling a mitsvah required for them in the Torah, to preserve their life. The kavvanah was related by Rav Yitschok Zilberstein in his Toras haYoledes (1983), chapter 52, section 10, p. 357 (pp. 331-332 in the bilingual edition 1989), “הועתק ממחזור עתיק” (as “copied from an old maḥzor”). Unfortunately, we can’t provide a more direct reference to this maḥzor. If you know, please leave a comment or contact us.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

fasting, עינוי Innui (self-affliction), כוונות kavvanot, Needing Attribution, פיקוח נפש piqoaḥ nefesh

Contributor(s):

Yitzchok Zilberstein, Unknown and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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

“Between the Fires: A Prayer for lighting Candles of Commitment” was composed by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, drawing on traditional midrash about the danger of a Flood of Fire, and the passage from Malachi.

Categories:

Erev Shabbat, Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System, Shavuot, Erev Pesaḥ, Sukkot, Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit), Yom Kippur, Ecotastrophes

Tags:

20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., candle lighting, eco-conscious, ecoḥasid, English vernacular prayer, כוונות kavvanot, kindling, North America

Contributor(s):

Arthur Waskow and the Shalom Center

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)

This egalitarian adaptation of the Me she’Ana seliḥah for the season of Teshuvah was made by Julia Andelman and Lisa Exler in September 2004.

Categories:

Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit), Yom Kippur

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., עננו anenu, Avot and Imahot, egalitarian, in the merit of our ancestors, מי שענה Mi She’anah, North America, סליחות səliḥot, traditional egalitarian, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah

Contributor(s):

Rabbi Julia Andelman, Lisa Exler and Unknown

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

This “Meditation before Yom Kippur for One who Cannot Fast” (2005) was written by Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub, LCSW, Rabbinic Director, National Center for Jewish Healing. It appears in הַרְחֶב פִּֽיךָ וַאֲמַלְאֵֽהוּ Open Your Mouth Wide, and I (God) Will Fill It: Prayers and Rituals for those who need to eat on Yom Kippur (2022), p. 11.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

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

Contributor(s):

Simkha Y. Weintraub

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

Judy Gumbo co-authored this Al Ḥeit with her partner Stew Albert, ז״ל, before his passing in 2006. This Al Ḥeit was most recently used as part of Yom Kippur Kol Nidre services across the country in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street 5772.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., על חטא Al Ḥeyt, English vernacular prayer, liberation, North America, סליחות səliḥot, וידוי vidui

Contributor(s):

Judy Gumbo and Stew Albert

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

Eternal God, You created earth and heavens with mercy,
and blew the breath of life into animals and human beings.
We were created amidst a world of wholeness,
a world called “very good,” pure and beautiful,
but now your many works are being erased by us from the book of life.

Categories:

Yom Kippur, Ecotastrophes

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., על חטא Al Ḥeyt, communal confession, eco-conscious, וידוי vidui

Contributor(s):

David Seidenberg

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

A personal declaration to become a shomer/et shalom on Yom Kippur.

Categories:

Yom Kippur, Social Justice, Peace, and Liberty

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., affirmations, Needing Translation (into Hebrew), non-violence, peace, vows

Contributor(s):

Brant Rosen

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

A supplement to the Al Ḥet of the Yom Kippur vidui.

Categories:

Yom Kippur

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., על חטא Al Ḥeyt, English vernacular prayer, Needing Translation (into Hebrew), supplemental vidui, וידוי vidui

Contributor(s):

Brant Rosen

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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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