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. Filter resources by Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
This poem was composed at the end of August 2020 / Elul 5780 as part of Rabbi Katy Allen’s Earth Etudes for Elul 5780. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This prayer by Lior bar-Ami for the ḥazzan of services during the Yamim Noraim (days of awe) was first offered in German and English in 2020. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The ritual of kaparot using a bundle of money dedicated for tsedaqah. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The words of Avinu Malkeinu are a little different from the standard translation. It doesn’t say in Hebrew, “we have no good deeds” (ein lanu ma’asim tovim), but rather, “there are no deeds in us” (ein banu ma’asim). The p’shat (literal meaning) implies that whatever we have done in the past does not have to live inside of us — we can release our deeds and be released from them, fully, to start over, like a newborn, to become whoever we need to become. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This is an egalitarian version of the Aneinu litany recited at the end of Seliḥot services, featuring equal representation for the women of the Tanakh and Talmud. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): An alternate Vidui for Yom Kipur, including an alphabetical list of the things we’ve done wrong in the past year, and also an alphabetical list of the things we can do right in the new year. Includes the words to “Ani v’Ata”, the song of optimism and commitment to improve the world. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): “Ashamnu” was written by the author in response to the conflict in Gaza on 30 December 2023 and first published on 1 October 2024 on their Substack account. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The ofan piyyuṭ for Shabbat Shuva, minhag Polin, by the great payṭan Menaḥem ben Rabbi Makhir. A half-acrostic, each stanza begins with a word from parashat Ha’azinu, usually read on Shabbat Shuva, and ends with a verse that includes the word “holy” or “sanctify” in it. Categories: Tags: 11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., Acrostic signature, phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, Alphabetic Acrostic, German translation, Minhag Polin, ofanim, פיוטים piyyuṭim, שבת תשובה Shabbat Teshuvah, יוצר אור yotser ohr Contributor(s): The yotser for Shabbat Shuva, minhag Polin, by the great payṭan Menaḥem ben Rabbi Makhir. Each line ends with a verse from either Hosea or Joel, the two books from which Ashkenazim read as the haftara on Shabbat Shuva. Also included is a German translation by Isaac Seligman Baer. Categories: Tags: 11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., Acrostic signature, phonetic alphabetic acrostic translation, Alphabetic Acrostic, German translation, Minhag Polin, פיוטים piyyuṭim, שבת תשובה Shabbat Teshuvah, יוצר אור yotser ohr, יוצרות yotsrot Contributor(s): The zulat piyyuṭ for Shabbat Shuva, minhag Polin, by the great payṭan Menaḥem ben Rabbi Makhir. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This is a prayer for Yom Kippur. It started out as a meditation on Yizkor, hence the אל מלא רחמים form at the beginning. It quickly changed to a prayer for insight and change and the possiblity of tshuvah in this moment. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Traditional Ashkenazi practice entailed the recitation of a large number of seliḥot piyyutim in every single one of the Yom Kippur ‘amidot. In many Ashkenazi communities today, these are (excepting Ma’ariv and Ne’ilah) skipped on account of time. But this has always felt like a great shame to me, because seliḥot are, in a sense, the theological and liturgical core of the Yom Kippur practice. So a while back I made a bunch of spreadsheets to compare all the attested Yom Kippur seliḥot rites as listed in Goldschmidt’s maḥzor, and designed an abbreviated cycle of seliḥot for Shaḥarit, Musaf, and Minḥah. Each cycle features two regular seliḥot, one ‘aqedah (a retelling of the binding of Isaac), and one pizmon (a final seliḥah with a repeated refrain, sung communally), for a total of four seliḥot and five repetitions of the thirteen attributes. This is the first result of this process, for Shaḥarit. Musaf and Minḥah selections will arrive eventually, albeit probably not this year. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): |
![the Open Siddur Project [logo]](https://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Open-Siddur-Project-Logo-2016.svg){kind=logo}
“Avinu Malkeinu,” dvar tefillah by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid·org)
The words of Avinu Malkeinu are a little different from the standard translation. It doesn’t say in Hebrew, “we have no good deeds” (ein lanu ma’asim tovim), but rather, “there are no deeds in us” (ein banu ma’asim). The p’shat (literal meaning) implies that whatever we have done in the past does not have to live inside of us — we can release our deeds and be released from them, fully, to start over, like a newborn, to become whoever we need to become.