This is an archive of prayers written for Shavuot, the festival of first fruit offerings. Click here to contribute a prayer you have written, or a historic prayer you have transcribed and translated for Shavuot. Filter resources by Collaborator Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
Psalms 67 is a priestly blessing for all the peoples of the earth to be sustained by the earth’s harvest (yevulah), and it is a petition that all humanity recognize the divine nature (Elohim) illuminating the world. Composed of seven verses, the psalm is often visually depicted as a seven branched menorah. There are 49 words in the entire psalm, and in the Nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l there is one word for each day of the Sefirat haOmer. Similarly, the fifth verse has 49 letters and each letter can be used as a focal point for meditating on the meaning of the day in its week in the journey to Shavuot, the festival of weeks (the culmination of the barley harvest), and the festival of oaths (shevuot) in celebration of receiving the Torah. Many of the themes of Psalms 67 are repeated in the prayer Ana b’Koaḥ, which also has 49 words, and which are also used to focus on the meaning of each day on the cyclical and labyrinthine journey towards Shavuot. . . .
Tags: 42 letter divine name, a red ribbon, acrostic, אנא בכח Ana b'Khoaḥ, anxiety, barley, captives, cyclical, Divine name acrostic, first fruits, labyrinth, Psalms 67, Raḥav, shalmah, walled cities, wheat
“An den Hauptfesten, wenn man Behufs der üblichen Vorlesungen die Gesetzrolle aus der heiligen Lade nimmt” was translated/adapted by Yehoshua Heshil Miro and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaischer Religion. It first appears in the 1829 edition, תחנות Teḥinot ein Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaischer Religion as teḥinah №18 on pp. 22-23. In the 1835 edition, it appears as teḥinah №18 on pp. 26-27. In the 1842 edition, it appears as teḥinah №20 on pp. 29-31. . . .
“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. . . .
Please God Let me light More than flame tonight. More than wax and wick and sliver stick of wood. More than shallow stream of words recited from a pocket book. . . .
Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., candle lighting, English poetry, English vernacular prayer, entering, fire, כוונות kavvanot, kindling, Light, potential, Prayers as poems, welcoming
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