This is an archive of prayers, prayer-poems, and songs for the pilgrimage festival of סֻכּוֹת Sukkot. (In some older English translations, Sukkot is referred to as the Festival of "Tabernacles"). The seven day festival culminates with Hoshanah Rabba, the last of the three high holy days of atonement preceding Shemini Atseret upon which the Tefilat Geshem (prayer for rain) is offered for the fertility of all life on Earth and the resulting health of all peoples. The origin of Ḥanukkah underscores the significance of these festivals. During the Seleucid Greek occupation of Jerusalem in the 160s BCE, Sukkot and Shemini Atseret could not properly be celebrated in the second Temple. As a result, when the Temple was retaken by the Maccabees after the rainy season had already begun, the festival of Ḥanukkah was born with many of Sukkot and Shemini Atseret's rain and temple-offering oriented symbolism transformed to that of light and the temple illumination. Click here to contribute a prayer or a transcription or translation of a historic prayer. Filter resources by Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
This is Fanny Neuda’s “Prayer for the final days of Sukkot,” faithfully transcribed and proofread with the help of German Wikisource contributors from Fanny Neuda’s Stunden Der Andacht (1855), p. 66. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A prayer for a woman celebrating the first yontef of Sukkot. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This is Rabbi Max Landsberg’s public repetition of the shaḥarit festival amidah for Sukkot as found in his Ritual for Jewish Prayer (1884), pp. 21-28 with a unique prayer for Sukkot found on pp. 48-49. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This rhyming paraphrase of the blessing before waving the lulav on Sukkot was written by Jessie Ethel Sampter and published in her Around the Year in Rhymes for the Jewish Child (1920), p. 17. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): “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: Tags: Contributor(s): Aware of the willow [aravah], we awaken our “mouths,” our ability to communicate by voice, hand or type; we acknowledge the precious gift of communications from others, the 99% and the 1%, about their circumstances, their needs, offerings and hopes. Aware of the palm branch [lulav], we awaken our “spines,” our central strength; we acknowledge fellow citizens who take a stand, whether we agree with their stand or not, toward a vision of common good. Aware of the myrtle [hadas], we awaken our “eyes,” our ability to receive through whichever channels are available to us; we acknowledge our responsibility to remain open to others’ thoughts and experiences while also exercising discernment. Aware of the citron [etrog], we awaken our “hearts,” our source of connection; we acknowledge our inter-dependence and the importance of standing, expressing ourselves and learning from others. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): This is one of my favourite Sukkot piyyutim, not least because of the wonderful and easily singable call-and-response melody! The seven verses each highlight one of the seven traditional ushpizin [mythic guests], and a few years ago I wrote an additional seven verses for the seven female ushpizata according to the order of Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org). Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): The essential idea of the liturgy of Ushpizin is to invoke the energies of the seven lower Sefirot in the proper order, so that Shefa, blessing and sustenance, can be drawn down into the world. This is the essence of Kabbalistic liturgy, and a liturgy of the imahot would only make sense if it were to follow that pattern. That means we have the playfully serious task of finding a stable order for the imahot where no clear order exists. Categories: Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Ancestors, archetypes, Avot and Imahot, ecoḥasid, in the merit of our ancestors, North America, Prayers inside sukkot, קבלה ḳabbalah, ספירות sefirot, spirits, אושפיזתא Ushpizata, אושפיזין ushpizin Contributor(s): 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. Categories: 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 Contributor(s): “In the Sukkah At Least, It’s a Wonderful World” by Len Fellman was written for Sukkot in 2015. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A supplemental hoshana (prayer for salvation) for healing and consolation for the sake of true love, needed blessings, rainfall in a timely fashion, paths and their repair, mountains and their crossing, goals and objectives, lasting memories, good dreams, cosmic goodness, etc. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): There is a famous Seliḥot prayer where each of its lines has this structure: “May He who answered ___________, may he answer us.” The blank refers to assorted Biblical figures who faced great challenges, ranging from Avraham the Patriarch to Ezra the Scribe. The traditional list is also VERY male-focused, with the standard text only listing Esther from all the great Biblical women. This is a shame, and many have tried to remedy this. I have found myself under the opinion that all these remedies have a fault – they attempt to combine the original text with the new text. This means either the original text is shortened, or the full text is far too long. As well, the structure is very male-oriented as well, appealing to God’s male side and only using grammatically male language. Categories: Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Biblical Women, Divine Presence, אמהות Imahot, in the merit of our ancestors, מי שענה Mi She’anah, North America, סליחות səliḥot, שכינה Shekhinah, תשרי זמן Tishrei Zman, אושפיזתא Ushpizata Contributor(s): The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 24 September 2018. Categories: Tags: 115th Congress, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, hakhnasat orḥim, hospitality, U.S. House of Representatives, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, תחינות teḥinot, United States Immigration Policy, welcoming Contributor(s): The words of Greta Thunberg adapted for a prayer for intervention in the anthropogenic climate crisis, for a Honshana ritual for Sukkot. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A litany of hoshanot for use in a ritual prayer circle march on the festival of Sukkot. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): A litany of hoshanot for use in a ritual prayer circle march on the festival of Sukkot. Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): |
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