Once upon a time when the Temple still stood, the Rosh haShanah la-Behemah celebrated one means by which we elevated and esteemed the special creatures that helped us to live and to work. Just as rabbinic Judaism found new ways to realize our Temple offerings with tefillot — prayers — so too the Rosh haShanah la-Behemah challenges us to realize the holiness of the animals in our care in a time without tithes. The Jewish New Year’s Day for Animals is a challenge to remind and rediscover what our responsibilities are to the animals who depend on us for their welfare. Are we treating them correctly and in accord with the mitsvah of tsa’ar baalei ḥayyim — sensitivity to the suffering of living creatures? Have we studied and understood the depth of ḥesed — lovingkindness — expressed in the breadth of our ancestors teachings concerning the welfare of animals in Torah?haShanah la-Behemah is the day to reflect on our immediate or mediated relationships with domesticated animals, recognize our personal responsibilities to them, individually and as part of a distinct and holy people, and repair our relationships to the best of our ability. . . .
A blessing for announcing the new moon of Elul, for Rosh Ḥodesh Elul, and for the whole month. A poem of kindness, rootedness and transformation as we enter into a time of turning and returning. . . .
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady
Shared on ט״ו באב ה׳תשע״ו (2016-08-18) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories:  Rosh haShanah la-Behemah, Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)
Tags:  שופר shofar, animal welfare, צער באלי חיים tsa'ar baalei ḥayyim, בהמות behemot, אלול elul, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah, animal protection, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., shofar blowing, חשבון הנפש Ḥeshbon HaNefesh, the sixth month 
The text of this ritual shofar blowing for Rosh Ḥodesh Elul on Rosh haShanah La-Behemah developed as part of the annual ceremony taking place at the dairy barn on the campus of the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center beginning in 2009 under the auspices of Elat Chayyim Center for Jewish Spirituality and the Adamah Farm & Fellowship. The first Rosh haShanah ritual ceremony was co-developed by Rabbi Jill Hammer and Kohenet Sarah Chandler. My contribution of the kavvanah came a year later in 2010. The text presented here was built upon that ceremony and was presented first at the Hazon Detroit Jewish Food Festival in 2016. . . .
Trisha Arlin first published this prayer for a communal confession on Rosh Hashanah LaBehemot on her liturgy site, here. Elements of this vidui (confession) are derived from the Kavvanah before Blowing the Shofar on Rosh Ḥodesh Elul for Rosh Hashanah LaBehemot (New Year’s Day for Domesticated Animals). . . .
Contributor(s): Trisha Arlin (liturgist)
Shared on כ״ט בתשרי ה׳תשע״ו (2015-10-12) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories: Rosh haShanah la-Behemah, Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)
Tags: four worlds, North America, first person, insects, crawling things, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Fourth Day of Creation, New York City, Prayers as poems, English vernacular prayer, neo-lurianic 
I have come to see That we are not the only creatures who are B’tzelem Elohim, We are all in God’s image. So today, on Rosh Ḥodesh Elul, On the New Year of the Domesticated Beasts, Let’s give thanks to the bugs Like the four questioning children Wise and snarky and simple and oblivious, Like the four worlds of the kabbala The earth, the sky, the heart and the spirit We give thanks and acknowledge The bugs we have domesticated The bugs who serve us in their wild state The bugs that hurt us or gross us out And the bugs who live only for themselves, without any reference to us. . . .
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Unknown Author(s)
Shared on כ״ו באב ה׳תשע״ז (2017-08-17) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories: Shabbat Məvorkhim, Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)
Tags: 19th century C.E., ײדיש Yiddish, תחינות tkhines, new moon, שבת מבורכים shabbat mevorkhim, תחינות teḥinot, 57th century A.M., paraliturgical teḥinot, Yiddish vernacular prayer, paraliturgical birkat haḥodesh, Needing Proofreading, Needing Attribution 
To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ אֶלוּל (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Elul”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877). English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady . . .
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Fanny Schmiedl-Neuda, Wikisource Contributors (proofreading) and Moritz Mayer (translation)
Shared on כ״ז באב ה׳תשע״ז (2017-08-18) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories: Shabbat Məvorkhim, Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל)
Tags: 19th century C.E., אלול elul, תחינות teḥinot, 57th century A.M., paraliturgical teḥinot, Teḥinot in German, German vernacular prayer, Bohemian Jewry, חשבון הנפש Ḥeshbon HaNefesh, the sixth month 
This is the prayer for the month of Elul included by Fanny Schmiedl Neuda in her collection of teḥinot in vernacular German. Fanny Neuda likely either composed or translated this teḥinah into German (from Yiddish) while performing in the capacity of firzogerin (precentress) of the weibershul (women’s gallery) in her husband’s synagogue in Loštice, Bohemia. The English translation provided here was lightly adapted from Rabbi Moritz Mayer’s 1866 translation. . . .
“Tkhine of the Matriarchs for the New Moon of Elul” by Rebbetsin Seril Rappaport is a faithful transcription of her tkhine published in Vilna, 1874, as re-published in The Merit of Our Mothers בזכות אמהות A Bilingual Anthology of Jewish Women’s Prayers, compiled by Rabbi Tracy Guren Klirs, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992. shgiyot mi yavin, ministarot nakeni. . . .
An exhortation given by Ḥakham Ishak Nieto published before his translation of the Sliḥot, in Spanish with English translation by Isaac Pinto (1766). . . .
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