Self-Reflection • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶּקט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim (Charleston, South Carolina) and Penina Moïse
Shared on:	י״ח במרחשון ה׳תשפ״ב (2021-10-24)
Terms:	Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication
Categories:	Self-Reflection
Tags:	19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, South Carolina, hymns, ABAB rhyming scheme, exhortation, הסתכלות פנימית histaklut pnimit
Description:	• • • • • • • • • • “While man explores, with curious eye, ” by Penina Moïse, published in 1842, appears under the subject “Self-Knowledge” as Hymn 23 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), p. 27. . . .

Descend Into Thyself, My Soul! – a hymn on “Self-Examination” by Penina Moïse (Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim 1842)

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim (Charleston, South Carolina) and Penina Moïse
Shared on:	י״ח במרחשון ה׳תשפ״ב (2021-10-24)
Terms:	Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication
Categories:	Self-Reflection
Tags:	19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, South Carolina, hymns, ABAB rhyming scheme, הסתכלות פנימית histaklut pnimit
Description:	• • • • • • • • • • “Descend into thyself, my soul!” by Penina Moïse, published in 1842, appears under the subject “Self-Examination” as Hymn 22 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), pp. 26-27. . . .

ודוי | Vidui meditation, by Danny Cohen

Contributor(s):	Daniel Yoel Cohen
Shared on:	ז׳ בתשרי ה׳תשע״ז (2016-10-09)
Terms:	Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories:	Repenting, Resetting, and Forgiveness, Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit), Yom Kippur, Days of Judgement & New Year Days, Self-Reflection
Tags:	וידוי vidui, repentance, integrity, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., acknowledgment, paraliturgical vidui
Description:	• • • • • • • • • • Vidui means acknowledgment. It is not about self-flagellation or blame, but about honesty, coming into contact with our lives, our patterns and experiences, and ultimately about teshuva and learning. In contacting the pain and suffering which our modes of being have given rise to, our regret can help us to willfully divest ourselves of them and awaken the yearning for those modes of being which are life-affirming, supportive of wholeness, connection, integrity, and flourishing. With each one we tap on our heart, touching the pain and closed-heartedness we have caused, and simultaneously knocking on the door that it may open again. . . .

מתי לא לבקש סליחה | When not to seek forgiveness, by Josh Rosenberg

Contributor(s):	Josh Rosenberg
Shared on:	ה׳ בתשרי ה׳תשע״ח (2017-09-25)
Terms:	Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 International free-culture license
Categories:	Repenting, Resetting, and Forgiveness, Days of Judgement & New Year Days, Self-Reflection, Separation
Tags:	סליחות seliḥot, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., self-forgiveness, Due deferrence, Between people, beyn adam l'adam, tokheḥa, Aseret Yemei Tshuvah
Description:	• • • • • • • • • • A thought about the need to seek forgiveness from those you’ve wronged during this week before Yom Kippur: . . .

עשרת ימי תשובה | My Ten Days of Repentance Writing Exercise, by David Wolkin

Contributor(s):	David Wolkin
Shared on:	כ״ב באלול ה׳תשע״ו (2016-09-25)
Terms:	Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories:	Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit), Yom Kippur, Days of Judgement & New Year Days, Self-Reflection
Tags:	North America, journaling, writing, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., חשבון הנפש Ḥeshbon HaNefesh, self-reflection, תשובה teshuvah, Needing Translation (into Hebrew)
Description:	• • • • • • • • • • David Wolkin writes, “I’ve been pushing this writing exercise for a while now, but I taught a class with it in my home on Sunday and it proved to be powerful and connecting for all of us in the room. If you’re reflecting/repenting this season, you might benefit from this.” . . .

עמידה | An Amidah for associating blessings with memory by Rabbi Dr. Oren Steinitz

Contributor(s):	Oren Steinitz
Shared on:	ה׳ בניסן ה׳תשע״ו (2016-04-13)
Terms:	Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories:	Weekday Amidah, Self-Reflection
Tags:	standing meditation
Description:	• • • • • • • • • • As powerful a practice as a standing meditation may be, reciting the familiar words of the Amidah with intention can prove to be a major challenge. The words may become rote, and the davvener may wonder if the ancient formulas are even meaningful to them. In this adaptation of the Amidah, Oren Steinitz treats each B’rakhah as a prompt to remind ourselves what we are praying for and shares his own thoughts as an example. Rabbi Steinitz originally wrote the “Memory Amidah” in 2013, during the Davennen Leadership Training Institute cohort 7, and revised it for sharing here through the Open Siddur Project in 2016. . . .

On Belief Held in the Act of Prayer by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, translated by Gabbai Seth Fishman

Contributor(s):	Gabbai Seth Fishman (translation) and Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Shared on:	י׳ באדר א׳ ה׳תשע״ו (2016-02-18)
Terms:	Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories:	Self-Reflection
Tags:	20th century C.E., free will, bitul neshama, reception, consolation, 58th century A.M.
Description:	• • • • • • • • • • The one who prays to Hashem Yitbarakh should hold the belief that, from the start, there was a cause brought about by the everlasting One, and that S/He is the source of all completions, and S/He created all the worlds at the time when it arose in Hir will. . . .

Life Sentence by Eprhyme

Contributor(s):	Eden Pearlstein
Shared on:	כ״ב במרחשון ה׳תשע״ב (2011-11-18)
Terms:	Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories:	Self-Reflection
Tags:	hip hop, שדים sheydim, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Jewish animism
Description:	• • • • • • • • • • ‘Life Sentence’ is a poetic exploration of solitary authorship — interpreting the old-world literary tradition and archetypes for the ‘ADD’ generation. This is a boundary and genre-crossing work that exists at the intersection of Radical Jewish, Indy and Hip-Hop culture. . . .

תחינה לתחילת יומן חדש | Prayer on Beginning a New Journal, by Aharon N. Varady

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady
Shared on:	כ״ב באייר ה׳תשע״ג (2013-05-02)
Terms:	Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories:	Self-Reflection
Tags:	North America, reflective practice, journaling, writing, petiḥah, תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E., Openers, 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, teḥinot in English
Description:	• • • • • • • • • • May my thoughts seek truth and integrity, the humility that is commensurate with my ignorance, the compassion that arises from the depths of awareness, as depths speak to depths… . . .

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