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a community-grown, libre Open Access archive of Jewish prayer and liturgical resources — for those crafting their own prayerbooks and sharing the content of their practice | ||
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21st century C.E. —⟶ tag: 21st century C.E. Sorted Chronologically (old to new). Sort most recent first? A prayer for children on the first day of a new year of school. . . . Categories: Learning, Study, and School An opening prayer for divine communication and closeness. . . . Categories: Weekday Amidah על אלה אנו בוכים | Al eleh anu bokhim (For these we weep), a lamentation for humanity’s destruction of habitat and species, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid·org)A ḳinnah for humanity’s willful, negligent, and callous destruction of habitat and species known and unknown. . . . Two kavvanot, one for before and one for after casting away in a Tashlikh ritual. . . . Categories: Tashlikh A companion to the classic piyyut, Yigdal. . . . A prayer for focusing one’s mind and intention during the separation of dough in the preparation of halah before Shabbat. . . . Categories: Erev Shabbat A short amidah for the Friday evening service for Shabbat. . . . Categories: Arvit l'Shabbat A paraliturgical translation of the opening paragraph of the Shema. . . . Categories: the Shema An alternative weekday aliyah. . . . Categories: Weekday Amidah Mah Nishtanah: what needs to change, a seder supplement to the Four Questions by Kohenet Ilana Joy StreitA playful, powerful, passionate reading for Passover seder or any time. Can be chanted to the traditional Ashkenazi lilt for the Four Questions. . . . A poem-blessing for trailblazers of many kinds, to honor everyday courage and to inspire trust and self-compassion. . . . A blessing for announcing the new moon of Adar, for Rosh Ḥodesh Adar, and for the whole month. . . . Categories: Rosh Ḥodesh Adar (אַדָר) Alef & Bet A blessing for announcing the new moon of Shevat, for Rosh Ḥodesh Shevat, and for the whole month. . . . Categories: Rosh Ḥodesh Shəvat (שְׁבָט) A soulful, playful, embodied, grounded poem for announcing the new moon of Tishrei, for Rosh Ḥodesh Tishrei (otherwise known as Rosh HaShanah) and for the whole month. . . . 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. . . . Categories: Rosh Ḥodesh Elul (אֶלוּל) A blessing for announcing the new moon of Av, for Rosh Ḥodesh Av, and for the whole month. A poem of grieving and gentleness as part of collective liberation. . . . Categories: Rosh Ḥodesh Av (אָב) A blessing for announcing the new moon of Nisan, for Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan, and for the whole month. . . . Categories: Rosh Ḥodesh Nisan (נִיסָן) This formulation of the Birkat Yeladim (Blessing of the Children) maintains a connection with tradition and serves to degender the blessing by calling upon quoted, mixed gender texts which have merit for children of any gender. . . . Schedule for the Reading of Ketuvim Aḥerim corresponding to the Weekly Torah Portion, by Isaac Gantwerk MayerA schedule for the reading of Proverbs, Job, Chronicles, Ezra/Neḥemiah, and Daniel, corresponding to each Torah portion of the annual reading cycle in the rabbinic Jewish calendar. . . . רַחֲמָנָא | Raḥamana di N’shaya — an Aramaic seliḥoth piyyut for biblical women by Isaac Gantwerk MayerThe Raḥamana piyyut is a litany beloved in Sephardic and Mizraḥi communities, a standard part of their Seliḥoth services throughout the month of Elul and the days of repentance. Traditionally it cites a list of Biblical men (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Pinhas, David, and Solomon) and asks to be remembered for their merit and their covenants, for the sake of “Va-yaŋabor” — the first word of Exodus 34:6, the introduction to the verses of the Thirteen Attributes recited in Seliḥoth services. This text instead uses Biblical women (Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel, Serach, Miriam, Deborah, Ruth, Hannah, and Esther). . . . Categories: Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit) 📄 סֵדֶר סִימָנִים לְרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה – שִׁכְתּוּב אַנְגְּלִי שֶׁשּׁוֹמֵר לָשׁוֹן־שֶׁנּוֹפֵל־עַל־לָשׁוֹן | Order of Simanim for Rosh haShanah — an English paraphrase that preserves wordplay, by Isaac Gantwerk MayerMany communities have a custom of reciting “simanim” on the night of Rosh haShanah — invocations on a series of foods punning over their Hebrew or Aramaic names. This is an assortment of common simanim, along with English loose translations that preserve the punning aspects of the foods. . . . Categories: Seder Akhilat haSimanim ברכת המזון לסעודה מפסקת ערב תשעה בעב | Birkat haMazon for the Seudah Mafseqet (Pre-Fast Meal) of Tishah b’Av, by Isaac Gantwerk MayerA Birkat haMazon with additions for the pre-Fast meal of Tisha b’Av . . . ברכת המזון לראש השנה לבהמה | Birkat haMazon Supplement for Rosh haShanah la-Behemah, by Isaac Gantwerk MayerThis is a poetic text for Birkat haMazon, signed with an alphabetical acrostic and the name of the author, to be recited on the first of Elul. It celebrates the variety of God’s creation as exemplified by the natural diversity of species, as well as alluding to the livestock tithes traditionally assigned on the first of Elul. . . . ברכת המזון לסעודה מפסקת לפני יום הכפורים | Birkat haMazon for the Pre-Fast Meal for Yom Kippur, by Isaac Gantwerk MayerThis acrostic poetic form of Birkat haMazon was written for the se’udah mafseqet (pre-fast meal) before Yom Kippur, in the manner of the poetic Birkat haMazon variants recorded in the Cairo Geniza. . . . Categories: Yom Kippur 💬 קריאות לימי זכרון השואה ורצח עם | Torah and Haftarah Readings for Holocaust & Genocide Memorial DaysA Torah reading (divided into three aliyot) and a Haftarah reading to be recited for days commemorating genocides such as (but not limited to) the Holocaust. . . . Categories: Holocaust & Genocide Memorial Day Readings 💬 קריאות לראש השנה לבהמה | Torah and Haftarah Readings for Rosh haShanah la-Behemot on Rosh Ḥodesh ElulA reading for the New Year’s Day for Animals — Rosh haShanah laBehemot — on Rosh Ḥodesh Elul. . . . Categories: Rosh haShanah la-Behemah Readings This prayer is not a comprehensive list of every single sin we sinned, every error we erred, every mark we missed. The original Al Ḥeyt is intended to show us the roots of all failures, to dig beneath how we harm, to see where that hurt came from. We follow these trails together, not absolved from our own repairs, but never alone in struggles to uproot, to propagate new ways of being ourselves, new ways of being ourselves, of being together. . . . Categories: Yom Kippur כְּגַוְנָא | k’Gavna (Just As) from the Zohar parashat Terumah §163-166, a paraliturgical interpretive translation by Rabbi Rachel BarenblatA paraliturgical translation of “k’Gavna” — a portion of the Zohar on parashat Terumah read before Ma’ariv in the ḥassidic-sefardic nusaḥ. . . . ברכת קיבוץ גלויות | Blessing for Kibuts Galuyot (Ingathering of exiles), for weekday Amidah by Rabbi Noa MazorA prayer for the ingathering of Jews from the Diaspora to Erets Yisrael. . . . Categories: Weekday Amidah The major themes of the Rosh haShanah musaf liturgy, color coded with the three central blessings of the service presented comparatively in parallel columns. . . . Categories: Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit) אדמה ושמים | Adamah v’Shamayim (Earth & Heaven), a prayer-poem by Rabbi Louis Polisson after the song by Shimon Lev-Tahor (Suissa)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: Yom Kippur An al hanissim prayer for the State of Israel’s Day of Independence. . . . Categories: 🇮🇱 Yom ha-Atsma'ut (5 Iyyar) Four morning blessings inspired from traditional blessing in the Birkhot haShaḥar and Shaḥarit services. . . . Categories: Berakhot sheNatani The blessing recited prior to the Shema, in the wording of Michal Talya. . . . Categories: Birkat Ahavah A soliloquy in the voice of Judith. . . . Categories: Ḥag haBanot (Eid el Benat) Readings Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Barry Block on 10 January 2020The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 10 January 2020. . . . Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Romi Cohn on 29 January 2020The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 29 January 2020. . . . Categories: 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), 🇺🇸 United States of America, Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Seth Frisch on 5 February 2020The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 5 February 2020. . . . Invocation for a virtual Memorial Day ceremony at the Washington DC Vietnam War Veterans Memorial. . . . Categories: 🇺🇸 Memorial Day (last Monday of May) Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff on 23 October 2020The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 23 October 2020. . . . Veterans Day Prayer at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, by Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff, Chaplain, USN (Ret.)This Veterans Day Prayer was first published by Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff, Chaplain, USN (Retired), on his twitter page. He writes, “Because of COVID this is the first Veterans Day in a long time I am not part of a ceremony — and I know that’s the situation for many fellow vets. So I wrote it yesterday to share today as a virtual prayer for Veterans Day 2020.” On 11 November 2022, Rabbi Resnicoff offered the expanded revision of this prayer as offered above at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. . . . Categories: 🇺🇸 Veterans Day (11 November) A covenantal document for an egalitarian wedding/partnership rooted in R’ Rachel Adler’s brit ahuvim legal structure, not based on kiddushin. Written for a woman and man marrying each other (see genders in Hebrew). . . . Categories: Ketubot & other Shtarot (Documents) This is a poetic Birkat haMazon, similar to those found in the Cairo Geniza, intended for this specific break-fast meal. The editor has included the text in Hebrew, English, and an attempted Liturgical Ge’ez translation. . . . A blessing for us and the year ahead from the last month of the Jewish calendar year. . . . Categories: Rosh Ḥodesh Adar (אַדָר) Alef & Bet This mi sheberakh for the ill, and the two additional prayers, all appear on page 15-16 of Hayyim Obadya’s Seder Akhilat haSimanim for 5781. . . . Categories: Epidemics & Pandemics Some communities have a practice of singing a song about Miriam alongside the well-known Havdalah song about Elijah the Prophet. But Miriam isn’t really a parallel to Elijah — she’s a parallel to Moshe and Aaron. When we’re talking about distaff counterparts to Elijah the clearest example is Seraḥ bat Asher. Seraḥ, the daughter of Asher, is mentioned only a handful of times in the Tanakh, but is given great significance in the midrash. Like Elijah, she is said to have never died but entered Paradise alive, and comes around to the rabbis to give advice or teachings. This song, which includes several references to midrashim about Seraḥ, is meant to be sung to any traditional tune of “Eliyahu haNavi.” It is dedicated to Ḥazzan Joanna Selznick Dulkin (shlit”a), who introduced me to the legends of Seraḥ bat Asher. . . . Categories: Motsei Shabbat כַּוָּנָה וּבְרָכָה עַל רְאִיַּת נְחִיל רֶמֶשׂ גָּדוֹל עַד־מְאוֹד | Kavvanah and Blessing for Observing a Massive Swarm of Creeping Things, by Isaac Gantwerk MayerThere are blessings for beautiful vistas, and there are blessings for powerful weather. But is there a blessing for giant swarms of bugs? Certainly! There just wasn’t a kavvanah for it… yet. Inspired by the appearance of Brood X in May 2021, this is a meditation and blessing for the unique experience of seeing an enormous number of non-dangerous insects. Cicadas are NOT a plague — they don’t eat crops or spread disease, but they do help revitalize the soil and keep forest ecosystems healthy. As a natural part of the universal order, we should work to see the divinity and goodness in them, even if we might normally think of them as gross. . . . אֶפְתַּח פִּי לְךָ אָדוֹן | Eftaḥ Pi L’kha Adōn, a seliḥah for Kristallnacht by Isaac Gantwerk MayerThere’s a lot of controversy over Yom haShoah as a date. One of the key issues is this: traditionally, the ways Jews mourn communal tragedies is through establishing a fast day. It’s forbidden to fast during the month of Nisan. It’s hard to pick any specific date to commemorate a tragedy as enormous as the Shoah, but one which seems appropriate to me would be 16 Marḥeshvan, the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the November Pogrom. This piyyut is a seliḥah for Kristallnacht, to be recited on 16 Marḥeshvan (or 15 Marḥeshvan on years like 5782 where the sixteenth falls on a Thursday). . . . Categories: 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), Kristallnacht (9-10 November, 16 Marḥeshvan), 🇮🇱 Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), 🇺🇸 Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust “How Much Light? A Ḥanukkah Meditation” by Rabbi Menachem Creditor was first shared on the second night of Ḥanukkah 5782 (2021) via the Open Siddur Project discussion group on Facebook. . . . Categories: Ḥanukkah 💬 קְרִיאוֹת לִימֵי ט״וּ בִּשְׁבָט | Torah and Haftarah Readings for the New Year’s Day for Trees, selected by Isaac Gantwerk MayerTorah and Haftarah readings for Tu biShvat selected by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . . Categories: Tu biShvat Readings Contributor(s): the Masoretic Text, Yeḥezqel ben Būzi haKohen and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) | ||
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