the Open Siddur Project ✍︎ פְּרוֹיֶּקט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ
a community-grown, libre Open Access archive of Jewish prayer and liturgical resources
This project is sustained through reciprocity for those sharing prayers and crafting their own prayerbooks.
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Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: “All Four (Are One),” riffing on the story in the haggadah of the four children, is a prayer-poem on the theme of intracommunal discord six months after October 7th (possibly reflected in the family dynamics at the seder table itself). Written by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat, it was first published on the website of Bayit: Building Jewish on 2 April 2024. . . . Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: In the midst of terrible violence and war in Israel and Gaza, these words came in response to the questions: how to engage meaningfully with Ḥanukkah in 5784 with integrity. How can it still be a source of wisdom and liberation? . . . Contributor(s): This prayer was offered by Dr. Melila Hellner-Eshed in the days following the attacks of Ḥamas and its allies from Gaza on southern Israel beginning Shemini Atseret 5784 (7 October 2023). The English translation was made Rabbi Zac Kamenetz and Rabbi Marc Margolius. . . . Contributor(s): Tags: “A Prayer from a Traumatized Jewish Heart” was written by Rabbi Menachem Creditor and shared by the author via the Open Siddur Project discussion group on Facebook, 10 October 2023. . . . תפילה נוכח הרעה מדרום | Mi sheBerakh in the face of the Missiles Falling On Israel (Masorti Movement in Israel 2023) Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: “תפילה נוכח הרעה מדרום | Prayer in the face of the Missiles Falling On Israel” was shared by the Masorti Movement in Israel via their social media account on Twitter on 12 May 2023. . . . תפילת השעה | Prayer of the Moment [after the Neve Yaakov synagogue shooting], by Rabbi Avi Novis-Deutsch (Knesset haRabanim l’Yisrael 2023) Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: “Tefilah haSha’ah” (Prayer of the Moment) was offered by Rav Avi Novis-Deutsch and shared by the Knesset haRabbanim l’Yisrael via their Facebook page on 29 January 2023. The English translation was shared by the Rabbinical Assembly via their Facebook page a few hours later. We have transcribed the prayer from the source image and set the Hebrew side-by-side with its translation in English. . . . Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: A pre-Shavuot prayer in the shadow of the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis. . . . Contributor(s): Tags: A Jewish Prayer for Nakba Day, by Rabbi Brant Rosen. . . . Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: A prayer for Israeli-Palestinian solidarity to mitigate the danger that comes when our particular identities greatly eclipse our universal identity as Bnei Adam. . . . תפילה נוכח הרעה מדרום | Prayer in the face of the worsening situation in southern Israel (Masorti Movement in Israel 2019) Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: A prayer for the safety of all the inhabitants of the Land of Israel offered during the November 12th, 2019 Tel Aviv rocket strike. . . . Contributor(s): This is an undated prayer written attributed to Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz (1937-2020) and shared via the Facebook page of Merkaz Steinsaltz (the Steinsaltz Center). The English translation (possibly also made by Rabbi Steinsaltz) was shared by the Center in a separate document. . . . Contributor(s): Tags: On 29 September 2017 IfNotNow Chicago writes, “Tonight begins Yom Kippur. We are asking our community, when you say the prayer for Israel this Kol Nidre, will you say it for all the people that live in Israel and Palestine? Will you stand for freedom and dignity for all Palestinians and Israelis? Our members have re-imagined the Prayer for the State of Israel. We hope you use this New Prayer for Israel and Palestine, and share it with your own community.” . . . A Prayer for the Steadfast on the Global Shabbat Against Home Demolitions, by Rabbi Brant Rosen (2016) Contributor(s): Tags: A prayer for the Global Shabbat Against Home Demolitions in response to the State of Israel’s policy,under the military occupation of Area C in the West Bank, of demolishing structures without building permits. . . . Contributor(s): Tags: A translation in Arabic and English of Rabbi Nava Hafetz’s prayer for the children of the world. . . . תפילה להצלתם של הבחורים החטופים | Prayer for the rescue of the kidnapped youths, by Rabbi Shlomo Mosheh Amar (16 June 2014) Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: This prayer for the safe return of captives was offered by the (former) Sephardi chief rabbi of Jerusalem, Shlomo Moshe Amar, as published on the website, Srugim on 16 June 2014, amidst the crisis that summer sparked by the abduction and murder of three Yeshivah boys by HAMAS operatives in the West Bank. . . . Contributor(s): Tags: A Jewish prayer for Nakba Day, as commemorated on May 15th in the civil calendar of the Dawlat Filasṭīn. . . . تعالوا نضيئ شمعات السلام | בואו נאיר נרות שלום | Let us Light Candles for Peace, by Sheikha Ibtisam Maḥameed and Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum Contributor(s): Tags: Two mothers, one plea: Now, more than ever, during these days of so much crying, on the day that is sacred to both our religions, Friday, Sabbath Eve Let us light a candle in every home – for peace: A candle to illuminate our future, face to face, A candle across borders, beyond fear. From our family homes and houses of worship Let us light each other up Let these candles be a lighthouse to our spirit Until we all arrive at the sanctuary of peace. . . . תפילה למעמד המשותף | أغنية الحياة والسلام | Prayer of Mothers for Life and Peace, by Sheikha Ibtisam Maḥameed & Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: A prayer in Hebrew and Arabic (with translations in English and German) of solidarity of mothers for there to be peace in the world for the sake of their children. . . . הרחמן הוא ישבור עול כיבוש | Prayer to the Compassionate One for the Peace of Two States for Two Peoples (for Inclusion in the Birkat Hamazon) by Ira Tick (2014) Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: A prayer for the peaceful resolution of Israel’s conflicts with her neighbors and a mutually agreeable end to her dominion over the Palestinians, in Hebrew and in English, appropriate for inserting in the Birkat HaMazon especially on Shabbat and Festivals, or for reciting at any time. . . . תפילה לשלום ופיוס לישראלים ולפלסטינים ולכל העם | A Prayer for Peace and Reconciliation for Israelis, Palestinians, and all People by Rabbi Samuel Feinsmith (2014) Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: Master of compassion and forgiveness, Cosmic Majesty Who is peace— Teach us Your ways, Show us the path that preserves life. Take note, Lord, for we are suffering deeply. Our guts are wrenched, Our hearts are turning within us. Violence has devoured outside, and inside it feels deathly. When enemies rose up against us to kill our babes, Courageous, precious boys, full of the light of life, shining like the radiance of the sky, Our hearts became angry, our vision lost its strength, and our spirits sunk. And still we turn to you— . . . Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: A desperate prayer against the dehumanization and reductive feelings of anger and desperation in the context of the conflict between Israel and Gaza in the summer of 2014. . . . Contributor(s): Tags: Palestinian refugees, Palestinian Diapsora, סליחות seliḥot, 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, Needing Translation (into Hebrew), מדינת ישראל Medinat Yisrael, Needing Translation (into Arabic), فلسطين Filasṭīn Palestine, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Refugee Crisis, ארץ ישראל Erets Yisrael, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer A Tishah b’Av seliḥah for Gaza during the 2014 Gaza War. . . . תפילה לשלום המדינה בזמן מלחמה | Prayer for the Welfare of Israel in Wartime, by Rabbi Ron Aigen (2014) Contributor(s): Tags: A prayer for the welfare of Israel composed during the 2014 Israel-Gaza Conflict. . . . Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: A prayer for empathy and compassion in the face of calls for violence and vengeance. . . . Contributor(s): Tags: For the sin which we have committed before You through diminishing the image of God. . . . Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: A song in English with Arabic translation, addressed from a Jew living in Jerusalem to his Arab neighbors, locally and regionally during the Arab Spring. . . . Raising the Olive Branch in Solidarity with Palestinian Olive Farmers: A Tu biShvat Seder supplement by Rabbi Arik Ascherman (2010) Contributor(s): Tags: A Tu biShvat seder supplement recognizing the Israeli-Jewish settler violence and land theft under the State of Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank. . . . Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: The “Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem” by the late chief rabbi of Ḥaifa, Eliyahu Yosef She’ar Yashuv Cohen zt”l (1927-2016), is often included in programs praying for peace in Jerusalem in periods of conflict. . . . Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: This prayer was first published in an op-ed, “A Jew’s Prayer for the Children of Gaza,” in the newspaper, Ha’aretz, on 7 January 2009. . . . פתח לנו שער בעת נעילת שער | Open for us a gate at the closing of a gate, by Rabbi Dr. Dalia Marx (2005) Contributor(s): Categories: Tags: A prayer for the State of Israel during conflicts over sovereignty and dispossession. . . . Prayer for Peace in Israel, by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (Office of the Chief Rabbi of the UK & the Commonwealth, 2003) Contributor(s): Tags: According to the Rabbi Sacks Legacy Trust (RSLT), “A Prayer for Peace in Israel” was composed by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks following terror attacks in Israel in 2003 (i.e., during the Second Intifada). The text of the prayer appearing here was shared by the RSLT via their Facebook page in the context of the 2022 Tel Aviv Shooting. . . . תפילת נחם לשלם בירושלם | Tefilat Naḥem for the Peace of Jerusalem on Tishah b’Av, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer Contributor(s): Tags: On Tisha be’Av, Jewish communities all over the world add a paragraph called Tefilat Naḥem (the prayer of comfort) to the standard daily Amidah (either for the afternoon service or for all services) praying for a return to Jerusalem. The traditional text discusses Jerusalem being defiled, in the hands of the idol worshipers, putting our people to the sword. But post-1967, Jerusalem has been under Israeli control, and this text has, to many people, felt no longer appropriate in the face of a Jerusalem being rebuilt. Many have written their own versions of a new Tefilat Naḥem for a Jerusalem under Israeli control, but I have felt dissatisfied with a lot of these. Some treat Jerusalem as already fully redeemed, which any glance at the news tells you isn’t the case. Others treat the major step in redeeming Jerusalem as building the Temple, but this seems to me to be only one eschatological part of a larger hope for Jerusalem. Jews have often considered the peace of Jerusalem to be a microcosm of the peace of all the earth. Thus for the Shabbat and Yom Tov Hashkivenu we pray for God to “spread the shelter of peace over us, all Israel, and Jerusalem.” The name Jerusalem, ירושלים, has been analyzed as “they will see peace” יראו שלום, since the peace of Jerusalem means all will see peace. But it’s clear that the peace of Jerusalem is not final or eternal, and it remains a city on the edge of a knife. So my version of Tefilat Naḥem prays not for a return, nor for a Temple, but for the peace of Jerusalem. It can be used at the same time as the standard Tefilat Naḥem (as an extension of the Birkat Yerushalayim in the Shmoneh Esreh for Tisha b’Av) or on its own. Thus I used four asterisks (a tetrapuncta) instead of God’s name, for those who would prefer to avoid a b’rakhah levatalah. Those who would prefer to use this blessing in the Amidah itself could replace the tetrapuncta with the name itself. . . . |