מִי שֶׁעָנָה...הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ | Mi she'Anah...Hu Ya'anenu :: A Star Trek Seliḥah, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=21219

open_content_license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Date: 2018-08-19

Last Updated: 2024-06-01

Categories: Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit), Yom Kippur

Tags: 24th century C.E., 62nd century A.M., Avot and Imahot, crossovers, deuterocanonical works, egalitarian, Jews of Star Trek, liturgy of the wandering stars, Star Trek, Starfleet, United Federation of Planets, מי שענה Mi She’anah, סליחות seliḥot, עננו anenu, תשובה teshuvah

Excerpt: A derivation of the popular piyyut for the Yamim Noraim, "Mi She'anu" which references the archetypal characters of the Star Trek paracosm. . . .

Content:
Hebrew English
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְקִירְק הַקְּבַרְנִיט
בְּקֻּמְפּוֹן שֶׁנֶּאֱבַק גּוֹרֶן עִמוֹ,
הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ׃
May the One who answered Captain Kirk
in the stadium when the Gorn grappled him[1] TOS: Arena – 1×19 
answer us.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לִשְׂפּוֹךְ
בָּעֲבֵירָתוֹ אֶת תַּקָּנָה־הַכְּלָלִית הַשְּׁבִיעִית,
הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ׃
May the One who answered Spocḳ
in his nakedness of the seven-year cycle[2] TOS: Amok Time – 2×05 
answer us.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לִמְקוֹי הָרוֹפֵא
בְּאַדְמַת קְפֵילַת־אָרְבַּע,
הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ׃
May the One who answered Doctor McCoy
on the land of Capella IV[3] TOS: Friday’s Child – 2×03 
answer us.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְפִיקָרְד הַקְּבַרְנִיט
בָּאֲנִיסַתוֹ מֵהַבּוֹרְג,
הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ׃
May the One who answered Captain Picard,
in his forced conversion by the Borg[4] TNG: The Best of Both Worlds – 3×26, Part II – 4×1 
answer us.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְרַיקֶר אִישׁ־אֶחָד
בִּקְרַב־זְאֵב שָׂטָ׳ן,
הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ׃
May the One who answered Riker, Number One,
at the battle of Wolf 359[5] TNG: The Best of Both Worlds – 3×26, Part II – 4×1. Note: “359” is spelled using its Gematria equivalent – SaTaN (lit., “the Adversary”) 
answer us.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְדֵיטָא
בְּעָקַב אוֹתוֹ אָחִיו,
הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ׃
May the One who answered Data
when his brother supplanted him[6] TNG: Datalore – 1×13 
answer us.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְסִסְקוֹא
בַּמַּחֲזוֹתָיו מִין הַנְּבִיאִים,
הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ׃
May the One who answered Sisko
in his visions from the Prophets[7] DS9: Emissary – 1×01 (as well as throughout the series) 
answer us.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְקִירָה
בִּלְחִיצַת קָרְדַּצִיָה אֶת־בְּנֵי־בָּדְזוֹר בְּחׇזְקָה חֲמִשִּׁים שָׁנָה,
הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ׃
May the One who answered Kira
when Cardassia oppressed the Bajorans fifty years[8] DS9: Duet – 1×19 (as well as throughout the series) 
answer us.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְעֹדוֹ
בְּקֶשֶׁר הַגָּדוֹל,
הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ׃
May the One who answered Odo
in the Great Link[9] DS9: What You Leave Behind – 7×25 
answer us.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְכׇל־עוֹבְרֵי אֳנִיַּת־הַכּוֹכָבִים נוֹסֵעַ
בְּרֹבַע הַדָּלֶ״ת,
הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ׃
May the One who answered all those aboard the starship Voyager
in the Delta Quadrant[10] VOY: the entire series of Voyager 
answer us.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְכׇל־חֶבְרָת יְשֻׁיּוֹתֶיךָ
‎ בִּצְבַא־הַכּוֹכָבִים‎,
הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ׃
May the one who answered all Your sentient members
in Starfleet
answer us.
מִי שֶׁעָנָה לְכׇל־הַצָּדִיקִים וְהַחֲסִידִים וְהַתְּמִימִים וְהַיְּשָׁרִים
בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה וּבְכׇל־עוֹלְמֵי־עוֹלָמִים,
הוּא יַעֲנֵנוּ׃
May the One who answered all the righteous and pious and pure and upright,
on Earth and in all the planets of the universe,
answer us.

In the manner of a traditional “Mi sheAnah” supplication. But this one takes place in space, the final frontier. Feel free to use in your own personal davening if you’d like. I mostly did it for fun.

The spelling of ‘Spock’ with a khaf is meant to reflect the pronunciation used in the Vulcan language in the Motion Picture.

I Hebraized some of the names using phono-semantic matching. For instance, “Odo” was spelled with an ע to reflect עד “witness.” The Delta Quadrant is referred to as the Daled Quarter.

Regarding the transliteration of “Bajor,” it was meant to reflect how English pronunciation and Hebrew pronunciation often differ – “Caleb” in English is /keɪlɛb/ whereas in Hebrew it’s /kalev/ – so English /beɪdʒoʊr/ I treated as /badzor/. If you’d prefer the Hebrew to reflect the English pronunciation feel free to use something like בֵּידְזוֹר instead.

359 = Satan in Gematria and you bet I took full advantage of that!

[A “paracosm” is a detailed imaginary world. –ANV]

 

Notes

Notes
1 TOS: Arena – 1×19
2 TOS: Amok Time – 2×05
3 TOS: Friday’s Child – 2×03
4 TNG: The Best of Both Worlds – 3×26, Part II – 4×1
5 TNG: The Best of Both Worlds – 3×26, Part II – 4×1. Note: “359” is spelled using its Gematria equivalent – SaTaN (lit., “the Adversary”)
6 TNG: Datalore – 1×13
7 DS9: Emissary – 1×01 (as well as throughout the series)
8 DS9: Duet – 1×19 (as well as throughout the series)
9 DS9: What You Leave Behind – 7×25
10 VOY: the entire series of Voyager

Contributor: Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

Co-authors:

Featured Image:
From the Magnes Colllection
Title: From the Magnes Colllection
Caption: Hands Blessing, (photo credit: Leonard Nimoy) in the Magnes collection