[Prayer] on the Anniversary of a Parent's Death (יאָרצײַט‎), by Rabbi Moritz Mayer (1866)

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Date: 2020-06-22

Last Updated: 2020-06-22

Categories: Mourning

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Jewish Women's Prayers, prayers on behalf of parents, יאָרצײַט‎ yahrẓeit, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: A prayer of a daughter for mourning on the yortseit of one or both of her parents. . . .

Content:

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	This day recalls to my mind the solemn and sorrowful day on which the soul of my beloved (father—mother) departed from its earthly tenement, on which the eye broke that once so lovingly and tenderly rested upon me, on which the hand was palsied in death that once so faithfully guided and supported me—a day of painful recollection, of ever renewed mourning! The ever honored picture of my dear parent appears before my soul, the breath of the sainted spirit is fanning upon me. How could the memory of the glorified being ever vanish from my heart and soul? As long as I shall walk upon this earth, this sacred memory shall be faithfully enshrined within the inmost recesses of my soul, until I also shall conclude my earthly career and meet again the loving and loved being whose loss I deeply mourn.
	Father of life! I pray Thee to vouchsafe rest unto the soul of my sainted (father—mother.) May (his—her) spirit have found peace upon the heights of eternal light, pure, undimmed peace unto all eternity! May (his—her) soul be bound in the eternal bond of life. May it tarry before Thee in purity and salvation! And for me, (his—her) earthly child, who still walks in the shadows of this world, subject to changing fortune, to error and sin, may that sainted soul intercede before Thy throne, that I may be protected upon all my ways and deserve Thy grace. O Lord! Thou givest, Thou takest away, Thy name be praised for ever and ever. Amen.

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Source (English)

This day recalls to my mind the solemn and sorrowful day on which the soul of my beloved (father—mother) departed from its earthly tenement, on which the eye broke that once so lovingly and tenderly rested upon me, on which the hand was palsied in death that once so faithfully guided and supported me—a day of painful recollection, of ever renewed mourning! The ever honored picture of my dear parent appears before my soul, the breath of the sainted spirit is fanning upon me. How could the memory of the glorified being ever vanish from my heart and soul? As long as I shall walk upon this earth, this sacred memory shall be faithfully enshrined within the inmost recesses of my soul, until I also shall conclude my earthly career and meet again the loving and loved being whose loss I deeply mourn.

Father of life! I pray Thee to vouchsafe rest unto the soul of my sainted (father—mother.) May (his—her) spirit have found peace upon the heights of eternal light, pure, undimmed peace unto all eternity! May (his—her) soul be bound in the eternal bond of life. May it tarry before Thee in purity and salvation! And for me, (his—her) earthly child, who still walks in the shadows of this world, subject to changing fortune, to error and sin, may that sainted soul intercede before Thy throne, that I may be protected upon all my ways and deserve Thy grace. O Lord! Thou givest, Thou takest away, Thy name be praised for ever and ever. Amen.

“On the Anniversary of a Parent’s Death (Jahrzeit)” is one of thirty prayers appearing in Rabbi Moritz Mayer’s collection of tehinot, Hours of Devotion (1866), of uncertain provenance and which he may have written. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Co-authors:

Name: Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)
Bio: Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)
Website: https://aharon.varady.net
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/aharon-varady

Name: Moritz Mayer
Bio: Rabbi Moritz Mayer (originally Moses Maier, later Maurice Mayer; 1821-1867) born in Dürckheim-on-the-Haardt, Germany, fled to the United States and to New York as a political refugee of the 1848 revolution. In 1859, after seven years as the rabbi of Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim in Charleston, South Carolina, he returned in poor health to New York where he contributed frequently to the Jewish press, and translated various German works into English: Rabbi Samuel Adler's catechism, Abraham Geiger's lectures on Jewish history, and Ludwig Philipson's pamphlet, Haben die Juden Jesum Gekreuzigt? (the Crucifixion from the Jewish Point of View), et al. In 1866, a number of his English translations of Fanny Neuda's teḥinot in German (from her Stunden Der Andacht, 1855/1858) were published in a volume he titled Hours of Devotion. The work also included a number of his own prayers as well as those of Marcus Heinrich Bresslau. The following year, Moritz Mayer passed away. He was 45 years old. (We are indebted to Anton Hieke for his research on Mayer, "Rabbi Maurice Mayer: German Revolutionary, Charleston Reformer, and Anti-Abolitionist" published in Southern Jewish Life, 17 (2014), pp. 45-89.) For Mayer's translations of prayers by other authors, please visit here.
Website:
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/moritz-mayer

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Title: prayer on the anniversary of a parent’s death (Moritz Mayer 1866)
Caption: Detail of Moritz Mayer's prayer on the anniversary of a parent's death (Moritz Mayer 1866).