A Widow's Prayer, by Rabbi Moritz Mayer (1866)

Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license

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 of Primary Caregivers, prayers of single parents, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: A prayer of a woman and mother who has lost her husband and is contemplating desperate circumstances. . . .

Content:

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	From the depth of my heart I call unto Thee, God and Father! let me find strength and consolation in prayer! It pleased Thee, in Thine inscrutable wisdom, to bereave me of my husband, and my children of their father; where, then, God! can I find consolation, if not with Thee, who directest the cause of all widows and orphans.—I am alone and forsaken, whither shall I flee? To Thee alone, who art the Support of the falling, the Refuge of the forsaken, and the Redeemer of all the oppressed. Oh! with a broken and lacerated heart I stand before Thee, for dark are the prospects of the future; but my hope in Thee is my consolation. Thou wilt illumine the darkness, heal my broken heart and uplift again my depressed spirit. Have mercy upon me (and upon my fatherless children.) Let me not fall into the hands of men, to stand in the need of their gifts and presents, but do Thou feed and sustain me, for Thy mercy is exceedingly great. Be Thou with me and assist my feeble strength in the education of my children, that I may safely lead them through the rugged and perilous paths of life into the way of eternal beatitude and salvation. Be Thou their constant Defender, for man has no better Friend, no mightier, wiser and more loving Father, than my God. Be Thou our Support and Helper in time of need. Our eyes are turned unto Thee,—do not forsake us—help us for the sake of Thy holy name. Amen.

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Source (English)

From the depth of my heart I call unto Thee, God and Father! let me find strength and consolation in prayer! It pleased Thee, in Thine inscrutable wisdom, to bereave me of my husband, and my children of their father; where, then, God! can I find consolation, if not with Thee, who directest the cause of all widows and orphans.—I am alone and forsaken, whither shall I flee? To Thee alone, who art the Support of the falling, the Refuge of the forsaken, and the Redeemer of all the oppressed. Oh! with a broken and lacerated heart I stand before Thee, for dark are the prospects of the future; but my hope in Thee is my consolation. Thou wilt illumine the darkness, heal my broken heart and uplift again my depressed spirit. Have mercy upon me (and upon my fatherless children.) Let me not fall into the hands of men, to stand in the need of their gifts and presents, but do Thou feed and sustain me, for Thy mercy is exceedingly great. Be Thou with me and assist my feeble strength in the education of my children, that I may safely lead them through the rugged and perilous paths of life into the way of eternal beatitude and salvation. Be Thou their constant Defender, for man has no better Friend, no mightier, wiser and more loving Father, than my God. Be Thou our Support and Helper in time of need. Our eyes are turned unto Thee,—do not forsake us—help us for the sake of Thy holy name. Amen.

“A Widow’s Prayer” 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

Featured Image:

Title: A widow’s prayer (Moritz Mayer 1866)
Caption: Detail of Moritz Mayer's prayer for a widow (Moritz Mayer 1866).