Schlußgebet | Final prayer [before bedtime], by Lise Tarlau (1907)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=48103

Date: 2022-12-25

Last Updated: 2025-03-27

Categories: Bedtime Shema

Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., German vernacular prayer, Jewish Women's Prayers, Teḥinot in German, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: "Schlußgebet" by Lise Tarlau can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald's anthology of Jewish women's prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), page 23. . . .

Content:

Source (German)	Translation (English)
Schlußgebet.	Final Prayer.
Wie Du mit meinen Vätern bist gewesen, So sei mit mir, o gnadenreicher Gott! Verlaß mich nicht, von Deinem Angesichte Verstoß mich nicht, erbarm’ Dich meiner Not!	As You were with my fathers, So be with me, O merciful God! Forsake me not, from your presence Do not cast me off, have mercy on me!
Hilf, daß ich wieder reinen Herzens werde Und daß mein Weg der Weg des Lebens sei. Was ich gefehlt, tilg’ aus, im neuen Lichte Sei wie ein böser Nachttraum es vorbei.	Help me to become pure of heart again And that my path may be the path of life. What I have missed, erase, in the new light May it pass like a bad night dream.
Erhöre meine Bitten, laß zuschanden Mich werden nicht und nicht der Feinde spott! Dir traue ich, nur Du allein kannst helfen, Du mächtiger, erbarmensreicher Gott.	Hear my pleas, let me be ashamed Let me not be mocked and not by my enemies! I trust in You, You alone can help, Thou mighty, merciful God.
Man ist so einsam, wenn des Kummers Wolken An unserm Himmel düster drohend stehn! Vor Menschen bin ich stumm, nur zu dem Ew’gen Komm ich mit meinem kindlich heißen Flehn	One is so lonely, when the clouds of sorrow In our sky stand gloomily threatening! Before men I am mute, only to the Eternal One I come with my childish heartfelt plea
Und bitte: Hüte mich in Deiner Gnade, Bewache mich beim Kommen und beim Gehn Und segne mich und segne, Herr, uns alle, Laß uns die stunde der Erlösung sehn!	And please: Keep me in Your grace, Watch over me as I come and as I go And bless me, and bless, Lord, us all, Let us see the hour of salvation!
Laß uns die Heimat, laß uns Frieden finden In uns und außer uns zu aller Zeit! Du schutzherr Israels, Du Weltenkönig, Gepriesen seist Du, Herr, in Ewigkeit!	Let us find the homeland, let us find peace Within us and beyond us at all times! You protector of Israel, King of the World, Blessed be You, Lord, for ever and ever!
Amen	Amen

---

“Schlußgebet” by Lise Tarlau can be found in Rabbi Max Grunwald’s anthology of Jewish women’s prayer, Beruria: Gebet- und Andachtsbuch für jüdische Frauen und Mädchen (1907), page 23.

The transcription of the German provided machine-readable text for machine translations by DeepL, which we then edited for accuracy and clarity. We welcome any/all corrections, improvements, and additional transcriptions and translations of this work’s contents. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

 

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: Lise Tarlau
  Bio: Lise Tarlau (also known as L'Ysaye/Isaye/Ysaye/Ysale, Lisa, Lize, Elizabeth, Luise, and Louise Tarleau; 1879-1952), was a writer born to a prominent Viennese Bohemian Jewish family, the daughter of Rabbi Dr. Joseph Samuel Bloch and Laura Lachmann. In an essay published in 1906, "The Religious Problem," she expressed enthusiasm for Zionism and a deep sympathy for East European, Yiddish speaking Jewry, praising them for having retained their own distinctive cultural identity and their own language. This posture was accompanied by harsh criticism of Western European Jewish cultural assimilation, writing that they have “lived as parasites on the creative possibilities of the dreams of beauty of other peoples” (as quoted in Peter Singer's Pushing Time Away, 2003). Before emigrating to the United States in 1908, nearly two dozen prayers she wrote were published in Beruria (1907), an anthology of teḥinot in German compiled by her sister's husband Rabbi Dr. Max Grunwald. A decade later in the US, Houghton Mifflin Company and Riverside Press published The Inn of Disenchantment (1917), a collection of her prose and several short stories. Tarlau's fiction also appeared in major magazines of the day, including The Nation (105:2725, September 20, 1917), The Atlantic Monthly (in 1919), and Harper's Magazine. In 1924, her short story "Loutré" was awarded second place in Harper's first ever short story contest. During World War II, she wrote a number of scripts for radio and film and worked as a translator for the US military. Several of her works were included in The Fireside Book of Romance (ed. C. Edward Wagenknecht, 1948). She died on October 9, 1952 in Kew Gardens, Queens, Long Island, New York.
  Website: https://www.geni.com/people/Louise-Tarlau/6000000039642814681
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/lise-tarlau
• 
  Name: Aharon N. Varady (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-transcription

Featured Image:

Title: Schlußgebet (Lise Tarlau 1907) – cropped
Caption: Schlußgebet (Lise Tarlau 1907) - cropped