[Prayer] at the Grave of a Child, by Rabbi Moritz Mayer (1866)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=32380

Date: 2020-06-21

Last Updated: 2020-06-21

Categories: Mourning

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., cemetery prayers, English vernacular prayer, Jewish Women's Prayers, prayers concerning children, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: A prayer for a woman mounrning at the grave of her child. . . .

Content:

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Source (English)

Sweetly slumbering the darling of my heart rests here my dear, early departed child; peace unto (his/her) soul! God of grace and mercy! forgive the depressed heart of a mother trembling in unutterable woe! Alas! the blossom that death broke off, was my happiness, and the life which wvas extinguished at Thy command, filled my heart with cheering hopes. By the side of my darling child, taken away so soon, I hope to enjoy the delight of existence in double measure, to endure more easily all sufferings, and to look towards my end without fear and trembling; for I hoped that (his/her) hand would close my eyes. But Thy thoughts, O Lord, are not our thoughts, Thy ways are not our ways. Thou hadst given me my beloved child, Thou hast taken (him her) away, Thy name be praised! Yea, even from the depth of my grief I worship Thee with reverence. Whatever Thou doest is well done; Thou art our loving Father when Thou blessest and when Thou chastizest, when Thou givest and when Thou takest away, when Thou grantest life and when Thou sendest death. Thou woundest and bindest up again, Thou strikest, and Thy hand healeth again. Therefore, I pray unto Thee, Eternal God! fill Thou my saddened heart with consolation. Strengthen my confidence in Thine alljust ordinations, preserve me in obedience to Thy holy will. Forgive my sins, O Lord! and deliver me from all evil. Let the spirit of my child enjoy fulness of joy in Thy glorious habitation of peace; open unto it the source of truth and light, and let it ascend higher and higher in its everlasting salvation. Amen.

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“At the Grave of a Child” 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

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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: at the grave of a child (Moritz Mayer 1866)
Caption: Detail of Moritz Mayer's prayer for visiting a grave of a child.