By the Waters of Babylon, Joey Weisenberg & The Hadar Ensemble
By the waters of Babylon, we laid our lyres down, laid our lyres down, we sat and cried
By the waters of Babylon, we sang no sacred songs, sang no sacred songs, our tongues were tied
If I forget you Jerusalem, I’ll play no more again, play no more again, not one more time
Won’t you show me Jerusalem, razed and broken, razed and broken, alone on high
By the waters of Babylon we laid our lyres down, laid our lyres down, a long long time
(1) By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat, sat and wept, as we thought of Zion. (2) There on the poplars we hung up our lyres, (3) for our captors asked us there for songs, our tormentors, for amusement: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.” (4) How can we sing a song of the LORD on alien soil? (5) If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither; (6) let my tongue stick to my palate if I cease to think of you, if I do not keep Jerusalem in memory even at my happiest hour. (7) Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem’s fall; how they cried, “Strip her, strip her to her very foundations!” (8) Fair Babylon, you predator, a blessing on him who repays you in kind what you have inflicted on us; (9) a blessing on him who seizes your babies and dashes them against the rocks!
Traditional Mi Shebeirach Text
May the One who blessed our ancestors — Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah — bless and heal the one who is ill:
_____ son/daughter of _____ .
May the Holy Blessed One overflow with compassion upon him/her, to restore him/her, to heal him/her, to strengthen him/her, to enliven him/her. The One will send him/her, speedily, a complete healing — healing of the soul and healing of the body — along with all the ill, among the people of Israel and all humankind, soon, speedily, without delay, and let us all say: Amen!
ברוך אתה חי אלוהינו מלך העולם, דיין האמת
On Hearing of a Death
Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the universe, the True Judge.
(א)יִתְגַּדַּל וְיִתְקַדַּשׁ שְׁמֵהּ רַבָּא.
(ב) בְּעָלְמָא דִּי בְרָא כִרְעוּתֵהּ וְיַמְלִיךְ מַלְכוּתֵהּ בְּחַיֵּיכון וּבְיומֵיכון וּבְחַיֵּי דְכָל בֵּית יִשרָאֵל בַּעֲגָלָא וּבִזְמַן קָרִיב, וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן:
(ג)יְהֵא שְׁמֵהּ רַבָּא מְבָרַךְ לְעָלַם וּלְעָלְמֵי עָלְמַיָּא:
(ד)יִתְבָּרַךְ וְיִשְׁתַּבַּח וְיִתְפָּאַר וְיִתְרומַם וְיִתְנַשּא וְיִתְהַדָּר וְיִתְעַלֶּה וְיִתְהַלָּל שְׁמֵהּ דְּקֻדְשָׁא. בְּרִיךְ הוּא.
(ה) לְעֵלָּא מִן כָּל בִּרְכָתָא וְשִׁירָתָא תֻּשְׁבְּחָתָא וְנֶחֱמָתָא דַּאֲמִירָן בְּעָלְמָא. וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן:
(ו) יְהֵא שְׁלָמָא רַבָּא מִן שְׁמַיָּא וְחַיִּים עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל יִשרָאֵל. וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן:
(ז) עוֹשה שָׁלוֹם בִּמְרומָיו הוּא יַעֲשה שָׁלום עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל יִשרָאֵל וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן:
(1) Yitgadal v’yitkadash sh’mei raba.
(2) B’alma di-v’ra chirutei, v’yamlich malchutei b’chayeichon uvyomeichon uvchayei d’chol beit yisrael, ba’agala uvizman kariv, v’im’ru: “amen.”
(3) Y’hei sh’mei raba m’varach l’alam ul’almei almaya.
(4) Yitbarach v’yishtabach, v’yitpa’ar v’yitromam v’yitnaseh, v’yithadar v’yit’aleh v’yit’halal sh’mei d’kud’sha, b’rich hu,
(5) l’eila min-kol-birchata v’shirata, tushb’chata v’nechemata da’amiran b’alma, v’im’ru: “amen.”
(6) Y’hei shlama raba min-sh’maya v’chayim aleinu v’al-kol-yisrael, v’im’ru: “amen.”
(7) Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu v’al kol-yisrael, v’imru: “amen.”
Mi Shebeirach for Grief
To the One who blessed our ancestors and the One who blesses all beings here on this earth, bless all those who are suffering the grief of someone they loved. May they find solace in their memory, and may their love find a resting place in their hearts. Bless all those who are struggling with the death of someone with whom they had a difficult relationship. May they find compassion for themselves and renewal of spirit. May they have patience and strength, as grief can come in waves throughout their lives. May they find the courage to share their grief with others, no matter how many years have gone by. While they can be shattered by loss, they can be healed by love from others. Sacred One, help them find ways to open their hearts to love and hope. Bless all those who are grieving, for it is an honor to have lived. Make both life and death a blessing. Amen.
A prayer by the Blue Dove Foundation
A Prayer for the End of Bloodshed
May it be Your will, Adonai our God and God of our ancestors, that You abolish all wars and bloodshed from this world and extend a great and wonderful peace in the world. Nations shall not lift up the sword against one another, neither shall they learn to make war any more. May all the inhabitants of this universe acknowledge the one great truth; that we have not come into this world for friction and dissension, nor enmity and jealousy and vexation and bloodshed. We have come into the world solely that we might know You, eternally blessed One.
And therefore have mercy upon us that through us the written word will become a reality. "And I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down untroubled by anyone; I will give the land respite from vicious beasts and no sword shall cross your land." (Leviticus 26:6) "But let justice well up like water, righteousness like an unfailing stream." (Amos.5:24) "For the land shall be filled with devotion to Adonai as water covers the sea." (Isaiah 11:9)
Based on the prayer of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, from Siddur Ha'avodah She'ba'lev, Service of the Heart.
(1) A song of ascents. Out of the depths I call You, O LORD. (2) O Lord, listen to my cry; let Your ears be attentive to my plea for mercy. (3) If You keep account of sins, O LORD, Lord, who will survive? (4) Yours is the power to forgive so that You may be held in awe. (5) I look to the LORD; I look to Him; I await His word. (6) I am more eager for the Lord than watchmen for the morning, watchmen for the morning. (7) O Israel, wait for the LORD; for with the LORD is steadfast love and great power to redeem. (8) It is He who will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.
(1) For the leader. A psalm of David. (2) May the LORD answer you in time of trouble, the name of Jacob’s God keep you safe. (3) May He send you help from the sanctuary, and sustain you from Zion. (4) May He receive the tokens of all your meal offerings, and approve your burnt offerings. Selah. (5) May He grant you your desire, and fulfill your every plan. (6) May we shout for joy in your victory, arrayed by standards in the name of our God. May the LORD fulfill your every wish. (7) Now I know that the LORD will give victory to His anointed, will answer him from His heavenly sanctuary with the mighty victories of His right arm. (8) They [call] on chariots, they [call] on horses, but we call on the name of the LORD our God. (9) They collapse and lie fallen, but we rally and gather strength. (10) O LORD, grant victory! May the King answer us when we call.
ניגון חב"ד
רחמנא דעני לעניי ענינא
רחמנא דעני לתבירי ליבא חנינא
Chabad Niggun
O Merciful One, who answers the poor, answer us
O Merciful One, who answers the broken-hearted, answer us
אחינו כל בית ישראל
אחינו כל בית ישראל, הנתונים בצרה ובשביה, העומדים בין בים ובין ביבשה ,המקום ירחם עליהם ויוציאם מצרה לרווחה, ומאפלה לאורה, ומשעבוד לגאולה, השתא בעגלה ובזמן קריב. ונאמר אמן
Acheinu - Our Brothers And Sisters
Our brothers, sisters, siblings, the whole house of Israel, who are in distress and captivity who wander over sea and over land. May the Divine have mercy on them, and bring them from distress to comfort, from darkness to light, from slavery to redemption, now, swiftly, and soon. And let us say: Amen
Prayers On Behalf of Soldiers & Those Being Called to Active Service
May the One who blessed our fighters Joshua, David and Judah, Deborah, Yael and Judith, bless (Insert Name Here) who has been called to active service. May it be Your will, Adonai our God, that they be guided safely and protected every enemy and harm. May their path be successful and guard their going out and coming in to life and peace now and forever. And let us say: Amen.
Adapted from the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism's siddur
Prayer for the Members of the Israel Defense Force
The One who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God will bless the fighters of the Israel Defense Force, who stand guard over our land and the cities of our God from the border of the Lebanon to the desert of Egypt, and from the Great Sea unto the approach of the Aravah, on the land, in the air, and on the sea. May God cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down before them. May the Holy Blessed One, preserve and rescue our fighting men and women from every trouble and distress and from every plague and illness, and may God send blessing and success in their every endeavor. May God lead our enemies under their sway and grant them salvation and crown them with victory. And may there be fulfilled for them the verse: For it is the Lord, your God, Who goes with you to battle your enemies for you, in order to save you. And let us say, Amen.
Prayer for the State of Israel, The Chief Rabbinate of Israel
Translation by Rabbi Ed Snitkoff, adjusted for gender parity
Our Parent in Heaven, Protector and Redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel which marks the dawn of our deliverance. Shield it beneath the wings of Your love. Spread over it Your canopy of peace; send Your light and Your truth to its leaders, officers, and counselors, and direct them with Your good counsel. Strengthen the defenders of our Holy Land; grant them salvation and crown them with victory. Establish peace in the land, and everlasting joy for its inhabitants.
Remember our siblings, the whole house of Israel, in all the lands of their dispersion. Speedily let them walk upright to Zion, the city, to Jerusalem Your dwelling-place, as it is written in the Torah of Your servant Moses: “Even if you are dispersed in the uttermost parts of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather and fetch you. The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it.” Unite our heart to love and revere Your name, and to observe all the precepts of Your Torah. And send us the son of David, the Messiah of Your justice, to redeem those who wait for Your salvation. Shine forth in Your glorious majesty over all the inhabitants of Your world. Let everything that breathes proclaim: The Lord God of Israel is Royalty; God’s majesty rules over all.” Amen.
Tears and Rain: A Prayer for Success in War – Alden Solovy
We prayed for rain, And we got tears.
Yes, we said the ancient words –
משיב הרוח ומוריד הגשם Masheev ha’ruach u’moreed hagashem –
Acknowledging G-d as the One Who makes the rain fall And the wind blow,
But we got tears, So many tears Flowing like rain That would not relent.
Tears for the dead.
Tears for the wounded.
Tears for the kidnapped, And tears for the captives.
Tears for the soldiers.
Tears for the reservists.
Tears for our sons.
Tears for our daughters.
Tears for our friends,
And tears for our families.
Tears for our nation.
Tears for our people.
So many tears.
So many tears.
G-d, who makes the rain fall, G-d, who makes tears on earth, Send us Your tears from heaven, But only if You send them As blessings, Only if You send them as signs That You will be with us As we defend our nation, That You will be with us As we fight to end the terror That dwells in our midst, The terror that still lurks at our doorstep.
(א) אָנָּא בְּכחַ גְּדֻלַּת יְמִינְךָ. תַּתִּיר צְרוּרָה: קַבֵּל רִנַּת עַמְּךָ. שגְּבֵנוּ טַהֲרֵנוּ נורָא: נָא גִבּור. דּורְשי יִחוּדְךָ. כְּבָבַת שמְרֵם: בָּרְכֵם טַהֲרֵם. רַחֲמֵי צִדְקָתְךָ. תָּמִיד גָּמְלֵם: חֲסִין קָדוש. בְּרוב טוּבְךָ. נַהֵל עֲדָתֶךָ: יָחִיד גֵּאֶה. לְעַמְּךָ פְּנֵה. זוכְרֵי קְדֻשּתֶךָ: שוְעָתֵנוּ קַבֵּל. וּשמַע צַעֲקָתֵנוּ. יודֵעַ תַּעֲלֻמות: בָּרוּךְ שם כְּבוד מַלְכוּתו לְעולָם וָעֶד:
By the might of your great right hand set free the captive.
Accept the song of your people; strengthen and purify us, Awesome One. Mighty One, guard those who seek You like the apple of your eye. Bless them, purify them, and have mercy on them, forever granting them your righteousness. Strong One, Holy One, in your greatness guide your people. Only One, Exalted One, turn to your people who remember your holiness. Accept our prayer, hear our cry, knower of secrets. Blessed is the One the glory of whose kingdom is renowned forever.
Kabbalistic Meditation for Sunday's verse of Ana Beko'ach, (אבג יתצ) representing chesed/lovingkindness: Power of redemption. Unconditional love. Removing the negative influence of physical matter from our lives. Tapping into the Tree of Life reality. Remembering yesterday's lessons.
Kabbalistic Meditation for Cheshvan's verse of Ana Beko'ach, (נגד יכש) representing tiferet/beauty: Connecting to all forms of sustenance, both physical and spiritual. Rejuvenating our body. Removing death from all aspects of life, including body, relationships, business. Gaining help to avoid speaking evil speech.
(ז) וְדַע, שֶׁהָאָדָם צָרִיךְ לַעֲבֹר עַל גֶּשֶׁר צַר מְאֹד מְאֹד, וְהַכְּלָל וְהָעִקָּר – שֶׁלֹּא יִתְפַּחֵד כְּלָל:
(7) Know, too! a person must cross a very, very narrow bridge. The main rule is: Do not be frightened at all!
() נחמו נחמו עמי יאמר אלקיכם. (ישעיה מ, א) בעת שינחם השם יתברך במהרה בימינו אותנו יזכור לנו כל הצרות שעברו עלינו כדי שיהיה נחמה בכפליים. וזהו אלקיכם, מדת הדין:
At the time that G-d comforts us, may it be speedily in our days, G-d will remember all of the sorrows that we suffered and we will be comforted twice as much.
(19) To recall my distress and my misery Was wormwood and poison; (20) Whenever I thought of them, I was bowed low. (21) But this do I call to mind, Therefore I have hope: (22) The kindness of the LORD has not ended, His mercies are not spent. (23) They are renewed every morning— Ample is Your grace! (24) “The LORD is my portion,” I say with full heart; Therefore will I hope in Him.
שָׁלוֹם - the Hebrew word for piece (shalom) contains three consonants: שלם.
From Sefer Yetzirah, a kabbalistic work depicting the creation of the universe, we learn that ש (shin) and ם (mem) are two of the mother letters. They are paired with א as the three Hebrew letters with which G-d created the universe and all its elements. ש (shin) represents אֵשׁ (fire) which is symbolic of שמים (the heavens), and ם (mem) represents מים (water), which is symbolic of the chaotic abyss of earth before G-d created land.
In the word שָׁלוֹם (shalom), the ש, or the heavens, are connected to the ם, or the earth, by the letter ל (lamed), which represents two things: לְמִידָה (learning) and פעולה (action).
The teaching here is that we can bring the peace from the heavens to our Earth in two ways: by learning (the Torah, about others, about how to be better people, etc.) and by acting (tikkun olam, giving tzedakah, comforting and caring for others, standing up for what is right, etc.) Both are important to striving towards peace in our world.
עוֹשה שָׁלוֹם
עוֹשה שָׁלוֹם בִּמְרומָיו הוּא יַעֲשה שָׁלום עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל יִשרָאֵל וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן:
Oseh Shalom
May the One who creates peace in the heavens bring peace to us and to all of Israel. And we say: Amen.
Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) - In Conversation With Aron Hirt-Manheimer, Reform Judaism, 2005
One must wager on the future. I believe it is possible, in spite of everything, to believe in friendship in a world without friendship, and even to believe in God in a world where there has been an eclipse of God's face.
Above all, we must not give in to cynicism. To save the life of a single child, no effort is too much. To make a tired old man smile is to perform an essential task. To defeat injustice and misfortune, if only for one instant, for a single victim, is to invent a new reason to hope.
Just as despair can be given to me only by another human being, hope too can be given to me only by another human being. Mankind must remember too that, like hope, peace is not God's gift to his creatures. Peace is a very special gift--it is our gift to each other. For the sake of our children and theirs, I pray that we are worthy of that hope, of that redemption, and some measure of peace.