prayer before travel jewish

• RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY

Rabbi offers daily prayers, comfort to travelers leaving LAX for Israel

"It's a blessing. It's a big mitzvah," he said.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- As you can imagine, traveling to Israel right now can be a tense situation, but to offer a little comfort to those travelers, a local Rabbi is volunteering his time at LAX.

Rabbi Ari Liberow didn't travel far to reach Los Angeles' major airport.

"I run the Chabad of Westchester near the airport," he said.

He's been coming to the international terminal to volunteer daily since Oct. 7, conducting prayer services with passengers traveling to Israel.

"They want to take part and do something good before they get on," said Liberow. "It's amazing. It's a blessing. It's a big mitzvah."

One traveler hadn't done a prayer service like this before. As for his flight, Scott Loffman has no hesitation despite the ongoing conflict. He did admit he did his own prayer before arriving t the airport.

"I personally don't try to push my religion on anybody, but, you know, I think he has a good heart, and he's working hard, and he's helping people," said Loffman. "He's trying to help people improve their lives, and that's a good thing."

Rabbi Liberow said other airports like Miami and JFK in New York provide similar services and he's glad he's available for travelers in L.A. who need it.

"You know, we can have our differences. As the saying goes, 'Two Jews, three opinions,' but we're still family," he said. "We look out for each other, and people appreciate that."

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From Kol Nidre to Neilah: All Jewish prayers for Yom Kippur

We’ve compiled for you the well-wishing, comforting time-honored words in an extensive prayer project – the ynetnews machzor; we invite everyone to become at one with the tunes – old and new – and choose your personal favorite from the prayer soundtrack, embedded within the dna of the jewish soul.

• When does the fast begin and end - and a guide to the laws and customs of Yom Kippur

Kol Nidre ('All our vows')

Lecha Eli ('To Thee, oh God')

Ya’ale Tahanunenu ('Our plea will ascend')

Haneshema Lach ('The soul belongs to Thee')

Darkecha elokeinu ('it is thy way, oh god').

Ki Hineh Kechomer ('As clay in the hand of the potter')

Shma Koleini ('Hear our voice')

Ki Anu Amecha ('For we are your people')

Se’u She’arim ('Lift up your gates')

Kedusha (Holiness)

Ve'heviotchem el har kodshi ('these i will bring to my holy mountain').

Retzei ('Be favorable')

Adon Haselichot ('Lord of Selichot')

Hineni He’ani Mema’as ('Here I am, impoverished of deeds')

Unetanneh Tokef ('Let us now relate the power of this day’s holiness')

Ein Kitzba ('There is no set span for your years')

V'yetayu Kol L'avdecha ('Then all shall come to serve you')

Ochila La'el ('I will hope in God')

Adir ve Na’or ('Mighty and enlightened')

Mar’eh cohen ('the countenance of the priest').

Vidui ('Confession')

Vete’arev ('may our entreaty become pleasing before thee'), hayom te'amtzeinu ('today, may thou strengthen us').

Et Shaarei Ratson ('It is the time for the gates of acceptance to be opened')

Ya Shma Evionecha ('God, hear your poor')

Hamol al ma’asecha ('have compassion upon thy works').

El Nora Alila ('God of awe, God of might')

Ptach lanu sha’ar ('open the heavenly gate for us'), avinu malkeinu ('our father, our king').

Kadish ('Sanctification')

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Recite This Prayer At The Seder For The Safe Return Of All The Hostages

Deena Friedman April 17, 2024

In advance of this year’s Passover celebrations, set to take place during the war in Gaza, while hostages are still being held captive, the Chief Rabbi of Israel composed a special prayer to be recited during the Passover Seders before V’hi She’amda, specifically dedicated to the safe return of all the hostages.

Print out Prayer 1 here.

I decided to create a beautiful Canva printable card with this prayer on it so that we can all recite it at our own Seder tables this year.

Print out Prayer 2 here.

As families gather around their Seder tables, this prayer echoes our collective yearning for the hostages’ safe return.

May all the hostages safely return home to their loved ones before Passover so this prayer does not have to be recited.

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When is Passover 2024? What to know about the Jewish holiday and why it's celebrated

Grab the seder plate and start prepping the matzo, the eight-day celebration of Passover , or Pesach, starts this Monday. 

The major  Jewish holiday happens during the month of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. It usually falls on a day in spring in March or April. This year, the holiday will begin a couple of weeks after it did in 2023.

The week is marked by a ceremony that celebrates the Jewish Festival of Freedom. It starts with a traditional seder meal that is choreographed with a script. It allows those partaking in the holiday to reflect on their rich background while enjoying  a few bowls of matzoh ball soup .

Pesach, which is Hebrew for "Passover", demands that Jewish people become engrossed with their ancient story and revel in both the bitter and the sweet aspects of their history. 

But what is Passover and should you wish a Jewish friend or coworker a happy Passover? Here’s what you need to know.   

Passover 2024: More details on the Jewish holiday

When is Passover 2024?  

This year,  Passover begins before sundown on Monday, April 22, and ends after nightfall on April 30 in the United States. Many Jewish communities will hold seders the first two nights of the springtime holiday.

Last year, however, it began at sundown Wednesday, on April 5, and ended at sundown Thursday, April 13. 

Passover is sacred and widely celebrated

The holiday is observed with seders among families, friends and communities, as well as other sacred traditions.  

Passover “is one of the most widely celebrated of Jewish holidays,” Aaron Kaufman, executive director of Penn State Hillel, previously explained to USA TODAY. “It commemorates the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt as told in the Bible.” 

What is Purim?  Everything to know about the Jewish holiday, from costumes to hamantaschen

What is Passover?  

Rabbi Benjamin Berger, vice president of Jewish education at Hillel International, said Passover is known as the “festival of freedom.”  

“It's a celebration of not only the freedom of the Jewish people emerging from slavery in Egypt, and a tradition that results that is about remembering, and really putting ourselves in the shoes of those slaves and those who experienced the release from bondage, but also it reminds us of the freedom of all people,” he said.   

“Anyone who's experiencing oppression of some sort, whether it's external, from other people, or internal, from our own sense of the things that oppress us internally,” he added.  

Rabbi Maya Zinkow, senior Jewish educator at UC Berkeley Hillel, told USA TODAY Passover "celebrates the movement from slavery to liberation."

"So, we commemorate the time when the Jewish people really became a Jewish people. It's really the story of the birth of our peoplehood,” she said.  

How is Passover celebrated?  

Jewish people observing Passover will often gather for a seder, which Kaufman called “the ritual combination of service and dinner.” 

Some Jewish families or groups will display a seder plate, the “centerpiece” of seders that hold symbolic foods marking the holiday, Zinkow said. For example, maror, or bitter herbs, represent the bitterness of slavery.  

Seders involve moving through a book called a Haggadah, which contains stories, prayers, poetry and other teachings.   

• One element of seders is the recitation of the “four questions,” which are “about how this night is different than all other nights,” Berger said.   

But different families or communities will use different Haggadahs during Passover. Zinkow explained that during Passover “we are really meant to envision ourselves as a part of the story. And the thing that helps us do that is the Haggadah.”    

“Every single Haggadah will have the same general order of events. Every single Hagaddah is going to have the same central component, but they each have a different take on the story,” she noted.  

“And so if every single Jew is obligated to see themselves as a part of the story, the Haggadah is meant to help us do that, right? So, a feminist Hagaddah can help women see themselves as central to the story. A queer Haggadah can help queer people locate themselves in a story.  All kinds of communities, from marginalized communities to people who have maybe no trouble seeing themselves as a part of the story,” she added.  

What foods are eaten (or not eaten) during Passover?  

Many Jews during Passover do not eat certain leavened foods, known as chametz . Kaufman explained that the dietary changes “reflect the plight of the Israelites as they left Egypt,”

Matzo, an unleavened bread, “is the key and most well-known symbol of Passover,” Berger said.

Kaufman explained that “As the story goes, the Israelites had to leave Egypt so quickly, they didn't have time to bake their breads.”  

“They needed provisions for the long journey through the desert. So they had their dough, and they just threw it in their packs, and it baked on their backs in the heat of the sun into this flat cracker-like substance,” he said. 

Berger noted that “we call it the bread of affliction in order to commemorate that experience."

"But at the same time, we also call it the bread of freedom because our ability to sit wherever we sit in the homes that we sit in around the table, and actually to eat it in a way that satiates us,” he added. “That is considered one of the greatest luxuries because it means that we're alive, and we have the ability to eat in freedom.” 

What is the afikomen?

The afikomen is also part of many seders.   

“At the beginning of the seder, one part of the ritual is there's three pieces of matzo on the table, and one is broken in half and set aside, and that becomes afikomen. And it is the last thing we eat at the Passover seder meal,” Kaufman said.  

In some families, the afikomen is hidden. Sometimes parents hide the piece of matzo, and children search for it. But in other families, children are in charge of hiding the afikomen while parents have to look.  

Should I say “Happy Passover” or other greetings?  

If you want to greet a loved one who is celebrating Passover, “Happy Passover” is an appropriate sentiment.  

You could also say “chag sameach,” which means happy holiday in Hebrew, or chag kasher v’semeach, which means have a happy and kosher Passover.  

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‘shrinkflation’ hits matzo just before passover.

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Shrinkflation is coming for matzo – just in time for Passover, consumer advocate Edgar Dworksy reported .

At least two popular packaged matzo brands, Manischewitz and Yehuda, rolled out four-pound packages of the traditional Kosher food in that cost even more than the five-pound package did just a year ago, Dworsky noted on his blog earlier this month.

The situation is a classic case of “shrinkflation,” or when packages are downsized without a commensurate price cut, Dworsky said.

“Passover matzo has been one of the few products that has escaped shrinkflation until now. On top of that, some stores are raising prices too, so it is a double whammy for shoppers,” Dworsky noted.

Dworsky noticed the smaller packages at his local Stop & Shop just a few weeks ahead of Passover, the seven-day Jewish holiday that starts at sundown on April 22.

The new packs at a Boston-area Stop & Shop were a whopping $5.99 – one dollar more than 2023’s price for the five-pound version, he said.

Handmade matzo — which is only available in specialty shops — is even more expensive these days, costing up to $30 per pound.

“The prices have gone nuts, and we certainly hear a lot about the inflation price of handmade matzo…they’re priced like truffles,” Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side told The Post.

In an emailed statement, Stop & Shop said that the smaller packs were because customers complained they did not use the entire five-pound option.

The price hike was due to the rising prices of Kosher food supplies, the chain said.

“The matzo is probably the most significant symbol of the holiday,” Rabbi Steinmetz said.

“Because the matzah represents that the Jews left Egypt rapidly and they couldn’t. They didn’t have the time to allow their dough to rise and bake it into bread. So they had to bake it into thin wafer-like cakes,” he explained.

Many Passover observers adhere to a strictly Kosher diet during the holiday, and avoid leavened bread products.

“I don’t eat regular cereal during the time of Passover. I will use the little broken up pieces of matzo, pretending that it’s cereal, and pour some milk on it,” Roz Rachlin, 89, said.

The matzo is also a key part of the Seder, or the traditional feast to mark the start of Passover.

“I’ve been celebrating Passover since I was a little girl. I used to sit at the Seder table with a bunch of Passover coconut macaroons in my lap, because the prayer took so long I had to munch on something!” Rachlin, a native Yiddish speaker, recalled.

Matzo is a common topic among Steinmetz’s congregation these days — what kind they like, brands to avoid, and, of course, how much it costs.

“I have no doubt that shrinkflation will be noticed by Kosher consumers, they will certainly notice if there is a change,” he added.

But Rabbi Steinmetz might have less to worry about than others in his congregation.

When asked if he enjoys matzo, Steinmetz laughed and protested “You’re asking a rabbi!” — then admitted “I’m not a huge matzo person.”

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When is Passover 2024? Here's what to know about the Jewish holiday

The Jewish holiday of Passover is celebrated by millions worldwide. It's a day steeped in antiquity and marked by remembrance and tradition for Jewish individuals and communities.

For eight consecutive days, Jews participate in what's known as Pesach, or "Passover" in Hebrew, where a cumulative experience of religious history, education and festivities come together to commemorate the biblical account of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible.

Observance of Passover typically coincides with Easter, although dates vary each year depending on the lunar cycle. This is due to the fact that Passover always begins on the night of a full moon in accordance with the Jewish calendar.

Here's what to know about the holiday.

When is Passover 2024?

Passover will begin in the evening of Monday, April 22, and will last through April 30 just after sundown.

What is Passover?

Within Judaism, Passover symbolizes the ancient Israelites' freedom from slavery in Egypt and underscores God's faithfulness, as detailed in the Torah's biblical narrative. The term "Passover" originates from the Exodus account, signifying the Jewish people being spared from the devastating plagues brought about by God.

In the Jewish calendar, Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan, which typically falls between March and April. Although it typically lasts eight days, Jews in Israel generally observe only seven days.  According to Jewish customs , work is usually prohibited on the first and last days of the holiday.

From timing to prayers: Why is this Passover so different? Brevard rabbi explains

Passover begins monday night in brevard but is much later this week than in years past why is that and why is this passover different than before.

The four cups of wine, the matzo and the countless prayers will all be there when the sun sets Monday, ushering in the eight-day festival of Passover. But on a night of many questions, one might linger for the casual observer of the longstanding Jewish holiday; why does Passover seem to be arriving later than usual this year? 

“People are used to seeing Passover and Easter celebrated around the same time. And usually that’s true but this year is a leap year,” said Rabbi Craig Mayers of Temple Beth Sholom in Melbourne. This year, Passover is about a month later than usual.

“The Jewish calendar is focused on both the moon and sun and has an average of 364 days. Without any intervention, the holidays would begin earlier each year. So we add an extra month because we are given a biblical commandment to keep the holiday in spring,” Mayers explained. 

In the Christian tradition — with a calendar that revolves around the sun —  Easter typically falls on the first Sunday of spring.

What does the sun or moon have to do with Passover?

The Orthodox church’s celebration of Easter — called Pascha, a term derived from the Hebrew term for ‘Passover’ — as a rule falls on the Sunday after the Jewish Passover as recognition of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ during the same week in the New Testament. Orthodox Christians will mark Pascha on May 5, more than a month after Catholics and most Protestants celebrated Easter on March 31.

In Islam, the calendar is based on lunar movement. That means the month of Ramadan — considered the holiest on the Muslim calendar — arrives earlier and earlier each year and can coincide with holidays like Christmas and Easter as it moves across the calendar over a period of several years.

Passover, with its themes of liberation and freedom, marks the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt where they were enslaved more than 3,300 years ago, according to the Torah, the holy scriptures that make up the first five books of the Bible. The scripture teaches that the Israelite tribes left Egypt with such haste that their bread did not have a chance to rise. The holy day, marked by a ritual meal of unleavened bread and wine, begins sundown Monday. 

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This Passover will also be different worldwide as massive anti-Israel protests continue at college campuses, in town squares and even near Jewish institutions such as synagogues. Already in Brevard, the three major Jewish congregations will have an extra boost of security. 

What else makes this Passover different from others?

The celebrations and feasting will be tempered with additional prayers for the hostages who were kidnapped in Israel during the Oct. 7 incursions by Hamas terrorists near the border with Gaza . An estimated 1,200 people were killed as gunmen roamed the countryside, targeting kibbutzim and young adults attending a music festival in the Jewish state. Some 100 hostages, including women and children, remain held in war-torn Gaza.  An estimated 30,000 Palestinians have died as a result of the Israel response to root out Hamas from the Gaza Strip .

This year, some in Israel will commemorate Passover in the burned villages targeted by Hamas. Others will recall the destruction caused as a result of the war during the reciting of the Ten Plagues during the Seder meal. There will also be special prayers calling on the Israeli captives to be released.

“The chief rabbi in Israel asked that we add additional prayer for the hostages,” Mayers said.  “And we will.”

J.D. Gallop  is a Criminal Justice/Breaking News Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or  [email protected] . X, formerly known as Twitter:  @JDGallop.

Orthodox Christian Be mindful, O Lord, of those who travel by land, by sea, and by air; of the old and young, the sick, the suffering, the sorrowing, the afflicted, the captives, the needy and the poor; and upon them all send forth Thy mercies, for Thou art the Giver of all good things. --Orthodox Christian liturgy

Roman Catholic O Almighty and merciful God, who has commissioned your angels to guide and protect us, may they be our companions from our setting out until our return. Clothe us with their invisible protection; keep from us all danger of collision, of fire, of explosion, of falling; and finally,having preserved us from all evil, and especially from sin, guide us to our heavenly home. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. --Roman Catholic Prayer for Travelers

Islam In the name of Allah! I have placed faith in Allah and I have put full trust in Allah. It is as Allah wills! There is no strength and no power save with Allah.

O Allah! Protect me and protect what is with me, and deliver me to my destination. By Allah I commence my journey; by Allah I seek to accomplish the purpose of my journey; and by Muhammad (s.a.w.) I have set out. O Allah, make me overcome all; and make easy for me all difficulties; and give me more of goodness than I hope for; and keep away all evil of which I am apprehensive for my health, O the most Merciful. -- Muslim prayer for travelers

I ask true humility that, knowing self, I may rise above human frailty. I ask courage that I may prove faithful to duty beyond self. I ask unfailing devotion to personal integrity that I may ever remain honorable without compromise.

Make me an effective instrument of Your peace in the defense of the skies that canopy free nations.

So guide me daily in each thought, word and deed, that I may fulfill Your will. May these graces abide with me, my loved ones, and all who share my country's trust. We ask our prayer in the name of our Master and Leader Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum: Jewish Life in Shanghai

• April 21, 2024

Before you visit a refugee museum, you prepare yourself for tragedies.   

When you first see the museum’s exterior, you may not be too surprised – similar European-style architecture is no stranger in Shanghai. Once you enter the lobby, the dark-toned setting and dim lighting will transfer you to a space from the past – perhaps the Tilanqiao area of Hongkou in 1941 or a travel journal in 1938.

Upon entering the section “Visas for Life,” visitors are presented with visa documents that guarantee the beginning of the journey. Dr. He Fengshan, the Consul General of China in Vienna from 1938 to 1940, granted thousands of visas for the Jewish people to travel to Shanghai. At a time when the Nazis were persecuting and deporting Jews, these “Visas for Life” were tickets to hope in a foreign land. Even today, the Visas, rather than a flight ticket, allows you to travel. For the 20,000 European Jews who came to Shanghai from 1938 to 1941, a visa to a foreign land was an escape ticket for life. Right next to their visa documents, their passports are easily recognized by the “J” mark on the upper left corner of the first page, printed by the Nazis to indicate their Jewish identity. The following sections, “Fleeing to Shanghai” and “Journey of Hope,” tell the story of the Sachs family and stand as a glimpse of the many Jewish refugee families who took refuge in Shanghai by boat via Malaysia, with no clue of what lay ahead.

Most exhibits retell forgotten stories; some carry trust and waiting across time and space. One of them is a handbag that Jin Wenzhen inherited a handbag from her grandfather, who used to be the owner of a rice store on East Changzhi Road. According to her grandfather, the handbag belongs to a Jewish couple who came to his shop at night in 1940. They needed to go to the hospital for their sick child but could not afford the hospital fees. They gave Mr. Jin an elaborate handbag, saying that it was a family treasure and that they would redeem it when they had enough money. Mr. Jin gave them a month of his rice shop’s income and had been waiting for them to return the handbag, in which Jin surprisingly found a silver bracelet. More than 80 years later, this handbag is now exhibited in the museum as “A Handbag Awaiting Its Owner.”

What interested me was two exhibited books brought by Jewish refugees to Shanghai. One is laid open to show the prayer text written in Hebrew with a German translation in the middle of one page; the other is a songbook that says “easy to perform songs for choir” on its cover. Their owners, while fleeing, may have once prayed for their next day or hummed a song at midnight that their hometown choir used to practice. Although no names were found in these books, they became a paragraph in the biography of life on the run. The appearance of these words in Shanghai made me think about what kind of literature people choose to set sail with when they leave home, especially when the date of return is unknown. Those words that travel with people also leave their birthplace to a foreign land where no one recognizes them, where they are read and sung in remembrance of home.

One of the most highlighted figures in the museum is David Ludwig Bloch, an illustrator who lost his hearing as a child. Bloch was inspired by the underprivileged life in Shanghai Alley and explored watercolors and woodcuts to present Jewish life in Shanghai in his impressionistic and naturalistic way. Interestingly, he acquired his Chinese name白绿黑 because his second last name, Block, is pronounced like “white (白), green (绿), black (黑).” His collection of black-and-white prints,  Yellow Cab , focuses on the image of the life of a yellow cab driver in the alleys of Shanghai, vividly demonstrating the hardships of the yellow cab driver’s life. His work was highly recognized by the local people in Shanghai and fellow artists. A friend of the Chinese writer Jiang Yang, Dr. Monika Motsch, a German sinologist, and her husband, Mr. Richard Motsch, once gifted a collection of woodcuts by David Ludwig Bloch to Yang because of its skillful capturing and vivid reproduction of Shanghai’s cityscape and life.

People like David Ludwig Bloch were forced to become part of the vernacular cosmopolitanism, seeking survival in escape and translation. Their stories documented in this museum survived as part of the vast narrative of war. His story is also a microcosm of the core narrative of the museum – during the time of the war, Shanghai provided shelter for some Jewish people who fled here with their lives, languages, and culture, built communities and new lives in a multicultural environment.

When I walked out of the museum, what I remember is not tragedy, but hope and a deeper understanding of the city of Shanghai and its embracing nature.

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The Spiritual Life

“Windows To Spirituality”

List of Jewish Prayers and Blessings

Page Contents

Listed below are some Jewish prayers and blessings that are part of Judaism that are recited by many Jews. Most prayers and blessings can be found in the Siddur , or prayer book. This article addresses Jewish liturgical blessings, which generally begin with the formula:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ, מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם…

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha`olam…

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe…”

NOTE: ‘ is used in transliterations to refer to the sh’vah, which is similar/equivalent to ə; a mid-word aleph, a glottal stop; and a mid-word ayin, a voiced pharyngeal fricative ʕ similar/equivalent to Arabic  ع . Whenever  `  is used, it refers to ayin whether word-initial, medial, or final. ‘H/h’ are used to represent both he, an English h sound as in “hat”; and ḥes, a voiceless pharyngeal fricative ħequivalent to Arabic  ح . Whenever ‘ḥ’ is used, it refers to ḥet. Resh is represented by an ‘r,’ though it’s equivalent to Spanish ‘r,’ Spanish ‘rr,’ or French ‘r,’ depending on one’s dialect. In all other regards, transliterations are according to the Sephardi tradition, with modern Hebrew pronunciation.

Photo of the HPLS Siddur, Six-Volume Set, showing the encircling of text to distinguish between nusach.

Blessings and liturgical poetry

Everyday prayers and blessings, upon waking up.

Main article:  Modeh ani

מוֹדֶה אֲנִי לְפָנֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ חַי וְקַיָּם שֶׁהֶחֱזַרְתָּ בִּי נִשְׁמָתִי בְּחֶמְלָה, רַבָּה אֱמוּנָתֶךָ.

Transliteration:   Modeh ani lifanekha melekh ḥai v’kayam sheheḥezarta bi nishmahti b’ḥemla, raba emunatekha .

Translation: “I give thanks before You, Living and Eternal King, that You have returned within me my soul with compassion; [how] abundant is Your faithfulness!”

Elohai Neshamah

אֱ-לֹהַי, נְשָׁמָה שֶׁנָּתַתָּ בִּי טְהוֹרָה הִיא. אַתָּה בְרָאתָהּ, אַתָּה יְצַרְתָּהּ, אַתָּה נְפַחְתָּהּ בִּי, [ וְאַתָּה מְשַׁמְּרָהּ בְּקִרְבִּי, וְאַתָּה עָתִיד לִטְּלָהּ מִמֶּנִּי, וּלְהַחֲזִירָהּ בִּי לֶעָתִיד לָבוֹא. כָּל זְמַן שֶׁהַנְּשָׁמָה בְּקִרְבִּי מוֹדֶה אֲנִי לְפָנֶיךָ ה’ אֱ-לֹהַי וֵא-לֹהֵי אֲבוֹתַי. רִבּוֹן כָּל הַמַּעֲשִׂים אֲדוֹן כָּל הַנְּשָׁמוֹת. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, הַמַּחֲזִיר נְשָׁמוֹת לִפְגָרִים מֵתִים: ]

Transliteration: “ Elohai neshama shenatata bi t’horah hi. Ata b’ratah, ata y’tzartah, ata n’fachtah bi [v’ata m’shamrah b’kirbi v’ata atid litelah mimeni ulehachazirah bi leatid lavo. Kol z’man shehaneshaman b’kirbi modeh/ah ani lefaneicha, Adonai Elohai v’lohei avotai, Ribon kol hamasim, Adon kol haneshamot. Baruch ata Adonai, hamachazir neshamot lifgarim metim] .”

Translation: “My God, the soul You have given me is pure. You created it, You formed it, and You breathed it into me. [and You guard it while it is within me, and one day You will take it from me, and restore it to me in the time to come. As long as the soul is within me, I will thank You, HaShem my God and God of my ancestors, Master of all works, Lord of all souls. Blessed are You, L ORD , who restores souls to lifeless bodies].” [1]

Po’ke’ah Ivrim

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ, מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם. פּוֹקֵחַ עִוְרִים.

Transliteration:   Baruch ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam po’ke’ah ivrim.

Translation: Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who restores the eyes of the blind. [2]

For putting on  tzitzit

The tzitzit are first inspected to make sure they are properly intact before wearing the  tallit katan . While holding the  tallit katan , in readiness to put it on, the following blessing is recited.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ, מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם. אֲשֶר קִדְּשָנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וִצִוָּנוּ לְהִתְעַטֵף בַּצִיצִת.

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha`olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav, v’tzivanu l’hitateif batzitzit.

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us regarding the commandment of fringes.”

After donning the  tallit katan , many kiss the  tzitzit ; some additionally say the following:

יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ ה׳אֱ-לֹהי וֵא-לֹהֵי אֲבוֹתַי, שֶׁתְּהֵא חֲשׁוּבָה מִצְוַת צִיצִית לְפָנֶיךָ כְּאִלּוּ קִיַּמְתִּיהָ בְּכָל פְּרָטֶיהָ וְדִקְדּוּקֶיהָ וְכַוָּנוֹתֶיהָ, וְתַרְיַ”ג מִצְוֹת הַתְּלוּיִם בָּהּ, אָמֵן סֶלָה.

Transliteration:   Y’hi ratzon mil’fanekha, Adonai Elohai velohei avotai, she’t’hei hashuva mitzvat tzitzit l’fanekha, k’ilu kiyamtiha b’khol p’rateha v’dikdukeha v’khavanoteha, v’taryag mitzvot ha’t’luyim bah. Amen, Selah.

Translation: “May there be the desire before You, L ORD  my God and the God of my forefathers, that the commandment of fringes should be considered before You as if I had fulfilled it in all its aspects, its details and its intentions, as well as the 613 commandments that are dependent on it. Amen, Selah.”

For putting on a  tallit gadol  (prayer shawl)

Main article:  Tallit

On inspection of the  tzitzit

Psalms 104:1–2 is traditionally read:

בָּרְכִי נַפְשִׁי אֶת ה’, ה’ אֱ-לֹהַי גָּדַלְתָּ מְּאֹד הוֹד וְהָדָר לָבָשְׁתָּ: עֹטֶה אוֹר כַּשַּׂלְמָה נוֹטֶה שָׁמַיִם כַּיְרִיעָה

Transliteration:   Barkhi nafshi et Adonai. Adonai Elohai, gadalta m’od; hod v’hadar lavashta – O’te or ka’salma, no’te shamayim ka’y’ri’a .

Translation: “Bless, (O) my soul, the L ORD . L ORD  my God, You are very great; glory and majesty have You worn – Who dons light as a garment, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain.”

Before putting on the  tallit

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לְהִתְעַטֵּף בַּצִיצִית

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu l’hit’atef ba’tzitzit .

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us to wrap ourselves with fringes.”

After wrapping the  tallit  around the body

Psalms 36:8–11 is traditionally recited:

מַה יָּקָר חַסְדְּךָ אֱ-לֹהִים. וּבְנֵי אָדָם בְּצֵל כְּנָפֶיךָ יֶחֱסָיוּן: יִרְוְיֻן מִדֶּשֶׁן בֵּיתֶךָ וְנַחַל עֲדָנֶיךָ תַשְׁקֵם: כִּי עִמְּךָ מְקוֹר חַיִּים. בְּאוֹרְךָ נִרְאֶה אוֹר: מְשׁוֹךְ חַסְדְּךָ לְיֹדְעֶיךָ וְצִדְקָתְךָ לְיִשְׁרֵי לֵב.

Transliteration:   Ma yakar hasd’kha Elohim, uvnei adam b’tzel k’nafekha yehesayun. Yirv’yun mideshen beitekha, v’nahal adanekha tashkem. Ki im’kha m’kor hayim, b’or’kha nir’e or. M’shokh hasd’kha l’yod’ekha, v’tzidkat’kha l’yish’rei lev

Translation: “How precious is your kindness, [O] God! People take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They are sated from the abundance of Your house, and from the stream of Your delights You give them to drink. For with You is the source of life; by Your light shall we see light. Extend Your kindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright of heart.”

For putting on  tefillin

Main article:  Tefillin

On placement of the arm- tefillin

Before the strap of the arm-tefillin is fastened, the following blessing is said:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לְהָנִיחַ תְּפִלִּין.

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha`olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu l’hani’aḥ t’filin.  (The “l” in t’filin is geminated.)

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us to put on tefillin.”

On placement of the head- tefillin

Sephardic and Hasidic authorities are of the opinion that the blessing on laying the head-tefillin is not necessary and the one blessing on laying the arm-tefillin is sufficient. Ashkenazim, however, do recite a second blessing on the head-tefillin, before tightening it around the head:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל מִצְוַת תְּפִלִּין.

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al mitzvat t’filin .

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us regarding the commandment of tefillin.”

Because of the doubt as to the necessity of this blessing, it is followed by a statement of praise, so as not to have uttered God’s name in vain:

בָּרוּךְ שֵׁם כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתוֹ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד.

Transliteration:   Barukh shem k’vod malkhuto l’olam va’ed .

Translation: “Blessed is the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.”

On coiling the straps around the middle finger

Arm-tefillin with ש (shin) pattern, according to one of the Ashkenazi opinions

The remainder of the arm-tefillin straps are then wound three times around the middle finger and around the hand. This is traditionally accompanied by the recitation of Hosea 2:21–22:

וְאֵרַשְׂתִּיךְ לִי לְעוֹלָם: וְאֵרַשְׂתִּיךְ לִי בְּצֶדֶק וּבְמִשְׁפָּט וּבְחֶסֶד וּבְרַחֲמִים: וְאֵרַשְׂתִּיךְ לִי בֶּאֱמוּנָה. וְיָדַעְתְּ אֶת ה’.

Transliteration:   V’erastikh li l’olam, v’erastikh li b’tzedek u’v’mishpat u’v’hesed u’v’rachamim. V’erastikh li b’emuna v’yadat et Adonai .

Translation: “And I will betroth you to Myself for ever; I will betroth you to Myself in righteousness, and in justice, and in loving kindness, and in compassion. And I will betroth you to Myself in faithfulness; and you shall know the L ORD .”

Blessings during a meal

N’tilat yadayim  (ritual washing of hands).

The hands are ritually washed before partaking of certain staples of life.

In the Ashkenazic tradition and some Sephardic and other communities, it is done before eating bread. In some Sephardic rites and in the German community originating in Frankfurt it is done before drinking wine and or eating bread, alone or with the wine (such as would be done before a Sabbath or festive meal) at which time this blessing is said:

After washing but before drying the hands, the blessing below is said.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בּמִצְוֹתָיו, וצִוָּנוּ עַל נְטִילַת יָדָיִם.

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Elohenu, melekh ha olam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu al netilat yadayim.

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us concerning the taking (drying) of hands.”

Blessing over the bread

This blessing is made only for bread made from one or all of wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, הַמּוֹצִיא לֶחֶם מִן הָאָרֶץ.

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam, hamotzi lehem min ha’aretz.

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth.”

After the meal

Main article:  Birkat Hamazon

The combined blessing of Birkat Hamazon is made only after eating a meal containing bread (including matza) made from one or all of wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt.

After Birkat Hamazon, many Sephardic Jews of the Spanish and Portuguese rite recite Ya Comimos or sing Bendigamos. These prayers are similar in content to Birkat Hamazon.

Blessings over food

Additionally, appropriate blessings are said on food when not having a full (i.e. bread-based) meal.

There are five  halakhic  “food groups:”

Before eating grain products – M’zonot

Before eating non-bread (e.g. cake) products of wheat, barley, rye, oats, or spelt (and rice, according to many opinions):

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא מִינֵי מְזוֹנוֹת.

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, Melekh ha’olam, bo’re minei m’zonot.

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who creates varieties of nourishment.”

Before drinking wine – HaGefen

This blessing is made for wine made from grapes, but not any other fermented drink. Wine made from other fruits, and other alcohols, require the  Shehakol  blessing (see below). Also, hands might be ritually washed first depending on the minhag of the person saying the blessing on the grape wine (see above).

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הַגֶּפֶן.

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, Melekh ha’olam, bo’re p’ri hagefen.

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who creates the fruit of the vine.”

Before eating fruit – HaEtz

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הָעֵץ.

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, Melekh ha’olam, bo’re p’ri ha’etz.

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who creates the fruit of the tree.”

Before eating non-fruit produce – HaAdama

Before eating produce that grew directly from the earth:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה.

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, Melekh ha`olam, bo’re p’ri ha’adama.

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who creates the fruit of the ground.”

Before eating other foods – SheHakol

Before eating or drinking any foods not in the first four categories:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁהַכֹּל נִהְיָה בִּדְבָרוֹ.

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, Melekh ha’olam, shehakol nih’ye bidvaro.

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, through Whose word everything comes into being.”

Holiday prayers and blessings

Shabbat (Hebrew), (Sabbath in English)

Candle lighting blessings before Shabbat

Main article:  Shabbat candles

Note: The Shabbat candles are lit at least eighteen minutes before sunset on Friday.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר שֶׁל שַׁבָּת.

Shabbat candles

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, Melekh ha’olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu l’hadlik ner shel Shabbat .

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to light the Shabbat candle[s].”

The Chabad version of the blessing adds the word קודש at the end of the blessing, making “… the candle of the holy Shabbat,” transliterated, “…  ner shel Shabbat kodesh .”

Havdalah  (“Separation” ceremony)

Main article:  Havdalah

( Havdalah  is recited Saturday night, usually about an hour after sunset, measured as the time when three stars appear in the sky, at which time Shabbat is over.)

Havdalah  is a ceremony consisting of four blessings.

First, since  havdalah  is recited over a cup of wine, the blessing on wine is said:

Then, spices are smelled, preceded by the blessing on smelling spices:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא מִינֵי בְשָׂמִים.

The spices are then passed around and smelled by those present.

Next, a multi‑wicked candle, which has already been lit, is viewed, preceded by the blessing:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם. בּוֹרֵא מְאוֹרֵי הָאֵשׁ.

The candle is held up in the air and those present look at the reflection of the light on their fingernails.

Last is a blessing of praise for God’s separating the holy from the every‑day:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם. הַמַּבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחוֹל. בֵּין אוֹר לְחשֶׁךְ. בֵּין יִשְׂרָאֵל לָעַמִּים. בֵּין יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי לְשֵׁשֶׁת יְמֵי הַמַּעֲשֶׂה: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, הַמַבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחוֹל:

Main article:   Hanukkah

Two blessings are recited as the Hanukkah candles are lit. On the first night, the shehecheyanu blessing is said as well (see below).

Blessing for lighting the candles

Main article: Hanukkah Blessings See also: Menorah (Hanukkah)

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר חֲנֻכָּה.

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu l’hadlik ner shel Hanukkah.

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to kindle the Hanukkah light[s].”

Blessing for the miracles of Hanukkah

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁעָשָׂה נִסִּים לַאֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה.

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam, she’asa nisim la’avoteinu ba’yamim ha’heim ba’z’man ha’ze.

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days at this time…”

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (The High Holy Days)

Main articles: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

Candle lighting

On yom tov (when it falls on a weekday), it is permissible to transfer a flame (but not to create a new flame).

The festival candles should preferably be lit before sunset on erev yom tov (the afternoon before the holiday), but if they were not lit before sunset, they may (and should) be lit after sunset from a pre-existing flame.

Over apples and honey on Rosh Hashanah

On Rosh Hashanah eve, at the start of the festive meal, it is customary to dip some cut raw apples into some honey as symbolic of asking God to grant a sweet new year.

The blessings for the apples and honey:

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam, bo’re p’ri ha’etz.

A bite of apple dipped in honey is eaten, which is followed by:

יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְפָנֶיךָ, ה׳אֱ‑לֹהֵינוּ וא‑לֹהַי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ, שֶׁתְּחַדֵשׁ עָלֵינוּ שָׁנָה טוֹבָה וּמְתוּקָה

Transliteration:   Y’hi ratzon mil’fanekha, Adonai Eloheinu velohei avoteinu, shet’hadesh aleinu shana tova um’tuka.

Translation: “May it be Your will, L ORD  our God and God of our ancestors, that you renew for us a good and sweet year.”

Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles)

Main articles:  Sukkot  and  Sukkah : Traditional blessings upon entering a Sukkah

ברוך אתה ה’א‑לוהינו, מלך העולם, אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו לישב בסכה.

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu leishev ba’sukah.

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to dwell in the sukkah.”

Blessings on special occasions

Main article:  Mezuzah

The following blessing is said when attaching a mezuzah to the doorpost:

ברוך אתה ה’א‑לוהינו, מלך העולם, אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו לקבוע מזוזה.

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu likvo’a m’zuza.

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to affix the mezuzah.”

Sheheḥeyanu  (“Who has kept us alive”)

Main article:  Sheheheyanu

This blessing is said whenever something pleasant that has not happened for a while is encountered. This includes all holidays except Shabbat. It is said on the first night of Hanukkah, but not for the other nights of that holiday. The blessing is also recited upon such occasions as affixing a mezuzah (particularly on a new home), buying new dress clothes, or eating a rare fruit.

ברוך אתה ה’א‑לוהינו, מלך העולם, שהחינו וקימנו והגענו לזמן הזה.

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam, she’heheyanu v’kiy’manu v’higi’anu la’z’man ha’ze.

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season.”

On immersion in a  Mikvah

Main article:  Mikveh

This blessing is made on immersion in a mikvah (ritual bath), e.g. by a woman following menstruation. When immersing utensils in a mikvah, the final words are modified to “al tevliat keilim,” or “concerning immersion of utensils.”

Transliteration:   Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al ha’t’vila.

Translation: “Blessed are You, L ORD  our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us concerning immersion.”

Blessing for surviving illness or danger

The  Birkhat HaGomel  blessing is said after surviving illness, childbirth, or danger (including a hazardous journey or captivity).

Transliteration:

Translation:

Note: Mizrahi (Syrian) Jews precede this blessing with reciting Psalm 111:1. ….:

… and (among Mizrahi) the Congregational Response at the end begins: [1]

This prayer has its origins in the Talmud ( T.B. , Berakhot 54b): “Rav Judah said, in the name of Rav, There are four person who have to offer thanksgiving: (1) One who has crossed the sea, (2) one who has crossed the wilderness, (3) one who has recovered from illness, and (4) one who has been freed from captivity.” This was deduced from Psalm 107, where these four situations are mentioned. In the days of the Temple, such a person would bring a thanksgiving sacrifice, but as this is no longer possible, such a person stands and recites the blessing. [2]

The word גמל ( gomel ) means a recompense, a reward, and frequently a generous benefit (e.g. Psalms 13:6, 103:2 & 10, 116:7). Joseph H. Hertz (1872–1946), chief rabbi of the British Empire, in his commentary to the prayerbook says: “The Benediction is not limited to the above-mentioned four classes [listed in the Talmud quotation], but is recited after any signal escape from danger. This Benediction is followed with deep felt sympathy by the fellow-worshippers.” Hertz mentions an instance in Britain in 1940 when was recited by an entire congregation because they were the survivors of a Blitz bombing of the previous night. [3]

Most halakhic authorities hold that the  HaGomel  blessing must be said publicly, in front of a minyan of 10. It is customary for men to say it after being called to the Torah. All Conservative and many Orthodox authorities [3] hold that women are also obligated to say the  Birkhat HaGomel  blessing. The blessing is not time‑dependent (preferably it should be recited as soon after the deliverance from danger as the opportunity presents itself), and it substitutes in part for the  toda (Thanksgiving) offering, one of the classes of korbanot (sacrifices) which women were obligated to offer (e.g. after childbirth) in the days of the Temple in Jerusalem. Accordingly, these authorities say that women are eligible to be counted in the minyan of 10 equally with men for the special purpose of the mitzvah of saying the  HaGomel  blessing and its congregational response publicly.

• Orot Sephardic Weekday Siddur  (1994, Lakewood, NJ) page 229;  Koren Mizrahi Siddur  (1988, Jerusalem) page 64; Nulman, Macy,  Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer  (1993, NJ, Jason Aronson) page 100.
• Nulman, Macy, Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer  (1993, NJ, Jason Aronson) page 100; Orot Sephardic Weekday Siddur  (1994, Lakewood, NJ) page 229 adds the rabbinic specifications that the illness must have kept the person bedridden at least three days, and that the journey on land must have been hazardous or at least lasted 72 minutes outside the city.
• Abrahams, Israel, A Companion to the Authorised Daily Prayerbook  (2nd ed. 1922, London, Eyre & Spottiswoode) page LXXIX, (revised reprint 1966, NY, Hermon Press) page 79; Hertz, Joseph H.,  The Authorized Daily Prayer Book with commentary, introduction and notes  (rev. American ed, 1948, NY, Bloch Publ’g) pages 487–488 (but the date of the Blitz attack may be in error).

Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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A Peek into the Jewish Prayer Book

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What is kabbalah.

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Mourner’s Kaddish: The Jewish Prayer for the Dead

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Our weekly email is chockful of interesting and relevant insights into Jewish history, food, philosophy, current events, holidays and more...

An informal tour of the daily prayers.

Formal prayers as a daily practice began at the beginning of the Second Temple period, with the composition of the Amidah prayer, also known as the Shmone Esrei . “ Amidah ” means “standing,” referring to the fact that it is recited while standing. “ Shmone Esrei ” means “eighteen,” because it was originally composed of eighteen blessings (another was added later) addressing a variety of universal topics.

Jewish prayer is usually structured according to a formula: first praise, then request, and then thanksgiving. So the Shmone Esrei begins with praise: praising God for His treatment of us and our forefathers, for His might and kindness, and for His holiness.

Next come the request prayers. We pray for knowledge and understanding; for repentance and for God to draw us nearer to His will; for forgiveness; for redemption; for health and healing; for prosperity; for the ingathering of the exiles; for the restoration of justice; for the annihilation of evil and evildoers; for the welfare of the righteous; for the rebuilding of Jerusalem; for the restoration of the Davidic royal dynasty (a.k.a. the Messiah), and, lastly, for God to accept all our prayers.

Then comes thanksgiving. We thank God for our lives, for “Your miracles that are with us every day,” for “Your wonders and goodness at all times,” and His eternal kindness. Finally, we pray for peace and His blessing in all things, and thank Him for blessing us with peace.

During services, this prayer is first recited in silence, every person to him or herself. We recite it while standing with our feet together, which is symbolic of the angels, while facing Jerusalem. At the beginning and the end of the prayer, we take three steps backwards, and then three steps forward. There are a number of reasons for this, some of them having to do with the Temple services, but this is how I like to think about it: Before the prayer, we “step back” from the material world and then “step up” before the King of Kings. After the prayer, we back respectfully away from our Master and return to the material world. We also bow during certain parts of the prayer, as though bowing before the King.

After the silent recitation, the chazzan —the cantor—repeats the entire prayer out loud. This practice was established for those Jews who couldn’t read and couldn’t memorize this (rather long) prayer. They can fulfill their duty to pray it by answering “Amen” when the chazzan completes each blessing.

Prayer Services

Jews are required to recite many prayers throughout the day (most of them blessings), but as a general rule there are three prayer services that Jews are required to attend. (Women are exempt from the commandments that have specific prescribed times. Women are also required to pray, but not necessarily at the prescribed times and not necessarily three times a day.) The prayer services are Shacharit (morning services), Mincha (afternoon services), and Ma’ariv  (evening services). They were established in memory of the three daily sacrifices at the Temple that corresponded to them.

As a rule, men are supposed to attend these services and pray with at least nine other men (in a minyan— a quorum of ten men; in Orthodoxy, women are not counted for this because they have a different “level” of requirement for this particular commandment). In practice, if they can’t attend a synagogue for whatever reason, they may pray on their own, but certain prayers that are recited in a minyan must be omitted.

On Mondays, Thursdays, and Shabbat, a weekly portion of the Torah is read during the morning services, after the chazzan ’s repetition of the Amidah. On Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh , and holidays, there is an additional prayer service called Musaf (meaning “addition”) that corresponds to an additional sacrifice that was offered on those days. It is usually recited right after morning services, as part of the same service.

Composition of the Services

The morning service can be rather lengthy, lasting 35 to 45 minutes in a synagogue on a weekday, and longer on Shabbat or a holiday. It begins with a series of “morning blessings,” thanking God for basic things like eyesight, clothing, being able to walk, etc. Then, there is a series of psalms and other prayers that fall under the shevach (praise) category.

Next comes the Shema prayer --a central prayer to Judaism that proclaims the oneness of God. It is preceded by two long blessings and followed by one blessing. Then comes the Amidah, and depending on the tradition of the congregation, there may be a number of other psalms and prayers read before the service is concluded with a special prayer called Aleinu (“It Is Upon Us”) that is about our responsibility to now go out into the world and proclaim God’s glory, and the Kaddish prayer—a special prayer in Aramaic about God’s supremacy and holiness.

The Mincha service is much shorter, consisting only of a few psalms, the Amidah, and Aleinu. Ma’ariv is also short, but it includes reading the Shema before the Amidah, with slightly different blessings preceding and following it.

On Shabbat and holidays, the Amidah is different. It includes only seven blessings, not eighteen, because we don’t do request prayers on Shabbat and holidays. Instead, there are different blessings specific to the day. This is also true of Musaf. On Shabbat and holidays there are also additional songs and prayers, and certain prayers that are omitted.

Other Prayers

There are also a few other prayers we say that are not part of the daily prayer service. One of them is the prayer we recite upon waking in the morning, Modeh ani: “ I give thanks to you, living and eternal King, for returning my soul to me. Great is Your faith .” That last bit contains a very deep idea—God has returned my soul to me, not because of my faith in Him, but because He has great faith in me . He returned my soul to me because He trusts that I will contribute goodness to His world and work to fulfill my role here, whatever that may be.

Another prayer worth noting is tefillat ha’derekh , the traveler’s prayer. It is a short prayer for safety we recite upon leaving the city limits. The roads here being as they are, this is a prayer I recite with particular intention and fervor every time I leave town…

There are also what we call “blessings,” short statements of gratitude we recite in various situations; for example, before and after enjoying food, or before performing a commandment.

Accoutrements

Generally speaking, no special equipment or attire is required for prayer; one must be at clothed, of course, and it is proper to be fully dressed, with our heads covered, out of respect for the Guy to Whom You Are Speaking (hence the kippah ).

However, if you ever stumble across a Jewish man in prayer on a weekday, he will have a little black box tied to the front of his head with a thick leather strap, and another box tied to his arm near the shoulder, with another leather strap winding around the rest of his arm and then around his middle finger. He also might be wearing a wool shawl with fringes and two blue stripes over his head.

The shawl is a prayer shawl, a tallit , and the boxes are phylacteries, tefillin . The prayer shawl is a four-cornered garment, so it has tassels ( tzitziyot ) at each corner, according to the commandment of tzitzit . The stripes of the tallit inspired the blue stripes on the Israeli flag, symbolizing the State as the culmination of our prayers for two millennia. For the record, that’s what’s supposed to go in that velvet bag of yours.

Tefillin is a separate commandment, mentioned in the Torah a number of times, one of which is the Shema prayer: “ You shall bind [the words of the Torah] as a sign upon your arm, and they shall be as a reminder between your eyes. ” (Deuteronomy 6:8). They are leather boxes that contain parchment scrolls, on which four passages from the Torah are inscribed—two from Exodus, and two from Deuteronomy, the latter two being the first two paragraphs of the Shema.

The boxes are bound to the body with leather straps: one on the forehead (“between the eyes”) and one on the inner side of the arm—the left arm if you’re right-handed, and the right if you are left-handed. Men are required to put on tefillin every day except Shabbat and holidays. Women are not required because of the same rule mentioned before.

The Torah explains that the purpose of tefillin is to serve as a reminder of God’s intervention in the Exodus from Egypt. Practically speaking, having a physical object connected to prayer on your body helps channel your concentration and maintain an awareness and focus on God.

Excerpted from Letters to Josep: An Introduction to Judaism a collection of letters from a religious Jew in Israel to a Christian friend in Barcelona describing life as an Orthodox Jew. Equal parts lighthearted and insightful, it's a thorough and entertaining introduction to the basic concepts of Judaism.

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History of Jewish Prayer

By My Jewish Learning

The formative period of Jewish prayer was that of the Tannaim , the sages whose oral traditions of law and legend are gathered in the Mishnah (edited c. 200 C.E.) and some early collections of midrash . From their traditions, later committed to writing, we learn that the generation of rabbis active at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple (70 C.E.) gave Jewish prayer its structure and, in outline form at least, its contents.

Their liturgy consisted of three primary corpuses: (1) the twice-daily recitation of the Shema –the central statement of Jewish monotheistic belief–and the formulaic blessings ( berakhot ) recited before and after it; (2) “The Prayer” of 18 blessings, also known as the Amidah –recited several times daily, and (3) the public recitation of the Torah in installments.

To what extent were the Tannaim inventing the liturgical formulas and patterns they prescribed and to what extent were they  standardizing and canonizing various local customs that preceded them? This question is still the subject of scholarly debate. So too, is the question of whether there was one fully elaborated “text” for all these prayers–of which later customs are variants–or whether the Tannaim established only themes and key phrases, without dictating a specific full wording for each mandatory blessing.

The Talmud records refinements in the practice and content of prayer, but it is only with the writings of the post-talmudic sages ( Geonim ) of Babylonia and their successors in North Africa and Europe that we find entire prayer books in circulation. Some were composed by respected rabbinic scholars at the request of far-flung communities seeking an authoritative text of the required prayers for daily use, Shabbat, and holidays.

Medieval sources, especially the wealth of texts unearthed since the early 20th century, also reveal a long history of liturgical poetic creativity ( piyyutim ) in the Land of Israel (whose liturgical traditions had been lost) and in Diaspora communities. Relatively few of these piyyutim remained in use in the various local rites that developed in the Middle Ages. They were composed as alternative wordings of the standard rabbinic prayers or as expansions of them; they did not attempt to alter or supplant either the themes or the structures of classic liturgy.

A similar approach is evident in the liturgical creativity of the medieval mystics. Kabbalah brought to Jewish prayer (as to all of Jewish religious life) a radically new understanding of its purpose and efficacy: uniting disparate aspects of divinity that were rent asunder at the time of Creation . Nevertheless, the kabbalists did not revolutionize the externals of Jewish prayer. They introduced hymns and supplementary prose prayers, and they added short meditations to be recited as introductions to the classic prayers. Even those additions, though, were often devoid of the esoteric language of the speculative theological works of Kabbalah, making them more easily accepted among non-kabbalists.

The Hasidic revolution , too, avoided making radical changes to the established liturgy, although a considerable body of supplementary prayers emerged from it. Hasidism’s main contribution was to give worship, particularly in the form of contemplative prayer, center stage in Jewish religious life. The unrestrained motions and ecstatic melodies of prayer among early Hasidim marked their communities as radical departures from the strict social norms of East European Jewry.

As modernity called into question the intellectual and social underpinnings of Jewish life, some communities responded by making accommodations, reforming the liturgy and reshaping the experience of worship to meet changing sensibilities. Some synagogues introduced sermons and prayers in the local vernacular, musical instruments, and choirs. Some excised from their prayer books doctrines that came to some to seem outmoded or unacceptable.

In these liberal congregations and in some more conservative, traditionalist circles today, prayers include references and responses to recent major historical upheavals: the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel .

Pronounced: TALL-mud, Origin: Hebrew, the set of teachings and commentaries on the Torah that form the basis for Jewish law. Comprised of the Mishnah and the Gemara, it contains the opinions of thousands of rabbis from different periods in Jewish history.

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