Posts Tagged ‘יזכור’

 

A Covid Yizkor Prayer

Posted on: August 22nd, 2021 by Alden

This is a new Yizkor prayer to be read on behalf of the entire community for those who perished due to Covid-19. The core paragraph is patterned after the traditional El Malei Rachamim. It’s based on a prayer I wrote when the U.S. Covid death toll hit 100,000. Click on the link below to download a PDF of this prayer for your personal use. Contact me at alden@tobendlight.com if you’d like to make multiple copies for communal use. See also: “Pervasive Peace,” a musical blessing for the New Year in the era of Covid, as well as “These Vows: A Covid Kol Nidre.”

A Covid Yizkor Prayer
God of consolation,
Surely you count in heaven,
Just as we count here on earth,
In shock and in sorrow,
The souls sent back to You,
One-by-one,
The dead from the Covid pandemic,
As the ones became tens,
The tens became hundreds,
The hundreds became thousands,
Then hundred-thousands,
And now millions upon millions.
Each soul, a heartbreak,
Each soul, a life denied.

,אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים, שׁוֹכֵן בַּמְּרוֹמִים
,הַמְצֵא מְנוּחָה נְכוֹנָה עַל כַּנְפֵי הַשְּׁכִינָה
,בְּמַעֲלוֹת קְדוֹשִׁים וּטְהוֹרִים כְּזוֹהַר הָרָקִיעַ מַזְהִירִים
.לְכָל הַנְּשָׁמוֹת שֶׁנִּסְפּוּ בְּמַגֵּפַת הַקוֹבִיד

El malei rachamim, shochayn bam’romim,
Ham-tzay m’nucha n’chona al kanfay Hash’china,
B’maalot k’doshim uthorim k’zohar harakia mazhirim,
L’kol haneshamot sheneisfu b’mageifat ha’Covid.

God, full of mercy, who dwells on high,
Provide a sure rest on the wings of the Divine Presence,
Among the holy, pure and glorious, who shine like the sky,
To the souls of all who died in the Covid pandemic.

God of wisdom,
We pray for the souls of those taken too soon,
Those who were vulnerable and unprotected,
Those who were sacred and forsaken,
Those who died on ventilators,
Whose funerals were lonely,
Who didn’t need to die,
And those who died alone,

God of healing,
Put an end to this pandemic,
And all illness and disease.
Bless those who stand in service to humanity.
Bless those who grieve.
Bless the dead,
So that their souls are bound up in the bond of life eternal.
And grant those still afflicted
With disease or trauma
A completed and lasting healing,
One-by-one,
Until suffering ceases,
And we can stop counting the dead,
In heaven
And on earth.

© 2021 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com.

New here? Subscribe here to get my newest prayers by email.
Share the prayer! Email this to a friend.

Please check out my CCAR Press Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. The individual books are: This Joyous Soul , This Grateful Heart, and This Precious Life. Here’s a link to my ELItalk, “Falling in Love with Prayer..” For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

On Lighting a Yizkor or Yartziet Candle

Posted on: September 22nd, 2016 by Alden

imageThis is a simple new meditation, appropriate for both Yizkor and a Yartziet, to be said before or after lighting a memorial candle. The language is inclusive, accessible to persons of all faiths. Let all who mourn find peace. This piece appears in my book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

On Lighting a Memorial Candle
A candle.
A flame.
A memory.

G-d of generations,
Grant a perfect rest under Your tabernacle of peace
To ____________________ (name),
Who has left this life and this world.
Let his/her/their soul find comfort.
Let his/her/their memory be a blessing.

This candle is for healing,
This flame is for hope,
Calling forth our joys and sorrows,
Calling forth our hours and our days.

G-d of our ancestors,
Bring me and my family solace and consolation
In this moment of remembrance.
Let all who mourn find peace.

© 2017 CCAR Press from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers For a New Day

Postscript: Here’s a link to my other yizkor prayers and prayers of mourning. Thanks to Rabbi Paul Kipnes for suggesting that I write a new prayer for lighting a memorial candle.

Please check out my Meet the Author video and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

After an Accidental Death: A Yizkor Prayer

Posted on: December 7th, 2014 by Alden

437px-CandleThis is another in a series of focused yizkor prayers to help acknowledge particular circumstances surrounding the death of a loved one, such as: “In Memory of an Organ Donor,” “At the Hand of Violence,” “Yizkor for a Lone Soldier” and “At the Hand of Anti-Semitism.” May the memory of the righteous be a blessing.

After an Accidental Death: A Yizkor Prayer
G-d of secrets,
Source and shelter,
Grant a perfect rest under your tabernacle of peace
To ______________________ (name),
My [father / mother / sister / brother / child / wife / dear one/ friend]
Whose life was cut off without warning,
In a moment of inconceivable horror,
Cut down [in the fullness of life / in his/her prime /before we were ready].
Even in this darkness,
Even in this grief and void that seem beyond repair,
Help us to remember his/her wisdom, talents and skills,
Our times together,
Our joy, laughter and tears.
Let our memories continue to bless us
Even as we pray for him / her to find peace
In the world to come.
May his / her soul be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.

© 2014 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Here is a list of memorial and yizkor prayers, many of which appear in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing. For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: WikiMedia Commons

“Alden has become one of Reform Judaism’s master poet-liturgists…" - Religion News Service, Dec. 23, 2020

“Mesmerizing, spiritual, provocative, and thoughtful, Alden was everything you would want in a guest scholar and teacher.” – Rabbi Denise L. Eger, Congregation Kol Ami, Los Angeles, and Past President, CCAR

"Alden Solovy has become one of the most revered liturgists of the last decade…" - Jewish Post & Opinion, March 29, 2023

“Alden left everyone feeling inspired.” – Cantor Jeri Robins, Shabbat Chair, NewCAJE6