Central Reform Congregation, St. Louis. CRC's 2008 machzor, including printed third-party credits retained in the service text.
Pages 179 to 185
The page numbers here are the printed book's own -- the numbers called from the bimah.
Each prayer begins with a line giving its page number -- to jump there, search for the word page followed by the number, in lower case: for example, page 182.
Where a prayer runs over more than one page, the extra numbers are listed on the lines just below, each marked continued, so a search for any page in the book lands on the prayer being said on it.
Under each heading come the rubrics -- the standing, sitting and other directions -- each marked with two right angle brackets. Then the transliteration, one line to a line as it is sung. Then the English, under the word English.
In the braille file the transliteration is uncontracted and the English is contracted, so that the Hebrew words read letter by letter.
for those who wear a tallit
The tallit with its fringes reminds us of our religious and ethical values and of our duty to remember and do them.
Baruch atah Adonai
Eloheinu Melech haolam
asher k'dshanu b'mitzvotav
v'tzivanu l'hitatef batzitzit.
Praised be You, O God, ruler of the universe, who enables us to attain holiness through the religious duty of wearing fringes.
Esah einai el heharim mei-ayin yavo ezri?
Ezri mei-im Adonai
oseh shamayim va'aretz.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains; what is the source of my help? My help will come from Adonai, Maker of heaven and earth.
-- Psalm 121
If some messenger were to come to us with the offer that death should be overthrown, but with the one inseparable condition that birth should also cease; if the existing generation were given the chance to live for ever, but on the clear understanding that never again would there be a child, or a youth, or first love, never again new persons with new hopes, new ideas, new achievements; ourselves for always and never any others -- could the answer be in doubt?
We shall not fear the summons of death; we shall remember those who have gone before us, and those who come after us.
"Alas for those who cannot sing, but die with all their music in them." Let us treasure the time we have, and resolve to use it well, counting each moment precious -- a chance to apprehend some truth, to experience some beauty, to conquer some evil, to relieve some suffering, to love and be loved, to achieve something of lasting worth.
Help us, God, to fulfill the promise that is in each of us, and so to conduct ourselves that, generations hence, it will be true to say of us: The world is better because, for a brief space, they lived in it.
Mizmor L'David:
Adonai ro'i lo echsar.
B'inot deshe yarbitzeini al-mei
m'nuchot y'nahaleini.
Nafshi y'shoveiv yancheini
v'ma'g'lei tzedek l'ma'an sh'mo.
Gam ki elech b'gei
tzalmavet lo-ira ra ki atah
imadi shivt'cha umishantecha
hemah y'nachamuni. Ta'aroch
l'fanai shulchan neged tzorai
dishanta vashemen roshi kosi
r'vayah. Ach tov vachesed yirdfuni
kol y'mei chayai v'shavti
b'veit-Adonai l'orech yamim.
God is my shepherd, I shall not want. You make me lie down in green pastures and lead me beside still waters. You restore my soul. You lead me in the right paths for the sake of Your name. Even when I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for You are with me; with rod and staff You comfort me. You have set a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of God for ever.
At this hour of memorial we recall with grief all Your children who have perished through the cruelty of the oppressor, victims of demonic hate: the aged and young, the learned and unlettered -- all driven in multitudes along the road of pain and pitiless death. Their very presence on earth was begrudged them, for they brought Your covenant of mercy and justice to the recollection of Your enemies; they perished because they were a symbol of Your eternal law; their death has brought darkness to the human soul.
They lie in nameless graves, in far-off forests and lonely fields. And the substance of many was scattered by the winds to the earth's four corners. Yet they shall not be forgotten. We take them into our hearts and give them a place beside the cherished memories of our own loved ones. They are now ours.
We pray to You, O Source of mercy, that Your Torah, to which these Your children bore witness in life and in death, may come to glow with a renewed light in the human soul; that, remembering them, we may sanctify Your name in all the world. Thus will their memory become an enduring blessing to all Your children.
We remember with sorrow those whom death has taken from our midst during the past year. Let us rise and remember... .
Taking these dear ones into our hearts with all our beloved, we recall them now with reverence.
In the rising of the sun and in its going down, we remember them. In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter, we remember them. In the opening buds and in the rebirth of spring, we remember them. In the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer, we remember them. In the rustling of leaves and in the beauty of autumn, we remember them. In the beginning of the year and when it ends, we remember them. When we are weary and in need of strength, we remember them. When we are lost and sick at heart, we remember them. When we have joys we yearn to share, we remember them. So long as we live, they too shall live, for they are now a part of us, as we remember them.
May, may, may the memory of good people bless our days, bless, bless our days, bless our days.
Zeicher, zeicher, zeicher
tzadik livrachah, livrachah,
zeicher zeicher tzadik livrachah.
-- Bonia Shur
PLEASE RISE
Yizkor Elohim nishmot yakirai
May God remember forever the souls of my dear ones... who have gone to their eternal rest. May they be at one with the One who is life eternal. May the beauty of their lives shine forever more, and may my life always bring honor to their memory.
El maleih rachamim, shochein
bamromim, hamtzei m'nuchah
n'chonah tachat kanfei hash'chinah
im k'doshim u't'horim
k'zohar haraki'a maz'hirim
l'nishmot yakireinu shehalchu
l'olamam ba'al harachamim
yastireim b'seiter k'nafav
l'olamim v'yitzror bitzror
hachayim et nishmatam. Adonai
hu nachlatam v'yanuchu b'shalom
al mishkavam, v'nomar:
Amen.
O God full of compassion, Eternal spirit of the universe, grant perfect rest under the wings of Your presence to our loved ones who have entered eternity. Merciful One, let them find refuge for ever in the shadow of Your wings, and let their souls be bound up in the bond of eternal life. The Eternal God is their inheritance. May they rest in peace, and let us say: Amen.
Yitgadal v'yitkadash shmei raba.
B'alma div'ra chirutei,
v'yamlich malchutei,
b'chayeichon uv'yomeichon
uv'chayei d'chol beit Yisrael,
ba'agala uvizman kariv. V'im'ru: Amen.
Y'hei sh'mei raba m'varach
l'alam ul'almei almaya.
Yitbarach v'yishtabach v'yitpa'ar
y'vitromam v'yitnasei,
v'yit-hadar, v'yitaleh v'yit'halal
sh'mei d'Kud'sha B'rich Hu,
l'eila min kol birchata v'shirata,
tushb'chata v'nechemata,
da'amiran b'alma, V'imru: Amen.
Y'hei sh'lama raba min sh'maya,
v'chayim aleinu v'al kol Yisrael.
V'imru: Amen.
Oseh shalom bimromav,
Hu ya'aseh shalom aleinu,
v'al kol Yisrael, v'al kol yoshvei tevel
V'imru: Amen
Nothing is more precious than life!
Magnified and sanctified May your great name be In the world that you created, As you will, And may a time of peace come In our lives and in our days And in the lives of all the house of Israel, Swiftly and soon, And say all amen!
Amen! May your great name be blessed Always and forever.
Blessed And praised And glorified And raised And exalted And honored And uplifted And lauded Be the name of the holy one (You are blessed!) Above all blessings And hymns and praises and consolations That are uttered in the world, And say all amen! May a great peace from heaven -- And life! -- Be upon us and upon all Israel, And say all amen!
May you who makes peace in your high places Make peace upon us and upon all Israel And upon all who dwell on earth, And say all amen!
-- Adapted from translation by Leon Wieseltier in his book, Kaddish.