This post presents the Hebrew, English and transliterated texts of the original Al HaNissim prayer added to the Amidah and Grace After Meals on Yom Ha’atzmaut by Aharon Varady. The author believes that secular, nationalist days of thanksgiving are often also associated with our deep history of trauma — both the suffering that we and our ancestors have faced, and that which we have inflicted on others. By placing the Earth at the center of this prayer, Varady reaffirms our commitment to building a world with fairness and compassion for all living creatures, and for establishing a universal, human identity, even when our lives necessitate settling the historic land that is also associated with other nations. Aharon Varady is a community planner, Jewish educator, and the founding director of The Open Siddur Project, which aims to liberate the creative content of Jewish spiritual practice as a commonly held resource for adoption, adaptation, and redistribution.
Varady Al Hanissim“על הניסים בימי הודיה לאומיים | Al Hanissim supplement for the Birkat Hamazon and Amidah on all Secular/National Days of Gratitude, by Aharon Varady” is shared by Aharon N. Varady with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.