The New Jew: A Field Guide

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pp. 848-849

Yizkor

יזכור

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For one’s father:

Hebrew

יִזְכֹּר אֱלֹהִים נִשְׁמַת אָבִי מוֹרִי (פְּלוֹנִי בֶּן פְּלוֹנִי) שֶׁהָלַךְ לְעוֹלָמוֹ, בַּעֲבוּר
שֶׁבְּלִי נֶדֶר אֶתֵּן צְדָקָה בַּעֲדוֹ. בִּשְׂכַר זֶה תְּהֵא נַפְשׁוֹ צְרוּרָה בִּצְרוֹר
הַחַיִּים עִם נִשְׁמוֹת אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק וְיַעֲקֹב, שָׂרָה רִבְקָה רָחֵל וְלֵאָה,
וְעִם שְׁאָר צַדִּיקִים וְצִדְקָנִיּוֹת שֶׁבְּגַן עֵדֶן, וְנֹאמַר אָמֵן.

Sephardi

Yizkor Elohim nishmat avi mori (Ploni ben Peloni) shehalach le'olamo, ba'avur
shebeli neder eten tzedakah ba'ado. Bischar zeh tehei nafsho tzerurah bitzror
hachayim im nishmot Avraham Yitzchak veYa'akov, Sarah Rivkah Rachel veLe'ah,
ve'im she'ar tzadikim vetzidkaniyot shebeGan Eden, venomar Amen.

English

May God remember the soul of my father, my teacher (name son of father’s name) who has gone to his eternal home, and to this I pledge (without formal vow) to give charity on his behalf, that his soul may be bound in the bond of everlasting life together with the souls of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, and all the other righteous men and women in the Garden of Eden, and let us say: Amen.

For one’s mother:

Hebrew

יִזְכֹּר אֱלֹהִים נִשְׁמַת אִמִּי מוֹרָתִי (פְּלוֹנִית בַּת פְּלוֹנִי) שֶׁהָלְכָה לְעוֹלָמָה,
בַּעֲבוּר שֶׁבְּלִי נֶדֶר אֶתֵּן צְדָקָה בַּעֲדָהּ. בִּשְׂכַר זֶה תְּהֵא נַפְשָׁהּ צְרוּרָה
בִּצְרוֹר הַחַיִּים עִם נִשְׁמוֹת אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק וְיַעֲקֹב, שָׂרָה רִבְקָה רָחֵל
וְלֵאָה, וְעִם שְׁאָר צַדִּיקִים וְצִדְקָנִיּוֹת שֶׁבְּגַן עֵדֶן, וְנֹאמַר אָמֵן.

Sephardi

Yizkor Elohim nishmat imi morati (Plonit bat Peloni) shehalchah le'olamah,
ba'avur shebeli neder eten tzedakah ba'adah. Bischar zeh tehei nafshah tzerurah
bitzror hachayim im nishmot Avraham Yitzchak veYa'akov, Sarah Rivkah Rachel
veLe'ah, ve'im she'ar tzadikim vetzidkaniyot shebeGan Eden, venomar Amen.

English

May God remember the soul of my mother, my teacher (name daughter of father’s name) who has gone to her eternal home, and to this I pledge (without formal vow) to give charity on her behalf, that her soul may be bound in the bond of everlasting life together with the souls of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, and all the other righteous men and women in the Garden of Eden, and let us say: Amen.

For martyrs:

Hebrew

יִזְכֹּר אֱלֹהִים נִשְׁמַת (male פְּלוֹנִי בֶּן פְּלוֹנִי / female פְּלוֹנִית בַּת פְּלוֹנִי) וְנִשְׁמוֹת כָּל
קְרוֹבַי וּקְרוֹבוֹתַי, הֵן מִצַּד אָבִי הֵן מִצַּד אִמִּי, שֶׁהוּמְתוּ וְשֶׁנֶּהֶרְגוּ
וְשֶׁנִּשְׁחֲטוּ וְשֶׁנִּשְׂרְפוּ וְשֶׁנִּטְבְּעוּ וְשֶׁנֶּחֶנְקוּ עַל קִדּוּשׁ הַשֵּׁם, בַּעֲבוּר
שֶׁבְּלִי נֶדֶר אֶתֵּן צְדָקָה בְּעַד הַזְכָּרַת נִשְׁמוֹתֵיהֶם. בִּשְׂכַר זֶה תִּהְיֶינָה
נַפְשׁוֹתֵיהֶם צְרוּרוֹת בִּצְרוֹר הַחַיִּים עִם נִשְׁמוֹת אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק וְיַעֲקֹב,
שָׂרָה רִבְקָה רָחֵל וְלֵאָה, וְעִם שְׁאָר צַדִּיקִים וְצִדְקָנִיּוֹת שֶׁבְּגַן עֵדֶן,
וְנֹאמַר אָמֵן.

Sephardi

Yizkor Elohim nishmat (male Ploni ben Ploni or female Plonit bat Peloni) venishmot kol
kerovai ukerovotai, hen mitzad avi hen mitzad imi, shehumtu veshenehergu
veshenishchatu veshenisrefu veshenitbe'u veshenechenku al kiddush Hashem, ba'avur
shebeli neder eten tzedakah be'ad hazkarat nishmoteihem. Bischar zeh tihyenah
nafshoteihem tzerurot bitzror hachayim im nishmot Avraham Yitzchak veYa'akov,
Sarah Rivkah Rachel veLe'ah, ve'im she'ar tzadikim vetzidkaniyot shebeGan Eden,
venomar Amen.

English

May God remember the soul of (name, son/daughter of father’s name), and the souls of all my relatives, on my father’s or mother’s side, who were killed, murdered, slaughtered, burned, drowned or strangled for the sanctification of God’s name, and to this I pledge (without formal vow) to give charity in their memory. May their souls be bound in the bond of everlasting life together with the souls of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, and all the other righteous men and women in the Garden of Eden, and let us say: Amen.

Commentary

… ence on us that we are in the synagogue, that we pray, and that we try to do good in this life. A connection is thus made between the dead and the living. We remember them; with God’s help, their virtues live on in us. That is as much of immortality as we can know in the land of the living.

It is a custom at Yizkor also to remember the Jewish martyrs, including the victims of the Holocaust, for we are the guardians of their memory. The dead cannot be brought back to life, but we can act in such a way as to ensure that they did not die in vain, by showing that the faith for which they died still lives. To the Yizkor prayer itself have been added a series of biblical verses on life and death, together with a prayer that we may act in such a way as to honor the memory of those, especially our parents, who are no longer here.

Bible. The past is not lost: we remain connected to it to the extent that we remember it, honor it, and keep faith with it. We are its heirs – our lives are part of a story that began long before we were born and will continue long after we physically cease to be. Above all, God remembers – as we say in every Amida, He “remembers the loving-kindness of the fathers.” For Him, there is no forgetting.

At Yizkor, our memory reaches out to that of God. We ask Him to remember those of our family who are no longer here. We ask Him to look on the good we do (it is a custom to donate a sum to charity at this time and attribute it to the souls of the departed ones), for it is because of their influ- …