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1. SilentOne
   Member

   Dear YWN editor:
   The last word of the Tefilla accidently got left out.

   Would you please kindly replace the entire Tefilla posting with the following:
   **********************************************************
   TEFILLA TO DAVEN ON BEHALF OF AGUNOS

   May it be Your will, our beloved Father in Heaven
   To bring the tragic plight of Agunos before Your Throne of Glory most favorably
   And remember them for salvation and mercy from the eternal high heavens
   Oh Merciful Father –please look into their hearts - their only wish is to
   Provide for their children a wholesome home where they can celebrate Shabbos
   With a loving mother and step-father together at the same table
   But, alas, it is impossible; these women must sit at a Shabbos or Yom Tov table with an endless hole in their hearts
   Father Dear, for how long must they endure such pain?
   Why do You conceal Yourself, do You forget their affliction and oppression?
   For prostrated to the dust is their soul, stuck to the earth is their body
   The soul is Yours and the body is Your handiwork; take pity on Your labor
   Please arise to assist them. And redeem them for the sake of Your kindness

   Posted 3 months ago #

2. SilentOne
   Member

   Another version of the Tefilla for Agunos follows. I hope that Agunos will get Chizuk from these words and that other people will be aroused to Daven on their behalf from the bottom of their heart:
   **********************************************************
   TEFILLA TO DAVEN ON BEHALF OF AGUNOS

   May it be Your will, our beloved Father in Heaven
   To bring the tragic plight of Agunos before Your Throne of Glory most favorably
   May Your mercy be aroused by the unbearable suffering they undergo constantly
   And remember them for salvation and mercy from the eternal high heavens
   O Hashem, please draw near to them in their anguish; please deliver unto them a complete redemption
   Please take them out from darkness to light, from sadness to happiness, from suffering to total relief and from hopelessness to hope
   So that Your loved ones will be rescued, please deliver with Your right hand and answer me in the merit of Soroh, Rivkah, Rochel and Leah our Matriarchs
   When the humble will see Your salvation, they will rejoice - those who seek Hashem, and their hearts will be revived
   For You Hashem listen to the prayers and supplications of Your nation Israel with mercy

   Posted 3 months ago #

3. 147
   Member

   Please allow me to rephrase this Tefillah more accurately:-

   May it be Your will, our beloved Father in Heaven
   To bring the tragic plight of chained children & fathers denied parenting time, before Your Throne of Glory most favorably
   And remember them for salvation and mercy from the eternal high heavens
   Oh Merciful Father –please look into their hearts - their only wish is to
   Provide for their children a wholesome home where they can celebrate Shabbos a loving father and step-mother together at the same table graced by their paternal grandparents
   But, alas, it is impossible; these men must sit at a Shabbos or Yom Tov table with an endless hole in their hearts not fulfilling the Torah obligation of veHigadto LeVincho Bayom haHu
   Father Dear, for how long must they endure such pain?
   Why do You conceal Yourself, do You forget their affliction and oppression?
   For prostrated to the dust is their soul, stuck to the earth is their body
   The soul is Yours and the body is Your handiwork; take pity on Your labor
   Please arise to assist them. And redeem them for the sake of Your kindness

   Posted 3 months ago #

4. skiaddict
   Member

   Who makes up these tefillos?

   Posted 3 months ago #

5. Logician
   Member

   147 - I'm sorry, I think that's a bit callous. Are there not agunos in pain ? Did the original version claim to be the only sad scenario out there ? Why would your version be "more accurate" ? Let us pray for help for all those in need, and not point fingers and decide who is the "usual" guilty party.

   Posted 3 months ago #

6. 147
   Member

   FYI Logician, every woman out there who has not received her Get, has been interfereing with the Father's parenting time, using innocent children as hostages {in violation of the 8th commandment which we read earlier today} & pawns.

   This reprehensible behavious has to cease immediatelly; & the sooner this ceases, the sooner the issue of Agunos shall disappear.

   Posted 3 months ago #

7. Logician
   Member

   Every ? EVERY ? I won't bother writing examples of the women I know who don't fit that description. You're obviously in no shape to have a reasonable discussion about this.

   Posted 3 months ago #

8. adocs
   Member

   Logician-
   you wrote "I think that's a bit callous. Are there not agunos in pain ? Did the original version claim to be the only sad scenario out there ?"

   without taking sides on this issue, just looking at the original version, it DOES strongly assume one sad scenario - namely that it's the mother who is suffering - "their only wish is to Provide for their children a wholesome home where they can celebrate Shabbos With a loving mother (as opposed to a loving father) and step-father (not stepmother) together at the same table But, alas, it is impossible; these women (not men) must sit at a Shabbos or Yom Tov table with an endless hole in their hearts"

   if one wants to be honest and not hypocritical then make the prayer gender neutral i.e. substitute the word 'parent' instead of writing 'father' or 'mother'

   if, on the other hand, one wants to ignore the fact that both parents are at times capable of this type of bad behavior, and instead always assume that it's the father who's wrong and that the mother can do no wrong, well then the original version should work just fine.

   147 - every? that's a bit strong. while there are definitely women who fit that description, for you to paint all of them in such a light does a dis-service to any party in such a situation who needs help - mother or father.

   Posted 3 months ago #

9. Logician
   Member

   adocs - I agree. I just didn't read the original version cynically, and I assumed it was obvious that it was intended as a prayer for those women who are victims, not assuming all women in such a situation are not at fault. On the other hand, by posting a "more accurate" version, 147 was clearly dismissing the possibility of the father being at fault - which besides being unrealistic, as you pointed out, I felt was extremely insensitive.

   Posted 3 months ago #

10. SilentOne
    Member

    I think that the objections of "adocs" and "147" are non-starters. The Tefilla for Agunos was written for a unique tragic situation: women who cannot remarry because they are denied the Halachic "bill of right" to do so by a husband who uses the Torah's laws to hurt her. The case where a husband is denied parenting rights is truly an inexcusable injustice perpretrated on him and on the children by the wife, but is not anywhere in the same class of tragedies as the Agunah case is. To criticize a prayer for an Agunah because it is not "gender neutral" is like critizing a Tefilla for sick people because it did not include other groups of suffers such as financially impoverished people.

    The Agunah's tragedy is precisely because the Torah's laws are being "hijacked" (I borrowed this phrase from George W. Bush) to punish the woman (i.e. deny her the right to remarry) by the husband for his selfish reasons. The case where a wife is being unreasonable and unfair to her ex-husband, has nothing to do with "hijacking" the Torah's laws.

    No man has the right to use his Torah-itic powers over Kiddushin and Nissuin to deny his wife the basic right to find her true Zivug once the marriage is irrevocably over. The right for a woman to receive a Get is a so fundamentally undeniable, that it must NEVER be held hostage by financial, custodial or other negotiating positions. I have the right to say this since I am an ex-husband who was dealt painful "hard-ball" tactics by the ex-wife; yet it would be unconscionable to me to hold up the Get process even in the face of these tactics.

    Posted 3 months ago #

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