Prayer for Dew

t'filat tal

תפילת טל

Israeli: ' marks a reduced vowel that Israeli speech drops (b'rachah); when the vowel is pronounced it is written e (lefanecha). - separates syllables that would otherwise run together.

How to read the transliterations

Hebrew

אַתָּה גִבּוֹר לְעוֹלָם אֲדֹנָי
מְחַיֵּה מֵתִים אַתָּה, רַב לְהוֹשִׁיעַ

Israeli

atah gibor le-olam Adonai
mechayeh metim atah, rav lehoshia

Hebrew

תְּהוֹמוֹת הוֹמוֹת לְרָסִיסוֹ כְּסוּפִים
וְכָל נְאוֹת דֶּשֶׁא לוֹ נִכְסָפִים.
טַל זִכְרוֹן גְּבוּרוֹת מוֹסִיפִים
חָקוּק בְּגִישַׁת מוּסָפִים
טַל, לְהַחֲיוֹת בּוֹ נְקוּקֵי סְעִיפִים.

Israeli

tehomot homot lerasiso k'sufim
vechol ne-ot deshe lo nichsafim.
tal zichron g'vurot mosifim
chakuk b'gishat musafim
tal, lehachayot bo nekukei se-ifim.

Hebrew

אֱלֹהֵינוּ וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ

Israeli

Eloheinu veilohei avoteinu

Hebrew

טַל תֵּן לִרְצוֹת אַרְצָךְ
שִׁיתֵנוּ בְּרָכָה בְדִיצָךְ
רֹב דָּגָן וְתִירוֹשׁ בְּהַפְרִיצָךְ
קוֹמֵם עִיר בָּהּ חֶפְצָךְ בְּטַל.

Israeli

tal ten lirtzot artzach
shitenu b'rachah v'ditzach
rov dagan vetirosh behafritzach
komem ir bah cheftzach b'tal.

Hebrew

טַל צַוֵּה שָׁנָה טוֹבָה וּמְעֻטֶּרֶת
פְּרִי הָאָרֶץ לְגָאוֹן וּלְתִפְאֶרֶת
עִיר כְּסֻכָּה נוֹתֶרֶת
שִׂימָה בְיָדְךָ עֲטֶרֶת בְּטַל.

Israeli

tal tzaveh shanah tovah ume-uteret
p'ri ha-aretz lega-on uletiferet
ir k'sukah noteret
simah v'yadcha ateret b'tal.

Hebrew

טַל נוֹפֵף עֲלֵי אֶרֶץ בְּרוּכָה
מִמֶּגֶד שָׁמַיִם שַׂבְּעֵנוּ בְרָכָה
לְהָאִיר מִתּוֹךְ חֲשֵׁכָה
כַּנָּה אַחֲרֶיךָ מְשׁוּכָה בְּטַל.

Israeli

tal nofef alei eretz b'ruchah
mimeged shamayim sabe-enu v'rachah
leha-ir mitoch chashechah
kanah acharecha meshuchah b'tal.

Commentary

… phrase which also means, “Dew is mentioned in [the second paragraph of the Amida known as] ‘His might.’”

טַל תֵּן לִרְצוֹת אַרְצָךְ Dew – Grant it to favor Your land: The six verses of the poem begin and end with the word “Dew,” and the whole is constructed as a reverse alphabetical acrostic, the last two letters (bet and aleph) each being allocated two lines. (Note that in such piyutim, the letters sin and samekh are interchangeable.) The poem deftly intertwines the themes of nature (spring, renewal) and history (asking God to bring His people back from the winter of exile to a spring of national renewal). כַּנָּה To the stock: the root or stem …

… words that appear together in the last of the seven marriage blessings (ditza and ḥedva). The word “shade” (meaning both cloud and divine protection) may also be an allusion to the bridal canopy. Thus Kalir, through complex verbal resonances, strikes a mood of joy as if spring were the wedding of heaven and earth.

תְּהוֹמוֹת The depths of the earth: A meditation on the fact that dew (and rain) are mentioned in the second paragraph of the Amida, known as Gevurot, “Divine Might,” whose dominant theme is the resurrection of the dead. Just as at the end of time God will revive the dead (“those buried in the clefts of the rocks”), so does dew now revive the earth and make it green again.

טַל זִכְרוֹן גְּבוּרוֹת מוֹסִיפִים The mention of dew adds to His might: an ambiguous …