El Maleh Rahamim El Maleh Rahamim (God full of compassion) is a prayer for the departed that is recited at funeral services, on visiting the graves of relatives (especially during the month of Elul), and during the Yizkor memorial service. The prayer originated in the Jewish communities of Western and Eastern Europe, where it was recited for the martyrs of the Crusades and of the Chmielnicki massacres. El Maleh Rahamim is a plea that the soul of the departed be granted menuchah nechonah (proper rest). What follows is the English version and two Hebrew versions of the El Maleh Rahamim — the first to be read in memory of a man; the second in memory of a woman:
Compassionate God, eternal Spirit of the universe, grant perfect rest in Your sheltering presence to ____________, who has entered eternity. O God of mercy, let him/her find refuge in Your eternal presence (or: in the shadow of Your wings), and let his/her soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life. God is his/her inheritance. May he/she rest in peace, and let us say: Amen.
For a Man
For a Woman
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