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A Summary of Prayers to be said at Kever Rachel

Please, Merciful King, I have come today to pray at the grave of Rachel Imeinu. That the good deeds that she performed in her lifetime will be to my merit, and in the merit of her righteousness and her merits and the prayers that she prayed when she was barren. You heard her, so will You hear me. As it is written (Bereishit 30:22) "and Hashem remembered Rachel and He blessed her and He opened her womb." And in the merit of the goodness of her heart which she did with her sister Leah. So shall you remember for us her merits and her righteousness, for myself and all Your nation Israel. That our prayers will be accepted and that You will listen to our prayers, that which we ask of You. Fulfill all of our requests only for good, and remember us to redeem us in mercy. Open Your eyes and see our emptiness and the city which is called by Your name. Because we are contemptible in the eyes of the nations, who say "there is no hope". And if not for our sake, then act for Your sake.

We have a tradition from our rabbis that Yaakov our forefather buried Rachel Imeinu "on the way" in Beit Lechem, so she would help all her children who passed by "on the way" and cry for them.. As it is written "Rachel cries for her children, she refuses to be comforted for her children who are absent." And You Hashem returned them to her, as it is written, "So says Hashem, cease your crying for there is a reward for your actions, by the word of G-d they will return from enemy lands, and there is hope for your end, as is the word of G-d, and your children will return to their borders" Yirmiahu 31:11.

How shall we speak of the first Galut that was only for 70 years yet Rachel Imeinu shook the world with her crying. What shall we say now of this bitter Galut which has been for 1900 years, and we are despised and of low spirit, and the intention of the nations is to erase the name of Israel so it will be no more. What shall you say Rachel Imeinu, how can you rest in your grave? Wake up and awaken the sleepers of Chevron (our forefathers) and our teacher Moshe and all our holy forefathers. Stand, entreat the Holy One Blessed be He for the Children of Israel, the weary and the disparate ones, the lowly of spirit and the despised. How much longer will we suffer? How much longer will the enemy disgrace Your name? How much longer will the wicked rejoice, and Your sons be humiliated? How much longer will You refuse to have mercy on Your nation Israel and on Your land on Your city Jerusalem and on Zion the seat of Your holiness. Har Habayit has been disgraced, jackals go on it (and the nations have breached it and every impure one gives prayer in Your holy place.)

And the holy city, the City of G-d is now apparently barren, and if we, in our sins and the sins of our fathers caused all this, will You, in all Your mercy, forgive us forever? You will arise, have mercy on Zion because it is the time to pardon.

Therefore we have come before You, our bodies bent before You, low in spirit and broken hearted, to entreat You to remember for us the merits of our holy forefathers and in the merit of the righteous woman Rachel Imeinu, and forgive us our sins and our transgressions, that we have sinned before You. Help us return to You in complete teshuva, and lengthen our days with good and our years in pleasantness on the holy land. Remove from us all obstacles that confuse us from our holy worship. So that we may learn and teach and observe all the words of Your Torah and Mitzvot with full kavana, without any fear, and remove from us and from all of Israel all sickness. Give us strength of spirit and strength of body so that we may be able to worship You day and night without any weariness. Give us par mist! (means of support) and rain in its time. May this year be blessed with abundant harvest and fruit Give every person according to his personal need, so that we should not be lacking all the days of our lives., and let us merit to raise our children (if one has children outside the land of Israel one should say: and let me merit to hear good tidings from my children- here one can state specific names _____of children and loved ones). Let them find success in all their endeavors, and I will (bli neder) light a candle (and give tzedekah) in memory of the soul of Rachel Imeinu and the souls of all the holy and righteous, for the hatzlacha (success) of (here on can state specific names_____of children and loved ones). Let them live long lives, and none of their children should die during the lifetimes of either of their parents. And let them (one can pray for themselves as well - whatever applies) find their soulmate at the right time, and let there never be heard or seen any stain or bad word in our family. Let us merit to see all in the ingathering of the exiles and the complete redemption speedily in our times. AMEN