The Hadran Alakh prayer is traditionally used to commemorate completing a study of a tractate of TalmudThe rabbinic compendium of lore and legend composed between 200 and 500 CE. Study of the Talmud is the focus of rabbinic scholarship. The Talmud has two versions, the main Babylonian version (Bavli) and the smaller Jerusalem version (Yerushalmi). It is written in Rabbinic Hebrew and Aramaic., indicating the sacred and intimate relationship we have to our Jewish texts. I have revised the traditional prayer to be used as part of a ritual of saying goodbye to a person or group of people. See the following blog post to learn more about how I created this prayer.
Hadran Alakh prayer (to read/recite to either a group of people or an individual one is leaving):
I see before me faces of sacred texts. Sacred texts that I cherish and love. Sacred texts that are separate from myself, yet have become part of who I am. I see sacred texts that hold holiness in their words and their beings. Sacred texts that embody our Jewish tradition and our wisdom. Holding closely the memory of seeing the sacred texts within your faces.
הדרן עלייכו כתבי הקודש והדריתו עלן דעתן עלייכו כתבי הקודש ודעתכון עלן לא נתנשי מינכון כתבי הקודש ולא תתנשו מינן לא בעלמא הדין ולא בעלמא דאתי
Hadran alaykhu kitvey hakodesh ve-hadartihu alan da’atan alaykhu kitvey hakodesh ve-da’atkhon alan lo nitnashei minekhon kitvey hakodesh ve-lo titnashu minan lo be-alma ha-din ve-lo be-alma deati
We will return to you, holy, sacred texts before me, and you will return to us; our mind is on you, holy texts, and your mind is on us; we will not forget you, sacred beings, and you will not forget us—not in this world and not in the world to come
