Tefilat Haderech — the Traveler's Prayer, with transliteration

Whoever sets out on the road must pray the traveler's prayer — that is the Gemara's own ruling, and the prayer's text is printed in every siddur. But the printed page raises the questions it does not answer: when exactly do you say it, does a highway count, why is it in the plural, and why does your siddur put part of the closing in parentheses. Here is the full text with transliteration — in all three rites — and then each rule with the words of the Shulchan Aruch and the Mishnah Berurah.

The text — nusach Ashkenaz, with transliteration

Words the siddur prints without vowels are its own instructions, not part of the prayer.

Look closely at that last line as your siddur prints it. The Daat Ashkenaz edition inserts the rubric לפי נוסח ספרד — according to nusach Sefard — right before God’s Name: in this edition, saying the Name in the closing is marked as the Sefard practice. The Torat Emet Sefard siddur prints the closing in full, and the Edot HaMizrach edition puts (אַתָּה יְהֹוָה) in parentheses. Three printed treatments of the same closing — follow your own siddur.

After the prayer, the siddur adds verses of protection:

followed by Ve’Yaakov halach ledarko and the priestly blessing. The Edot HaMizrach siddur introduces its own list with ויש מוסיפים פסוקים אלה לשמירה — some add these verses for protection — each said three times.

Nusach Sefard and Edot HaMizrach — what changes

The three rites say the same prayer with small, visible differences. Here are the other two bodies, verbatim from their siddurim; the transliteration above serves for both, with the changes noted below.

Nusach Sefard (Torat Emet)

What this text has that the Ashkenaz body above does not: וְתִשְׁלַח בְּרָכָה וְהַצְלָחָה בְּכָל מַעֲשֵׂה יָדֵינוּ — send blessing and success in all the work of our hands — and וְתִגְמְלֵינוּ חֲסָדִים טוֹבִים וְתִשְׁמַע קוֹל תַּחֲנוּנֵינוּ, bestow good kindnesses upon us and hear the voice of our supplications. The closing is printed in full. After the prayer, this siddur arranges a whole order of protective verses said 3, 30, 6, 10 and 5 times — the full order is on the siddur page linked at the foot.

Edot HaMizrach (Sephardic)

The shortest of the three — and the closest to the Gemara’s own wording, as the next section shows. Its printed instruction is worth reading in full, because it is where the famous “72 minutes” actually comes from:

היוצא לדרך, ושוהה בנסיעתו מחוץ לעיר לפחות מהלך שיעור פרסה (72 דקות) אומר תפלת הדרך. ברכה זו מברך לאחר שיצא מהעיר, וטוב לסמוך אותה לברכה אחרונה של אכילה או שתיה או אשר יצר.
One who sets out on the road and spends at least the walking distance of a parsa (72 minutes) of his journey outside the city says the traveler’s prayer. This blessing is recited after leaving the city, and it is good to attach it to a concluding blessing after eating or drinking, or to Asher Yatzar.Siddur Edot HaMizrach — the printed instruction

⚠️ Note what the 72 minutes measures: the walking distance of a parsa — not the length of your trip. The Shulchan Aruch itself gives no minutes at all; the number is this siddur’s gloss, and the Mishnah Berurah’s railway ruling below shows the parsa is a distance.

Where it comes from — and why it is in the plural

The obligation and the text are both in the Gemara, Berakhot 29b:

…וּכְשֶׁאַתָּה יוֹצֵא לַדֶּרֶךְ, הִמָּלֵךְ בְּקוֹנְךָ וָצֵא. מַאי הִמָּלֵךְ בְּקוֹנְךָ וָצֵא? אָמַר רַבִּי יַעֲקֹב אָמַר רַב חִסְדָּא: זוֹ תְּפִלַּת הַדֶּרֶךְ. וְאָמַר רַבִּי יַעֲקֹב אָמַר רַב חִסְדָּא: כׇּל הַיּוֹצֵא לַדֶּרֶךְ צָרִיךְ לְהִתְפַּלֵּל תְּפִלַּת הַדֶּרֶךְ.
…And when you set out on the road, take counsel with your Maker and go out. What is “take counsel with your Maker and go out”? Rabbi Yaakov said in the name of Rav Chisda: this is the traveler’s prayer. And Rabbi Yaakov said in the name of Rav Chisda: whoever sets out on the road must pray the traveler’s prayer.Berakhot 29b

Then the Gemara gives the text — and it is in the singular:

מַאי תְּפִלַּת הַדֶּרֶךְ? ״יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ ה׳ אֱלֹהַי, שֶׁתּוֹלִיכֵנִי לְשָׁלוֹם, וְתַצְעִידֵנִי לְשָׁלוֹם, וְתִסְמְכֵנִי לְשָׁלוֹם, וְתַצִּילֵנִי מִכַּף כׇּל אוֹיֵב וְאוֹרֵב בַּדֶּרֶךְ, וְתִשְׁלַח בְּרָכָה בְּמַעֲשֵׂי יָדַי, וְתִתְּנֵנִי לְחֵן לְחֶסֶד וּלְרַחֲמִים בְּעֵינֶיךָ וּבְעֵינֵי כׇּל רוֹאַי, בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳ שׁוֹמֵעַ תְּפִלָּה״.
What is the traveler’s prayer? “May it be Your will, Lord my God, to lead me in peace, to direct my steps in peace, to support me in peace, and to rescue me from the hand of every enemy and ambush on the way; send blessing upon the work of my hands, and grant me grace, kindness and mercy in Your eyes and in the eyes of all who see me. Blessed are You, Lord, who hears prayer.”Berakhot 29b

One page later, the Gemara itself corrects the grammar:

לִישַׁתֵּף אִינָשׁ נַפְשֵׁיהּ בַּהֲדֵי צִבּוּרָא. הֵיכִי נֵימָא? — ״יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ שֶׁתּוֹלִיכֵנוּ לְשָׁלוֹם״ וְכוּ׳.
A person should join himself with the community. How should he say it? “May it be Your will, Lord our God, to lead us in peace…”Berakhot 30a

That line is the literal source of the Shulchan Aruch’s ruling:

היוצא לדרך יתפלל יהר"מ ה' אלהינו ואלהי אבותינו שתוליכנו לשלום וכו' וצריך לאומרה בלשון רבים ואם אפשר יעמוד מלילך כשיאמרנה ואם היה רוכב א"צ לירד:
One who sets out on the road should pray “May it be Your will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, to lead us in peace…”, and he must say it in the plural. If possible, he should stand still while saying it; and if he was riding, he need not dismount.Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 110:4

And notice one more thing the Gemara has: וְתִשְׁלַח בְּרָכָה בְּמַעֲשֵׂי יָדַי — send blessing upon the work of my hands. The Sefard and Edot HaMizrach bodies above carry that phrase; the Daat Ashkenaz body does not. If you have ever compared siddurim and wondered whether one of them added it — it is the other way around: it is in the Gemara’s own text.

When you say it — after leaving town

אומר אותה אחר שהחזיק בדרך ואין לאומרה אלא אם כן יש לו לילך פרסה אבל פחות מפרסה לא יחתום בברוך ולכתחלה יאמר אותה בפרסה ראשונה (רש"י והר"י) ואם שכח מלאמרה יאמר אותה כל זמן שהוא בדרך ובלבד שלא הגיע תוך פרסה הסמוכה לעיר שרוצה ללון בה ומשם ואילך יאמר אותה בלא ברכה:
He says it after he has set out on his way. And he should not say it unless he has a parsa to travel; but for less than a parsa, he should not close with “Baruch”. Ideally he should say it within the first parsa; and if he forgot to say it, he may say it as long as he is on the way, provided he has not yet reached within a parsa of the city where he intends to lodge — from there on, he says it without the blessing.Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 110:7

Read the middle clause carefully, because it is widely misquoted: a trip of less than a parsa still takes the prayer — without the closing blessing. “Below a parsa you don’t say it” is not what the seif says.

What counts as “set out on his way”? The Mishnah Berurah draws the line at the edge of town — and records a dispute:

(כט) שהחזיק בדרך - ר"ל שלא יאמרנה כשעדיין הוא בתוך העיר שדר בה אף שמכין עצמו לצאת לדרך ועיבורה של עיר דהיינו שבעים אמה ומעט יותר סמוך לעיר לאחר שכבר כלו כל הבתים הרי הוא כתוך העיר והט"ז מתיר אפילו בתוך העיר משעה שגמר בלבו והכין עצמו לצאת אבל הא"ר והפמ"ג ושארי אחרונים חולקין ע"ז והסכימו דלכתחילה יש ליזהר שלא לעשות כך אך בדיעבד יש לסמוך על דבריו…
Meaning: he should not say it while still inside the city he lives in, even though he is preparing himself to set out; and the city’s outskirts — seventy amot and a little more past the last houses — count as inside the city. The Taz permits it even inside the city, from the moment he has resolved and prepared himself to leave; but the Eliyah Rabbah, the Pri Megadim and the other Acharonim dispute this, and agree that ideally one should take care not to do so — though after the fact, one may rely on his words.Mishnah Berurah 110:29

Both sides are given because both are live: ideally, wait until the road; said it at home before leaving — you may rely on the Taz after the fact. And on a multi‑day trip the line moves:

…וכ"ז בתחלת יציאתו מביתו אבל כשהוא לן בדרך יוכל לומר תה"ד בבוקר כשמכין עצמו לצאת אפילו כשהוא עדיין בעיר דכבר החזיק בדרך…
All this is at the start of his departure from his house; but when he lodges on the way, he may say the traveler’s prayer in the morning as he prepares to set out, even while still in the town — for he is already established on the road.Mishnah Berurah 110:29

The parsa — and cars, trains and planes

Why a parsa at all? The Mishnah Berurah gives the reason, and then applies it to the railway — which is what makes the rule usable in a car:

(ל) ואין לאומרה וכו' - שפחות מפרסה בקרוב לעיר אינו מקום סכנה מן הסתם אם לא שמוחזק לן באותו מקום שהוא מקום סכנה אז יש לברך תה"ד בכל גווני. ואין חילוק בין הולך בספינה להולך ביבשה [א"ר] ולפ"ז גם הנוסע על מסילת הברזל יש לו לברך תה"ד אפילו אם נוסע רק פרסה ולפ"ז יש לזהר לכתחילה תיכף כשמתחיל לנסוע לברך ברכת תה"ד וכמו שכתב הרמ"א בסמוך דלכתחילה יהדר תוך פרסה ראשונה ובדיעבד יברך עד לבסוף כ"ז שיש לו עדיין פרסה אחת ליסע על המסילה:
For less than a parsa near the city is presumed not to be a place of danger — unless that place is established as dangerous, in which case one recites the traveler’s prayer in every case. And there is no difference between one who travels by ship and one who travels by land [Eliyah Rabbah]; accordingly, one who travels by rail should recite the traveler’s prayer even if he travels only one parsa — and accordingly one should ideally take care to recite it as soon as the journey begins… and after the fact he may recite it to the end, as long as he still has one parsa left to travel on the line.Mishnah Berurah 110:30

Three things follow. The parsa is a distance (the Edot siddur’s “72 minutes” is the time it takes to walk one, not a trip length — a train covers it in minutes and still takes the blessing). The measure is the road, not the vehicle. And a place known to be dangerous takes the full blessing even under a parsa.

For air travel, the Sefard siddur prints an addition said with the traveler’s prayer:

Standing still, riding — and the driver

The end of seif 4 quoted above said it: stand still if possible; riding, you need not dismount. The Mishnah Berurah explains both halves, and extends them to the wagon:

(כג) א"צ לירד - שירידתו ועלייתו טורדתו אלא יעמיד הבהמה מלילך אם אפשר לו שאם ירכוב הרי הוא כמהלך וה"ה ליושב בעגלה שא"צ לירד אלא להעמיד הסוסים אם אפשר לו:
…for his dismounting and remounting would distract him; rather, he should halt the animal if he can — for if he rides on, he is like one walking. And the same applies to one sitting in a wagon: he need not climb down, but should halt the horses if he can.Mishnah Berurah 110:23

The principle the words carry: moving while praying is “like walking”, so bring the vehicle to a stop if you can — and if you cannot, the prayer is still said, as the rider’s case shows. A passenger simply says it; the text’s concern is the one controlling the animal.

Once a day — and when you say it again

א"צ לומר אותה אלא פעם אחת ביום אפי' אם ינוח בעיר באמצע היום אבל אם דעתו ללון בעיר ואח"כ נמלך ויצא ממנה לעבור חוצה לה או לשוב לביתו צריך לחזור ולהתפלל אותה פעם אחרת:
He need say it only once a day, even if he rests in a city in the middle of the day. But if his intention was to lodge in the city, and he then changed his mind and left it — to travel beyond it or to return home — he must say it again.Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 110:5

The line is drawn by intention, not by stops: a day of driving with breaks is one journey and one prayer; deciding to stay the night and then setting out again is a new journey.

Attaching it to another blessing

The Shulchan Aruch records a practice of the Maharam of Rothenburg:

הר"מ מרוטנבורג כשהיה יוצא לדרך בבוקר היה אומרה אחר יהי רצון כדי להסמיכה לברכת הגומל חסדים ותהיה ברכה הסמוכה לחברתה:
The Maharam of Rothenburg, when he set out on the road in the morning, would say it after “Yehi Ratzon”, in order to attach it to the blessing “Who bestows kindnesses”, so that it would be a blessing adjacent to another blessing.Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 110:6

That is his practice, reported — not an obligation. The siddurim turn it into practical advice for any traveler. The Sefard siddur’s instruction:

…יש להסמיך תפלת הדרך לברכה אחרת כדי שתהא ברכה הסמוכה לחברתה לכן כשיוצא בדרך בשחרית קודם התפילה כגון שהוא נחוץ י"ל ברכות השחר על הדרך ולהסמיך תפלת הדרך לברכת השחר וביום יאכל איזה פרי ויסמכנה לברכת הפרי או כשמטיל מים יסמיך אותה לברכת אשר יצר:
One should attach the traveler’s prayer to another blessing, so that it is a blessing adjacent to its fellow. Therefore, one who leaves in the morning before prayer — for instance, if pressed — may say the morning blessings on the way and attach the traveler’s prayer to them; during the day, he may eat some fruit and attach it to the fruit’s after‑blessing, or, after relieving himself, attach it to Asher Yatzar.Siddur Sefard — the printed instruction

The Edot HaMizrach instruction quoted earlier says the same in one line: attach it to a concluding blessing after eating or drinking, or to Asher Yatzar. An easy habit: drink something before setting out, say the after‑blessing at the edge of town, and say Tefilat Haderech right after it.

Sources

• Berakhot 29b — the obligation, and the text — in the singular
• Berakhot 30a — join the community — the source of the plural
• Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 110:4 — the plural; standing still; the rider
• Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 110:5 — once a day, and when it is said again
• Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 110:6 — the Maharam of Rothenburg's practice
• Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 110:7 — after setting out; under a parsa — without the closing
• Mishnah Berurah 110:23 — halting the animal; the wagon
• Mishnah Berurah 110:29 — the edge of town; the Taz and the Acharonim; lodging on the way
• Mishnah Berurah 110:30 — ship and rail; a known place of danger
• Siddur Ashkenaz — Tefilat Haderech — the text and its rubrics
• Siddur Sefard — Tefilat Haderech — the text; attaching to another blessing; the air travel addition
• Siddur Edot HaMizrach — Tefilat Haderech — the text; the parsa instruction (72 minutes)