An Emendation to the Ḳiddush Levanah after the Moon Landing, by Rabbi Shlomo Goren (1969)

 https://opensiddur.org/prayers/lunisolar/roshei-hadashim/kiddush-levanah/emendation-to-the-kiddush-levanah-in-light-of-the-first-moon-landing-by-shlomo-goren-1969/

The day after humankind’s first landing on the Lunar surface July 20, 1969, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on a poetic and topical innovation to the Ḳiddush Levanah, the Blessing over the Moon, by then chief rabbi of Tel Aviv (and former IDF Chaplain General) Shlomo Goren. From “Prayer on Advent of New Moon is Altered to Take into Account Apollo 11 Achievement” (22 July 1969):[1]

NEW YORK, Jul. 21 (JTA) – Thoughtful Jews have speculated about the impact on Judaism’s religious outlook that would be made by man’s successful exploration of space. In a small way the answer began to emerge within hours of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing and exploration by Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Col. Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr.

The word came from Israel where Gen. Shlomo Goren, the Armed Forces’ Chief Chaplain,[2] issued instructions about a change in the prayer for the blessing of the new moon which is said each month. The old blessing was worded:

כְּשֵׁם שֶׁאֲנִי רוֹקֵד לְנֶגְדֵּךְ. וְאֵינִי יָכוֹל לִיגַּע בָּךְ.‏

כַּךְ לֹא יוּכְלוּ כָּל אוֹיְבַי לִיגַּע בִּי לְרָעָה:‏

As I dance before you and cannot touch you,

so my enemies will not be able to touch me.

It now reads:

כְּשֵׁם שֶׁאֲנִי רוֹקֵד לְנֶגְדֵּךְ. וְאֵינִי נוגע ביך

כַּךְ אם ירקדו אחרים כנגדי לא יגעו בי.‏

As I dance against you and do not touch you,

so others, if they dance against me to harm me, they will not touch me.

The new version of the prayer is actually an old one found in the Talmud in Masekhet Soferim [מסכת סופרים], chapter 20 [section 2].