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God of my fathers! merciful and just,
Who into being shaped this breathing dust,
Teach me its rebel passions to control,
Pour Thy influence o’er my restless soul.
Teach me to look beyond the gloomy grave;
For Thou, Father! still art nigh to save,
When rising from the dark and cheerless tomb,
I’ll walk with Thee in renovated bloom.
E’en at Thine altar as I bend the knee,
My heart expands, my hopes increase in Thee;
Aspiring man forgets that he is earth,
And clings to Thee for an immortal birth.
“God of my fathers! merciful and just,” by Caroline de Litchfield Harby (ca.1800-1876), first published in 1842, appears under the subject “Immortality of the Soul” as Hymn 53 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), p. 55. That page is missing in the one copy of the first edition we know to exist. Thankfully, the hymn appears under the same subject as Hymn 39 in Hymns Written for the Use of Hebrew Congregations (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1856), p. 43. –Aharon Varady
Source(s)
“God of My Fathers! Merciful and Just, a hymn on the Immortality of the Soul by Caroline de Litchfield Harby (Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim 1842)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.
Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)
Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeniשְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)
Caroline de Litchfield Harby
Caroline de Litchfield Harby (ca.1800-1876), a poet, was associated with her brother Isaac Harby, co-founder of Beth Elohim in Charleston, South Carolina, in his educational work in New York. Several of her hymns are included in the hymn-book of Beth Elohim (1842/1856), and one prayer of hers can be found among the handwritten prayerbooks of the Reformed Society of Israel.
Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim (Charleston, South Carolina)
Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim (Hebrew: קהל קדוש בית אלהים, also known as Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, or more simply Congregation Beth Elohim), founded in 1749 in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the oldest Jewish congregations in the United States. The founding members of the synagogue were Jews of Spanish and Portuguese descent (Sepharadim), who arrived into Charleston via London, England. Before 1830 Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim was a place of worship for Spanish and Portuguese Jews using Portuguese rituals as done in Portugal before the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions. A splinter group animated by the European Reform movement, the Reformed Society of Israelites, formed in 1824. While at first this group did not succeed in reforming Beth Elohim, by the mid 1830s Beth Elohim had reabsorbed its members and its ḥazzan, Gustavus Poznanski (1804–1879), joined the Reform camp in 1840. After the first synagogue building was destroyed by fire in 1838, it was rebuilt two years afterward (in a Greek Revival style designed by Cyrus L. Warner) with an organ to the chagrin of the traditionalists. Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim is recognized as the oldest Reform Jewish congregation in the Americas.
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