Prayer for Canada, by Rabbi Victor Reinstein (1993)

Contributor(s):

Victor Reinstein

Shared on:

23 November 2021 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Government & Country, Canada

Tags:

Canada, 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Our God and God of our ancestors, in Whose image all people are created: Receive with compassion our prayer on behalf of our country, its government, its leaders, and its people.
	Bless the rich tapestry of our Canadian diversity, the many strands of race and creed, of culture and language, that we may know the blessing of unity through diversity. May all the peoples of our country learn and teach the ways of their ancestors and share them proudly. May we honour with humility those who first dwelled on this land,^[1] The text read in the Congregation Emanu-El in Victoria, British Columbia, is “May we honour with humility the Lekwungen People…” and learn from them the sacredness of earth and sky and water.
	Compassionate One, teach us Your way of compassion. Bless and preserve the caring spirit of our country and the institutions that translate spirit into action. May it never again be that “none is too many” for any people seeking refuge in our land of plenty.
	Banish hatred and despair and cynicism, that peace and harmony may flourish among us. May our country be an influence for good within the family of nations, a voice of conscience, and a leader in seeking peace and pursuing it. And let us say: Amen.

This prayer for Canada was written by Rabbi Victor Reinstein in the early 1990s during his tenure as rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El in Victoria, British Columbia (from 1982-1998). The prayer is in use by several other congregations in Canada. In Victoria, the prayer has been slightly edited to include names of local indigenous peoples.

Source(s)

A Prayer for Our Country (Congregation Emanu-El, Victoria B.C.)

Notes[+]

Notes
1	The text read in the Congregation Emanu-El in Victoria, British Columbia, is “May we honour with humility the Lekwungen People…”

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“Prayer for Canada, by Rabbi Victor Reinstein (1993)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Victor Reinstein

Rabbi Victor Reinstein (b. 1950) originally from Boston is a Conservative rabbi in the United States. In 2005, with his wife Mieke, he co-founded Nehar Shalom Community Synagogue in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, an egalitarian shtibl committed to traditional Jewish practice and progressive social and political values. Before then he was the school rabbi and a teacher at the Solomon Schechter Day School in Newton, MA. From 1982-1998. he served as the rabbi of Canada’s oldest synagogue, Congregation Emanu-El in Victoria, British Columbia. Rabbi Reinstein was the first director of the United Synagogue’s Keruv/Outreach program to interfaith families. Blessed to make yet another life and career transition, he spends his days engaged in writing, teaching, and communal work. Learning of life in caring for the dead, he is an active member of the Community Ḥevra Ḳadisha of Greater Boston. Committed to interfaith dialogue, he has been particularly involved in building bridges between Jews and Muslims. Engaging Torah as a sourcebook for nonviolence by which to challenge and transform violence in the text and in our lives, he seeks at the core of his work to help fulfill God’s hope for a world of justice and peace.

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17