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Judge of the whole Earth! Thy righteousness is as the mighty mountains. Thy judgments are a great deep. Thou preservest man and beast.[1] Psalms 36:7 We approach Thee in the time of our affliction, when Thou hast visited us with a grievous murrain among our herds and flocks.[2] An outbreak of rinderpest impacted England in 1865. Find note, below. | |
We know, O Lord, that Thy decrees are just; our iniquities testify against us. But in Thy wrath dost Thou remember mercy; Thou makest sore and bindest up; Thou woundest and Thou healest. Spare, we beseech Thee, the works of Thy hands; stay the havoc and destruction among our cattle, so that there be no complaining in the border of our blessed land. | |
Gracious and merciful Father! sorrow seized on us when we heard that the pestilence which broke out in Egypt has been raging in the land of Thy inheritance, and in other countries. Let our prayers ascend unto Thee like incense, and say unto the destroyer, ‘Stay thou thy hand.’ (II Samuel 24:16) | |
And as hitherto Thy tender mercies have supported Thy servants, so cause Thy countenance to shine upon us; deliver our souls from death and our eyes from tears. Have mercy upon parents and children, and shelter them under the shadow of Thy wings. Bless our bread and our water, and take away sickness from the midst of us. | |
Inspire our hearts to understand Thy ways in the sanctuary, that we may learn to turn even the dangers that threaten us into our good.[3] Possibly a reference to Psalms 77:14 whose English translation in the KJV is “Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?” While I think this line may underscore a belief in the theurgical power of synagogal rites, a rational reading is also possible. Joshua Ethan Rubin offers this interpretation: “While we’re in the sanctuary praying, let us work to understand you. Then, when we leave the sanctuary, we will be equipped to face hardship and ultimately we’ll be stronger people because of it.” –Aharon Varady Grant us knowledge that we may keep Thy law and return to Thee with perfect penitence. Vouchsafe unto us a year of life and plenty, of peace and redemption — Amen. |
This is a prayer for cattle afflicted by an epizootic contagion (in this case, Rinderpest, a/k/a cattle plague), and for the protection of human beings from cholera, prescribed by the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain, Nathan Marcus Adler, and published in The Hebrew Leader (24 November 1865), p. 1. From “The Cattle Plague of 1865 and the Reception of ‘The Germ Theory’ in Mid-Victorian Britain”:[4] An article by Terrie M. Romano in the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 52:1 (January 1997), pp. 51–80.
In June of 1865, the cattle plague was reported in Islington, a district of London. By July it had spread throughout London cattle and into Suffolk, Shropshire, Norfolk, and Scotland. The disease spread rapidly. In October there were more than 11,000 cases, with infected cattle in 29 English, 2 Welsh, and 16 Scottish counties. By January, more than 120,000 animals were known to be infected, and there were no signs of abatement. The disease had also spread to the Netherlands. The French and the Belgians avoided the contamination of their cattle by placing an embargo on all British livestock. Although the epidemic did not yet directly threaten domestic food supplies (the estimated total head of horned cattle in Great Britain at the time was seven million), the swiftness of the spread of the disease and the damage to British trade led to the appointment of a Royal Commission, which reported to Parliament three times in 1865 and 1866.
Source(s)
Prayer for Cattle amidst plague (The Hebrew Leader, 24 November 1865), p. 1
Notes
| 1 | Psalms 36:7 |
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| 2 | An outbreak of rinderpest impacted England in 1865. Find note, below. |
| 3 | Possibly a reference to Psalms 77:14 whose English translation in the KJV is “Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?” While I think this line may underscore a belief in the theurgical power of synagogal rites, a rational reading is also possible. Joshua Ethan Rubin offers this interpretation: “While we’re in the sanctuary praying, let us work to understand you. Then, when we leave the sanctuary, we will be equipped to face hardship and ultimately we’ll be stronger people because of it.” –Aharon Varady |
| 4 | An article by Terrie M. Romano in the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 52:1 (January 1997), pp. 51–80. |
“Prayer for the cessation of a cattle plague and for protection from cholera, by Chief Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler (1865)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.
Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)
Nathan Marcus Adler
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