Prayer for Our Country, by Rabbi Abraham Cronbach (1932)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Abraham Cronbach

Shared on:

11 December 2025 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

🇺🇸 United States of America

Tags:

American Jewry of the United States, English vernacular prayer, interwar period, Jewish pacifism

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Source (English)

Bless our country, O our father.
Make it not in boastfulness
but in very truth
the land of the free
and the home of the brave;
free from every sin and folly
and so nobly brave
that, facing every foe,
our only armor may be guiltlessness,
our only weapon love,
our only stronghold Thou.
Amen.

This prayer, entitled “[Prayer for] Our Country,” was published in The Jewish Peace Book for Home and School (1932) under “Section III: Peace Devotions for Jewish Use — Prayers for Peace” on page 100.

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Notes

Notes
1	Lines from “the Star Spangled Banner” (1814) by Francis Scott Key, which became the national anthem of the United States. On 3 March 1931, the US Congress passed a joint resolution (46 Stat. 1508) making the song the official national anthem of the United States, which President Herbert Hoover signed into law. “The Star-Spangled Banner” was first recognized for official use by the United States Navy in 1889.

Aharon N. Varady (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 naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת 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.)

Abraham Cronbach

Abraham Cronbach (February 15, 1882 – April 2, 1965) was a Reform movement rabbi in the United States, a teacher, and a leader and activist for Jewish pacifism. He served as a rabbi for congregations in Indiana, Ohio, and New York. Cronbach was one of the founders of the Peace Heroes Memorial Society and a co-founder of the Jewish Peace Fellowship.

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=64944

Associated Image:

Sidney Nathaniel Ambramowitz a/k/a “Nat Arno” (middle with Cigar in mouth), Commander of The [New Jersey] Minutemen 1934-1941

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "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)

Prayer for Our Country, by Rabbi Abraham Cronbach (1932)

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