Prayer in the Aftermath of the San Francisco Earthquake, by Rabbi Bernard M. Kaplan (19 May 1906)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Bernard Kaplan

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4 May 2026 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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1906 San Francisco earthquake, 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, San Francisco

The following special prayer was delivered by Rabbi Bernard M. Kaplan at the Bush Street Temple, San Francisco, at the Sabbath service after the awful earthquake of April 18, 1906:

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	Almighty God, Source of all power, justice, life and love! We recognize Thy love and mercy in times of sorrow and sadness as well as in joy and gladness, in times of calamity and disaster as well as in times of prosperity. We resign ourselves to Thy inscrutable decree. As true children love their father though when punished and rebuked, so do we love Thee and adore Thy holy name though we have been sorely, sorely afflicted by this most appalling visitation of the earthquake and fire.
	We believe, O God, that as a father punishes his children for their own good, so Thy punishment is meant for good and not for evil, for Thou art all good and all merciful.
	We thank Thee, O Lord, that this calamity which has befallen our beautiful city and our beloved community has not occurred during the dark hours of the night nor during the working hours of the day, when the destruction of life would have been very great, and when horror would have been added to horror and gloom to gloom. Yea, in all Thy acts and decrees we perceive Thy love and Thy mercy, which increases our faith in Thee and in Thy everlasting goodness.
	We thank Thee, O Lord, for the brave spirit with which the people of San Francisco are standing this most awful trial and visitation.
	We thank Thee, O Lord, for the great humanity of the people of this community who in moments of the greatest danger have endeavored to render help to their fellow sufferers, even at the risk of their lives.
	We thank Thee, O Lord, for the great generosity of the American people who are coming to the rescue of our afflicted and stricken community.
	Inspire, O Heavenly Father, the people of San Francisco with new courage and hope, and with renewed faith in themselves and in Thee, so that they may help this city to rise Phoenix-like still more beautiful, still more glorious, and still more hospitable and generous than ever before, for the glory of Thy name and for the benefit of humanity. Amen.

This prayer by Rabbi Bernard Kaplan in the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was published in the Jewish newspaper, Emanu-El (v. 22, n. 2, 18 May 1906), p. 8, under the title “Rabbi Kaplan’s Prayer.”

Source(s)

Rabbi Kaplan’s Prayer (Bernard M. Kaplan in Emanu-El, 18 May 1906), p. 8

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.)

Bernard Kaplan

Rabbi Bernard M. Kaplan was an early Conservative movement rabbi in Canada and the United States. After his ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, he was received with acclaim at Shaar Hashomayim in Montreal in 1897. He also served as principal of the synagogue's day school and as Dominion Hebrew chaplain of Montreal's prison system. In 1902, he left for California and Bush Street Temple in San Francisco. If you know more about the life and career of Rabbi Kaplan, please contact us.

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San Francisco – Ruins at Market and Bush Streets (1906), postcard

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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 in the Aftermath of the San Francisco Earthquake, by Rabbi Bernard M. Kaplan (19 May 1906)

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