This is an archive of unique and representative prayers offered for the welfare of one’s government and country in the Jewish Diaspora. (For specific historical versions of the prayer “Hanoten Teshuah” not appearing in this category, look under the category for the country in which it was offered.) Click here to contribute a prayer you have written, or a translation of an existing prayer. Filter resources by Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s translation of Psalms 2 was first published in Psalms in a Translation for Praying (Alliance for Jewish Renewal, Philadelphia: 2014), p. 2. . . . The text of Hanoten Teshua in its English translation as presented by Menasseh ben Israel to Oliver Cromwell in 1655. We have reconstructed the corresponding Hebrew from the S&P nusaḥ of the Jewish community in Amsterdam. . . . Prayers recited on special occasions and thus not part of the fixed liturgy offered America’s foremost Jewish congregation far greater latitude for originality in prayer. At such services, particularly when the prayers were delivered in English and written with the knowledge that non-Jews would hear them, leaders of Shearith Israel often dispensed with the traditional prayer for the government and substituted revealing new compositions appropriate to the concerns of the day. A prayer composed in 1784 (in this case in Hebrew) by the otherwise unknown Rabbi (Cantor?) Hendla Jochanan van Oettingen, for example, thanked God who “in His goodness prospered our warfare.” Mentioning by name both Governor George Clinton and General George Washington, the rabbi prayed for peace and offered a restorationist Jewish twist on the popular idea of America as “redeemer nation”: “As Thou hast granted to these thirteen states of America everlasting freedom,” he declared, “so mayst Thou bring us forth once again from bondage into freedom and mayst Thou sound the great horn for our freedom.” . . . The following prayer for the government was composed by Congregation Beth Shalome in Richmond, Virginia in 1789. Please note the acrostic portion of the prayer in which the initial letters of the succeeding lines form the name: Washington. . . . A prayer composed for honoring Napoleon Ⅰ by the emancipated Jews of France. . . . “[Gebet] Für den Regenten (Prayer for the Regent)” was first published in Pereẓ (Peter) Beer’s Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaischer Religion (1815), as teḥinah №11 on pp. 31-32 where it was rendered in Judeo-German. The German rendering transcribed above follows teḥinah №11 in Henry Frank’s 1839 edition on pp. 27-29. A variation can also be found in Beer’s 1843 edition as teḥinah №9 on p. 14-15. . . . “Universal intercessory prayer” by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in the UK edition of Sacred Communings, pp. 76-77. It is not found in the US edition. . . . “Ribon kol ha-Olamim” was almost certainly written by Rabbi Max Lilienthal in 1846 soon after he arrived in New York City where he was elected chief rabbi of New York’s “united German-Jewish community.” It was first published in L. Henry Frank’s prayerbook, Tefilot Yisrael: Prayers of Israel with an English translation (1848) without attribution. In 1998, Dr. Jonathan Sarna elucidated its authorship in an article, “A Forgotten 19th Century Prayer for the U.S. Government: Its Meaning, Significance and Surprising Author.” In Hesed Ve-Emet: Studies in Honor of Ernest S. Frerichs, eds. J. Magness and S. Gitin, 431-440. Athens, Ga.: Scholars Press, 1998. . . . This prayer of gratitude for the emancipation of French Jewry was included by Rabbi Arnaud Aron and Jonas Ennery in their opus, אמרי לב Prières d’un Coeur Israelite (Société Consistoriale de Bons Livres, 1848), pp. 61-62. In the second edition published in 1852, it appears on pp. 95-96. . . . An original prayer for the government of the United States, Ohio, and the city of Cincinnati by Rabbi H.A. Henry was published in an article, “Emendation of the Liturgy” in The Asmonean (21 June 1850), p. 6. . . . “Father of nations! Judge divine!” by Penina Moïse, was published in 1856, and appears under the subject of “Our Country” as Hymn 149 in Hymns Written for the Use of Hebrew Congregations (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1856), pp. 144-146. . . . A prayer for the French Emperor, Napoleon III, a year before he was captured by the Prussians in the doomed Franco-Prussian War of 1870, including the formula of the prayer, haNoten Teshuah, as adapted for Napoleon III. . . . A prayer for the government composed by the Central Conference of American Rabbis and included in their Union Prayer Book. . . . This prayer by Rabbi Arnold Kiss for the kingdom of Hungary in a time of national crisis, “Országos bánat, közös baj idején,” was first published in his anthology of prayers for Jewish women, Mirjam (1897) on p.289-291. . . . Modeled after the prayer Hanoten T’shuah, this patriotic paraliturgical prayer for the Kingdom of Hungary by Rabbi Gyula Fischer was published in the prayerbook for Jewish women, Rachel: imák zsidó nők számára (1908). . . . A paraliturgical prayer for the government presented opposite Hanoten T’shuah in Rabbi Simon Hevesi’s siddur Ateret Shalom v’Emet (1911). . . . A prayer for the government offered by a first generation immigrant to the United States. . . . A prayer for the government of President William Howard Taft and Vice-President James Sherman offered by a first generation immigrant to the United States. . . . A prayer on behalf of the government of the United States of America by one of the leading architects of Modern Orthodoxy in America. . . . A prayer on behalf of the government of the United States of America by one of the leading architects of Modern Orthodoxy in America. . . . The prayer for the government familiar to all Conservative movement congregations, as written by Rabbi Dr. Louis Ginzberg with an English translation by Rabbi Tim Bernard. . . . This prayer for the country is found in the Siddur Sephat Emeth, which was published by the venerable Rödelheim publishing house in Frankfurt in 1938. This was probably the last siddur ever published in pre-Holocaust Germany. This prayer is full of pathos and yearning, and in a time of rising government-sponsored antisemitism worldwide it’s worth keeping in mind. . . . The Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel was composed by Rabbi Yitsḥak haLevi Hertzog, edited by S.Y. Agnon, and first published in the newspaper Ha-Tsofeh on 20 September 1948. . . . The prayer for peace and prayer for the government of the Choral Synagogue in Moscow in 1956. . . . The blessing for Tsar Nicholas II as given in the lines of the musical, Fiddler on the Roof. . . . The full text of Rabbi Jacob Goldstein’s prayer offered at the Democratic National Convention, July 14th, 1992. . . . A prayer on behalf of Canada: its government, its leaders, and its people. . . . A prayer for the government and of good governance in the United States of America. . . . A prayer for the great aspirations of the country of the United States of America. . . . The familiar prayer for the State of Israel, which is more literally titled “a Prayer for Peace for the State” tefilah lish’lom hamedinah, was written in 1948 by Rabbi Yitsḥak haLevi Hertzog (edited by S.Y. Agnon) in what had up until then been Palestine, in a time of war. The state was under direct attack by the Arab armies, and there was little distinction between peace, survival, and victory. As we approach Israel’s 70th birthday, it is time to make such distinctions. Israel and the Jewish people live in a much more complex reality today, where the triumph of one political party or set of goals can radically change the outlook for peace, and the possibility of justice. In our time, praying for peace for the state of Israel mist include praying for the rectification of its relationships with neighboring countries and with the Palestinian people, some of whom are Israeli citizens, and most of whom are in some way under Israel’s control. This prayer assumes that the best reality for the Jewish state is also the best reality for all of her citizens and for everyone who lives “in the land,” no matter where they are in relation to the Green Line or Areas A, B and C. . . . A prayer for a government when that government is causing pain through malicious policies. . . . A prayer for collective and communal well-being with an emphasis on dismantling systems of oppression and repairing their harms. . . . A prayer for democracy everywhere, with Ukraine foremost in mind. . . . |
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