This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the fifth month of the first session of the 78th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 89 part 3 (11 May 1943), p. 4196.

A megillah attesting to the terrible events of World War II from the vantage of North African Jewry in Casablanca.

The Yiddish resistance song, “Partisaner Lid” (The Partisan Song) was composed by Hirsh Glick in the Vilna Ghetto in 1943.

A memorial prayer for service members lost in times of war, given by a chaplain who sacrificed his life for others during WWII.

This “Special Prayer for Our Soldiers and Sailors” edited by Rabbi Aaron Dym is found just after the preface to the siddur, סדור תפלת ישראל: כולל כל התפלות לכל השנה (Ziegelheim: 1943).

מְנוּחַת שָׁלוֹם: תְּפִלַת לֵיל שַׁבָּת Menuchat Shalom: Late Service for Sabbath Eve (1943) was arranged by Isadore Shalom Ravetch as used in his congregation Temple Sinai (Long Beach, California).

This “Prayer for Chanukah” (5 December 1942) by the Hon. Lily H. Montagu (1873-1963) from the archives of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, London, was published in, Lily Montagu: Sermons, Addresses, Letters, and Prayers (ed. Ellen M. Umansky, 1985), p. 352-353.

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the tenth month of the second session of the 77th US Senate, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 88 part 6 (1 October 1942), p. 7661.

This prayer by Stephen Vincent Benét (1898-1943) was first publicly read in 1942 in the course of a United Nations Day speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 26 May 1942.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 21 April 1942.

This “Special Prayer” for a Youth Service (11 April 1942) by the Hon. Lily H. Montagu (1873-1963) from the archives of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, London, was published in, Lily Montagu: Sermons, Addresses, Letters, and Prayers (ed. Ellen M. Umansky, 1985), p. 351. April 11th that year would have corresponded to the 24th of Nissan, i.e., a day following Passover 5702.

This prayer by Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, first penned in his diary for 23 August 1942, was first published in The Radical American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan, by Mel Scult (1990). Although the prayer was not included in Kaplan’s Sabbath Prayer Book (New York: The Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945), it was added to the loose-leaf prayerbook he kept at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism synagogue.

A prayer on praying, singing, and Torah learning by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan.

“The Pious Man” is a prayer-poem from Mordecai Kaplan’s diary entry, September 19, 1942, on the virtue of piety as expressed in an essay published earlier that year by Abraham Joshua Heschel. Piety was a Roman virtue, but in this essay, A.J. Heschel appears to be describing an idealization of Ḥasidut.

This is the תפילת הנוטע (Prayer for Planting [trees]) by Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Ḥai Uziel.

A pamphlet for for United States military chaplains prepared by Chaplain Aryeh Lev under the direction of Rabbi David de Sola Pool for the Jewish Welfare Board during World War II. compiled for the use of United States personnel in the Armed Services.

A bilingual Hebrew-English prayerbook for weekdays and shabbat, compiled by Joseph H. (Yosef Tsvi) Hertz, chief rabbi of the British Empire, and published in wartime Britain in 1942, the first of three volumes.

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the twelfth month of the first session of the 77th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 87 part 9 (1 December 1941), pp. 9252-9253.

This “Prayer for Service” on Shabbat Teshuvah (27 September 1941) by the Hon. Lily H. Montagu (1873-1963) from the archives of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, London, was published in, Lily Montagu: Sermons, Addresses, Letters, and Prayers (ed. Ellen M. Umansky, 1985), pp. 350-351.

This is the prayer for the welfare of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the United States offered by the sixth rebbe of ḤaBaD, Yosef Yitsḥaq Schneersohn (“נתקנה ע״י כ״ק אדמו״ר שליט״א מליובאװיטש“), in advance of Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur in 5701 (1941).

The four freedoms as articulated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his address before the 77th Congress of the United States.

This “Prayer in Temptation” can be found in the Abridged Prayer Book for the Jews in the Armed Forces of the United States (Jewish Welfare Board 1941), p. 120. As far as we know, this prayer is unique to this prayerbook, although the text recalls the waking prayer “Elohai Neshama.”

This “Prayer for Home” can be found in the Abridged Prayer Book for the Jews in the Armed Forces of the United States (Jewish Welfare Board 1941), p. 119.

Rabbi David de Sola Pool’s bilingual Hebrew-English prayerbook for Sepharadi Jews.

An abridged maḥzor prepared for use of Jewish military personnel serving in the armed forces of the United States in advance of World War II, and printed by the Jewish Publication Society.

An abridged siddur prepared for use of Jewish military personnel serving in the armed forces of the United States in advance of World War II, and printed by the Jewish Publication Society.

This prayer for the United States of America was offered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of his Radio Campaign Address at Hyde Park, New York on 4 November 1940. The prayer was adapted by Roosevelt from one he referred to it in his speech as “an old prayer.” That prayer was originally offered by Rev. Anson Phelps Stoke, canon of the Washington Cathedral (Washington DC), a guest chaplain before the Senate on 25 April 1932. Roosevelt, or a speech write, adapted the text of the prayer by removing the final line, thereby making the prayer a more inclusive and ecumenical civic prayer.

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the second month of the second session of the 76th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 86 part 2 (8 February 1940), pp. 1230-1231.

“Prayer for Intercession,” almost certainly written by Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz, was published in the Prayer Book of Jewish Members of H.M. Forces (Office of the Chief Rabbi 1940), pp. 18-19.

This undated “Special prayer for Service of Intercession” by the Hon. Lily H. Montagu (1873-1963) from the archives of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, London, was published in, Lily Montagu: Sermons, Addresses, Letters, and Prayers (ed. Ellen M. Umansky, 1985), pp. 356-357. From the contents, it reads as if it was composed in response to the terrifying news of the tortuous treatment of European Jews during the Holocaust. In 1940, other “intercession” services were offered with comparative prayers; for example, this one by the chief rabbi J.H. Hertz included in the Prayer Book for H.M. Forces.

“Prayer Before a Battle” appears at the start of Prayer Book of Jewish Members of H.M. Forces (Office of the Chief Rabbi 1940), p. 5.

This is a vocalized transcription and translation of the World War Ⅱ era song, “Shir haGe’ulah (Song of Redemption)” from the source images shared in A Tribute to Rabbi Mordechai Meir Hakohen Bryski v”g Bryski (Rabbi Mordechai A. Katz, 2017), pp. 19-20. The song is also known by its incipit, “Heḥayyeinu El.”

This prayer for victory and deliverance in the war against Nazi Germany, simply titled “War Prayer,” appears in the Prayer Book of Jewish Members of H.M. Forces (Office of the Chief Rabbi 1940), pp. 16-17. Sections of the prayer were adapted from the prayer on the declaration of war by Rabbi Hertz in 1914 at the outset of World War I. In the preface to the payer book, Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz specifically mentions this prayer, among others, as having been newly revised for this publication. The initial version of the prayer, likely to have been written by Rabbi Hertz, was published by the Office of the Chief Rabbi for a 17 Tammuz service in July 1938. A revision was disseminated after Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938). This is the third version of the prayer.

“Prayer for Men on Active Service” is the opening prayer in the Prayer Book of Jewish Members of H.M. Forces (Office of the Chief Rabbi 1940), p. 4.

Originally written by Aaron Zeitlin for the Yiddish play “Esterke” in 1940, ‘Dona Dona’ is a popular song the world over, having been adapted to many languages — often not preserving the original, deeply Jewish context. The gist of the original lyrics, which never state their metaphor outright, is: a calf is bound to a wagon being dragged to the slaughterhouse. It looks up and sees a swallow flying around. The farmer shouts at it, saying “it’s your own fault for being a calf and not a bird!” The implication being: the people telling the Jews it’s our own fault we’re persecuted are the ones driving the wagon. Gentiles will murder Jews, the song implies to us, and then say Jews are to blame because of how murderable our Jewish face is, so maybe we should get a less murderable and more goyish face. But the whole time they’re the one with the knife. Here included is the original Yiddish text (in the Ukrainish theatre dialect), as well as new translations into Ladino and Aramaic.

An abridged prayer book for Jewish personnel in the service of the British armed forces in 1940, prepared by the Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire, Joseph H. Hertz, based upon the 1917 prayer book offered during the first World War.

A 20th century piyyut by Ḥayyim Shaul Aboud.

A good preparation and a bridge for the next phase of prayer, as you enter into the world of B’riyah,[foot]i.e., the Shaḥarit service beginning with the blessings prededing the Shema[/foot] is Reb Ahrele Roth’s list of Mitsvot One Can Do With Consciousness Alone. Reb Ahrele Roth, a”h, wrote a list of 32 mitsvot whose fulfillment is completed in the brain, the heart and the mouth. (The Hebrew alphabetical equivalent of 32 is ל”ב, the letters of which spell the Hebrew word LEV for Heart.) –Reb Zalman

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the second month of the second session of the 76th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 85 part 1 (23 October 1939), p. 755.

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the sixth month of the first session of the 76th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 84 part 7 (16 June 1939), p. 7280.

An essay on the praxis of prayer as contained in “Club Letter №3” (March 1939) written by the Hon. Lily H. Montagu (1873-1963) and found in the Private Collection of Hannah Feldman, London. The essay was published in, Lily Montagu: Sermons, Addresses, Letters, and Prayers (ed. Ellen M. Umansky, 1985), pp. 51-54.

A prayer for the success of the London Conference of 1939 which ultimately resulted in the publication of the 1939 White Paper.

Abraham Joshua Heschel’s essay “Das Gebet Als Äußerung Und Einfühlung” published in Monatsschrift Für Geschichte Und Wissenschaft Des Judenthums, vol. 83 (1939).

A bilingual Hebrew-English maḥzor for Yom Kippur in the Sepharadic tradition compiled by David de Sola Pool in 1939.

This is a prayer for captives, written in November 1938 in Hamburg, following Kristallnacht (my translation following the Hebrew). “May each and every one of them return to their family…who are worrying about them.”

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 words of the prayer for Armistice Day 1938, “God Bless America” by Irving Berlin, in English and Yiddish.

An untitled prayer on behalf of German Jewry under Nazi oppression disseminated in Bombay, likely after Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938).

The experimental siddur, Prayers & Readings Selected and Arranged by Rabbi Solomon Goldman can be found appended to Harry Coopersmith’s songbook, Songs of My People (1938). The work, I believe, is an excellent reflection of the creative spirit of the nascent Reconstructionist movement. Goldman’s prayerbook is both traditional and expansive, seeking to bring into its pages both familiar liturgy along with additional works from all over Jewish literary history. The work represents what Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan would call a “Binder Siddur” — the siddur as a container of inspired works for collective reading and reflection in the synagogue. Perhaps even for personal use. With its good number of authors and translators expressing different voices appealing to Goldman, Prayers & Readings is also a kind of proto-Open Siddur. However, unlike the Open Siddur, Goldman only provides acknowledgement of the various authors and translators in his preface, and we are left uncertain as to which works should actually be attributed to each contributor. If you can tell which of the listed authors and translators contributed what, please leave a comment or contact us.