This is Rabbi Max Landsberg’s public repetition of the shaḥarit festival amidah for Sukkot as found in his Ritual for Jewish Prayer (1884), pp. 21-28 with a unique prayer for Sukkot found on pp. 48-49.

This is Rabbi Max Landsberg’s public repetition of the shaḥarit festival amidah for Shemini Atseret as found in his Ritual for Jewish Prayer (1884), pp. 21-28 with a unique prayer for Shemini Atseret found on pp. 50-52.

This is Rabbi Max Landsberg’s public repetition of the shaḥarit festival amidah for the first day of Pesaḥ as found in his Ritual for Jewish Prayer (1884), pp. 21-28 and pp. 38-41.

This is Rabbi Max Landsberg’s public repetition of the shaḥarit festival amidah for the seventh day of Pesaḥ as found in his Ritual for Jewish Prayer (1884), pp. 21-28 and pp. 42-43.

This is Rabbi Max Landsberg’s public repetition of the shaḥarit festival amidah for Shavuot as found in his Ritual for Jewish Prayer (1884), pp. 21-28 with a unique prayer for Shavuot found on pp. 44-45.

This is Rabbi Max Landsberg’s public repetition of the shaḥarit amidah for a Confirmation Day as found in his Ritual for Jewish Prayer (1884), pp. 21-28 with adaptations of the traditional blessings found on pp. 46-47.

This prayer in admiration of King Umberto Ⅰ of Italy after the passing of a cholera epidemic was preserved on page 246 of the Sobato Morais Scrapbook (a/k/a, the Morais Ledger) in a clipping from the Philadelphia Inquirer on 28 November 1884, “The Church and Its Duty: Rev. S. Morais on the Limits of Politics in the Pulpit.”

This prayer in eulogy for Rabbi George Jacobs is found in conclusion to “In Memoriam. Address Delivered Last Sabbath by Rev. S. Morais” in the Jewish Record, 18 July 1884, a clipping of which was preserved on page 231 of the Sabato Morais Ledger.

Ritual for Jewish Worship (1884) is an early American Reform movement prayerbook in English translation by Rabbi Max Landsberg for his congregation, B’rith Ḳodesh, in Rochester, New York.

This is the poem, “The New Colossus” (1883) by Emma Lazarus. Lazarus famously penned her sonnet in response to the waves of Russian-Jewish refugees seeking refuge in the Unites States of America as a result of murderous Russian pogroms following the assassination of Tsar Alexander Ⅱ in 1881. At a time when she was also translating classical Jewish poetry, her identification and revisioning of the Statue of Liberty as “the Mother of Exiles,” points to the familiar rabbinic Jewish identification of the Shekhinah (the Divine Presence, in its feminine aspect) with the light of the Jewish people in their Diaspora.

A bilingual Hebrew-Romanian prayerbook translated by Dr. Moses Gaster in 1883.

This prayer appears in conclusion to “A Summary of the Centenary History of the Mikve Israel Congregation, by Rev. S. Morais” published in the The Jewish Record on 30 March 1883, a clipping of which is found on page 200in the Sobato Morais Scrapbook (a/k/a, the Morais Ledger).

A variation of the prayer Hanoten Teshua by Rabbi Dr. Moses Gaster, from his סדור תפלת ישראל: Carte de rugăciuni pentru Israeliţi (Bucureşti, Editor L. Steinberg Stampfel, Eder & Comp. Pressburg 1883), p.192.

A poem, inspired by psalms, about a dangerous ocean storm or else the violent nature calmed during one of the nights and days of creation.

This prayer by Rabbi Henry S. Jacobs was offered at the Dedication of the Home for the Aged and Infirm by the District Grand Lodge No. 1 Independent Order of B’né B’rith on 28 June 1882 and published in their Proceedings of the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of District Grand Lodge No. 1 I.O.B.B. Held January 29, 30, and 31, 1882, pp. 68-70.

“Feast of Lights,” from Poems of Emma Lazarus, vol. II (1888), pp. 18.

“The City of Light” is a poem written by Felix Adler. The earliest publication I could find for it dates to 1882, in Unity: Freedom, Fellowship and Character in Religion vol. 8, no. 12 (16 Feb. 1882), p. 477.

This prayer for the government by Rabbi Sabato Morais, preserved in an undated newspaper clipping from an unknown newspaper, was offered on Thanksgiving Day (24 November) in 1881. It was preserved by Rabbi Sabato Morais in his ledger (p. 234, clipping 414), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.) We were able to date the prayer from the context offered by surrounding clippings that detailed the circumstances in which the prayer was given. Another clipping provided an outline of the sixty-first annual meeting of the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society (founded 1820, thus giving the date of 1881). With that date likely, references to activities in surrounding clippings began to make sense, especially the attention given to the relief work that year of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in eastern Europe. The Kiev pogrom of 1881 began during the spring that year. In the prayer itself, the year 1881 provides the necessary context for understanding Rabbi Morais’s references to the “hour of peril” and “the stability of the government” — the mortal injury to President James A. Garfield shot that summer and who died that fall. When this prayer was offered, Chester A. Arthur, was president of the United States.

This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais after the death of President James Garfield is recorded in an undated newspaper clipping preserved on page 176 of the Sabato Morais Ledger. The clipping appears next to one printed in the Jewish Record on 30 September 1881, a few days prior to Yom Kippur that year. From the column borders similar to both clippings, the prayer appears to also have been published in the Jewish Record, possibly as part of a service in eulogy for the fallen president sometime soon after 19 September.

This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais during the lingering death of President James Garfield is recorded in an undated and unsourced newspaper clipping, “A Petition in the Synagogue. Rabbi Morais’ Fervent Petition Before the Mickve Israel Congregation” preserved on page 237 of the Sabato Morais Ledger. The prayer is unique in appealing in the merit of four of the Founding Fathers of the United States (the first three presidents: George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, along with Benjamin Franklin).

This prayer for the recovery of President James A. Garfield after he had been shot and his wound infected was offered by Rabbi Sabato Morais and recorded in The Sunday Dispatch, “The Suspense of a Nation. A Thought and a Prayer” on 4 September 1881. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (p. 175, clipping 297), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.)

This prayer for the recovery of President James A. Garfield after he had been shot and his wound infected was offered by Rabbi Sabato Morais and recorded in the Jewish Record, “Prayers for Our Sick President. Synagogue Mickvé Israel” on 26 August 1881. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (p. 174, clipping 296), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.)

A prayer for the recovery of President James A. Garfield was offered at Beth El Hebrew Congregation (Alexandria, Virginia) by Rabbi Leopold Rosenstraus in a public service on 9 July 1881 after the president was mortally wounded earlier that month (2 July) in an ultimately successful assassination attempt. The prayer was published on the front page of The Hebrew Leader (15 July 1881).

This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais for the recovery of President James Garfield after his being shot on 2 July 1881 is recorded in a newspaper clipping preserved on page 236 of the Sabato Morais Ledger, “‘A Nation Wounded.’ Opinions as Expressed in the Synagogue by a Prominent Rabbi.” The origin and date of the clipping is not indicated, however, the prayer was offered during the dedication of a synagogue in the then newly built Philadelphia Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum on 12 June 1881 in Germantown. If you know the date of this synagogue dedication or the newspaper from which this clipping was taken, please leave a comment or contact us. We know a handful of prayers for President Garfield offered by Rabbi Morais over the course of the former’s lingering death, and this prayer seems to us to be the earliest of them, probably given sometime in July following the assassination, and recorded in the Philadelphia Inquirer or another newspaper.

The poem, Hatiḳvah, in its original composition by Naphtali Herz Imber, later chosen and adapted to become the national anthem of the State of Israel, with a full English translation, and the earliest, albeit abbreviated, Yiddish translation

This “Prayer for Confirmation” was offered by Rabbi Dr. Max Lilienthal on Shavuot (20 April 1881), a manuscript copy of which it found its way into the collection of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio. Many thanks to the Jewish Women’s Archive for providing a copy of the manuscript through their website.

The paraliturgical tkhine for the new month of Nissan read on the shabbat preceding the new moon during the blessing over new month.

To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ אִיָיר (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Iyyar”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877). English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady

To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ סִיוָן (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Sivan”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877) before its adaptation in Shas Tkhine Ḥadashe (Ben-Tsiyon Alfes 1910), the source from which this translation was made. English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady

This is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ תַּמוּז (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Tamuz”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877) before its adaptation in Shas Tkhine Ḥadashe (Ben-Tsiyon Alfes 1910), the source from which this translation was made. English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady

This is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ מְנַחֵם אָב (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Menaḥem Av”) as printed in Shas Tkhine Ḥodoshe (1910) and תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow & Brothers Romm, Vilna 1872/3, 1877). English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). Using Shas Tkhine Ḥodoshe as her source, Moreh Zakutinsky probably had not seen the additional paragraph in the earlier printing. –A.N. Varady

To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ אֶלוּל (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Elul”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877). English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady

To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ מַרְחֶשְׁוָן (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Marḥeshvan”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877). English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady

To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ כִּסְלֵו (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Kislev”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877). English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady

To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ טֵבֵת (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Tevet”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877). English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady

To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ שְׁבָט (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Shvat”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877). English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady

To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ אַדָר רִאשׁוֹן (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Adar I”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877). English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady

To the best of my ability, this is a faithful transcription of the תְּחִנָה לְשַׁבָּת מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חוֺדֶשׁ אַדָר (“Tkhine for Shabbat Mevorkhim Rosh Ḥodesh Adar [II]”) which appeared in תחנות מקרא קודש (Teḥinot Miqra Qodesh, Widow and Brothers Romm, Vilna 1877). English translation adapted slightly from Techinas: A Voice from the Heart “As Only A Woman Can Pray” by Rivka Zakutinsky (Aura Press, 1992). –A.N. Varady

A prayer of Rabbi Lilienthal offered at a tree planting ceremony at the grave of George Washington attended by the delegates to the Council of Hebrew Congregations (the predecessor to the Union for Reformed Judaism) and published in the The Critic and Record, 13 July 1876, on the fourth page.

This prayer in eulogy for Vice President Henry Wilson was preserved on page 78 of the Sobato Morais Scrapbook (a/k/a, the Morais Ledger) in a clipping from the Evening Telegraph on 1 December 1875, “The Late Vice-President: A Eulogy by Rev. S. Morais, of the Seventh Street Synagogue.”

This was the opening prayer offered by Rabbi Sabato Morais at the “Ceremonies at the Site of the Statue of Religious Liberty by the Independent Order of B’nai Berith” for the Celebration of the Ninety-Ninth Anniversary of American Independence in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, July 5th, 1875 and published in a booklet containing the same. The site of the ceremonies was “the Walnut Street Railway, near the Centennial grounds.” The statue, “Religious Liberty,” was commissioned by B’nai B’rith and dedicated “to the people of the United States” as an expression of support for the Constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. It was created by Moses Jacob Ezekiel, a B’nai B’rith member and the first American Jewish sculptor to gain international prominence.

This is a Ḥanukkah piyyut by R. Salomon Berdugo (1854–1906), illustrious payṭan and the chief rabbi of Meknes, Morocco. According to the Kehillot Sharot organization’s notes, found here, “This piyyut speaks of the miracles that occured for the Hasmoneans, both in war against the Greeks and in purification of the Temple. It is customarily sung in Maqam Hijaz.”

The siddur, Aḇodath Yisrael was first prepared for Temple Oheb Shalom (Baltimore, Maryland) by Rabbi Benjamin Szold (1829-1902). Before Szold’s arrival in 1859, the congregation had adopted for use in its Shabbat service the Minhag America by the Reform rabbi, Isaac Meyer Wise. After much discussion with his congregation Szold introduced Aḇodath Yisrael, which hewed more closely to traditional Ashkenazi custom. The first edition of this prayer-book appeared in 1863 with German translation, and was widely adopted by congregations in the United States. New editions were published in 1864 and 1865 (the latter with English translation), and another, revised edition in 1871, by Rabbis Marcus Jastrow of Philadelphia (1829-1903) and Henry Hochheimer of Baltimore (1818-1912).

This Thanksgiving Day prayer was offered by Rabbi Sabato Morais at the end of his sermon at Mikve Israel in Philadelphia on 27 November 1873, and reprinted in The Jewish Messenger on 5 December 1873. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 61), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.)

This prayer of Rabbi Isidor Kalisch was offered on 15 January 1873 before the Tennessee State Senate, and published in the Republican Banner (16 January 1863), page 4.

A hymnal prepared by Rabbi Benjamin Szold and translated from German into English by Rabbi Marcus Jastrow.

This is Rabbi Benjamin Szold’s הגיון לב (Higayon Lev) Israelitisches Gebetbuch für die Häusliche Andacht, “second completely revised edition” edited by Rabbi Marcus Jastrow (1875). This work was subsequently translated into English by Benjamin Szold’s daughter, Henrietta Szold, and her manuscript used as the draft for the Jewish Ministers’ Association’s Jewish Home Prayer-Book (1887).

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 9 January 1872.

This prayer offered by Rabbi Sabato Morais in response to what became known as the Great Boston Fire of 1872, was recorded in an article in Philaedlphia’s Evening Telegraph, “Boston’s Fire. A Prayer by a Hebrew Minster,” reprinted from the Boston Transcript. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (p. 234, clipping 406), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.)

A siddur in Hebrew with English translation compiled by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise for Liberal/Reform congregations establishing a Minhag America.