“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.

“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.

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

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

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).

This is the bilingual Hebrew-Croatian, nusaḥ Ashkenaz kol-bo (everyday) siddur of Rabbi Dr. Šalom Miroslav Freiberger, z”l (1903-1943): סדור רנה ותפלה Molitvenik (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.

A songster in Hebrew and English with musical notation compiled by Harry Coopersmith.

This is the Kol Nidrei as offered by the Hannover Synagogue on Yom Kippur in 1937 according to the text provided in a poster, “Agende für Kol-nidre und Seelenfeier in der Synaogen-Gemeinde Hannover” (10 September 1937). Thank you to David Selis for providing digital images of the poster.

Liberal Jewish Prayer Book vol. Ⅰ: Services for Weekdays, Sabbaths, etc. (1937) is the revised “new” edition edition of the communal prayerbook of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue (London) first published in 1926.

A bilingual Hebrew-English maḥzor for Rosh haShanah in the Sepharadic tradition compiled by David de Sola Pool in 1937.

A bilingual Hebrew-English prayerbook for weekdays and special occasions, compiled and edited by Rabbi Jacob Bosniak. This volume complements a second for Shabbat and the Shalosh Regalim (festivals).

A bilingual Hebrew-English prayerbook for Shabbat and the Shalosh Regalim (festivals), compiled and edited by Rabbi Jacob Bosniak. This volume (number 2) complements a second for weekdays and special occasions (vol. 1).

“Modlitwa za Rzeczpospolitą” by Rabbi Moses Schorr was published in his סדר תפלה Modlitewnik na wszystkie dni w roku oraz modlitwę za Rzeczpospolitą (1936), recto of p. 232.

A bilingual Hebrew-Polish siddur published in the interwar period just before the invasion of Poland and the onset of the Holocaust.

“A Thanksgiving in Commemoration of Moses Maimonides” with its accompanying Hashkabah is found in the Service of Praise and Thanksgiving to Commemorate the 800th Anniversary of the Birth of Moses Maimonides prepared by Bevis Marks Synagogue in London on 27 May 1935.

A bilingual Hebrew-English birkon (book of blessings), according to the liturgical custom of Ashkenaz, as compiled by Rabbi Simon Glazer and published by the Maimon Publishing Company in sometime between 1934 and 1938.

Based upon the Seder Teḥinot al Bet Almin, by Rabbi Yaaqov Sinna (ca. 1615), a collection of teḥinot for when visiting the graves of loved ones, as well as additional prayers for sick relatives and for women approaching childbirth.

This is סדר תפלת ישורון Book of prayers Tephilath Jeshurun: containing all the prayers for the year according to the custom of the holy congregations of the Sephardim in the Orient and elsewhere translated by Menaḥem ben Mosheh Yeḥezqel and published by the Hebrew Publishing Company in 1935.

A brief explanation of the role of prayer in the Jewish Science movement of Rabbi Morris Lichtenstein and his wife Tehilla Lichtenstein, co-founders of the Society of Jewish Science, in Yiddish with an English translation.

Why is the military victory of the Maccabees not referred to in the Mishna or Gemara but is mentioned only in later writings and in the prayer of Al Ha’Nissim?

This is סדור תפלת ישורון Siddur Tefilat Yeshurun, a comprehensive everyday, shabbat, and festival prayerbook compiled by Rabbi Simon Glazer from pages derived from סדור שׂפה ברורה Siddur Sefah Berurah (1928) with translations set against the Hebrew liturgy compiled by Dr. Max Emanuel (Mendel ben Yitsḥaq) Stern (1811-1873).

A bilingual Hebrew-English festival prayerbook (maḥzor) for Sukkot and Shemini Atseret, according to the liturgical custom of Ashkenaz, as compiled by Rabbi Simon Glazer and published by Star Publishing Company in 1933.

A bilingual Hebrew-English festival prayerbook (maḥzor) for Passover, according to the liturgical custom of Ashkenaz, as compiled by Rabbi Simon Glazer and published by Star Publishing Company in 1933.

A bilingual Hebrew-English festival prayerbook (maḥzor) for Shavuot, according to the liturgical custom of Ashkenaz, as compiled by Rabbi Simon Glazer and published by Star Publishing Company in 1933.

שילה סדור תפלה לשבת וליום טוב Shilo Prayer Book for Junior Congregations (1966) is an abridged, bilingual Hebrew-English siddur by Ẓevi Scharfstein (1884-1972). The siddur for Jewish youth congregations is adapted from תפלתינו: סדור לכל השנה Tefilaténu: Siddur l’Khol ha-Shanah (1932), reprinted numerous times, albeit with line numbers and without an English translation. Here, Scharfstein’s translation accompanies the Hebrew and forgoes the line numbers. It is the only edition of a siddur from Shilo Publishing House containing an English translation.

ִתְּפִלָּתֵינוּ: סִדּוּר לְכׇל הַשָּׁנָה Tefilaténu: Siddur l’Khol haShanah (1932) a/k/a סִדּוּר שִׁילֹֹה is an everyday (kol-bo) nusaḥ Ashkenaz siddur by Ẓevi Scharfstein (1884-1972). The siddur has been reprinted many times over the last century and is ubiquitous in Hebrew Day Schools in the United States as a child’s first siddur. Unlike any others to our knowledge, it contains line numbers — a pedagogical feature for classroom use. That is contains no accompanying translation may be considered a feature, rather than a problem, for educators who intend their students to become more familiar with the source liturgy than any one possible translation.

A “Prayer for the University” found in the Seder ha-Tefilah (Order of Service) arranged by the Jewish community of Oxford, England in 1931 at a special event celebrating the centenary of the scholar and librarian at the Bodleian Library, Dr. Adolf Neubauer (1831-1907).

The poem “Wormicide” (1931) by Rabbi Alter Abelson.

The poem “The Phylacteries” (1931) by Rabbi Alter Abelson.

The poem “Friday Eve” by Rabbi Alter Abelson (1931).

“Man Is Here for the Sake of Others,” a short excerpt from a longer essay by Albert Einstein, was included by Rabbi Morrison David Bial in his collection of supplemental prayers and texts for personal prayer and synagogue services: An Offering of Prayer (Temple Sinai of Summit, New Jersey, 1962). The full text of Einstein’s essay appeared under the title “What I Believe” in Forum and Century 84 (October 1930), no. 4, p. 193-194. David E. Rowe and Robert Schulman (in Einstein on Politics 2007, p. 226) note, “The text was reproduced several times under the title ‘The World as I See It,’ most notably in Mein Weltbild and Ideas and Opinions, and in 1932 the German League of Human Rights released a phonograph recording of Einstein reading a slightly variant version entitled ‘Confession of Belief.'”

Prayer Book of the St. George’s Settlement Synagogue, compiled by Basil Lucas Quixano Henriques in 1929, contains services for Shabbat, Rosh haShanah (with readings), and a selection of teḥinot (“special prayers for private worship) and hymns (“anthems”).

A manual for Reform movement rabbis compiled by the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 1928, containing ceremonial prayers for life cycle events in the synagogue, cemetery, and other contexts.

A bilingual Hebrew-English maḥzor for Yom Kippur, translated by Rabbi Simon Glazer and published by Star Publishing Company in 1928.

A bilingual Hebrew-English maḥzor for Rosh haShanah, compiled by Rabbi Simon Glazer and published by Star Publishing Company in 1928.

A bilingual Hebrew-English prayerbook for funerals and memorial days (yahrzeit), as compiled by Rabbi Simon Glazer and published by Star Publishing Company in 1928.

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.

“Bible Thoughts for every and any day” by Rabbi Clifton Harby Levy are a selection of biblical verses he added to The Helpful Manual (Centre of Jewish Science, 1927), pp. 28-31, ostensibly for use in healthful spiritual contemplation.

A bilingual Hebrew-Yiddish maḥzor for Yom Kippur, translated by ben-Uriyah and published by Star Publishing Company in 1927.

The United Synagogue of America (now knows as the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism) compiled this Hebrew-English maḥzor for the three regalim (pilgrimage festivals: Pesaḥ, Shavuot, and Sukkot with Shmini Atseret.) Rabbi Dr. Louis Ginzburg was among the editors and writers who helped to compile the maḥzor.