← Back to Languages & Scripts Index 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 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. . . . 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 pamphlet containing a Hallel service in Portuguese translation by Artur Carlos de Barros Basto under the auspices of the Insituto Teológico Israelita (Yeshiba Rosh-Pinah) in 1940. . . . 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-pamphlet containing the bedtime prayer service in Portuguese translation by Artur Carlos de Barros Basto under the auspices of the Insituto Teológico Israelita (Yeshiba Rosh-Pinah) in 1940. . . . Abraham Joshua Heschel’s essay “Das Gebet Als Äußerung Und Einfühlung” published in Monatsschrift Für Geschichte Und Wissenschaft Des Judenthums, vol. 83 (1939). . . . 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. . . . A Friday night Sabbath evening prayer guide by Artur Carlos de Barros Basto under the auspices of the Insituto Teológico Israelita (Yeshiba Rosh-Pinah) in 1940. . . . 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 prayer for the success of the London Conference of 1939 which ultimately resulted in the publication of the 1939 White Paper. . . . This is the Hanoten Teshua formula of the Prayer for the Wellbeing of the Government as translated by Artur Carlos de Barros Basto in Portuguese on page 34 of his Shabbat morning prayer-pamphlet Oração Matinal de Shabbath (1939). I have set Barros Basto’s Portuguese translation side-by-side with the Hebrew text of Hanoten Teshua (the variation of the prayer corresponding to Barros Basto’s translation). . . . 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.” . . . An untitled prayer on behalf of German Jewry under Nazi oppression disseminated in Bombay, likely after Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938). . . . A Saturday morning Shabbat shaḥarit/Torah reading/musaf prayer guide by Artur Carlos de Barros Basto under the auspices of the Insituto Teológico Israelita (Yeshiba Rosh-Pinah) in 1939. . . . The words of the prayer for Armistice Day 1938, “God Bless America” by Irving Berlin, in English and Yiddish. . . . A bilingual Hebrew-English maḥzor for Yom Kippur in the Sepharadic tradition compiled by David de Sola Pool in 1939. . . . 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 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. . . . This is Rabbi Dr. Leo Beack’s prayer for his wife Natalie Baeck née Hamburger (1878-1937), dated 7 March 1937. Natalie had died two days prior on 5 March. . . . 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). . . . This is the prayer which Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck had disseminated to Jewish communities throughout Germany to recite on Yom Kippur, 10 October 1935. The German text here is as found in the archival notes of Helmut Grünewald, Ein Judenjunge durfte kein Deutscher sein (Bristol, 1998), pp. 20-21 in the collection of the Leo Baeck Institute. The English translation is as published by Dr. Michael Meyer in Rabbi Leo Baeck: Living a Religious Imperative in Troubled Times (2020), pp. 106-107. . . . 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). . . . “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-Polish siddur published in the interwar period just before the invasion of Poland and the onset of the Holocaust. . . . The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 26 March 1935. . . . The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 25 March 1935. . . . Rabbi Leo Baeck’s essay on prayer “Gebet im Judentum,” was published in the “Judentum und Gebet” issue of Bne Briss (September/October 1935), top of page 82. . . . 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. . . . 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. . . . The first prayerbook compiled by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, published by the United Synagogue as a selection of supplemental readings on Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur. . . . 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? . . . 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. . . . “On Education Week” by Rabbi Norman Michael Goldburg, was offered before the California state legislature on 24 April 1933, and published in California Legislature 50th Session 1933: Prayers Offered at the Daily Sessions of the Assembly, pp. 77-78. . . . “On Abandoning the Gold Standard” by Rabbi Norman Michael Goldburg, was offered before the California state legislature on 21 April 1933, and published in California Legislature 50th Session 1933: Prayers Offered at the Daily Sessions of the Assembly, p. 74. . . . 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). . . . “On the Disaster of the Akron” by Rabbi Norman Michael Goldburg, was offered before the California state legislature on 5 April 1933, and published in California Legislature 50th Session 1933: Prayers Offered at the Daily Sessions of the Assembly, pp. 61-63. . . . “On the Inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt as President of the United States” by Rabbi Norman Michael Goldburg, was offered before the California state legislature on 4 March 1933, and published in California Legislature 50th Session 1933: Prayers Offered at the Daily Sessions of the Assembly, p. 37. . . . “The German Crisis” by Rabbi Norman Michael Goldburg, was offered before the California state legislature on 3 April 1933, and published in California Legislature 50th Session 1933: Prayers Offered at the Daily Sessions of the Assembly, pp. 59-60. . . . “On the Eve of Inauguration” by Rabbi Norman Michael Goldburg, was offered before the California state legislature on 3 March 1933, and published in California Legislature 50th Session 1933: Prayers Offered at the Daily Sessions of the Assembly, p. 36. . . . “On the Los Angeles Earthquake” by Rabbi Norman Michael Goldburg, was offered before the California state legislature on 12 March 1933, and published in California Legislature 50th Session 1933: Prayers Offered at the Daily Sessions of the Assembly, pp. 44-45. The earthquake, now known as the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, registered 6.4 on the Richter scale. . . . “On the Legalization of Beer” by Rabbi Norman Michael Goldburg, was offered before the California state legislature and published in California Legislature 50th Session 1933: Prayers Offered at the Daily Sessions of the Assembly, p. 32. . . . |