A poem on interfaith tolerance during the Jewish Women’s Congress held at Chicago, September 4-7, 1893, part of the World Parliament of Religion at the World’s Columbian Exposition.

The opening prayer of the Jewish Women’s Congress held at the World Parliament of Religion at the World’s Columbian Exposition as published in the Papers of the Jewish Women’s Congress: held at Chicago, September 4-7, 1893 (1894), p. 8.

A prayer for the end of a cholera epidemic written by Rabbi Dr. Moses Gaster in 1892.

This prayer by Rabbi Henry S. Jacobs was offered at the 25th anniversary of the Independent Order of B’ne B’rith’s Isaiah Lodge №49 of New York on 16 December 1888 and published in The Menorah, vol. 6, no. 1 (January 1889), p. 61. The Isaiah Lodge №49 of New York was founded on 20 December 1863.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 27 April 1888.

This prayer by chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire Nathan Marcus Adler is found in an order of service prepared for the celebration of Queen Victoria’s jubilee in 1887.

“A Child’s Prayer on its Birthday” was written by Frederick de Sola Mendes and published in the anthology, The Jewish Home Prayer-Book (1887), page 130.

“A Child’s Prayer on its Parent’s Birthday” was written by Frederick de Sola Mendes and published in the anthology, The Jewish Home Prayer-Book (1887), pages 130-131.

“God Save the Queen” is an adaptation of “God Save the King,” a work by an unknown author, first circulated in three stanzas during the reign of Britain’s King George Ⅱ, circa 1745. This Hebrew translation was published in a pamphlet circulated by New Road (Whitechapel) Synagogue in 1892 “on the 73rd Birthday of Her Majesty Queen Victoria,” an event attended by then chief rabbi of the British Empire, Rabbi Dr. Hermann Adler​.

A poem on the meaning of the menorah.

This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais after the death of President Ulysses S. Grant (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) concludes a eulogy published in the The Jewish Record on 14 August 1885, “General Grant: Substance of a Discourse Delivered Last Sabbath by the Rev. S. Morais.” A note in the preface to the article dates the eulogy to the preceding Sabbath, 8 August 1885. The article was preserved in a newspaper clipping found on page 338 of the Sabato Morais Ledger.

This prayer for the well-being of Her Majesty’s military forces in the Sudan, was offered by chief rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler for use by the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire in the context of British involvement in the Mahdist War, and specifically after news reached Britain of the Battle of Abu Klea in January 1885.

This is Rabbi Max Landsberg’s paraliturgical Aleinu as found in his Ritual for Jewish Prayer (1884), pp. 12-13.

This is Rabbi Max Landsberg’s public repetition of the weekday amidah as found in his Ritual for Jewish Prayer (1884), pp. 21-28 with adaptations of the traditional blessings found on pp. 52-54.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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 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.

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.)

This prayer offered by Rabbi Sabato Morais in response to what became known as the Great Chicago Fire was offered at the end of his sermon reprinted in The Philadelphia Inquirer on the following day 1 December 1871. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 47), 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 civic prayer for opening the Wisconsin State Senate session by Rabbi Edward B.M. Browne in 1871 (repurposed for the US Senate on 27 May 1884 and the US House on 13 December 1917)

An elegy by Walt Whitman for President Abraham Lincoln after his assassination, in English with Hebrew translation.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 20 May 1870.

The prayer at the consecration of the Central Synagogue (in London) offered by the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire, Nathan Marcus Adler, on 7 April 1870. The prayer was reprinted in “A Sermon By the Chief Rabbi,” The Israelite, vol. 117 part 14 (29 April 1870), page 9.

“Thanksgiving” is a hymn written by Felix Adler and published in Hymns, for Divine Service in the Temple Emanu-El (1871), hymn №35, p. 69. We have tentatively dated this hymn to 1868, since another hymn by Adler (“School-hymn, no. 36”) can be found appended from another unattributed work in A Guide to Instruction in the Israelitsh Religion (Samuel Adler, trans. M. Mayer, Temple Emanu-El, 1864, 4th printing 1868).

“Confirmation (Father, see thy suppliant children)” is a hymn written by Felix Adler and published in Hymns, for Divine Service in the Temple Emanu-El (1871), hymn №34, p. 68. We have tentatively dated this hymn to 1868, since another hymn by Adler (“School-hymn, no. 36”) can be found appended from another unattributed work in A Guide to Instruction in the Israelitsh Religion (Samuel Adler, trans. M. Mayer, Temple Emanu-El, 1864, 4th printing 1868).

“School-hymn” is a hymn written by Felix Adler and published in Hymns, for Divine Service in the Temple Emanu-El (1871), hymn №36, p. 70. We have found this hymn published in A Guide to Instruction in the Israelitsh Religion (Samuel Adler, trans. M. Mayer, Temple Emanu-El, 1864, 4th printing 1868). The hymn, numbered “36” is appended from another unattributed work as it appears in the 1871 Temple Emanu-El hymnal. So, tentatively, we may date this hymn to 1868, although it may likely have been authored earlier, along with the other hymns later attributed in 1871 by Rabbi James K. Gutheim to Felix Adler.

“Dedication-Hymn” is a hymn written by Felix Adler and published in Hymns, for Divine Service in the Temple Emanu-El (1871), hymn №37, p. 71. We have tentatively dated this hymn to 1868, since another hymn by Adler (“School-hymn, no. 36”) can be found appended from another unattributed work in A Guide to Instruction in the Israelitsh Religion (Samuel Adler, trans. M. Mayer, Temple Emanu-El, 1864, 4th printing 1868). That date does match the year that the then new building for Temple Emanu-El’s synagogue was dedicated, 11 September 1868.

This thanksgiving prayer was offered by ḲḲ Shaar haShamayim (a/k/a Bevis Marks, the S&P Synagogue in London) upon the safe return of Sir Moses Montefiore from a trip to Romania on behalf of Romanian Jewry in 1867. The prayer was likely written by Rabbi Dr. Moses Gaster who served as rabbi for Bevis Marks during this period and who had emigrated from Romania.

“Schema Jisrael (Shema Yisrael)” is a hymn written by Moritz Mayer (1821-1867) and posthumously published in Hymns, for Divine Service in the Temple Emanu-El (1871), hymn №33, pp. 66-67. It may have been published earlier in the author’s lifetime. If you know of an earlier source for this hymn, please leave a comment or contact us.

A prayer for Tisha b’Av.

A prayer of a woman struggling with a life-threatening illness or injury.

A prayer of gratitude for a woman who has survived dangerous circumstances.