Opening Prayer on the Significance of Labor Day, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Eugene Kohn, John Paul Williams and Mordecai Kaplan

Shared on:

11 April 2021 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

International Workers' Day (May 1st), Labor Day (1st Monday of September)

Tags:

English vernacular prayer, civic prayers, American Jewry of the United States, capitalism, the invisible hand, 20th century C.E., ecumenical prayers, 58th century A.M.

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Our God and Creator: On this day we consecrate to you the labor of muscle and mind. We thank you for the gifts of life and for the wherewithal to sustain it. Yours is the earth and all it holds,^[1] Cf. Psalms 24:1. and you have unlocked its resources for the service of humanity. Yours is the energy pent in the seed, and yours is the strength and skill of humanity, whereby they cause the fields to yield to them food in abundance.
	When men and women bring forth that which satisfies their needs, it is you who instruct them. When they exchange with one another what they can best do and make, it is you who guides them. You desire that all people have at their disposal what each most needs for health and comfort and for the full use of the gifts wherewith you have endowed them.
	Bless our toil, O God, that no one in this land of ours or in any other land need ever lack bread to eat, or raiment to wear, the shelter of a home, or whatever else he may require for health of body and mind.
	Restrain our hungers from becoming extravagant, and hold back our desires from exceeding the bounds of reason and justice.
	Withhold us from selling our labor to the service of greed and of hate, and give us the wisdom and courage to devote it to your service, to banish poverty, disease, and war, and to establish your rule of freedom, brotherhood, and peace. Amen.

“Opening Prayer on the Significance of [Labor] Day” was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p.165. It is unclear from this publication whether the prayer was written by Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, or Eugene Kohn separately or together in collaboration. I have replaced archaisms in this prayer (thee, thy, thou, etc.) and made other changes to make this prayer more gender-neutral (e.g. by replacing ‘man’ with ‘humanity.’) –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

Notes[+]

Notes
1	Cf. Psalms 24:1.

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“Opening Prayer on the Significance of Labor Day, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Eugene Kohn

Eugene Kohn (January 26, 1887 - April 1, 1977) was an American Reconstructionist rabbi, writer and editor. Born in Newark, New Jersey he attended the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and in 1912 received ordination. It was here that he met Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan who taught him homiletics. Between 1912 and 1939 he served as a congregational rabbi in Conservative synagogues in the U.S. states of Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Wisconsin and Ohio. He also served as the president of the Rabbinical Assembly 1936-1937. He played a central role in the Reconstructionist movement. He edited its journal The Reconstructionist and, alongside Kaplan and Ira Eisenstein, edited The New Haggadah (1941), The Sabbath Prayer Book (1945) and The Reconstructionist Prayer Book (1948). Alongside Jack Cohen, Eisenstein and Milton Steinberg he was one of Kaplan's main disciples.

John Paul Williams

Dr. John Paul Williams (1900-1973) was chairman of the department of religion at Mount Holyoke College. In 1946, he served as president of the National Association of Biblical Instructors (now known as the American Academy of Religion). He wrote What Americans Believe and How They Worship (1952, revised 1962) containing the chapter "Judaism -- the Mother Institution." Together with Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan and Eugene Kohn he co-authored the anthology of civic prayers, Faith in America (1951).

Mordecai Kaplan

Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (June 11, 1881 – November 8, 1983), was a rabbi, essayist and Jewish educator and the co-founder of Reconstructionist Judaism along with his son-in-law Ira Eisenstein.

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Two girls at the Labor Day parade wearing ILGWU union label dresses (Kheel Center 1960, CC BY)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17