God’s Goodness — the Testament of Man, a prayer for Thanksgiving Day by Rabbi Milton Steinberg (1945)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Milton Steinberg

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28 May 2019 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November)

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American Jewry of the United States, בני אדם bnei adam, 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer

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Hebrew	English
	God’s Goodness — the Testament of Man
	Your goodness is inscribed in the Testament of Man, in the powers of his body, the skill of his hand, in his capacity to think, to feel, to aspire, in his ability to communicate with his fellows, in his will to labor cooperatively at their side. Aye, it is written large and bold in the nobility of man’s spirit.
	This is a sign of the goodness of God, that there are men ready to surrender their comfort and their happiness out of love for their fellows, pity for the suffering and devotion to high ideals.
	This is a sign of the goodness of God, that, hungering insatiably after truth, they will sacrifice themselves to attain it, and possessing it, defend it with their lives.
	This is a sign of the goodness of God, that they will be free, and, being free, will not rest until freedom be the lot of all men.
	This is a sign of the goodness of God, that, though they might be at ease in the world as it is, they labor steadfastly to convert it into what it ought be.
	Wherefore with the psalmist we speak our grateful praise to you.
יְהוָ֤ה אֲדֹנֵ֗ינוּ מָֽה־אַדִּ֣יר שִׁ֭מְךָ בְּכָל־הָאָ֑רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר תְּנָ֥ה ה֝וֹדְךָ֗ עַל־הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ (תהלים ח:ב) כִּֽי־אֶרְאֶ֣ה שָׁ֭מֶיךָ מַעֲשֵׂ֣י אֶצְבְּעֹתֶ֑יךָ יָרֵ֥חַ וְ֝כוֹכָבִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֣ר כּוֹנָֽנְתָּה׃ (תהלים ח:ד)	O YHVH, our Lord, How glorious is your name in all the earth, Whose majesty is sung above the heavens!^[1] Psalms 8:2. When I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers, The moon and the stars, which you have established;^[2] Psalms 8:4.
מָֽה־אֱנ֥וֹשׁ כִּֽי־תִזְכְּרֶ֑נּוּ וּבֶן־אָ֝דָ֗ם כִּ֣י תִפְקְדֶֽנּוּ׃ (תהלים ח:ה)	What is man, that you should be mindful of him, Mortal man, that you should think of him?^[3] Psalms 8:5.
וַתְּחַסְּרֵ֣הוּ מְּ֭עַט מֵאֱלֹהִ֑ים וְכָב֖וֹד וְהָדָ֣ר תְּעַטְּרֵֽהוּ׃ (תהלים ח:ו)	Yet you have made him but little less than divine, And have crowned him with glory and honor.^[4] Psalms 8:6.
תַּ֭מְשִׁילֵהוּ בְּמַעֲשֵׂ֣י יָדֶ֑יךָ כֹּ֝ל שַׁ֣תָּה תַֽחַת־רַגְלָֽיו׃ (תהלים ח:ז)	You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; You have put all things under his feet:^[5] Psalms 8:7.
צֹנֶ֣ה וַאֲלָפִ֣ים כֻּלָּ֑ם וְ֝גַ֗ם בַּהֲמ֥וֹת שָׂדָֽי׃ (תהלים ח:ח)	Sheep and oxen, all of them, Yea, and the beasts of the field,^[6] Psalms 8:8.
צִפּ֣וֹר שָׁ֭מַיִם וּדְגֵ֣י הַיָּ֑ם עֹ֝בֵ֗ר אָרְח֥וֹת יַמִּֽים׃ (תהלים ח:ט)	Birds of the air, and fish of the sea, Whatsoever passes through the paths of the seas.^[7] Psalms 8:9.
יְהוָ֥ה אֲדֹנֵ֑ינוּ מָֽה־אַדִּ֥יר שִׁ֝מְךָ֗ בְּכָל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃ (תהלים ח:י)	O YHVH, our Lord, How glorious is your name in all the earth!^[8] Psalms 8:10.

“God’s Goodness — the Testament of Man” by Rabbi Milton Steinberg appears on pages 556-557 of The Sabbath Prayer Book (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945) as part of a service for Thanksgiving Day. It is the last of four “testaments,” the other three being the testament of Nature, Israel, and America respectively. I have supplied the Hebrew verses corresponding to the vernacular English text provided by Rabbi Steinberg. I have replaced “Lord” with YHVH as the signifier for the Tetragrammaton, replaced anglicizations, and removed archaisms. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

Notes[+]

Notes
1	Psalms 8:2.
2	Psalms 8:4.
3	Psalms 8:5.
4	Psalms 8:6.
5	Psalms 8:7.
6	Psalms 8:8.
7	Psalms 8:9.
8	Psalms 8:10.

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“God’s Goodness — the Testament of Man, a prayer for Thanksgiving Day by Rabbi Milton Steinberg (1945)” 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.)

Milton Steinberg

Milton Steinberg (November 25, 1903 – March 20, 1950) was an American rabbi, philosopher, theologian and author. Born in Rochester, New York, he was raised with the combination of his grandparents' traditional Jewish piety and his father's modernist socialism. He graduated as valedictorian of his class at DeWitt Clinton High School and then majored in Classics at City College of New York which he graduated from summa cum laude in 1924. Steinberg received his doctorate in philosophy from Columbia University in 1928 and then entered the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he was ordained. In seminary, he was strongly influenced by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983), the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism. After five years in a pulpit in Indiana, he was invited by the Seminary to assume the pulpit of Manhattan's Park Avenue Synagogue, then a small congregation with a Reform orientation. In his sixteen years at the congregation, he grew it from 120 to 750 families. In 1943 he had a near fatal heart attack. While a disciple of Kaplan who considered himself a Reconstructionist, Steinberg was critical of Kaplan's dismissal of metaphysics. Steinberg's works included Basic Judaism, The Making of the Modern Jew, A Partisan Guide to the Jewish Problem, and As A Driven Leaf, a historical novel revolving around the talmudic characters Elisha ben Abuyah and Rabbi Akiva. In his final years, he began writing a series of theological essays. This project, which he had hoped would conclude in a book of theology, was cut short by his death at age 46. An unfinished second novel, The Prophet's Wife, about the Tanakh characters Hosea and Gomer, was published in March 2010. (via his entry in Wikipedia)

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Local 174 Mural, Untitled (1937) by Walter Speck and Barbara Wilson

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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