[Prayer for] 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (CCAR 1951)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown and Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

Shared on:

3 April 2026 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November)

Tags:

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

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	(Before the Meal)
	O Lord of the Universe and Protector of all mankind, from Thee come all our blessings from day to day and from year to year. How great is Thy loving-kindness, O God. The sheltering mountains and the shaded forests, the abundant streams and the fruitful earth tell of Thy bountiful goodness.
	In this land of ours so richly blessed by Thee, we raise our voice in joyous thanks. To these shores Thy children have come from many climes seeking liberty and a new hope in life. All have been pilgrims to this western world. Here they found renewed purpose, increased strength and the opportunity to outgrow old fears and suspicions.
	For America, for the freedom of its laws, the richness of its natural blessing and the growing comradeship of its citizens, we praise Thee, O God, in humble Thanksgiving. O, continue Thy lovingkindness to our beloved country. As Thou hast blessed it in the past, so renew Thy bounty in the years to come.
	“America, America, God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.”^[1] From “America, the Beautiful” (1895), the patriotic hymn by Katharine Lee Bates.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַמוֹצִיא לֶֽחֶם מִן הָאֲרֶץ׃	Praised be Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who causest the earth to yield food for all.

“[Prayer for] Thanksgiving Day” is found in the “Family Worship” section of the Union Home Prayer Book (CCAR 1951), pp. 29-30. Unfortunately, as with so many of the prayers published as a result of CCAR committees from this period and earlier, we cannot yet attribute this prayer to any known author. (If you know, please leave a comment or contact us.)

Source(s)

Notes

Notes
1	From “America, the Beautiful” (1895), the patriotic hymn by Katharine Lee Bates.

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.)

Unknown

Sometimes the best we can do in attributing a historical work is to indicate the period and place it was written, the first prayer book it may have been printed in, or the archival collection in which the manuscript was found. We invite the public to help to attribute all works to their original composers. If you know something not mentioned in the commentary offered, please leave a comment or contact us.

Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada.

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=66944

Associated Image:

The children’s table at the Crouch family Thanksgiving Day dinner. Ledyard, Connecticut

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "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)

[Prayer for] 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (CCAR 1951)

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