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On this day, sacred to the memory of George Washington, we gratefully renew our loyalty to our nation, of which he was the foremost founder. | |
We rededicate ourselves to the cause of national freedom, a cause to which he remained steadfast through peril, hardship, treachery, and disaster, until victory was won and the new nation safely launched. | |
God, grant that this day arouse in us the will to make of this nation the best that it can become, to justify the faith which the Founding Fathers reposed in it. | |
May the ample resources with which nature has blessed our country nurture a nation of men and women strong, self-reliant, generous, and free. | |
May the government which its people set up ever protect their liberties, advance their welfare, shield them against disloyalty from within and aggression from without. May it establish just and friendly relations between us and all the other peoples of the world. | |
May the citizens of our country ever live together in mutual trust and good will. May they know the joy of creative labor in farm and in workshop, in studio and laboratory. Be theirs a religious faith free from bigotry and superstition, a piety that cherishes all things good and gracious which glorify the Source of all life. Amen. |
This closing prayer for Washington’s Birthday was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p. 51. I have replaced archaisms in this prayer (thee, thy, thou, etc.) and made other related changes. –Aharon Varady
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“Opening Prayer on the Significance of Washington’s Birthday, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.
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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
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