Prayer at the Dedication of the Home for the Aged and Infirm by the I.O.B.B. District Grand Lodge №1 by Rabbi Henry Samuel Jacobs (28 June 1882)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Henry Samuel Jacobs

Shared on:

25 December 2025 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

Congregation & Community, Homes & Community Centers

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Prayers of Freemasons

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Almighty God! Thou who art the universal Father, Thou didst form man in Thine image and didst endow him with instincts and sentiments of love and benevolence. We are here assembled this day for a holy and blessed purpose, of dedicating and inaugurating a work full of that love and benevolence by which under Your command and Your blessing we hope to establish on a firm and sure basis a Home for the Aged and the Infirm and the Distressed.
	Father, we appeal to Thee to sanctify our efforts in this direction, to bless our endeavors with fruition and good success, to grant that the undertaking may be under Thy smile, that those who are to be the in-dwellers be favored by Thy love and kindness, that Thy mercy will radiate here and extend far and wide over not merely those who come for shelter within these walls, but for all those who have incepted and who are the supporters of this holy undertaking.
	Oh God! All our efforts are under Thy care and direction. We beseech Thee then to grant that this Home may have the light of Thy countenance dispensed unto it. We ask Thee to bless the undertaking, to bless the work itself, to bless all those who are partakers of its bounty and those whose intelligence and goodness, benevolence and brotherly love have induced them to establish this great and noble undertaking. In our works we look up to Thee and we depend upon Thy wisdom. So we entreat Thee that wisdom may predominate as a leading feature in the government and management of the Home, that Thou will inspire the hearts of the governors and directors with wisdom, that they may be able to devise the highest and best means for the maintenance and protection of this building, a temple raised unto Thy worship and Thy glory; because it is a Temple of Humanity, of Benevolence and Brotherly Love. Give strength unto this structure. Let it be the strength that brings virtue, union and unity of sentiment; the strength that comes from paternal love, forbearance and charity.
	Grant that all who are Children of the Covenant realize the high and important duty, unite and band together in the covenant of benevolence to do this grand work which is the work of the B’nai B’rith. [As] Children of the Covenant, under Thy care, we always realize that we are brethren, the high and the low, the educated and the ignorant, the rich and the poor, banded together in ties of love and duty and responsibility. May we work then to promote the strength of the Order, the strength of its purposes, the strength of its existence, of the aim and object of that which is for moral, intellectual and spiritual advancement; and as the work so far has been established in beauty, may the beauty of truth and light, and all those admirable traits by which humanity is blessed, sanctify it in their fullest capacity.
	Grant that Thy favor may be in the future as in the present upon all the undertakings, all the councils, all the obligations connected with the work of the Order, and this which is the purest exemplification of the objects of the Order.
	Grant that Thou wilt bless all who are here assembled, all whose hearts are in this duty. Grant that Thy light and Thy truth may here be manifested in the holiest manner.
	May there be peace within our councils, peace within our brotherhood, and peace within our Order.
	And now may the splendor of the Lord our God be evidenced; may the works of our hands here be well and fitly and firmly established.^[1] Cf. Psalms 90:17 Do Thou firmly and faithfully establish the work of our hands in love and benevolence and in mutual duty, in union and peace. Thou, Oh Lord, the Father of all flesh, Forever and Ever.

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.

Source(s)

Prayer of Henry S. Jacobs at the Proceedings of the Opening of the Home for the Infirm and Aged (28 June 1882) – 1

Prayer of Henry S. Jacobs at the Proceedings of the Opening of the Home for the Infirm and Aged (28 June 1882) – 2

Notes

Notes
1	Cf. Psalms 90:17

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.)

Henry Samuel Jacobs

Rabbi Henry Samuel Jacobs (1827–1893), born in Kingston, Jamaica, was an early Conservative movement rabbi whose career spanned the Caribbean, the North American South, and New York City. He studied for the rabbinate in Kingston, first under Moses N. Nathan and then under Dr. Stern and Morenu Stenklar. In 1846, he was elected master of the school attached to the German congregation in Kingston. When he was 21, he became rabbi of the Neveh Shalom Congregation in Spanish Town. He later became rabbi of the Shaare Shalom Synagogue in Kingston. In 1854, he immigrated to America and initially settled in New York City. A month later, he was elected rabbi of Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Shalome in Richmond, Virginia. Shortly after arriving in Richmond, he became principal of the Hebrew English Academy. In 1857, he became rabbi of Shearith Israel in Charleston, South Carolina where he served until 1862. When Charleston was attacked in the Battle of Secessionville during the American Civil War, Shearith Israel's congregation dispersed and Jacobs, following advice from the board of trustees, joined many of his congregants in Columbia. When Columbia was burned in February 1865, he lost his earthly possessions and left for Augusta, Georgia and stayed there for a year. After the Civil War, Shearith Israel was heavily damaged and the remaining congregants were too poor to afford repairing the building or continue holding services, leading Jacobs to resign in 1866. At the time, he was also rabbi of Bnai Israel in Augusta, and to this pulpit he added the Nefutzot Yehudah (Portuguese) Synagogue in New Orleans, Louisiana. In New Orleans, he became president and superintendent of the city's first Hebrew Education Society. A member of the Freemasons, he served as Chair of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana. He resigned from the Portuguese Synagogue in 1874 due to a disagreement with the community, and shortly afterwards he was elected rabbi of Shangarai Chasset. A few months later, he was elected rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York City. When his two-year contract was almost expired, he asked for it to be cancelled. In 1876, he was named rabbi of B'nai Jeshurun. He served as rabbi there for the rest of his life. He was the first president of the Board of Jewish Ministers of New York, an office he held until he died, and served as vice-president of the New York branch of the Alliance Israélite Universelle. In 1890, New York University gave him an honorary D.D. degree, the first time a rabbi received such a degree from them.

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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)