This undated 18th century prayer (before 1756) by an unknown author for “the opening of [a] lodge, etc., and used by Jewish Freemasons” was published in the newspaper article “Old Forms of Lodge Prayers,” The Hebrew Leader (31 December 1889), p. 4. (The Hebrew Leader regularly included news of interest to Jewish member of masonic fraternities.) The provenance of the prayer is offered in the lede: “Appended to a copy of the Constitutions of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of F. and A. Masons, published in 1801, by Bro. D. Longworth, at the Shakespeare Gallery, New York City (kindly loaned to us by R.W. Henry C. Banks), we find a number of forms which at the present day appear unique. These forms are spoken of as having been in use for a long period during the last century; and from them we extract two or three Prayers, one or the other of which it was customary to repeat, according to the religious faith of the members of the lodge’ which had assembled. We give them for the benefit of our readers.” The author of the article also included the following annotation to the prayer:

Appended to this prayer we find the following annotation:—In the preface to the “Mishna” we find this tradition of the Jews explained as follows: “God not only delivered the law to Moses on Mount Sinai, but the explanation of it likewise. When Moses came down from the Mount and entered into his tent, Aaron went to visit him, and Moses acquainted Aaron with the laws he had received from God, together with the explanation of them. After this Aaron placed himself at the right hand of Moses, and Eleazer and Ithamar (the sons of Aaron), were admitted, to whom Moses repeated what he had just before toldto Aaron. These being seated, the one on the right hand the other on the left hand of Moses, the seventy elders of Israel who compose the Sanhedrim came in, and Moses again declared the same laws to them, with the interpretation of them, as he had done before to Aaron and his sons. Lastly, all who pleased of the common people were invited to enter, and Moses instructed them likewise in the same manner as the rest. So that Aaron heard four times what Moses had been taught by God upon Mount Sinai; Eleazer and Ithmar three times, the seventy elders twice, and the people once. Moses afterwards reduced the laws which he had received into writing, but not the explanation of them. These he thought it sufficient to trust to the memories of the above mentioned persons, who, being perfectly instructed in them, delivered them to their children, and these again to theirs, from age to age.”

The source for the prayer in its re-printed form is a 1756 work, Ahiman Rezon: or, a help to a brother; shewing the excellency of secrecy, … Together with Solomon’s temple an oratorio, as it was performed for the benefit of free-masons by Laurence Dermott (1756). Many thanks to Shawn Eyer for this detail. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

Old Forms of Lodge Prayers (The Hebrew Leader, 31 December 1889), p. 4

“Prayer at the Opening of a Masonic Lodge by Jewish Freemasons (before 1756)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Unknown Author(s)

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.

Aharon N. Varady (editing/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.)

Works of related interest:

 

Opening prayer before the Tennessee State Senate by Rabbi Isidor Kalisch on 15 January 1873

Opening prayer at the 250th Anniversary of Jewish Settlement in the United States — by Rabbi Joseph Silverman (1905)

Gebet am Tage vor Neujahr und am Tage vor dem Versöhnungsfeste | Prayer on the day before Rosh haShanah and on the day before Yom Kippur, a teḥinah by Yehoshua

Prayer for Communal Prayer, by the Jewish Religious Union of London (1902)

A prayer for a country poised between demise and rebirth, by Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein (Applied Jewish Spirituality 2023)

Prayer on Behalf of the Whole House of Israel, by the Jewish Religious Union of London (1902)

Invocation for United Jewish Appeal, by Rabbi Morrison David Bial (1962)

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