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“Our little systems have their day; They have their day and cease to be: They are but broken lights of Thee, And Thou, O Lord, art more than they.” —Tennyson.[1] A stanza from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “In Memoriam A.H.H. OBIIT MDCCCXXXIII: [Prelude]” (1850). | |
Changeless One! Undismayed by the passing of aught that is finite is the heart that clingeth to Thee. Cherished customs are waning, beloved institutions are vanishing. Frequently forsaken are our consecrated abodes. Our soul is oft disquieted within us. | |
But, Infinite, Thou dost not vanish and the ways are infinite that lead unto Thee. Thou didst reign “ere paths were trod.” O guide into other paths those who no longer follow the paths of old. | |
Pursue Thy wandering children with Thy love. In the quiet of their dwellings, let Thy sweet spirit reach them. In the tumult of the thoroughfare, let it o’ertake them. Let the consciousness of Thee come upon them at their daily labors, making of our busy marts and mills Horeb pasture grounds, Ophra threshing floors and Teḳoa sycamore groves— the place of toil, the place of revelation and the hour of work, the hour of vision. | |
The raptures of the musician’s strains can be vehicles of Thee. The poet’s measures and the painter’s tints can be messages of Thee. The dear faces of our children can be glimpses of Thy face. The handclasps of loving friendship can be touches of Thy hand. Human voices that gladden can be echoes of Thy voice. The ocean with its freedom and vastness can intimate how free and vast art Thou. The stars that glitter in the pensive night, the hush and blush of blossom perfumed dawn, the pageantry of the sunset, solemn and gorgeous, can be Thy silent pathways to the inmost regions of the soul. | |
We penitently acknowledge that our conventional altars have not always stood undefiled. Their purposes and motives have oft diverged from the highest and the best. But, Lord, our failure is not Thy failure. Thou Thyself mayest yet take the building stones of our dismantled shrines and fashion therefrom a new “pathway of the Lord,” a better “highway for our God.” | |
Forgiveness, forbearance, love are Thy truest Temple. Unto this Temple, may every footstep tend. “Established in the top of the mountains,” let the mountain of this Temple tower. Unto this House of Prayer, let all nations flow, walking in Thy steps, learning of Thy ways, and illumined by Thine ever-growing light. Amen. |
Titled, “The Decline of Religious Observance,” this prayer from Rabbi Abraham Cronbach open’s his collection of prayer, Prayers of the Jewish Advance (1924), on pages 2 through 5.
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Notes
| 1 | A stanza from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “In Memoriam A.H.H. OBIIT MDCCCXXXIII: [Prelude]” (1850). |
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“[Prayer on] the Decline of Religious Observance, by Rabbi Abraham Cronbach (1924)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.
Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)
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