Invocation by Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver at the Republican National Convention (9 July 1952)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Abba Hillel Silver

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

Categories:

🇺🇸 United States of America, Elections & Voting

Tags:

20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Republican National Convention 1952, Republican National Conventions

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Our kind Father in Heaven, we invoke Thy blessing upon the men and women who are gathered here who have been delegated to voice the hopes and needs of millions of their fellow citizens whom they represent and to take counsel together in behalf of our beloved country, its democratic institutions and concerning the many grave problems which beset our people and our world.
	May Thy spirit rest upon them in their deliberations, the spirit of wisdom and understanding. Conscious of their great responsibilities, may they perform their tasks faithfully, in truth, in courage and in loyalty. In the heat and turmoil of the hour may the vision of the larger issues and the paramount national purposes not fail them; for without vision a people perishes.
	Our God and God of our fathers out of thine open hand bountiful favors have come to us, material and spiritual blessings without number and the manifold gifts of civil, political and religious liberty. We are not so self-righteous as to assume, that these bounties have been bestowed upon us because of our exceptional merit and virtues and not because of thine overflowing grace.^[1] Cf. The prayer ribono kol ha-olamim after the birkhot ha-shaḥar. All that we have we owe to Thee and unto Thee alone shall our hearts bow in humility and thanksgiving.
	We pray that thy loving hand may never be withdrawn from us and that we may prove ourselves worthy of thine abundant goodness. Help us zealously to guard and reverently to pass on to our children the spiritual and political heritage of their forebears unimpaired and undefiled.
	Help us, oh God, to keep our hearts free from fear and hate, from intolerance and bigotry and from loss of faith in human equality and brotherhood. Help us to keep our minds unshackled in the quest of truth, our speech free and responsible, our institutions strong and uncorrupted and our cherished way of life inviolate.
	Father of nations, the generations of men come and go before Thee. Unto each dost thou assign its special task and mission. In thine unfathomable plan thou hast summoned this nation to world, leadership in an age dark with confusion, beset with dangers and yet alive and tense with the stirrings of great new beginnings. Make us worthy and willing instruments of thy divine purposes. Use us for the healing of nations, oh, thou ruler of all nations. Use us for justice, for freedom, for unity and for peace. Help us to move resolutely and unafraid into the searching days which lie ahead; relying upon Thee, and upon the unseen power behind all visible might and drawing our inspiration from our own prophetic task, from the imperishable movements in our history when we were tried as a people, tried and tested in crisis and battle and were not found wanting.
	Guide us into a glad acceptance of our growing responsibilities as we assume leadership in the fellowship of the nations of the world, accepting no permanent divisions among them and giving no credence to any irrepressible conflicts.
	Bless the United Nations, and all those who seek peace and pursue it. Gird us with that faith which will inspire us to seek opportunities for unity with other peoples in the building of the good society, the gracious commonwealth of humanity when each man shall dwell under his vine and under his fig tree and none shall make him afraid.^[2] Find Micah 4:4, 1 Kings 4:25, and Zechariah 3:10
	Bless the government of the United States of America and all those into whose hands are entrusted the safety of our institutions and the well-being of our people.
	Bless America and all who love her, and labor [upon] her behalf in mine and field and factory and office, in places of learning, of research, of art and of healing. Make us who are the fortunate heirs of a great past the dedicated builders of a greater future for ourselves and for mankind.

This is the full invocation offered by Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver at the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, on 9 July 1952, as reported in an otherwise unidentified newspaper clipping titled, “Prayer for Guidance: Rabbi Silver Asks Blessing on Throng.” An abridged form of this prayer was published in the Jewish Independent, on Friday 11 July 1952. The clipping is preserved in the records of Abba Hillel Silver at the American Jewish Archives. Many thanks to Howard Mortman for informing us of this prayer.

Source(s)

Prayer for Guidance – RNC 1952 (Abba Hillel Silver, 9 July 1952)

Notes

Notes
1	Cf. The prayer ribono kol ha-olamim after the birkhot ha-shaḥar.
2	Find Micah 4:4, 1 Kings 4:25, and Zechariah 3:10

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.)

Abba Hillel Silver

Born Abraham Silver in Naumiestis, in the Suwałki Governorate of Congress Poland, a part of the Russian Empire (present-day Lithuania), Abba Hillel Silver (January 28, 1893 – November 28, 1963) was an American Rabbi and Zionist leader. He was a key figure in the mobilization of American support for the founding of the State of Israel. In 1917, at age twenty-four, he became rabbi of The Temple in Cleveland, Ohio, one of the nation's largest and best-known Reform congregations, where he served for forty-six years. Abba Hillel Silver was an early champion of rights for labor, for worker's compensation and civil liberties, though his highest priorities were to advance respect for and support of Zionism. Silver was a keynote speaker in the Allied Jewish Campaign to raise funds jointly for Zionist projects in Palestine and for European Jewry. Silver was one of the chief Zionist spokesmen appearing before the United Nations in the Palestine hearings of 2 October 1947. (from Wikipedia)

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1952 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois

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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)

Invocation by Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver at the Republican National Convention (9 July 1952)

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