Invocation by Rabbi Joseph Stolz at the Republican National Convention (19 June 1912)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Joseph Stolz

Shared on:

7 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., 57th century A.M., economic distress, English vernacular prayer, Republican National Convention 1912, Republican National Conventions

From, “Republican National Convention” in The Reform Advocate (22 June 1912), reporting on the invocation offered on the second day of the convention at the Chicago Coliseum in Chicago, Illinois on 19 June 1912.

Dr. Joseph Stolz served as Chaplain of the Republican National Convention on the second day and delivered the following Invocation:
The great throng of 14,000 persons in the Coliseum stood with bared heads to-day while Rabbi Joseph Stolz, D.D., Isaiah Temple, delivered the following prayer at the opening of the republican national convention’s second day:

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	O Lord, who art the loving Father of all mankind, the just Ruler of the nations, the everlasting God whose counsel of righteousness and truth prevaileth over the waves of passion and the tumult of voices, we bless Thee that Thou hath set our nation high among the peoples of the earth and hath been our strength in every conflict, our present help in every time of need.
	In Thy bounty Thou has given us this land flowing with milk and honey;^[1] The phrase אֶ֛רֶץ זָבַ֥ת חָלָ֖ב וּדְבָֽשׁ (a land flowing with goat-milk and date honey) appears at least 19 times in the TaNaKh in reference to the land of Israel. A staple of early Reform movement thought in the United States reframed this vision as the bounty offered to Jews (and the wider populace) through its constitutionally guaranteed religious liberty, democratic processes, and legal framework. and in Thy gracious providence Thou hast destined it to become the promised land of liberty and equality, the home of the free, the refuge of the oppressed the goal of the strong and the aspiring, who would share our inheritance of law and order.
	And we praise Thee for the multitude who have found blessing within our borders; we thank Thee for every beneficient institution established within our domain, for what of justice has become the common law of the land, for our goodly heritage of tolerance and peace.
	And we beseech Thee, Lord of Hosts, be with us, as Thou hast been with our fathers. Help us to prove ourselves worthy of Thy blessing. Make us mindful of our duties as well as our rights, our responsibilities as well as our privileges. Grant us the insight that a people perisheth where there is no vision and the understanding that a great nation maketh its rulers [righteous]^[2] We have made a light edit here for clarity. As published, the line here reads, “…and the understanding that a great nation maketh its rulers. Righteousness and its officers peace, seeketh, leaders…” In other words, great nations raise righteous rulers and peace seeking officers. and its officers peace, seeketh, leaders who despise the gain of oppression and withhold their hands from bribes, maketh chief those whose glory it is to serve mankind by justice, fidelity and truth.
	Bestow upon the delegates assembled the spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might, that they decide in justice and equity and not after the sight of their eyes or the hearing of their ears, and that they guide themselves by the truth that righteousness exalteth a nation and injustice is a reproach to any people.
	And so may Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done on earth. Amen!

Many thanks to Howard Mortman for locating and informing us of this prayer.

Source(s)

Republican National Convention – Prayer of Rabbi Joseph Stolz (22 June 1912)

Notes

Notes
1	The phrase אֶ֛רֶץ זָבַ֥ת חָלָ֖ב וּדְבָֽשׁ (a land flowing with goat-milk and date honey) appears at least 19 times in the TaNaKh in reference to the land of Israel. A staple of early Reform movement thought in the United States reframed this vision as the bounty offered to Jews (and the wider populace) through its constitutionally guaranteed religious liberty, democratic processes, and legal framework.
2	We have made a light edit here for clarity. As published, the line here reads, “…and the understanding that a great nation maketh its rulers. Righteousness and its officers peace, seeketh, leaders…” In other words, great nations raise righteous rulers and peace seeking officers.

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.)

Joseph Stolz

Rabbi Joseph Stolz (1861–1941), born in Syracuse, New York, was an Reform movement rabbi in the United States. He was part of the first graduating class of Hebrew Union College, graduating in 1884. He received a D.D. from Hebrew Union College in 1890, and in 1931 he received an honorary D.H.L. degree from there. Following his ordination, he worked as rabbi in B'nai Israel Temple in Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1884 to 1887. He then assisted Bernhard Felsenthal at Zion Temple in Chicago, Illinois, from 1887 to 1895. In 1895, when Chicago Jews were moving to the South Side, he was elected rabbi of Isaiah Temple. He served as rabbi there until 1929, when he retired and became rabbi emeritus. Concerned that Reform Judaism was closing itself off from middle-class Jews, he introduced a Sunday service in 1887 and believed that the synagogue, the Jewish community's cornerstone, should be a democratic institution. Active in Chicago civic affairs, Stolz served on the Chicago Board of Education from 1899 to 1905 and on the Chicago Crime Commission from 1910 until his death. He served as president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis from 1905 to 1907, after which he served on its executive committee. He was also an executive committee member of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the American Jewish Committee, and served on the publication committee of the Jewish Publication Society of America. In 1897, he wrote Funeral Agenda of Jews. He was president of the Chicago Rabbinical Association from 1920 to 1925 and of the Chicago Federation of Synagogues.

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Associated Image:

Photo taken at the 1912 Republican National Convention held at the Chicago Coliseum, Chicago, Illinois, June 18-22. part of the George Grantham Bain [News Service] Collection (Library of Congress).

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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 Joseph Stolz at the Republican National Convention (19 June 1912)

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