Invocation by Rabbi Samuel Sale at the Democratic National Convention (9 July 1904)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Samuel Sale

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30 November 2025 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

🇺🇸 United States of America, Elections & Voting

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Democratic National Convention 1904, Democratic National Conventions, economic distress, English vernacular prayer

The delegates and spectators at once arose to their feet, and stood during the invocation. There was no trouble in securing order for the long delay had wearied the delegates and they seemed anxious, for action. Rabbi Sale, of the Shaare Emeth congregation (Gates of Truth) of St. Louis, offered the following invocation: [….] At the conclusion of the prayer an announcement was made, at the order of Chairman Clark, that he was determined to have order “and that any person raising a row would be taken out by the police.”

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Oh Merciful and Most Gracious Father,
we seek Thy presence in this vast assembly of Thy people,
and humbly we ask Thy guidance
in the counsels of the leaders of Thy people.
Thou rulest in the destinies of nations.
Thou are enthroned in the hearts of Thy worshippers,
and we serve Thee best whose lives are devoted
to the cause of the just, the right and the true;
who give ourselves consciously in Thy name
to the cause of liberty and justice.

Oh, do Thou inspire, those who are gathered here
that they may deliberate with each other
in the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
in the spirit of knowledge
and in the spirit of counsel,
so that through their councils
our people may go from strength to strength,
and our land may remain what Thou has destined it to be,
the foundation of human right and human liberty.

This opening prayer at the 1904 Democratic National Convention was offered by Rabbi Samuel Sale as found published in “Eloquent Voice Names Parker,” The News and Observer (9 July 1904), page 1, cols. 2-3. Many thanks to Howard Mortman for locating and informing us of this prayer.

Source(s)

Invocation of Rabbi Sale at the Democratic National Convention (Samuel Sale, 9 July 1904)

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.)

Samuel Sale

Rabbi Samuel Sale (1854-1937), born in St. Louis, was a prominent Reform movement rabbi in the United States. He served Congregation Shaare Emeth, St. Louis, Missouri from 1887-1919, and was elected as the vice-president of CCAR.

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Opening session, Democratic National Convention, 1904, St. Louis, Missouri LCCN2007663555

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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 Samuel Sale at the Democratic National Convention (9 July 1904)

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