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O Heavenly Father:
In this hour of trial
for our nation
and for mankind,
when vicious men
seek to promote the arts of war
in remote corners
of this earth’s scarred surface,
we gather here
in our quiet community
to further the arts of peace,
to seek the road
toward lives of greater abundance
and usefulness
for our citizenry.
O, Thou,
who hast been the inspiration of our fathers
in ages past,
when they sought to establish
upon this continent
a nation
conceived in liberty
and dedicated
to the freedom of each individual human being,
guide us
also
aright,
that we be not overawed
by the black countenance of evil,
nor affrighted
by its malignant might.
Our fathers faced greater odds
in their day,
with fewer allies
at their side,
and more meager resources
at their disposal–
yet,
sustained by Thee,
they were not dismayed,
and victory
perched upon their banners.
Aid us,
then,
to preserve our American way of life–
a way
that has been a beacon
and a blessing
to the downtrodden peoples of the earth
that we be not humbled
by forces from without,
nor
in our anxiety to meet their challenge
succumb
to the regimen of the totalitarian outlook,
that would rob us
from within
of the crowning glory of American citizenship:
the independence of the individual
in thought and action.
May it be Thy will
that we continue
to march forward
with courage
and self-confidence
that all men may see
in our free commonwealth,
the handiwork
of Him
who bringeth forth
food
from the earth.
Amen.
Rabbi Abraham Soltes’s “[Prayer before] the Chamber of Commerce & Civics [of the Oranges and Maplewood, New Jersey]” was first offered on November 30, 1950. The prayer was published in his collection of prayers, תפלה Invocation: A Sheaf Of Prayers (1959).
Source(s)
“[Prayer before] the Chamber of Commerce and Civics [of the Oranges & Maplewood, New Jersey], a Cold War prayer by Rabbi Avraham Samuel Soltes (1950)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.
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 naqeniשְׁגִיאוֹת 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.)
Avraham Samuel Soltes
Rabbi Avraham Soltes (1917-1983) was a Reform Jewish rabbi, the Jewish chaplain at the United States Military Academy in West Point, an author and a leading figure in Jewish cultural affairs. He was born in New York City. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1937 and received a master's degree from Columbia University in 1938. After being ordained in 1942 by the Jewish Institute of Religion (now HUC-JIR), he served as chaplain at Cornell and McGill Universities and then was assistant rabbi at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan from 1946 to 1949. He subsequently served as rabbi at Temple Sharey Tefilo in East Orange and Temple Emanuel in Great Neck. He began his service at West Point as a voluntary chaplain in 1963 and was made a permanent member of the staff in 1981. His interests also took him into commerce, and from 1969 to 1974, he was vice president for community affairs of the Glen Alden Corporation, which in 1972 was merged into the Rapid America Corporation. From 1974 to 1977, he was assistant to the president of Tel Aviv University. He was credited with a key role in the establishment of the New York medical division at the university. In 1981, Rabbi Soltes received the Jabotinsky Award from Prime Minister Menachim Begin for his service to Israel. From 1977 until his death Rabbi Soltes had been the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Chavairuth of Bergen County, in Tenafly, N.J. He participated in many cultural and educational activities that interpreted Jewish art, music and literature. He was chairman of the National Jewish Music Council from 1963 to 1969 and a member of the board of the National Jewish Book Council from 1967 to 1972. Rabbi Soltes, a commentator on Jewish music for American listeners, was the host of a radio program, ''The Music of Israel,'' on WQXR from 1974-1983. Among his writings were Palestine in Poetry and Song of the Jewish Diaspora (Master's thesis HUC-JIR 1942) and Off The Willows: The Rebirth of Modern Jewish Music (1970).
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