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O Lord of Limb and Spirit:
As we gather together
at this harvest season,
when we reap
the fruits of our planting,
we are grateful to Thee
for having cast our lot
in this wonderful land,
whose soil
and skies
bespeak Thy bounty.
We are grateful to Thee,
also,
O Father,
for the gift
of liberty,
which our fathers
have bestowed upon us,
declaring
that all men are created equal,
and endowed
with inalienable rights.
We are happy,
as well,
O God,
that
in this gracious land,
we are blessed with democracy
not in our politics alone
but in our play.
We are grateful
for the American tradition
of sport,
in which
men
and boys
of every race,
creed
and nationality,
participate equally
in Thy sight,
O God,
and
in the sight of their fellow men.
In the field of sport,
each
is judged for himself,
by the way
he plays the game,
rather
than by the color of his skin
or the words of his prayers.
Doctor and policeman,
laborer and salesman,
share equally
in the enjoyment of our national
pastime,
and thrill
to its yearly call.
May we ever,
O God,
through the continuous inspiration
of such fellowship as this
bring men and boys together–
that the spirit of sportsmanship
may continue to beat
as the heart of America,
and the character of our democracy
be thereby enriched and sustained.
Amen.
Rabbi Abraham Soltes’s “[Prayer for] Little League]” is a prayer published in his collection of prayers, תפלה Invocation: A Sheaf Of Prayers (Bloch 1959). The earliest prayer in that collection dates to 1950 and we are confident this prayer can be dated between that year and the date of publication.
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).
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.)
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![[Prayer for the] Dedication of a Medical Research Clinic, by Rabbi Avraham Samuel Soltes (ca. 1950s)](https://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/bh-newark-beth-israel-1cf11c0jpg-f34bb6ebfaadf268.jpg)
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