Prayer for Peace, a paraliturgical adaptation of Sim Shalom in the Union Prayer Book, revised edition (CCAR 1918)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Abraham Cronbach and Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

Shared on:

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

Categories:

Social Justice, Peace, and Liberty, Weekday Amidah

Tags:

American Jewry of the United States, עמידה amidah, English vernacular prayer, interwar period, Jewish pacifism, paraliturgical sim shalom, שים שלום sim shalom

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Source (English)

Grant us peace, Thy most precious gift,
O Thou eternal source of peace,
and enable Israel to be a messenger of peace
unto the peoples of the earth.
Bless our country
that it may ever be a stronghold of peace,
Bless our country
that it may ever be a stronghold of peace,
and the advocate of peace in the council of nations.
May contentment reign within its borders,
health and happiness within its homes.
Strengthen the bonds of friendship and fellowship
between all the inhabitants of our land.
Plant virtue in every soul,
and may the love of Thy name
hallow every home
and every heart.
Praise be to Thee, Giver of peace.

This blessing, entitled “Prayer for Peace,” was first published in The Union Prayerbook for Jewish Worship, revised edition, part Ⅰ (CCAR, 1918) on page 110. The blessing is the concluding prayer of the weekday and festival Amidah. Here, in this adapted formulation in English, it is combined with a blessing for “our country” (the United States of America). Rabbi Abraham Cronbach includes the prayer in The Jewish Peace Book for Home and School (1932) under “Section III: Peace Devotions for Jewish Use — Prayers for Peace” on page 100. We are not certain whether Rabbi Cronbach authored this prayer, although it is suggested by its inclusion here.

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Notes

Notes
1	The Union Prayerbook for Jewish Worship, revised edition, part Ⅱ (1922) has “councils of nations”. Abraham Cronbach, in The Jewish Peace Book (1932) has “and its advocate in the council of nations.”

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.)

Abraham Cronbach

Abraham Cronbach (February 15, 1882 – April 2, 1965) was a Reform movement rabbi in the United States, a teacher, and a leader and activist for Jewish pacifism. He served as a rabbi for congregations in Indiana, Ohio, and New York. Cronbach was one of the founders of the Peace Heroes Memorial Society and a co-founder of the Jewish Peace Fellowship.

Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada.

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Associated Image:

Jane Addams and other delegates en route to the International Congress of Women Jane Addams (second from left, behind the letter P), with other American peace delegates, on the deck of a ship heading to the International Congress of Women held at The Hague in 1915.

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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)

Prayer for Peace, a paraliturgical adaptation of Sim Shalom in the Union Prayer Book, revised edition (CCAR 1918)

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