Prayer after the Earthquake in Guadeloupe, by Rabbi Isaac Lopez (Jamaica, 1843)

Contributor(s): Moses N. Nathan (translation), Isaac Lopez and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut)

Shared on: 24 July 2024 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Tags: 1843 Guadeloupe earthquake, 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Jamaica, Spanish-Portuguese, Western Sepharadim

This is a “Prayer Composed by The Revd. Isaac Lopez, Returning Thanks for our deliverance from the Calamaties [sic] that have befallen our Sister Colonies, for Monday, the 13th of March, 1843.” A prayer of repentance and thanksgiving recited at the Shaare Shalom synagogue in Kingston, Jamaica, it was offered in response to the massive Guadeloupe earthquake of 1843. According to the manuscript in which it is found — it was written by the Revd. Isaac Lopez, and translated into English by the Revd. Moses N. Nathan. What is unclear is what language it was translated *from.*

The notes in the NLI database suggest it was translated from Portuguese, but the manuscript in which it is found has no actual Portuguese text — it was misidentified in the NLI Database as Portuguese but everything not written in English or Hebrew is in Spanish. So perhaps it was in Spanish, only that wasn’t the spoken language of the Jews of Jamaica. Maybe it was written in Hebrew. In any case the original text is, to the best of my knowledge, lost.

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Source (lost)	Translation (English)
	Sovereign of the World! Lord of mercy and pardon! Thou who knowest the thoughts and probest the hearts of Thy creatures, and from whose gaze nothing can be concealed — we acknowledge, O Eternal our God, that we are stiff-necked and presumptuous, that we are deficient in good works, and that our manifold transgressions have sundered us from Thee. For the heinousness of our sins hast Thou made the earth to tremble, to heave, and cleave asunder.
	O God, in Thy abundant mercy, be Thou our help: Thou hast shewn us Thy mighty and tremendous hand, but hast hitherto spared us from the terrific calamities which have overwhelmed our unfortunate fellow creatures in other Islands.
	For this will we sing praise unto Thy name, for it is good, for Thy mercy endureth forever.
	In this spirit are we assembled this day to prostrate ourselves, and to acknowledge the innumerable benefits we daily receive at Thy hands, and the great deliverance of ourselves and our little ones from a sudden and awful death.
	Therefore, Holy One of Israel, will we gratefully praise Thee in the Congregation and Assembly.
	We are in duty bound to extol Thy Great and Glorious name, Thou, who art our shield in the time of trouble. We will sing unto the Lord who is of excellent Majesty: We will enumerate the mercies of God, and in Hymns and Psalms, chaunt Thy glorious attributes, who dwellest above the highest heavens. Fathers and Children, the Mother and the Maiden, the Old and the Young, shall unite in this soul-inspiring duty.
	O! reject not our homage, feeble and inexpressive though it be, when compared with the songs of Seraphim and Cherabim [sic]. Our faculties are limited, and are inadequate to declare thine excellencies.
	Blessed be thou, O Lord, by the mouth of the righteous, exalted by the lips of the upright, hallowed by the tongue of the pious, glorified in the midst of thy Saints, and among all the Congregations of Israel. Let all who breathe, praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen!

Source(s)

Prayer after the Earthquake in Guadeloupe, by Rabbi Isaac Lopez (Jamaica, 1843), p. 1

Prayer after the Earthquake in Guadeloupe, by Rabbi Isaac Lopez (Jamaica, 1843), p. 2-3

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“Prayer after the Earthquake in Guadeloupe, by Rabbi Isaac Lopez (Jamaica, 1843)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Moses N. Nathan (translation)

Rabbi Moses Nathan Nathan (1807-1883) was one of the earliest teachers at the Jews' Free School, which was then situated in Ebenezer Square, Petticoat Lane. When only sixteen years of age, and whilst still engaged as junior master at the Free School, he was appointed Baal Ḳoreh at the Denmark Court Synagogue (a/k/a the Western Synagogue). After occupying these posts for some years, he removed to Liverpool, where he established a school. He subsequently received the appointment of Secretary to the Liverpool Old Hebrew Congregation, and occasionally delivered religious lectures in the English language in the synagogue. Under the guidance of the Abraham Abrahams, he introduced sermons in the vernacular some time before such sermons became the custom in London. In the year 1834 he received the appointment of Minister of the German Congregation at Kingston. Jamaica, where he did excellent service in arousing a new feeling of attachment to Judaism in improving the mode of worship, and in raising the Jews considerably the esteem of their Christian fellow-islanders. At a later period he removed to St. Thomas, and there likewise performed useful services as the minister of the congregation (Spanish and Portuguese) in that island. On his retirement from that post, he spent some years in New Orleans, where he became the intimate friend of the Jewish philanthropist, the late Judah Touro, who made his numerous bequests to Jewish institutions through Mr. Nathan's counsel. He returned to England in 1868, and before determining to which synagogue he should attach himself, he visited every synagogue in the metropolis. He at length fixed on the West London Synagogue for British Jews, where he was a constant attendant. He took an active and earnest part in the founding of the Anglo-Jewish Association; and for several years acted as Honorary Secretary of the Educational Committee of that Society. It was only on the failure of his health that he discontinued his exertions on behalf of the Association. He was also a member of the Roumanian Committee and of the Committee of the Society of Hebrew Literature.

Isaac Lopez

Rabbi Isaac Lopez (1780-1854), born in Curaçao, was a rabbi and community leader in the Caribbean. He served the Jewish community in Kingston, Jamaica.

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut)

From a family of musicians, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer believes that creative art is one of the most powerful ways to get in touch with the divine. He composes music and poetry in Hebrew and English. (He also translates and authors his own original works.) Isaac runs a Jewish music transcription service, which will transcribe and set any Jewish music in any language, recorded or written. Contact his service on Facebook or via his music blog.

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Tremblement de terre de la Guadeloupe, 1843

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "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

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