Prayer on the Declaration of War [against Imperial Germany], by Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz (Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations 1914)

Contributor(s):

Joseph Herman Hertz, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Shared on:

22 June 2022 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., British Jewry, German Empire, military, Second Reich, World War Ⅰ

Source (Hebrew)	Translation (English)
יְיָ אֱלֹהֵי צְבָאוֹת מַחֲסֶה לָנוּ וָעֹז עֶזְרָה בְצָרוֹת נִמְצָא מְאוֹד׃ בְּלֵב הֹמֶה וְרוּחַ נִדְכָּאָה נָבוֹאָה עָדֶיךָ הַיּוֹם בִּתְפִלָּה וּבְתַחֲנוּנִים׃ מוֹט הִתְמוֹטְטָה אָרֶץ חִיל אָחַז כׇּל יוֹשְׁבֶיהָ׃ קוֹל שָׁאוֹן וְקוֹל תְּרוּעָה נִשְׁמַע עַד יַרְכְּתֵי תֵבֵל מִפְּנֵי חֲמַת הַמֵּצִיק׃ בִּעוּתֵי מִלְחָמָה יַעַרְכוּנוּ עַד שְׁעָרֵינוּ הִגִּיעוּ׃	O Lord God of Hosts! thou art our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. With anxious minds and trembling hearts we approach thee to-day in prayer and supplication. Kingdoms shake and nations tremble. The shout of the warrior and the roar of battle resound to the ends of the earth because of the fury of the oppressor. The terrors of war are upon us; they have come close to our gates.
וּבְכׇל זֹאת לֹא נִירָא וְלֹא נִפְחָד׃ כִּי אַתָּה יְיָ הַבּוֹחֵן כְּלָיוֹת וָלֵב וְיוֹדֵעַ תַּעֲלוּמוֹת סִתְרֵי כׇל חָי תָּדִין אֶת דִּינֵנוּ וְתָרִיב אֶת רִיבֵנוּ׃ בְּךָ בָּטְחוּ אֲבֹתֵינוּ וַתְּפַלְטֵמוֹ׃ גַם הַיּוֹם לְךָ לְבַדְּךָ עֵינֵינוּ תְלוּיוֹת כִּי אַתָּה יְיָ מַשְׁפִּיל גֵּאִים וּמוֹשִׁיעַ יִשְׁרֵי לֵב׃ הוֹפַע רוּחַ חָכְמָה וְדַעַת עַל שָׂרֵינוּ וְיוֹעֲצֵינוּ וְתַקְּנֵם בְּעֵצָה טוֹבָה מִלְּפָנֶיךָ׃ חַזֵּק וְאַמֵּץ אַנְשֵׁי צִבְאוֹתֵינוּ בַּיָּם וּבַיַּבָּשָׁה וְהָיְתָה גְבוּרָה אֵזוֹר חֲלָצֵימוֹ׃ הָסֵר מֵעָלֵינוּ דֶבֶר וְרָעָב וְהַרְחְק יָגוֹן וְאֲנָחָה מִגְּבוּלֵנוּ׃	Yet we will not fear. Thou, who searchest the hearts of men and knowest the innermost thoughts of rulers, wilt judge our cause. Our fathers trusted in thee and thou didst deliver them. To thee alone our eyes are lifted up, who bringest low the haughty and protectest the upright in spirit. With thine own wisdom direct the rulers and counsellors of our nation [and correct them with your good counsel]. Gird our hosts with strength and courage on land and on sea [and may Fortitude be their strength in the hour of affliction]. Keep thou far from us pestilence and famine; and shield our homes from sorrow and hurt.
אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ שְׁמַע קוֹלֵנוּ חוּסָה עָלֵינוּ וְהוֹשִׁיעֵנוּ לְמַעַן שְׁמֶךָ וְהָיָה צֶדֶק וּמֵישָׁרִים אֱמוּנַת עִתֵּינוּ׃ קָרֵב יוֹם צִדְקָתְךָ לְהִגָּלוֹת וְלֵב יְשָׁרִים הַרְנֵן וּפְרוֹשׂ בִּמְהֵרָה סֻכַּת שְׁלוֹמֶךָ עַל כׇּל יוֹשְׁבֵי תֵבֵל אַרְצֶךָ אָמֵן וְאָמֵן׃	Our Father, our King! hearken unto our cry; save us for thy name’s sake, so that loyalty and faithfulness be indeed the stability of our times. Speedily cause righteousness to triumph and the lovers of justice to rejoice; and hasten the day when thy tabernacle of peace shall be spread over all the children of men for evermore. Amen.

“Prayer Composed by the Chief Rabbi on the Declaration of War. (August 1914.),” by Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz, was published in the Prayer Book for Jewish Sailors and Soldiers [of H.M. Forces] (Office of the Chief Rabbi 1914), p. 32.

Source(s)

Joseph Herman Hertz

Joseph Herman Hertz (25 September 1872 – 14 January 1946) was a Hungarian-born rabbi and biblical scholar. He is most notable for holding the position of Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom from 1913 until his death in 1946, in a period encompassing both world wars and the Holocaust. Hertz edited a notable commentary on the Torah (1929–36, one volume edition 1937). Popularly known as the Hertz Chumash, this classic Hebrew-English edition of the Five Books of Moses, with corresponding Haftorahs, is used in synagogues and classrooms throughout the English-speaking world. He also edited a Hebrew-English edition of the Jewish Prayer Book or Siddur (1946), and contributed to the Jewish Encyclopedia and the Encyclopædia Britannica.

Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations

The Office of the Chief Rabbi is the institutional identity for the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth [UK]. Unlike in other European countries, individuals serving as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations are not formally designated by an authoritative state or civic body. Rather, the "office" is occupied by the senior rabbi of the United Synagogue, the umbrella institution for its affiliated Orthodox and Ashkenazi synagogues in the United Kingdom. The position of Chief Rabbi in the UK grew out of an 18th century desire among British Jewry for a respected representative figure comparable to the Archbishop of Canterbury for Anglican Christians. Rabbi Aaron Hart (1670–1756), rabbi of the Great Synagogue in London since 1704, was thus regarded by the 1750s as the first of the British chief rabbis. Over the next century and as British Jewry continued to grow, by the tenure of Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler (from 1845-1890) the communal leadership and halakhic authority of the position had become firmly established. When in 1870, the Great Synagogue joined with four other synagogues, and was formally recognized as the United Synagogue by an Act of Parliament, the Chief Rabbi was legally established as its head. The current chief rabbi of the UHC and senior rabbi of the United Synagogue is Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis. (The Office of the Chief Rabbi should not be mistaken for the London Beit Din, the Court of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations.)

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.)

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=45186

Associated Image:

prayer on the declaration of war (office of the chief rabbi 1914) – cropped

(This image is set to automatically show as the "featured image" in shared links on social media.)

Terms of Use: Be a mentsch (a conscientious, considerate person) and adhere to the following guidelines:

Properly attribute the work to Joseph Herman Hertz, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations and Aharon N. Varady (transcription).
Clearly indicate the date you accessed the work and in what ways, if any, you modified it. (If you have adapted the work, let us know so that the contributor might consider endorsing your revision.)
Provide the stable link to this resource: <https://opensiddur.org/?p=45186>.
Indicate that the original work was shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license. (To redistribute or remix this work in any format, modified or unmodified, you must refer to the terms of the license under which the work is shared.)

Additional Notes:

The views expressed in this work represent the views of their creator(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Open Siddur Project's developers, its diverse community of volunteer contributors, or its institutional partners.
We strongly advise against printing sacred texts and art containing divine names as these copies must be regarded with reverence, complicating their casual treatment and disposal.
If you must dispose of a printed sacred text (one containing Divine Names), please locate the closest genizah (often established by a synagogue) and contact its custodians for further instructions. We also recommend using Morah Yehudis Fishman's Prayer for Adding a Work to the Genizah.

Support this work: The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-commercial, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture.

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)