Prayer at the Consecration of the Central Synagogue by chief Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler (7 April 1870)

Contributor(s):

Nathan Marcus Adler, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Shared on:

29 June 2024 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

Congregation & Community, Homes & Community Centers

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., British Jewry, dedications and consecrations, English vernacular prayer, synagogue consecration

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Lord of Hosts! Thou art the King of glory. Thou art praised by the Host of Heaven, worshiped from the rising of the sun even onto the sitting thereof; nations and princes bow their knee to thee.
	O Lord! Thou art the King of Glory. To thee we consecrate this central house; guard and shelter it from all perils and from all dangers.
	Grant that all who come here, either weeping or rejoicing, bowed down by the load of sin, or elated by the sense of gratitude, either struggling with sin or fighting against passion, may find here the gate of heaven. Let them feel they are in Thy House, which is called by Thy name.
	To Thee we consecrate the reading desk, the perpetual light, the Ark in which is enshrined the scroll of our faith. As often as it is read, may its spirit descend upon all its hearers, so that they may feel awe, to that they may feel it rivals, in brightness and fixedness, the stars of heaven.
	Let Thy mercy come upon the minister of this congregation, and grant that every word spoken from this place, may strengthen his community in the adherence of Thy Holy Word. Let his words be blessed by Thy mercy, so that they may deepen and render clear the perception of Thy Law.
	Grant Thy blessing upon all who have come forward with willing hearts and open hands, and poured forth offerings for the building of this synagogue.
	Let Thy blessings come to all; especially to those who have not given sleep to their eyes or slumber to their eyelids, until they have found a habitation for Thee, O Lord! Grant that this may be to them and to their offspring a blessing, that they may come hither to thank Thee, O Lord!
	Take under Thy providence all the congregations of this land. Grant that the band of brotherhood may become stronger from day to day.
	Vouchsafe the spirit of brotherly love unto this favored land. Bestow Thy blessings upon all, upon her who rules with mercy and truth, upon all the members of the Royal House, upon all her counselors who are assembled in the nation’s Senate.
	Hasten the time, O Lord, when Thou wilt place a sanctuary in Ẓion, when a real Central Sanctuary will be erected in Ẓion, whither all mankind shall flow, and where all mankind shall worship Thee with one language, and with one heart; where all mankind will worship Thee, Thou King of Glory. Amen.

This prayer at the consecration of the Central Synagogue (in London) pffered by the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire, Nathan Marcus Adler, on 7 April 1870. The prayer was reprinted in “A Sermon By the Chief Rabbi,” The Israelite, vol. 117 part 14 (29 April 1870), page 9.

Source(s)

Prayer of the Chief Rabbi (The Israelite 29 April 1870), page 9

Nathan Marcus Adler

Rabbi Dr. Nathan Marcus HaKohen Adler (Natan ben Mordechai ha-Kohen; 13 January 1803 – 21 January 1890) was the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire from 1845 until his death.

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=57124

Associated Image:

The Central Jewish Synagogue, Great Portland Street (Illustrated London News 14 May 1870)

(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 Nathan Marcus Adler, 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=57124>.
Indicate that the original work was shared under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication. (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)

Prayer at the Consecration of the Central Synagogue by chief Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler (7 April 1870)

Source(s)

Read a comment / Leave a comment (moderated)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply