[Prayer] on Leaving School and Beginning Apprenticeship, by Lilian Helen Montagu (1895)

Contributor(s):

Lilian Helen Montagu and Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Shared on:

7 May 2023 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

Learning, Study, and School, Labor, Fulfillment, and Parnasah

Tags:

19th century C.E., תחינות teḥinot, 57th century A.M., Jewish Women's Prayers, English vernacular prayer, teḥinot in English, West Central Girls' Club

TOGGLE COLUMNS (on/off):

ADJUST COLUMN POSITIONS: select the column header cell and drag it where you want. show me!

COPY INDIVIDUAL COLUMN(S): use CopyTables, a browser extension.

TABLE HELP

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	On leaving school and beginning apprenticeship.
	Almighty Father,— I am about to leave school and to begin work. I have had many happy years at my lessons, but I feel glad that I shall now learn a useful trade, and in time be able to help mother and father by my earnings.
	Grant that I may be an industrious girl; not grumbling about hard work, but doing everything as well as I can.
	I am still a little child, O Lord, in Thy sight. Deal with me in mercy. My future depends on my doing well now. Make me wise, O Lord, and train my hands, for without Thy help I am sure to go astray.
	Do not let my school-days be wasted, but fill me with a desire to go on learning whenever I have the chance.
	There is so much I ought to know, which I have not yet learned. Help me to be modest in the company of those who are willing and able to teach me, so that I may never neglect an opportunity of improving myself. In all I do, and in all I try to do, be Thou my help and my strength!
	Come, ye children, hearken unto me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. (Psalms 34:11) Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil, and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. (Psalms 34:13-14)
	The word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayest do it. (Deut. 30:14)

“On Leaving School and Beginning Apprenticeship” was written by Lilian Helen Montagu and published in Prayers for Jewish Working Girls (1895), pp. 21-22.

Source(s)

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“[Prayer] on Leaving School and Beginning Apprenticeship, by Lilian Helen Montagu (1895)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Lilian Helen Montagu

The Hon. Lilian Helen "Lily" Montagu, CBE (22 December 1873 – 22 January 1963) was the first woman to play a major role in Progressive Judaism. Until the age of 15, she was educated at Doreck College, and privately educated thereafter. In 1893 she founded with Emily Marion Harris the West Central Jewish Girls Club (which subsequently merged into the Jewish Girls' Brigade). She was active in social improvement, particularly in respect to unemployment, sweat shops and bad housing. In 1901 and 1902, Montagu laid the groundwork for the establishment of the Jewish Religious Union in London. In February 1902 she arranged the first meeting of the Jewish Religious Union for the Advancement of Liberal Judaism at her sister Henrietta Franklin's house. The Union set up the first synagogue in Liberal Judaism in the UK and helped found the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Montagu was a founding member with her sister of the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage. She sat on the executive committee and led the meetings in prayer. Following the retirement of Leo Baeck, Montagu served for a brief stint (1955–1959) in her 80s as president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, before handing the reins over to Solomon Freehof.

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 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.)

Pocket Pinterest Reddit 𝕏 Facebook Telegram WhatsApp SMS Email

Works of related interest:

on ending apprenticeship and beginning paid work (Lilian H. Montagu 1895) - cropped

[Prayer] on Ending Apprenticeship and Beginning Paid Work, by Lilian Helen Montagu (1895)

Prayer for those who are unavoidably prevented from keeping the Sabbath (Lilian H. Montagu 1895) - cropped

Prayer for those who are unavoidably prevented from keeping the Sabbath, by Lilian Helen Montagu (1895)

a prayer for girls entering domestic service (Lilian H. Montagu 1895) - cropped

A Prayer for Girls entering Domestic Service, by Lilian Helen Montagu (1895)

morning prayer (Lilian H. Montagu 1895) - cropped

Morning Prayer [before Work], by Lilian Helen Montagu (1895)

night prayer (Lilian H. Montagu 1895) - cropped

Night Prayer [after Work], by Lilian Helen Montagu (1895)

meditation on work (Lilian H. Montagu 1895) - cropped

Meditation on Work, by Lilian Helen Montagu (1895)

prayer of thanksgiving (Lilian H. Montagu 1895) - cropped

Prayer of Thanksgiving, by Lilian Helen Montagu (1895)

prev next

Comments, Corrections, and QueriesCancel reply

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=50616

Associated Image:

on leaving school and beginning apprenticeship (Lilian H. Montagu 1895) – cropped

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

Source Data: XML | JSON

Re-formatted: HTML | ODT

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

Properly attribute the work to Lilian Helen Montagu and Aharon N. Varady (editing/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=50616>.
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 "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