“Coal Miners’ Prayer” (CCAR 1924)

Contributor(s):

Unknown Author(s), Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Shared on:

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

Categories:

Labor, Fulfillment, and Parnasah, International Workers' Day (May 1st), Labor Day (1st Monday of September)

Tags:

20th century C.E., Gratitude, 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, physical labor

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	O Lord, though we are prone to seek favors for ourselves alone, yet when we come into Thy presence, we are lifted above petty thoughts of self. We become ashamed of our littleness and are made to feel that we can worship Thee in holiness only as we serve our brothers in love.
	How much we owe to the labors of our brothers! Day by day they dig far away from the sun that we may be warm, enlist in outposts of peril that we may be secure and brave the terrors of the unknown for truths that shed light on our way. Numberless gifts and blessings have been laid in our cradles as our birthright.
	Let us then, O Lord, be just and great-hearted in our dealings with our fellowmen, sharing with them the fruit of our common labor, acknowledging before Thee that we are but stewards of whatever we possess.
	Help us to be among those who are willing to sacrifice that others may not hunger, who dare to be bearers of light in the dark loneliness of stricken lives, who struggle and even bleed for the triumph of righteousness among men.
	So may we be co-workers with Thee in the building of Thy kingdom which has been our vision and goal through the ages.

This prayer by an unknown author is first found in Evening Service for the Sabbath from the Union Prayer Book (Newly Revised) (1924), p. 45. (It also appears on the same page of the 1940 edition of the “newly revised” UPB.) The prayer is included as a third variation of a Reform synagogue’s Shabbat evening service, in the Amidah before the silent meditation. Rabbi Michael Satz of Temple B’nai Or (Morristown, New Jersey) affectionately refers to it as the “Coal Miner’s Prayer.”

Source(s)

““Coal Miners’ Prayer” (CCAR 1924)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Unknown Author(s)

Sometimes the best we can do in attributing a historical work is to indicate the period and place it was written, the first prayer book it may have been printed in, or the archival collection in which the manuscript was found. We invite the public to help to attribute all works to their original composers. If you know something not mentioned in the commentary offered, please leave a comment or contact us.

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.

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.)

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The distribution of Jewish pogroms according to their organisers. (Jewish Social Committee for the Relief of Victims of Pogroms (Evobshchestkom 1923) from the collection of YIVO Institute Archives

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[Ḥanukkah] the Feast of Light and Dedication — a prayer by Rabbi Abraham Cronbach (1924)

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Associated Image:

Drivers and Mules, Gary, West Virginia. (September 1908), (credit: Lewis Wickes Hine, in the collection of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Records of the National Child Labor Committee)

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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