Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription) and Mordecai Kaplan

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15 July 2018 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

Labor, Fulfillment, and Parnasah, Bedtime Shema, International Workers' Day (May 1st), Well-being, health, and caregiving

Tags:

English vernacular prayer, Amits Koaḥ, lonely man of faith, social anxiety, יצר הרע yetser hara, 20th century C.E., loneliness, ayin hara, 58th century A.M., lashon hara, Psalms 4, apotropaic prayers of protection

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	Courage to Withstand the Ridicule of the Worldly Suggested by Psalms 4
	O God, when I strive to live in accord with your will, to deal honestly, to act kindly, to pursue justice and peace, I find but few to hearten me.
	Many are they who deride me and mock my ways.
	Grant me, O YHVH, the strength to resist the swirling eddy of worldly ambition that would suck me into the vortex of envy, struggle, and hate.
	Give me the courage to withstand the derision of those who sneer at virtue, lest my spirit be cowed.
	To those who, in their unbridled greed, take joy in hoarding riches and wielding dominion I would retort: O, ye fools, in vain ye seek to slake your thirst for wealth and power.
	Your discontent must grow with each new draft.
	All your scheming and all your lying will bring you naught but failure.
	You will yearn in vain for a moment of inner peace and for a sign of God’s approval.
	Not such is my lot; though my means be slender, and they who befriend me few, yet my cup overflows with happiness.
	The zest I have in life all your wealth can never yield.
	Peacefully I lay me down at night to sleep, in calm reliance on God’s blessed love.

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“Courage to Withstand the Ridicule of the Worldly,” by Rabbi Mordecai Menaḥem Kaplan can be found on p. 433-4 of his The Sabbath Prayer Book (New York: The Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945). I have adapted the original text of this prayer, replacing “thy” with ‘your’ and “Lord” with ‘YHVH’. –Aharon N. Varady

Source(s)

 

“Courage to Withstand the Ridicule of the Worldly, a prayer by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1945)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

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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.)

Mordecai Kaplan

Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (June 11, 1881 – November 8, 1983), was a rabbi, essayist and Jewish educator and the co-founder of Reconstructionist Judaism along with his son-in-law Ira Eisenstein.

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Works of related interest:

 

Salvation through Labor, a prayer for the Sabbath before Labor Day, adapted from the writings of A.D. Gordon by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1945)

מי שברך לתקופת יום הולדת | Mi sheBerakh on behalf of one celebrating a birthday, by Rabbi Dr. Mordecai Kaplan (1945)

Life Is What We Make It, a prayer-poem based on the writings of Rabbi Leo Baeck by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1945)

“That America’s Heroes Shall Not Have Died in Vain” with a special El Malé Raḥamim prayer for Memorial Day, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1945)

That America Fulfil the Promise of Its Founding, a prayer for Independence Day by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1945)

That Religion Be Not a Cloak for Hypocrisy, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1945)

An American Covenant of Brotherhood, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan and Eugene Kohn (1945)

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1 comment to Courage to Withstand the Ridicule of the Worldly, a prayer by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1945)

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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