Onward! — a hymn by Rabbi J. Leonard Levy (1902)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and J. Leonard Levy

Shared on:

24 December 2025 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

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

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, prayers concerning children, progress, תקון עולם tiqqun olam

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Onward, faithful servants Of God’s holy cause; Truth and Light your weapons, Forward, without pause. In the ranks of rightness Be ye ever found, Bringing all things evil Downward to the ground.
	Sin and misdeed triumph, Error leads astray; Falsehood oft is honored, Truth is kept at bay; Yet, lose not your courage, Men and women true, God’s cause yet will triumph, If your part you do.
	Earth’s downtrodden children Look for helping hands; Up, then, aid your brethren Scattered through all lands; Let your plea be Justice, Love be your delight, Righteousness your watchword, Equity your might.
	Ye, who are of Israel, Ẓíōn’s chosen sons; Bearing words of comfort To earth’s mourning ones; Rise and speed your message To the human race, So that earth may soon be Joy’s abiding place.

“Onward!”, a hymn by Rabbi J. Leonard Levy was first published in The Children’s Service for Use in Religious Schools (1902). In the second edition from 1904, it is found on page 217.

Source(s)

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.)

J. Leonard Levy

Rabbi Joseph Leonard Levy (1865-1917), born in London, was a Liberal/Reform movement rabbi in the United Kingdom and the United States. He was educated at Jews' College and University College (B.A.), London, at Bristol University, England, and at Western University of Pennsylvania (D.D.). Rabbi Levy was rabbi of the Bristol Hebrew Congregation (1885-1889) and of Bnai Israel Congregation, Sacramento, California (1889-1893); associate rabbi of the Keneseth Israel Congregation, Philadelphia (1893-1901); and, since 1901, has been rabbi of the Rodeph Shalom congregation, Pittsburg. In 1898 he was elected chaplain of "Keegan's Brigade," with which he served through the Spanish-American war. Levy was the organizer of a number of charitable and religious societies among the Jews of Philadelphia. He is the author of a translation of the tractate Rosh haShanah of the Babylonian Talmud (Philadelphia, 1895). He published also The Greater Lights (1895); Home Service for the Passover (1896); The Nineteenth Century (1901); A Book of Prayer (Pittsburg, 1902); The Jew's Beliefs (1903); The Children's Service and Hymnal (1903); Text-Book of Religion and Ethics for Jewish Children (1903); Sabbath Reading (1904); and eight volumes of Sunday lectures. Levy is the editor of the Jewish Criterion, published at Pittsburg.

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=65103

Associated Image:

Breaker boys (1910): child workers who broke down coal at a mine in South Pittston, Pennsylvania, United States in the early 20th century

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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)

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