Prayer for a Blessing on Daily Pursuits, by Grace Aguilar (ca. 1830s)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription) and Grace Aguilar

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

Categories:

Labor, Fulfillment, and Parnasah

Tags:

19th century C.E., תחינות teḥinot, 56th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, self-reflection, teḥinot in English

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Prayer for a blessing on daily pursuits.
	Almighty Father, may it please Thee to pour Thy blessing on the employments of this day, more particularly on those tasks Thou hast so mercifully permitted me to commence, both in deed and thought.
	Oh, give me Thy divine assistance in cultivating those talents Thou in Thine infinite goodness hast bestowed on me, that I may complete my self-appointed task in a manner as acceptable to Thee as pleasing to my parents and improving to myself.
	Grant me strength, oh Lord, and talent to finish all I undertake, that, in all I do, I may remember to bless Thy hand and praise Thy holy Name, almighty Father, for giving me enjoyment within myself, that I need not look for pleasure farther than my parents’ home.
	Oh, how can I praise Thee for Thine infinite goodness, almighty and gracious God? How can I praise Thee for the blessings with which Thou hast gilded my lot?
	Oh, add yet more to Thy great goodness, almighty Father, and improve and increase those talents Thou hast already bestowed on me, that I may not dread the quick flight of youth and all its appropriate pleasures; for if Thou, All-wise, All-merciful, wilt hearken to my prayer, enjoyment will yet be my portion, and I will praise Thy name in humble and fervent gratitude to Thee.
	Oh, pour Thy blessing on every employment, merciful Father, that I may have strength and ability to complete the tasks I have begun.
	Oh, hear me, my God, oh hearken to the simple and fervent petition I offer up in humbleness and faith to Thee. Thou wilt not disregard my prayer, for my trust is in Thee, and Thou hast promised to answer all who call upon Thee; then hear me and answer me, almighty Father, blessed be Thy holy name. — Amen.

“Prayer for a Blessing on Daily Pursuits” by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in Essays and Miscellanies (1853), in the section “Sacred Communings,” pp. 227-228. The prayer does not appear in the UK edition of Sacred Communings (1853).

Source(s)

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“Prayer for a Blessing on Daily Pursuits, by Grace Aguilar (ca. 1830s)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

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.)

Grace Aguilar

Grace Aguilar (2 June 1816 – 16 September 1847) was an English novelist, poet and writer on Jewish history and religion. Although she had been writing since childhood, much of her work was published posthumously. Among those are her best known works, the novels Home Influence and A Mother's Recompense. Aguilar was the eldest child of Sephardic Jewish refugees from Portugal who settled in the London Borough of Hackney. An early illness resulted in her being educated by her parents, especially her mother, who taught her the tenets of Judaism. Later, her father taught the history of Spanish and Portuguese Jews during his own bout with tuberculosis which had led the family to move to the English coast. After surviving the measles at the age of 19, she began to embark on a serious writing career, even though her physical health never completely recovered. Aguilar's debut was an anonymous collection of poems, The Magic Wreath of Hidden Flowers. Three years later she translated Isaac Orobio de Castro's Israel Defended into English at her father's behest. Later her The Spirit of Judaism drew interest and sales in both Britain and the United States after being published in Philadelphia by Isaac Leeser. He added a preface to the work elucidating his differences with her, the first of many clashes her work would have with mainstream Jewish thought. In the 1840s her novels began to attract regular readers, and Aguilar moved back to London with her parents. Despite her success, she and her mother still had to operate a boys' Hebrew school to stay solvent, which she resented for the time and energy it took from her writing. In 1847, she became ill again with a spinal paralysis which she did not let prevent her from visiting her brother in Frankfurt. Her health worsened and she died there that September.

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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