The Presence of God (CCAR 1923)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown and Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

Shared on:

6 April 2026 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., alienation, אנה אמצאך ana emtsaeka, dveykut, English vernacular prayer, integrity, teḥinot in English

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in the nether world, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there would Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand would hold me. And if I say: ‘Surely the darkness shall envelop me, and the light about me shall be night’; even the darkness is not too dark for Thee, but the night shineth as the day; the darkness is even as the light. (Psalms 139:7-12)
	Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near. (Isaiah 55:6)
	Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. The verse means that we should seek Him in the way that we can find Him. That is to say, to seek with all our heart for He is near to those who call upon Him in truth. (Kimhi on Isaiah 55:6)
	Although I dwell afar among the spheres, I also dwell on earth among those who are contrite and humble in spirit. Think not that because they dwell in grief that My providential care does not hover over them. (Kimhi to Isaiah 57:15)
	The eye of faith is blessed with the vision to discern God not alone in the heavens above and the earth below, but in every circumstance and mood of life. Above nature is its Creator. We are not mere wheels in a machine. The affairs of this world are governed by a guiding thought and power. Whether we live in joy or sorrow, in peace or in strife, in rest or in weariness, all that we behold is animated and beautified by the spirit of the living God. His unseen presence surrounds us and enters into our souls. He is near us, giving us strength even though we do not feel it, sending us help even though we do not know it. Noiselessly His manifold blessings steal into our lives. He is always close to this mysterious, bewildering life of ours, for ever seeking to fill us with a knowledge of Himself, for ever working upon our souls to make them pure and strong, good and true.
	Not alone in set hours of devotion is God present, but whenever and wherever the soul is ready to receive Him. All things reveal God; all worthy efforts disclose His presence. All duties, the most menial of occupations, are expressions of His spirit. Nothing that we do is ever secular, if we but know how to make our tasks divine. Our daily duties can become channels of His truth and love. For God is everywhere, in the song of the bird and in the beauty of the rose, in the smile of the child and in the wrath of the seer, yea, in the love and service of the humblest man and woman. “The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.”
	Almighty God and Father, Thou keepest constant guard and watch over all Thy people. Thou art at our right hand, and we know that we cannot be moved.
	We give Thee heartfelt thanks, O Lord, for the enduring faith, the common hope and purpose, of Thy people Israel. May Thy spirit ever be with us, to broaden and deepen our lives. When doubt assails us, give us, we beseech Thee, such realization of Thy presence as will save us from confusion and distrust. Thou hast implanted within our hearts an inextinguishable longing that may impel us toward Thee.
	Reveal Thyself more clearly to our yearning heart, and send us forth amid the cares and trials of this world sustained by the consciousness of companionship with Thee. Help us to know Thee, to find Thee in all familiar experiences of life. May the sense of Thy nearness put to flight the petty cares and fears that so often consume the joy and nobleness of life. Open our eyes, we pray Thee, that we may see Thine image in the souls of our fellow beings; and teach us so to serve, that we may confirm the bond of our brotherhood with them and our joyous union with Thee.

“The Presence of God” is the thirty-seventh prayer found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 124-126. Unfortunately, we do not yet know of a resource providing clear attribution of authorship for any of the prayers in this volume.

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.)

Unknown

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.

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=67042

Associated Image:

Diyarbakir 1050645 Droste Effect (credit: Nevit Dilmen, license: CC BY-SA)

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

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

Properly attribute the work to Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown and Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR].
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=67042>.
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׃ (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)

The Presence of God (CCAR 1923)

Source(s)

Read a comment / Leave a comment (moderated)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply