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Thou, our exceeding joy, this feast of mirth appriseth us that righteousness must be the goal of our rollic and frolic even as it is of our earnest moods. | |
Grant us then, we beseech Thee, that merriment that worketh good, but keep us far from the merriment that worketh ill. May we turn from all that weakeneth body or mind, reject every excess and spurn such pleasure, as forgetting its due place, would usurp that primacy which duty alone may hold. | |
Abundant be our laughter but may it be kindly laughter, laughing with others where we can, laughing at others never. Untimely laughter or the laughter of ridicule, sarcasm or disdain, not that be our laughter; but the laughter of concord and joyous comradeship, be that our laughter, O Thou of Whom it hath been said, “He Who dwelleth in heaven laugheth.” (Psalms 2:4) | |
Open Thou our eyes to the happiness nestling everywhere. May we not, seeking pleasures afar, miss the delights of the simple and common near at hand. May the unsought and unexpected joys abounding like wayside flowers along the path of our daily tasks find us ever receptive. Give growth to our capacity for joy. Even amid care and age, may it not forsake us utterly. | |
With an upward look unto Thee, we would this day be mindful of the world’s pleasure seekers and pleasure makers. Like Job of old we pray that none of them may sin and blaspheme the God in their hearts. | |
Do Thou bless and keep especially the children and the youth, they whose yearning for pleasure is mighty. Let the joys of play and dance, of the stage and of vigorous sport prove hallowed and health giving. | |
May the numbers of them increase that can exult in those things of beauty that are a joy forever, the glories revealed by poet, painter, sculptor and musician becoming sought as it is fitting they be sought and the misleading, degrading and untrue becoming shunned as it is fitting it be shunned. | |
Endow with exalted purpose and fruitful achievement all artists and players, actors, performers and entertainers and all such as provide and supervise the amusements of the people. Let wisdom and love guide and gladden the large-souled men and women who ponder recreation for the people and spend themselves in that cause. | |
May every noble endeavor meet with noble response that incentives toward goodness, truth and beauty may increase, that the power of evil, falsehood and ugliness may wane and that our pleasures may take us, O Father, not away from Thee but nearer to Thee. | |
Above all, may we of the House of Israel derive light from the memories of this day, perceiving how, not only in Persia of old but in every land and age, arrogance and pride beget misunderstanding and contention. How blessed the Purim mirth that can dispel Haman hatred, the kindly cheer that can bring fellowship and peace! | |
May Mordecai wisdom and faithfulness and Esther devotion and modesty, Israel’s deliverance in the olden story, enlarge into a world-wide deliverance, our partial sympathies growing into world-wide sympathies and Thy name, O God, unmentioned in that ancient book, become written upon every soul in letters of world-wide brotherhood and good will. Amen. |
This prayer for “Purim, the Feast of Mirth” by Rabbi Abraham Cronbach is found in his, Prayers of the Jewish Advance (1924), on pages 43-46.
Source(s)
“Purim, Festival of Mirth — a prayer by Rabbi Abraham Cronbach (1924)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.
Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)
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