God’s Bounty, a prayer for Sukkot (CCAR 1923)

Contributor(s):

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

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4 March 2026 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., divine abundance, English vernacular prayer, teḥinot in English

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	O Lord, the portion of mine inheritance and my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lord who hath given me council; yea, in the night seasons, my reins instruct me. I have set the Lord always before me; surely He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. (Psalms 16:5-8)
	As for the man who relies upon the Lord, no abundance of wealth will ever diminish his trust in God, for he does not rely upon his wealth. He considers it to be merely a security left with him, to be used in a definite manner, for specific purposes, and for a limited time. If his wealth remain with him, he will never become proud and forget his duty to those whom God commands him to befriend, nor will the man who trusts in God ever expect gratitude and praise for his good deeds. Rather will he confess his own gratitude to God who gave him all these opportunities for benevolence. If his wealth depart from him, he will not worry, nor mourn over his loss, but will be just as thankful to God who took back the pledge, as he was grateful to Him when he gave it. (Baḥya ibn Pekuda, “Ḥovot haLevavot, Introduction to Shaar haBeḥinah §4” )
	He who is blind to God’s beneficence, ever stumbles in the darkness of error. He is oblivious of God’s generosity, and so arrives at cynical and hard conclusions. If he achieves wealth or power, he believes that he has achieved it unaided, and that therefore he may enjoy it alone. Being conscious of no gift from God, he rarely feels the impulse of graciousness towards God’s children.
	But a vision of God’s bounty soon illumines the dark places of life. Let man but see how abundant is God’s goodness, and his soul will be filled with the light of genial kindness. He will discover that the motive law of life is not selfish grasping, but generous blessing. The warming sun, the fruitful rain, the abundant earth and the magic seed, are God’s messengers, carrying His gifts to the children of man. The very will of man, his persistence of purpose, the energy to toil, all come unearned from the Beneficent One. Man indeed labors—that is his destiny, but without God’s gifts, he would not have the power to work, nor would his work bring blessing.
	Let man think of God’s endless goodness and be aware of the constant debt he bears his heavenly Father. Let the words of the Psalmist be in his heart: “How can I repay unto the Lord all His bountiful dealings towards me?” Let him vow to pay back to God’s children the gifts which he has received. “My vow will I pay in the presence of all the people.”
	Gracious Father, Source of all joy, Fountain of the living waters of strength, Thou showerest Thy blessings upon us without stint. Our powers, our achievements, our good fortune, our happiness, all come from Thee.
	O God, we pray Thee, add to Thy blessings unto us the consciousness of Thy goodness. As Thou givest us health and strength, give us too the vision to see Thy constant kindness. May we never cease to be grateful unto Thee. May we see Thy hand in the moulding of our lives, and ever thank Thee.
	Grant that our gratitude express itself in helpfulness. Teach us to walk in Thy footsteps; to be generous, helpful and good, so that our hearts may reflect Thine endless bounty. May we be Thy messengers of blessing, aiding the poor, helping the helpless, healing the sick at heart. So that men may know us for Thy children, and thank Thee for the blessings we bestow. Amen.

“God’s Bounty” is the seventeenth prayer found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 61-63. 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.

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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)

God’s Bounty, a prayer for Sukkot (CCAR 1923)

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