O God, fountain of all happiness! Another month will soon be carried in the swift stream of time to the endless host of its predecessors; and a new one will arise in its stead from the ocean of Eternity, which carries in its lap many a cheering, but also many a saddening fate. Therefore do we appear before Thee, O Lord, to implore on this day Thy paternal blessing. Open, O Creator of time, the gates of mercy and admit the prayer, of a heart which, in humility and meekness, prostrates itself before Thee. Give me, O Father, what Thou deemest beneficial to me, and teach me to make the most sacred use of Thy gifts. Neither gold nor treasures, but cheerfulness and contentment, be my portion. Endow me with that firm belief in Thee which no affliction, no calamity, however dire, can shake. Bless me with a true unalloyed love, which is able to sacrifice a life for a friend, and to pardon the bitterest enemy. Send me, Creator of light, some cheering rays from Thy Throne of Light, that I may nearer lose my way, never wander from the straight road, but always adhere to the observance of Thy laws, and render myself worthy of Thy love. Bless me with hope, to look forward with full confidence to yonder regions where my soul may find all again that death here deprived it of. Bless me with peace of mind and repose of the soul, with love of justice and truth, so that with the coming month I may find myself brought much nearer the goal, for which I have to prepare myself here on earth. Be Thou, Omnipotent, my support and my staff, that I may live before Thee a life of righteousness, and that I may at all times obey the faithful council of Thy infinite wisdom. Amen.
Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project, which he founded and directs. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin, Ministarot Nakeniשְׁגִיאוֹת 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. Besides his transcription work, Varady occasionally translates prayers and contributes his own original work. (Varady also serves as editor and administrator of the Open Siddur Project website, opensiddur.org, and is an outspoken advocate for open-source in Judaism more of which can be read about in this interview in the Atlantic Magazine.)
Marcus Heinrich (also Mordecai Ḥayyim/Hyman/Heyman) Bresslau (ca. 1808-15 May 1864) was a Hebraist and newspaper editor. Born in Hamburg, he settled in England when young. For some time from 1834 he was Baal Ḳoreh (reader) at the Western Synagogue. He then taught Hebrew at the Westminster Jews’ Free School and went on to tutor privately. A maskil, he became involved with M. J. Raphall’s Hebrew Review and Magazine of Rabbinical Literature (1834-6). In October 1844 he was appointed editor of the relaunched Jewish Chronicle by proprietor Joseph Mitchell. Prickly and quarrelsome, he resigned in July 1848 but returned in around September. He remained until about October 1850. After Mitchell’s death in June 1854 he became proprietor (his middle name appearing as Heyman) and edited it until February 1855 when new proprietor Abraham Benisch succeeded him. Bresslau, who tried vainly to revive the Hebrew Review, wrote Hebrew poetry, produced a Hebrew grammar and a Hebrew dictionary, and translated various Hebrew manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. Bresslau compiled (we think) the first compilation of teḥinot in English for women. (Much of this information via Bresslau's entry in The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History)
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