Three stanzas adapted from “Worship” by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), appears as hymn number 73: “The Peace of Pity” in Rabbi Max Klein’s hymn book for Congregation Adath Jeshurun, Philadelphia, Hymns of Prayer and Praise (1926). Nowadays we might say “The Peace of Empathy” rather than “The Peace of Pity,” but I’ve left the title unchanged here.

Hymn Studies Blog notes, “Penned in 1847 and 1848 as part of a poem entitled “Worship” with fifteen stanzas to contrast the excesses and carnalities of pagan worship with what Whittier considered to be the essential duty of man, it was first published in his 1850 Labor and Other Poems.” Only three or four stanzas commonly appear in Protestant hymn books where the title is normally given as “O Brother Man.” In this adaptation, the wording of two lines can be found to be changed from Whittier’s original text. In one line, “the peace of God is there” is changed to “the joy of peace is there.” In another line, “So shall the wide earth seem our Father’s temple” is changed to “So shall the wide earth seem a human temple.” The two changes I’ve noted appear exclusively in the version of the hymn titled “The Peace of Pity,” the earliest attestation of which I could find on page 144 of J.H. Kellogg’s Good Health 35:3 (March 1900). That same year, a similar variation was printed in Hymns of modern thought, a hymnal of the Hampstead Ethical Institute. In a hymnal published twenty years earlier, in 1880, different language appears in the same lines (Peebles, Spiritual Harmonies). Although my search isn’t exhaustive, it appears to me that the version appearing in Adath Jeshurun’s hymn book had been circulating in the Clean Living Movement, and possibly among Ethical Society congregations. –Aharon Varady

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“The Peace of Pity — three stanzas adapted from “Worship,” a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier (1848)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

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.)

Max D. Klein

Rabbi Max Klein was born in New York City in 1885 and was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1911. Soon afterward, he began serving as rabbi for Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Philadelphia. Formerly a Reform synagogue, under Rabbi Klein's leadership it became one of the initial congregations affiliated with the United Synagogue of America (now called the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism). In addition to serving as rabbi at Adath Jeshurun in Philadelphia until 1960, Rabbi Klein wrote, edited, and translated two prayer books: Seder Avodah for Sabbath, Festivals, and Weekdays (1951) and Seder Avodah for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (1960). He died in 1973.

John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the Fireside Poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Whittier is remembered particularly for his anti-slavery writings as well as his book Snow-Bound.

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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

Works of related interest:

 

לְכָה דוֹדִי | Princess Sabbath, three stanzas of l’Khah Dodi by Shlomo al-Qabets (English adaptation by Angie Irma Cohon (1921)

📖 סדר תפלות ישראל (רפורמי)‏ | Seder Tefilot Yisrael: The Union Prayer Book for Jewish Worship – Part I: The Sabbath, Three Festivals, and Weekdays (CCAR 1895)

📖 Hymns and Anthems Adapted for Jewish Worship, by Rabbi Dr. Gustav Gottheil (1886)

Prayer for Universal Peace, by Rabbi Hillel Lavery-Yisraëli (2019)

A Prayer for Peace and Goodwill Among the Nations of the Earth, by Rabbi Jonas Kaminkowski (1927)

Lights in the Temple, a poem by John Keble (1834)

Abide in Me, and I in You: the Soul’s Answer, a prayer-poem by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1855/1865)

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