Our Affirmation — a litany of affirmative statements for adherents of the Centre of Jewish Science by Rabbi Clifton Harby Levy (1927)

Contributor(s): Clifton Harby Levy and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Shared on: 19 April 2023 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories: Addenda

Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., affirmations, English vernacular prayer, Jewish Science movement

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	We affirm:
	That God is Love, Truth and Wisdom Supreme, and that I am made in His image.
	The more I know of God, the more I consider His Love and Mercy, the better may I conform my soul to His Truth and Wisdom, and the more fully may I live the Righteous life, through my completer Consciousness of God.
	This day and every day would I have my thoughts in full harmony with Divine Truth, Love and Goodness.
	In me lies the remedy for the world’s need; for I am Love, Truth and Righteousness as I grow up in Godliness.
	I put away all fear, all anxious thoughts, all lack of soul or body, for God is my Aid and Helper and I need none else.
	With will attuned to the Will of God, I hearken to His Voice daily and hourly, and find truth and [righteousness]^[1] The word I’ve added in brackets appears to have been lost to an editing or publishing mishap. ‘Truth and hope,’ ‘truth and meaning,’ or ‘truth and righteousness‘ — all popular formulations of ‘truth and [x] in the years 1900-1927 — feel possible to me. But “truth and righteousness” seems the most likely as it is already used earlier in this prayer. Hopefully we will find a copy of this affirmation published elsewhere which contains the full statement. –ANV leading to higher thought and truer confidence.
	I think and work with God to help all who are in need, in weakness of body or soul. Let me be helped— let them be helped, to strength and courage, to faith and certainty of Thee!
	Through Thine aid are we guarded from error of thought and deed, and by Thy mercy wilt Thou accept our words and each endeavor for the better understanding and the nobler life.
	Thou art our Hope, our Strength, Healer of all our woes, Savior from all sorrow. AMEN.

“Our Affirmation” by Rabbi Clifton Harby Levy was published in conclusion to his brochure, The Helpful Manual (Centre of Jewish Science, 1927), p. 32.

Source(s)

Notes[+]

Notes
1	The word I’ve added in brackets appears to have been lost to an editing or publishing mishap. ‘Truth and hope,’ ‘truth and meaning,’ or ‘truth and righteousness‘ — all popular formulations of ‘truth and [x] in the years 1900-1927 — feel possible to me. But “truth and righteousness” seems the most likely as it is already used earlier in this prayer. Hopefully we will find a copy of this affirmation published elsewhere which contains the full statement. –ANV

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“Our Affirmation — a litany of affirmative statements for adherents of the Centre of Jewish Science by Rabbi Clifton Harby Levy (1927)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Clifton Harby Levy

Rabbi Clifton Harby Levy (1867–1962), was a Reform rabbi in the United States. Born in New Orleans, he was ordained at Hebrew Union College (1890), served as rabbi of Congregation Gates of Hope, New York City (1890–91), and as superintendent of classes for immigrant children established by the Baron de Hirsch Fund. Levy later served congregations in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (1892–94) and Baltimore, Maryland (1894–96), where he organized a Jewish kindergarten in a religious school and the first United Hebrew Charities. He founded Tremont Temple, Bronx, New York, and was its rabbi from 1906 to 1921. He left the pulpit rabbinate in 1921 and in 1924 organized the Centre of Jewish Science, New York City. As part of the Jewish Science movement, it sought to counter the influence of Christian Science among acculturated American Jews and to inject spirituality into the Reform Jewish synagogue. He was a founding member of the American Council for Judaism, which consisted primarily of anti-Zionist Reform rabbis and laymen. While still a student, Levy published a five-act Purim play, Haman and Mordecai (1886). During his stay in Baltimore he edited Jewish Comment. He edited The Bible in Art (1936) and The Bible in Pictures (1942), and served as art editor of the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia.

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.)

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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

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