Daily Revelation, a paraliturgical taḥanun (CCAR 1923)

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

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17 January 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., English vernacular prayer, תחנונים taḥanunim

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night revealeth knowledge. There is no speech, there are no words, neither is their voice heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. (Psalms 19:2-5)
	Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, Thou art very great; Thou art clothed with glory and majesty. Who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment, who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain; who layest the beams of Thine upper chambers in the waters, who makest the clouds Thy chariot, who walkest upon the wings of the wind; who makest winds Thy messengers, the flaming fire Thy ministers. (Psalms 104:1-4)
	There are men who boast of their deeds, doing little and saying much. There are men who, when they work, sound loud bells so that the report of their goodness be heard afar. To such, the heavens have no voice. The revelations of nature cannot be easily heard during the day when men move noisily about in their daily work. But in the evening when men sit in silence, the voice of the heavens may be heard. (adapted from Aqedat Yitsḥaq Ⅰ, 13b by Isaac Arama)
	When the soul meditates upon the greatness of His might and His transcendent power, it bows before Him in awe and trembling. Then fear gives way to trust in Him, until the soul finds rest from all its terrors, and longs for the cup of God’s love seeking to unite with Him in faith and yearning. (from Duties of the Heart, “Tenth Treatise on Devotion to God 1.8, by Bachya ibn Pekudah)
	We frequently realize that it is only the surface of life that we see; that our daily observations touch only a superficial aspect of nature and of the life of men; that (in) back of the obvious manifestations of our world, are deeper laws which seem to escape us. We seem to know instinctively that behind the pettiness of men, there are evidences of their divinity; that above the clamor of the crowds may be heard the voice of humanity; beyond the pain of death is the promise of immortality; and in the endless motion of nature’s machinery, lies the power of its Master, the God of the Universe.
	We are vaguely aware of the spiritual laws imbedded in the plan of life, but we do not easily perceive them. For while obvious facts sound loudly in our ears, the soul of the world rests in silence. It does not clamor for our attention; there is no sound of it; its voice is not easily heard. The material facts of the world obtrude themselves upon us, but in order to find the spirit of the universe, we must earnestly seek. We must not expect sudden revelations. Indeed great truths frequently come in a flash of light, but only to those who have been bravely groping in the darkness.
	God is within and all about us,^[1] a clear statement of panentheism yet we plod on in the daily round of life unaware of ever-present divinity. But if we summon our power to search for Him in our own experiences, in the souls of men, in the mysteries of nature, He will graciously cause the light of His countenance to shine upon us,^[2] Cf. Numbers 6:25 and we will perceive at last, if only faintly, all of nature revealing His glory, the heavens to the earth, the east unto the west, and day unto day.
	Lord of all worlds, the heaven is Thy throne; Thou inhabitest eternity. Far beyond our feeble sight, Thou dwellest in majesty.
	O God of knowledge, Thou hast implanted within us a sense of Thy presence. Though we see Thee not, Thou hast taught us to search for Thee. Though in infinite distances Thou art enthroned, our humble earth is Thy footstool. Though Thou dwellest afar, Thou hast assured us that Thou wilt be near if we call unto Thee in truth.
	O keep Thou within our frail hearts the thirst to know Thee. May we never falter till we find the living waters of Thy presence. Grant us the strength to seek Thee with prayer and thanksgiving. Send us forth to search for Thee in all Thy universe. Enhearten us with the hope that if we call Thee, Thou wilt be near; if we seek Thee we will find Thy presence.
	Divine Source of light and truth, bless Thou our blinded sight. Grant a vision of Thee to those who yearn for Thy presence, so that familiar things may be transfigured for us, that we hear the melody of nature endlessly chanting of Thee, the silent speech of day unto day, and behold the revelations of the heavens declaring Thy glory,^[3] Cf. Psalms 19:2-4 Amen.

“Daily Revelation” is found early on in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 19-21. Unfortunately, we do not yet know of a resource providing clear attribution to any of the prayers in this volume. The author was likely one of the members of the Committee on Book of Meditations and Prayers: Solomon B. Freehof, Israel Bettan, Abraham Cronbach, Morris S. Lazaron, and Abram Simon.

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Notes

Notes
1	a clear statement of panentheism
2	Cf. Numbers 6:25
3	Cf. Psalms 19:2-4

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

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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)

Daily Revelation, a paraliturgical taḥanun (CCAR 1923)

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