“Universal Praise” appears as Hymn 19 in The Sabbath service and miscellaneous prayers, adopted by the Reformed society of Israelites, founded in Charleston, S.C., November 21, 1825 (1830, Bloch: 1916), p. 64. Gary Zola writes that the prayer was written by David Carvalho for the Society as indicated in Abraham Moïse’s annotated copy of the 1830 prayerbook.^[1] Find, “The First Reform Prayerbook in America” (p. 116 ft. 32) in Platforms and prayer books: theological and liturgical perspectives on Reform Judaism (2002)  I have replaced the vocalized Tetragramaton in the penultimate line of the second stanza with ‘YHVH.’ I have preserved the wording as handwritten in the endpapers of the Constitution of the Reformed Society of Israelites, 1825. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

“Universal Praise, a hymn by David Nunes Carvalho (Reformed Society of Israelites, Charleston, South Carolina, 1826)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

David Nunes Carvalho

David Nunes Carvalho (1784-1860), born and educated in London, England, was a merchant, author, and ḥazzan for the Reformed Society of Israelites in Charleston, South Carolina, the first Reform congregation in the United States. He helped to compile the first Reform prayerbook in English, the fourth oldest Reform prayerbook in the world.

Reformed Society of Israelites

The Reformed Society of Israelites (1824-1833) was a group of forty-seven congregants of Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, Charleston, South Carolina, who gathered in late 1824 to petition the congregation to modify the service of prayers with an adapted liturgy emphasizing English translations, original hymns, and other modifications. Among other reforms, the group called for shorter services and sermons conducted in English that would relate the weekly parashah to everyday life. Prominent leaders in the group were Isaac Harby (1788–1828), Abraham Moïse (1799-1869), and David Nunes Carvalho (1784-1860). After Harby's death in 1828, the group published a prayerbook (later reprinted by Barnett Elzas/Bloch in 1916). In 1833, the group dissolved but in rejoining Beth Elohim they also managed to succeed in their original mission in putting the congregation on a firm Reform movement trajectory.

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.)

Works of related interest:

 

Before YHVH’s Awful Throne, a hymn by David Nunes Carvalho (Reformed Society of Israelites, Charleston, South Carolina, 1826)

Lift Up Your Hands, a hymn by David Nunes Carvalho (Reformed Society of Israelites, Charleston, South Carolina, 1826)

Thanksgiving for Divine Mercy, a hymn by David Nunes Carvalho (Reformed Society of Israelites, Charleston, South Carolina, 1826)

Light of Truth (a/k/a Glad Tidings), a hymn by David Nunes Carvalho (Reformed Society of Israelites, Charleston, South Carolina, 1826)

The Glory of God, a hymn by David Nunes Carvalho (Reformed Society of Israelites, Charleston, South Carolina, 1826)

God our Shepherd and Guardian, an adaptation of Psalms 23 by David Nunes Carvalho (Reformed Society of Israelites, Charleston, South Carolina, 1826)

Brotherly Love, an adaptation of Psalms 133 by David Nunes Carvalho (Reformed Society of Israelites, Charleston, South Carolina, 1826)

prev next