Aharon N. Varady (transcription) • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶקְט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

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Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Arthur T. Buch on 25 April 1951

Contributed by: Arthur T. Buch, the Congressional Record of the United States of America, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 25 April 1951. . . .

Opening Prayer on the Significance of New Year’s Day, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)

Contributed by: Eugene Kohn, John Paul Williams, Mordecai Kaplan, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

This opening prayer for New Year’s Day, “The Significance of the Day,” was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p. 3-4 — as preface to a number of readings selected by Mordecai Kaplan, Eugene Kohn, and J. Paul Williams for the day. . . .

“Ein Mensch ist ein räumlich und zeitlich beschränktes” (A human being is…limited in time and space) — a letter of consolation by Albert Einstein (1950)

Contributed by: Albert Einstein, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

In a poignant reflection on human limitation and the role of religion, Albert Einstein (1879-1955) consoled two rabbis each grieving the painful loss of their children. The first letter dated 12 February 1950, drafted in German before its translation into English, was written for Rabbi Robert S. Marcus after the death of the rabbi’s eleven-year-old son, Jay, from polio in September 1949. The second letter, dated 4 March 1950, was written for Rabbi Norman Salit after the death of Salit’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Miriam. Einstein’s letter to Rabbi Salit borrowed from and expanded upon the composition of his letter to Rabbi Marcus. In a few short lines, the letter expresses Einstein’s opinion on the prison-like delusion of consciousness — and the work of “true” religion to escape this prison through the intentional expansion of compassion beyond one’s self. . . .

[Prayer before] the Chamber of Commerce and Civics [of the Oranges & Maplewood, New Jersey], a Cold War prayer by Rabbi Avraham Samuel Soltes (1950)

Contributed by: Avraham Samuel Soltes, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

A prayer for the continuance of “the American way of life” offered during the Cold War (1947-1953) in northern New Jersey. . . .

הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה | Gebed voor het Koninklijk Huis | Prayer for the Royal Family of Queen Juliana and the city council of Amsterdam (ca. 1950)

Contributed by: Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

A prayer for the government for the royal family of the Netherlands and the city council of Amsterdam copied in the late 19th and mid-20th century from earlier sources. . . .

A Psalm of Gratitude, a poem by Ben Aronin (ca. 1950)

Contributed by: the Aronin Family, Ben Aronin, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

The poem, “Psalm of Gratitude” by the Jewish poet and educator, Ben Aronin. . . .

[Prayer for the] Dedication of a Medical Research Clinic, by Rabbi Avraham Samuel Soltes (ca. 1950s)

Contributed by: Avraham Samuel Soltes, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

“Dedication of Medical Research Clinic” was first published in Rabbi Avraham Soltes’ collection of prayers, תפלה Invocation: Sheaf of Prayers (Bloch 1959). . . .

סליחה לימים הנוראים | Seliḥah for the Days of Awe, by Rabbi Ben-Tsiyon Meir Ḥai Uziel

Contributed by: Ben Tsiyon Meir Ḥai Uziel, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

. . .

Opening prayer for the 12th U.A.W.–C.I.O. Labor Convention in Milwaukee, by Rabbi Joseph Baron (1949)

Contributed by: Jospeh L. Baron, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

This prayer, initially delivered by Rabbi Joseph Baron as an invocation at the opening of the 12th U.A.W.-C.I.O. Labor Convention in Milwaukee, July 1949, was included in the anthology, The Prayer Book of the Armed Forces (ed. Daniel A. Poling, 1951), pp. 81-82. The prayer was selected for the anthology by Walter P. Reuther (1907-1970), a Lutheran, a leader of organized labor, and a civil rights activist who built the United Automobile Workers (UAW) into one of the most progressive labor unions in American history. . . .

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Herman Eliot Snyder on 28 April 1948

Contributed by: Herman E. Snyder, the Congressional Record of the United States of America, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 28 April 1948. . . .

💬 Universal Declaration of Human Rights | אַלװעלטלעכע דעקלאַראַציע פֿון מענטשנרעכט | הַכְרָזָה לְכׇל בָּאֵי עוֹלָם בִּדְבַר זְכֻיוֹת הָאָדָם | Deklarasion Universal de Derechos Umanos (1948)

Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Zackary Sholem Berger (translation), Refoyl Finkl (translation), Unknown (translation), Peng Chun Chang, Charles Malik, René Cassin, John Peters Humphrey, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English with its translations in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino. . . .

תפילה לשלום מדינת ישראל | Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel, by Rabbi Yitsḥak haLevi Hertzog (1948)

Contributed by: Yitsḥak haLevi Hertzog, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

The Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel was composed by Rabbi Yitsḥak haLevi Hertzog, edited by S.Y. Agnon, and first published in the newspaper Ha-Tsofeh on 20 September 1948. . . .

שְׁפוֹךְ אֲהָבָתֵךְ | Shfokh Ahavatekh (Pour Out Your Love), by Rabbi Ḥayyim Bloch (1948)

Contributed by: Mosheh Ḥayyim ben Avraham Abba Bloch, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

A paraliturgical adaptation of the prayer/curse, “Shfokh Ḥamatekha,” this prayer, likely written during, or just after the Holocaust, recognizes those nations and righteous gentiles who fought and risked their lives to aid and rescue European Jewry. . . .

Closing Prayer for New Year’s Day, adapted by Mordecai Kaplan & Eugene Kohn from a prayer by Members of the Faculty of the Colgate Divinity School (1947)

Contributed by: Eugene Kohn, John Paul Williams, Mordecai Kaplan, Members of the Faculty of Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

This “Closing Prayer” for New Year’s Day was adapted by Mordecai Kaplan and Eugene Kohn from a prayer first published by unnamed “Members of the Faculty” of the Colgate-Rochester Divinity School (The Colgate-Rochester Divinity School Bulletin, “Prayers for the New Year,” vol. 19 no. 2 (1947), pp. 65-71). Kaplan & Kohn’s adapted prayer essentially contains excerpts from the prayer of the Faculty (excluding any with explicit Christian content). The adapted prayer was published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p. 25-26. –Aharon Varady . . .

[Prayer on] the Birthday of the United Nations, by Rabbi Avraham Samuel Soltes (1947)

Contributed by: Avraham Samuel Soltes, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

A prayer for United Nations Day, the anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. . . .

Prayer for the United States after World War Ⅱ, by Rabbi Dudley Weinberg (AMVETS, ca. 1947)

Contributed by: Dudley Weinberg, American Veterans [AMVETS], Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

This prayer by Rabbi Dudley Weinberg, National Chaplain of AMVETS after World War II, was included in the anthology, The Prayer Book of the Armed Forces (ed. Daniel A. Poling, 1951), pp. 79-80. The prayer was chosen for publication by the then National Commander of AMVETS, Harold Russell. . . .

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Norman Gerstenfeld on 29 April 1946

Contributed by: Norman Gerstenfeld, the Congressional Record of the United States of America, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 29 April 1946. . . .

אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים | El Malé Raḥamim for Victims of the Shoah (the Netherlands, ca. late 1940s)

Contributed by: Unknown (translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

This is an undated El Malé Raḥamim prayer for the victims of the Shoah translated into Dutch for a Yom Kippur ne’ilah service, likely sometime soon after the Holocaust had ended. To this I have added an English translation for those not fluent in Dutch or Hebrew. We are grateful to Shufra Judaica (Ellie Fisher and David Selis) for sharing a digital copy of this prayer. . . .

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Solomon H. Metz on 6 June 1945

Contributed by: Solomon H. Metz, the Congressional Record of the United States of America, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 6 June 1945. . . .

💬 Iwo Jima Memorial Address at Fifth Marine Division Cemetery, by Rabbi Chaplain Roland B. Gittelsohn (21 March 1945)

Contributed by: the Congressional Record of the United States of America, Roland B. Gittelsohn, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

A chaplain’s eulogy over the fallen soldiers of Iwo Jima (also known under the title, “The Highest and Purest Democracy”) . . .

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