Contributed by: Stephen Vincent Benét, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This prayer by Stephen Vincent Benét (1898-1943) was first publicly read in 1942 in the course of a United Nations Day speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. . . .
Contributed by: Mordecai Kaplan, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This prayer by Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, first penned in his diary for 23 August 1942, was first published in The Radical American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan, by Mel Scult (1990). Although the prayer was not included in Kaplan’s Sabbath Prayer Book (New York: The Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945), it was added to the loose-leaf prayerbook he kept at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism synagogue. . . .
Contributed by: Lilian Helen Montagu, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This “Special Prayer” for a Youth Service (11 April 1942) by the Hon. Lily H. Montagu (1873-1963) from the archives of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, London, was published in, Lily Montagu: Sermons, Addresses, Letters, and Prayers (ed. Ellen M. Umansky, 1985), p. 351. April 11th that year would have corresponded to the 24th of Nissan, i.e., a day following Passover 5702. . . .
Contributed by: Mel Scult, Mordecai Kaplan, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A prayer on praying, singing, and Torah learning by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan. . . .
Contributed by: Joseph Herman Hertz, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The text of the prayer, haNoten Teshuah, as adapted for King George VI. . . .
Contributed by: Mordecai Kaplan, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“The Pious Man” is a prayer-poem from Mordecai Kaplan’s diary entry, September 19, 1942, on the virtue of piety as expressed in an essay published earlier that year by Abraham Joshua Heschel. Piety was a Roman virtue, but in this essay, A.J. Heschel appears to be describing an idealization of Ḥasidut. . . .
Contributed by: Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A prayer for the welfare of the government in Yiddish from A Naye Shas Tkhine Rav Pninim (after 1933). . . .
Contributed by: Ben Tsiyon Meir Ḥai Uziel, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This is the תפילת הנוטע (Prayer for Planting [trees]) by Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Ḥai Uziel. . . .
Contributed by: Lilian Helen Montagu, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This “Prayer for Service” on Shabbat Teshuvah (27 September 1941) by the Hon. Lily H. Montagu (1873-1963) from the archives of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, London, was published in, Lily Montagu: Sermons, Addresses, Letters, and Prayers (ed. Ellen M. Umansky, 1985), pp. 350-351. . . .
Contributed by: David de Sola Pool, Eugene Kohn, Solomon B. Freehof, the National Jewish Welfare Board, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This “Prayer in Temptation” can be found in the Abridged Prayer Book for the Jews in the Armed Forces of the United States (Jewish Welfare Board 1941), p. 120. As far as we know, this prayer is unique to this prayerbook, although the text recalls the waking prayer “Elohai Neshama.” . . .
Contributed by: David de Sola Pool, Eugene Kohn, Solomon B. Freehof, the National Jewish Welfare Board, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This “Prayer for Home” can be found in the Abridged Prayer Book for the Jews in the Armed Forces of the United States (Jewish Welfare Board 1941), p. 119. . . .
Contributed by: Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This is a vocalized transcription and translation of the World War Ⅱ era song, “Shir haGe’ulah (Song of Redemption)” from the source images shared in A Tribute to Rabbi Mordechai Meir Hakohen Bryski v”g Bryski (Rabbi Mordechai A. Katz, 2017), pp. 19-20. The song is also known by its incipit, “Heḥayyeinu El.” . . .
Contributed by: Lilian Helen Montagu, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This undated “Special prayer for Service of Intercession” by the Hon. Lily H. Montagu (1873-1963) from the archives of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, London, was published in, Lily Montagu: Sermons, Addresses, Letters, and Prayers (ed. Ellen M. Umansky, 1985), pp. 356-357. From the contents, it reads as if it was composed in response to the terrifying news of the tortuous treatment of European Jews during the Holocaust. In 1940, other “intercession” services were offered with comparative prayers; for example, this one by the chief rabbi J.H. Hertz included in the Prayer Book for H.M. Forces. . . .
Contributed by: Joseph Herman Hertz, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the UHC of the UK & the Commonwealth, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“Prayer for Intercession,” almost certainly written by Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz, was published in the Prayer Book of Jewish Members of H.M. Forces (Office of the Chief Rabbi 1940), pp. 18-19. . . .
Contributed by: Joseph Herman Hertz, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the UHC of the UK & the Commonwealth, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“Prayer Before a Battle” appears at the start of Prayer Book of Jewish Members of H.M. Forces (Office of the Chief Rabbi 1940), p. 5. . . .
Contributed by: Joseph Herman Hertz, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the UHC of the UK & the Commonwealth, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This prayer for victory and deliverance in the war against Nazi Germany, simply titled “War Prayer,” appears in the Prayer Book of Jewish Members of H.M. Forces (Office of the Chief Rabbi 1940), pp. 16-17. Sections of the prayer were adapted from the prayer on the declaration of war by Rabbi Hertz in 1914 at the outset of World War I. In the preface to the payer book, Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz specifically mentions this prayer, among others, as having been newly revised for this publication. The initial version of the prayer, likely to have been written by Rabbi Hertz, was published by the Office of the Chief Rabbi for a 17 Tammuz service in July 1938. A revision was disseminated after Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938). This is the third version of the prayer. . . .
Contributed by: Joseph Herman Hertz, Mark Gollop, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the UHC of the UK & the Commonwealth, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“Prayer for Men on Active Service” is the opening prayer in the Prayer Book of Jewish Members of H.M. Forces (Office of the Chief Rabbi 1940), p. 4. . . .
Contributed by: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Hillel Goelman, Aharon Roth, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A good preparation and a bridge for the next phase of prayer, as you enter into the world of B’riyah,[foot]i.e., the Shaḥarit service beginning with the blessings prededing the Shema[/foot] is Reb Ahrele Roth’s list of Mitsvot One Can Do With Consciousness Alone. Reb Ahrele Roth, a”h, wrote a list of 32 mitsvot whose fulfillment is completed in the brain, the heart and the mouth. (The Hebrew alphabetical equivalent of 32 is ל”ב, the letters of which spell the Hebrew word LEV for Heart.) –Reb Zalman . . .
Contributed by: Lilian Helen Montagu, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
An essay on the praxis of prayer as contained in “Club Letter №3” (March 1939) written by the Hon. Lily H. Montagu (1873-1963) and found in the Private Collection of Hannah Feldman, London. The essay was published in, Lily Montagu: Sermons, Addresses, Letters, and Prayers (ed. Ellen M. Umansky, 1985), pp. 51-54. . . .
Contributed by: Abraham Joshua Heschel, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Abraham Joshua Heschel’s essay “Das Gebet Als Äußerung Und Einfühlung” published in Monatsschrift Für Geschichte Und Wissenschaft Des Judenthums, vol. 83 (1939). . . .