The Megillah of Esther: An Original English Rendition (set to trop) by Ḥazzan Jack Kessler was first published in 1990. This second “version 2.0” edition was published in 2016. . . .

This Prayer for Peace by Samuel Avital was composed in January 1984 for a gathering of spiritual teachers from all over the world at Mt. Sinai in March 1984. A month later, the State of Israel would return the Sinai to Egyptian sovereignty. While that event was not documented in any media, the prayer was first published in Four Worlds Journal vol. 2 no. 4, (January 1985), pp. 16-17. Of the event itself, Samuel Avital adds, “I performed there some of my mime performances like Jacob & Angel, Black & White and others.” The prayer for peace is included in Samuel Avital’s Passover Haggadah (2021). . . .

This is a kavvanah (intention) for anyone in a desperate circumstance of needing to eat or drink for their mortal health, to do so with the full confidence that they are fulfilling a mitsvah required for them in the Torah, to preserve their life. The kavvanah was related by Rav Yitschok Zilberstein in his Toras haYoledes (1983), chapter 52, section 10, p. 357 (pp. 331-332 in the bilingual edition 1989), “הועתק ממחזור עתיק” (as “copied from an old maḥzor”). Unfortunately, we can’t provide a more direct reference to this maḥzor. If you know, please leave a comment or contact us. . . .

A ḳinnah composed by a concentration camp survivor. . . .

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 8 June 1976. . . .

A prayer written for the play David Dances (1997) by playwright Stephen Mo Hanan. . . .

Variations of the original three lines culminating with “…walk beside me…” first appear in high school yearbooks beginning in 1970. The earliest recorded mention we could find was in The Northern Light, the 1970 yearbook of North Attleboro High School, Massachusetts. In the Jewish world of the early to mid-1970s, a young Moshe Tanenbaum began transmitting the lines at Jewish summer camps. In 1979, as Uncle Moishy, Tanenbaum published a recording of the song under the title “v’Ohavta” (track A4 on The Adventures of Uncle Moishy and the Mitzvah Men, volume 2). . . .

A traditional tefilat haderekh supplemented by a 20th century prayer for airplane travel. . . .

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 2 May 1968 in the event of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel. . . .

“baShanah haBa’ah” (Next Year) by Ehud Manor written in 1968 in memory of his brother Yehudah. . . .

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 17 April 1967. . . .

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 27 April 1966. . . .

This is the scholar Dr. Jakob Petuchowski’s translation of the Amidah for Shabbat Minḥah from his Shabbat Minḥah prayer-pamphlet (1966), p.5r-13r. . . .

This is an adaptation of the “Last Rites of Bokonon” from the 99th chapter of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Cat’s Cradle (1963) translated by Amatsyah Porat for the 1978 Hebrew language edition of the novel. . . .

“Tefilat haDerekh l’Tsevet haTsolelot,” a prayer by Rabbi Shlomo Goren for missions of submariners in the service of the IDF was first published in his Siddur Tefilot l’Ḥayyal (p. 76 in the 1963 printing). . . .

Rabbi Shlomo Goren’s “Tefilah Lifnei Yetsiah laQrav,” a prayer for IDF soldiers before embarking on a combat mission was first published in his Siddur Tefilot l’Ḥayyal (pp. 72-73 in the 1963 printing). . . .

“Tefilat haDerekh l’Tayas,” a prayer for sorties by military aviators in the service of the IDF by Rabbi Shlomo Goren was first published in his Siddur Tefilot l’Ḥayyal. . . .

“Tefilat haDerekh l’Tsanḥan,” a prayer by Rabbi Shlomo Goren for missions of paratroopers in the service of the IDF was first published in his Siddur Tefilot l’Ḥayyal (p. 75 in the 1963 printing). . . .

This undated “Service for the Blessing of a Baby” 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. 339-341. Based on the name of the baby for whom the service was performed, we feel confident in dating this service to June 1962. . . .

The text of the prayer, haNoten Teshuah, as adapted for Queen Elizabeth II. . . .

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 20 April 1961. . . .

A weekday prayerbook (not including the prayers for Shabbat or specific festivals beyond Rosh Hodesh and intermediate festival days) prepared by the Prayerbook Commission of the Rabbinical Association of America under the chair of Rabbi Gershon Hadas and published in 1961. . . .

In 1960, the Publishing House of the Composers’ League in cooperation with the Center for Culture and Education (בית הוצאה של איגוד הקומפוזיטורים בשיתוף עם המרכז לתרבות ולחינוך), published the songbook זמר־חן (Zemer Ḥén), containing the now popular Ḥanukkah song and melody “Banu Ḥoshekh l’Garesh” (p. 49), originally simply titled “Ḥanukkah” by Sara Levi-Tanaiׁ (1910-2005). . . .

The prayer for peace and prayer for the government of the Choral Synagogue in Moscow in 1956. . . .

The mi sheberakh for the IDF composed by Rabbi Shlomo Goren in the context of the Suez Crisis and Israel-Egypt conflict of 1956. . . .

This manual has been devised for the express purpose of giving the Rabbi, or anyone officiating at a Jewish ceremonial or ritual, a concise and practical aid that will facilitate the task of officiating , and will obviate the necessity of resorting to the voluminous literature pertaining thereto. . . .

This “Prayer for the Success of the Four-Power Conference at Geneva, Switzerland (18 July 1955)” was composed in 1955 by the Office of the Chief Rabbi (of the United Hebrew Congregations of the UK and the Commonwealth) for the success of a meeting of the “Big Four” (President Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States, Prime Minister Anthony Eden of Britain, Premier Nikolai A. Bulganin of the Soviet Union, and Prime Minister Edgar Faure of France), ostensibly to promote international trade, but hopefully as well, to reduce international tensions and make some progress towards ending the Cold War. . . .

The popular Israeli song from the 1950s. . . .

Prayer of Thanksgiving on the Occasion of the 70th Anniversary of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, to Be Recited on Sabbath 22nd May 1954 / 19th Iyyar 5714 after the Prayer of the Queen and the Royal Family (London: 1954, Office of the Chief Rabbi) . . .

The service in 1953 by the S&P Synagogue (Bevis Marks, London) in celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth. . . .

This is the prayer offered at the “Memorial Service on Friday, 15th February, 1952 (Eve of Sabbath, 19th Shebat, 5712) at the New West End Synagogue (London, W. 2) for His Late Majesty King George (VI)” as given by the Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (officiated by Dayan Dr. I. Grunfeld and Rabbi Dr. A. Altmann, M.A. [Joint Deputies for the Chief Rabbi], the Rev. Ephraim Levine, M.A., the Rev. R.H. Levy, M.A.). Many thanks to Jeffrey Maynard for providing the page images of the service containing this prayer at his blog, Jewish Miscellanies. . . .

This untitled prayer written by Isaac Bashevis Singer on the back of a receipt (dated 1 March 1952) was discovered by David Stromberg in 2014 in the archives at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas, and published online by Tablet (1, 2) with permission of the Susan Schulman Literary Agency. . . .

A seder seliḥot (a penitential prayer service) for the first day of seliḥot, in the week prior to Rosh ha-Shanah, as prepared and translated by Philip Paltiel Birnbaum and published by Hebrew Publishing Co., in 1952. . . .

A prayer offered for parents praying for the safety and welfare of their adult children entering the armed forces. . . .

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. . . .

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

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. . . .

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. . . .

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. . . .

“Courage to Withstand the Ridicule of the Worldly,” by Rabbi Mordecai Menaḥem Kaplan can be found on p. 433-4 of his The Sabbath Prayer Book (New York: The Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945). . . .

The Preamble (followed by the first article of the first chapter) of the Charter of the United Nations from 1945 translated into Hebrew by the State of Israel in 1949. . . .

“Where We Can Find God,” a prayer-poem inspired by passages appearing in David Frishman’s Hebrew translation of Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali. . . .

“God the Life of Nature” by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan was first published in his Sabbath Prayer Book (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1945), p. 382-391, where it appears side-by-side with its translation into Hebrew by Abraham Regelson. . . .

A service and prayer for Memorial Day in the United States, containing a variation of El Malé Raḥamim, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan. . . .

“That Religion Be Not a Cloak for Hypocrisy,” by Rabbi Mordecai Menaḥem Kaplan can be found on p. 435-5 of his The Sabbath Prayer Book (New York: The Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945). . . .

“Salvation through Labor,” adapted by Rabbi Mordecai Menaḥem Kaplan from the writings of Aaron David Gordon, can be found on p. 548-551 of his The Sabbath Prayer Book (New York: The Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945). The translation was attributed in the Sabbath Prayer Book to its editors (Mordecai Kaplan & Eugene Kohn, assisted by Ira Eisenstein and Milton Steinberg). . . .

A prayer-poem by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan based on the writings of Rabbi Leo Baeck, as published in the Sabbath Prayer Book (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1945), p.426-7. . . .

“Prayer in behalf of one celebrating a birthday,” by Rabbi Mordecai Menaḥem Kaplan can be found on p. 494-497 of his The Sabbath Prayer Book (New York: The Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945) . . .

“God’s Goodness — the Testament of Nature” by Rabbi Milton Steinberg appears on pages 553-556 of The Sabbath Prayer Book (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945) as part of a service for Thanksgiving Day. It is the last of four “testaments,” the other three being the testament of Man, Israel, and America respectively. . . .