Contributed by: Joseph Herman Hertz, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations, 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: 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 United Hebrew Congregations, 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: 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: Joseph Herman Hertz, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations, 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 United Hebrew Congregations, 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: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Landman, the Congressional Record of the United States of America
This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the second month of the second session of the 76th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 85 part 1 (23 October 1939), p. 755.
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Alfred Geiger Moses, the Congressional Record of the United States of America
This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the sixth month of the first session of the 76th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 84 part 7 (16 June 1939), p. 7280.
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: Joseph Herman Hertz, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A prayer for the success of the London Conference of 1939 which ultimately resulted in the publication of the 1939 White Paper.
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).
Contributed by: Henry Sapoznik (translation/Yiddish), Irving Berlin, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The words of the prayer for Armistice Day 1938, “God Bless America” by Irving Berlin, in English and Yiddish.
Contributed by: Joseph Herman Hertz, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
An untitled prayer on behalf of German Jewry under Nazi oppression disseminated in Bombay, likely after Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938).
Contributed by: Leo Baeck, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation)
This is Rabbi Dr. Leo Beack’s prayer for his wife Natalie Baeck née Hamburger (1878-1937), dated 7 March 1937. Natalie had died two days prior on 5 March.
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Edward T. Sandrow, the Congressional Record of the United States of America
This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the second month of the second session of the 74th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 80 part 2 (3 February 1936), pp. 1363-1364.
Contributed by: Mojżesz Schorr, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“Modlitwa za Rzeczpospolitą” by Rabbi Moses Schorr was published in his סדר תפלה Modlitewnik na wszystkie dni w roku oraz modlitwę za Rzeczpospolitą (1936), recto of p. 232.
Contributed by: Leo Baeck, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This is the prayer which Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck had disseminated to Jewish communities throughout Germany to recite on Yom Kippur, 10 October 1935. The German text here is as found in the archival notes of Helmut Grünewald, Ein Judenjunge durfte kein Deutscher sein (Bristol, 1998), pp. 20-21 in the collection of the Leo Baeck Institute. The English translation is as published by Dr. Michael Meyer in Rabbi Leo Baeck: Living a Religious Imperative in Troubled Times (2020), pp. 106-107.
Contributed by: Sidney Tedesche, 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 26 March 1935.
Contributed by: Shem Tov Gaguine, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“A Thanksgiving in Commemoration of Moses Maimonides” with its accompanying Hashkabah is found in the Service of Praise and Thanksgiving to Commemorate the 800th Anniversary of the Birth of Moses Maimonides prepared by Bevis Marks Synagogue in London on 27 May 1935.

