Prayer after the Earthquake in Guadeloupe, by Rabbi Isaac Lopez (Jamaica, 1843)

Moses N. Nathan (translation) — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 05:05:06 +0000

This is a “Prayer Composed by The Revd. Isaac Lopez, Returning Thanks for our deliverance from the Calamaties [sic] that have befallen our Sister Colonies, for Monday, the 13th of March, 1843.” A prayer of repentance and thanksgiving recited at the Shaare Shalom synagogue in Kingston, Jamaica, it was offered in response to the massive Guadeloupe earthquake of 1843. According to the manuscript in which it is found — it was written by the Revd. Isaac Lopez, and translated into English by the Revd. Moses N. Nathan. What is unclear is what language it was translated *from.*

The notes in the NLI database suggest it was translated from Portuguese, but the manuscript in which it is found has no actual Portuguese text — it was misidentified in the NLI Database as Portuguese but everything not written in English or Hebrew is in Spanish. So perhaps it was in Spanish, only that wasn’t the spoken language of the Jews of Jamaica. Maybe it was written in Hebrew. In any case the original text is, to the best of my knowledge, lost.

Source (lost)	Translation (English)
	Sovereign of the World! Lord of mercy and pardon! Thou who knowest the thoughts and probest the hearts of Thy creatures, and from whose gaze nothing can be concealed — we acknowledge, O Eternal our God, that we are stiff-necked and presumptuous, that we are deficient in good works, and that our manifold transgressions have sundered us from Thee. For the heinousness of our sins hast Thou made the earth to tremble, to heave, and cleave asunder.
	O God, in Thy abundant mercy, be Thou our help: Thou hast shewn us Thy mighty and tremendous hand, but hast hitherto spared us from the terrific calamities which have overwhelmed our unfortunate fellow creatures in other Islands.
	For this will we sing praise unto Thy name, for it is good, for Thy mercy endureth forever.
	In this spirit are we assembled this day to prostrate ourselves, and to acknowledge the innumerable benefits we daily receive at Thy hands, and the great deliverance of ourselves and our little ones from a sudden and awful death.
	Therefore, Holy One of Israel, will we gratefully praise Thee in the Congregation and Assembly.
	We are in duty bound to extol Thy Great and Glorious name, Thou, who art our shield in the time of trouble. We will sing unto the Lord who is of excellent Majesty: We will enumerate the mercies of God, and in Hymns and Psalms, chaunt Thy glorious attributes, who dwellest above the highest heavens. Fathers and Children, the Mother and the Maiden, the Old and the Young, shall unite in this soul-inspiring duty.
	O! reject not our homage, feeble and inexpressive though it be, when compared with the songs of Seraphim and Cherabim [sic]. Our faculties are limited, and are inadequate to declare thine excellencies.
	Blessed be thou, O Lord, by the mouth of the righteous, exalted by the lips of the upright, hallowed by the tongue of the pious, glorified in the midst of thy Saints, and among all the Congregations of Israel. Let all who breathe, praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Amen!

Source(s)

Prayer after the Earthquake in Guadeloupe, by Rabbi Isaac Lopez (Jamaica, 1843), p. 1

Prayer after the Earthquake in Guadeloupe, by Rabbi Isaac Lopez (Jamaica, 1843), p. 2-3

Moses N. Nathan (translation) • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶקְט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

Prayer after the Earthquake in Guadeloupe, by Rabbi Isaac Lopez (Jamaica, 1843)

Source(s)