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🌐 Day of Democracy (September 15th)

This is an archive of civic prayers composed for, or relevant to, the International Day of Democracy, commemorated by all UN member states for the sake of promoting and upholding democracy, a fundamental principle outlined under Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

First observed in 2008, the day was ratified through United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/62/7, “Support by the United Nations system of the efforts of Governments to promote and consolidate new or restored democracies.” The resolution was introduced after the sixth conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an international organization of national parliaments established in 1889. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; other initiatives include advancing gender parity among legislatures, empowering youth participation in politics, and sustainable development.

Click here to contribute a prayer you have written for the International Day of Democracy.

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💬 De Rechten van den Menschen van den Burger | דברי הברית החקים והמשפטים אשר בין אדם לאדם | The Rights of Man and of the Citizen, after the Declaration of the Batavian Republic and the Emancipation of Dutch Jewry (1795/1798)

This is De Rechten van den Menschen van den Burger (“The Rights of Man and of the Citizen” 1795) and its Hebrew translation, דברי הברית החקים והמשפטים אשר בין אדם לאדם (1798), upon the establishment of the Batavian Republic and the ensuing emancipation of Dutch Jewry in the Netherlands. The text of the Declaration, with nineteen articles, follows after the French Republic’s much expanded Déclaration des droits de l’Homme et du citoyen de 1793 written by Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles. (The French Declaration, ratified by popular vote in July 1793, was a revision of the initial Declaration from 1789 written by the commission that included Hérault de Séchelles and Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just during the period of the French Revolution.) Declarations such as these enshrined the liberal values of the Enlightenment which changed the situation and status of Jews under their aegis. Ultimately, these values were largely enshrined under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by member states of the nascent United Nations in 1945. . . .

Categories: Modern Miscellany, 🇺🇸 Brotherhood Week, 🇫🇷 France, 🇳🇱 the Netherlands, Addenda, 🌐 Day of Democracy (September 15th), 🌐 United Nations Day (October 24th), 🌐 Human Rights Day (December 10th)

Tags: 18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., Batavian Republic, civil declarations and charters, Dutch Jewry, Emancipation, the Enlightenment, Felix Libertate

Contributor(s): Unknown Translator(s), Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

An die Freude | שִׁיר לְשִׂמְחָה | ode to Joy (Shir l’Simḥah), a Hebrew adaptation of the hymn by Friedrich Schiller (ca. late 18th c.)

In 1785 Friedrich Schiller wrote his ‘An die Freude an ode ‘To Joy’, describing his ideal of an equal society united in joy and friendship. Numerous copies and adaptations attest to its popularity at the time. The slightly altered 1803 edition was set to music not only by Ludwig van Beethoven in his Ninth Symphony but also by other composers such as Franz Schubert and Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Hs. Ros. PL B-57 contains a Hebrew translation of the first edition of the ode (apparently rendered before the 1803 alteration), revealing that the spirit of the age even managed to reach the Jewish community in the Netherlands. Whereas the imagery of Schiller’s original is drawn from Greek mythology, the author of the שִׁיר לְשִׂמְחָה relies on the Bible as a source. In fact, he not only utilises Biblical imagery, but successfully avoids any allusion to Hellenistic ideas whatsoever. . . .

Categories: 🇪🇺 European Union, 🇺🇸 Brotherhood Week, 🌐 Day of Democracy (September 15th), Rosh Ḥodesh Adar (אַדָר) Alef & Bet

Tags: 18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., civil declarations and charters, Emancipation, the Enlightenment, euphoria, Felix Libertate, German vernacular prayer, Hebrew translation, liberation, national anthems, Needing Proofreading, Ode to Joy

Contributor(s): Friedrich Schiller, Unknown Translator(s) and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer for Lajos Kossuth, by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise (5 June 1852)

This is an opening prayer offered by Rabbi Dr. Isaac Mayer Wise, before an address by Lajos Kossuth (1802-1894) sponsored by the Young Men’s Hungarian Liberty Association in Albany, New York on 5 June 1852. The prayer was published as part of the “Programme of Exercises,” in The Asmonean (12 June 1852). . . .

Categories: 🇭🇺 Hungary, 🌐 Day of Democracy (September 15th)

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Forty-eighters, Hungarian Revolution of 1848, Lajos Kossuth, Prayers for leaders, Revolutions of 1848

Contributor(s): Isaac Mayer Wise and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

💬 Amendment ⅩⅣ to the Constitution of the United States of America (1866/1868, with translations in Hebrew and Yiddish by Judah David Eisenstein 1891)

The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, initially proposed by Congress on 13 June 1866 and adopted on 9 July 1868 was the second of three Reconstruction Amendments addressing citizenship rights and equal protection under the law. It was enacted in response to issues related to emancipated slaves following the failure of the Slaveholders’ Rebellion (1861-1865). . . .

Categories: Modern Miscellany, 🇺🇸 Juneteenth (Emancipation Day) Readings, Addenda, 🇺🇸 Constitution & Citizenship Day Readings, 🌐 Day of Democracy (September 15th)

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., civil declarations and charters, civil rights, Constitution of the United States, Hebrew translation, Reconstruction Amendments, Yiddish translation

Contributor(s): Judah David Eisenstein (translation), the Congressional Record of the United States of America and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

[Prayer on] the German Crisis, by Rabbi Norman M. Goldburg (3 April 1933)

“The German Crisis” by Rabbi Norman Michael Goldburg, was offered before the California state legislature on 3 April 1933, and published in California Legislature 50th Session 1933: Prayers Offered at the Daily Sessions of the Assembly, pp. 59-60. . . .

Categories: Kristallnacht (9-10 November, 16 Marḥeshvan), 🌐 Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27th), 🇮🇱 Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), 🇺🇸 Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, 🌐 Day of Democracy (September 15th), Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies

Tags: 1933 in Germany, 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., California State Legislature, English vernacular prayer, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, Reichstag Fire Decree, United States

Contributor(s): Norman Michael Goldburg and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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

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

Categories: 🇺🇳 United Nations, 🇺🇸 Brotherhood Week, Modern Miscellany, Addenda, 🌐 Day of Democracy (September 15th), 🌐 United Nations Day (October 24th), 🌐 Human Rights Day (December 10th)

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., civil declarations and charters, שבע מצות בני נח Seven Noaḥide Commandments

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

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Leslie Gutterman on 15 September 2011

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 15 September 2011. . . .

Categories: 🌐 Day of Democracy (September 15th), 🇺🇸 United States of America, Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies

Tags: 112th Congress, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, U.S. Senate, תחינות teḥinot

Contributor(s): the Congressional Record of the United States of America and Leslie Gutterman

A Prayer for Democracies Everywhere with the Welfare of Ukraine Foremost in Mind, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org, 2022)

A prayer for democracy everywhere, with Ukraine foremost in mind. . . .

Categories: Government & Country, 🌐 Day of Democracy (September 15th), 🇺🇦 Ukraine

Tags: 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., democracy

Contributor(s): David Seidenberg and Neohasid [dot] org

מי שברך לשמירת הדמוקרטיה | Mi sheBerakh for Preserving Democracy, by Rabbi Oded Mazor

A mi sheberakh prayer for the preservation of democracy in the face of the judicial reforms of the 37th government of the State of Israel. . . .

Categories: Social Justice, Peace, and Liberty, 🇮🇱 Medinat Yisra'el (the State of Israel), 🌐 Day of Democracy (September 15th)

Tags: 2023 Israeli judicial reform protests, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., מי שברך mi sheberakh, Thirty-seventh government of Israel

Contributor(s): Oded Mazor

Prayer for the International Day of Democracy, by Rabbi Lior Bar-Ami

A civic prayer for the International Day of Democracy, a civic day observed internationally on September 15th. . . .

Categories: 🌐 Day of Democracy (September 15th)

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., democracy, English vernacular prayer

Contributor(s): Lior Bar-Ami

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17

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