International Human Rights Day (December 10th) • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶּקט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

This is an archive of prayers composed for, or relevant to, the International Human Rights Day, honoring the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the new United Nations. The formal establishment of Human Rights Day occurred at the 317th Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on 4 December 1950, when the General Assembly declared resolution 423(V), inviting all member states and any other interested organizations to celebrate the day as they saw fit. The day is normally marked both by high-level political conferences and meetings and by cultural events and exhibitions dealing with human rights issues. Besides, it is traditionally on 10 December that the five-yearly United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights and Nobel Peace Prize are awarded. Many governmental and non-governmental organizations active in the human rights field also schedule special events to commemorate the day, as do many civil and social-cause organizations.
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ברכת יוצר האדם לכבוד יום זכויות האדם ולכל יום | A Blessing for International Human Rights Day (and every day), by Rabbi Oded Mazor (2012)

Contributor(s):

Oded Mazor

Categories:

International Human Rights Day (December 10th)

Tags:

Haifa, ברכת יוצר האדם birkat yotser haadam, ברכות brakhot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M.

This is a blessing which I originally wrote while working at the Leo Baeck Education Center, Haifa, for the International Human Rights day, December 10, 2012. It is based on the 4th of the Seven Blessings in the Jewish wedding ceremony, with additional quotes from our tradition. This blessing is included in Tfilat HaAdam prayer book, 2021. . . .

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

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Zackary Sholem Berger, 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

Categories:

United Nations, Modern Miscellany, National Brotherhood Week, Addenda, United Nations Day (October 24th), International Human Rights Day (December 10th)

Tags:

Seven Noaḥide Laws, civil declarations and charters, 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M.

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

Man Is Here for the Sake of Others, by Albert Einstein (1930) as excerpted by Rabbi Morrison David Bial

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Morrison David Bial and Albert Einstein

Categories:

Taḥanun, National Brotherhood Week, Labor, Fulfillment, and Parnasah, International Workers' Day (May 1st), International Human Rights Day (December 10th)

Tags:

57th century A.M., anti-fascist, חתימות ḥatimot (concluding prayers), cosmic religion, determinism, 20th century C.E., democracy, Openers

“Man Is Here for the Sake of Others,” a short excerpt from a longer essay by Albert Einstein, was included by Rabbi Morrison David Bial in his collection of supplemental prayers and texts for personal prayer and synagogue services: An Offering of Prayer (Temple Sinai of Summit, New Jersey, 1962). The full text of Einstein’s essay appeared under the title “What I Believe” in Forum and Century 84 (October 1930), no. 4, p. 193-194. David E. Rowe and Robert Schulman (in Einstein on Politics 2007, p. 226) note, “The text was reproduced several times under the title ‘The World as I See It,’ most notably in Mein Weltbild and Ideas and Opinions, and in 1932 the German League of Human Rights released a phonograph recording of Einstein reading a slightly variant version entitled ‘Confession of Belief.'” . . .