הָאִינְטֶרְנַצְיוֹנָל | the Internationale, by Eugène Pottier (1871); Hebrew translation by Avraham Shlonsky (1921)

The Chanson Internationale (‘International Song’) was originally written in 1871 by Eugène Pottier, a French public transportation worker, member of the International Workingmen’s Association (The First International), and activist of the Paris Commune. He wrote it to pay tribute to the commune violently destroyed that year. The song became the official anthem of The Second International, of the Comintem, and between 1921 and 1944 also of the Soviet Union. Most socialist and communist parties adopted it as their anthem during the last decades of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, adapting it in local languages (Russian, Yiddish, etc.) to their particular ideological framework. The anthem was first translated into Hebrew by Avraham Shlonsky in 1921. . . .

Categories: 🇫🇷 France, 🌐 International Workers' Day (May 1st), Nirtsah, 🇺🇸 Labor Day (1st Monday of September)

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., anti-fascist, Humanist, Humanist Judaism, internationalism, Labor Zionism, national anthems, Paris Commune, Siege of Paris (1870–1871), socialism, זמירות zemirot

Contributor(s): Ron Kuzar (translation), Avraham Shlonsky (translation), Eugène Edine Pottier and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

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

“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.'” . . .

Categories: Labor, Fulfillment, and Parnasah, 🇺🇸 National Brotherhood Week, 🌐 International Workers' Day (May 1st), 🤦︎ Taḥanun (Nefilat Apayim), 🌐 Human Rights Day (December 10th)

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

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

🌐 International Workers’ Day (May 1st)

הָאִינְטֶרְנַצְיוֹנָל | the Internationale, by Eugène Pottier (1871); Hebrew translation by Avraham Shlonsky (1921)

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