United Nations Day (October 24th) • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶּקט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

This is an archive of prayers composed for, or relevant to, United Nations Day, the anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, ratified by its member states on 24 October 1945, at the end of World War II.

In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly declared the day as one which “shall be devoted to making known to the people of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for” its work. In 1971, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a further resolution (United Nations Resolution 2782) declaring that United Nations Day shall be an international observance or international holiday and recommended that it should be observed as a public holiday by United Nations member states. (This summary contains material derived from Wikipedia)

Click here to contribute a prayer you have written for United Nations Day.

Looking for something else?

For prayers composed for, or relevant to, National Brotherhood Week in the United States, visit here.

For prayers composed in response to war, visit here.

Prayer for Universal Peace, by Rabbi Hillel Lavery-Yisraëli (2019)

Contributor(s):	R' Hillel Ḥayyim Lavery-Yisraëli
Categories:	National Brotherhood Week, United Nations Day (October 24th), Social Justice, Peace, and Liberty
Tags:	Christchurch mosque shootings, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, interfaith prayer
	A prayer for universal peace offered by Hillel Yisraeli-Lavery as an opening prayer to a talk given in Hamilton, Canada by 2011 Nobel Prize winner Leymah Gbowee. . . .

Prayer for Human Solidarity, by Rabbi Ḥanan Schlesinger

Contributor(s):	Ḥanan Schlesinger
Categories:	National Brotherhood Week, United Nations Day (October 24th), Social Justice, Peace, and Liberty
Tags:	Israelis and Palestinians, interdependence, human solidarity, interconnectedness, תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Jewish particularism, particularism and universalism
	A prayer for human solidarity to mitigate the danger that comes when our particular identity as Bnei Yisrael greatly eclipses our universal identity as Bnei Adam. . . .

תפילה למעמד המשותף | أغنية الحياة والسلام | Prayer of Mothers for Life and Peace, by Sheikha Ibtisam Maḥameed & Rabbi Tamar Elad-Appelbaum

Contributor(s):	R' Amichai Lau-Lavie (translation), Tamar Elad-Appelbaum and Sheikha Ibtisam Maḥameed
Categories:	Conflicts over Sovereignty and Dispossession, United Nations Day (October 24th), Social Justice, Peace, and Liberty
Tags:	58th century A.M., Israeli–Palestinian conflict, מדינת ישראל Medinat Yisrael, فلسطين Filasṭīn Palestine, 21st century C.E.
	A prayer in Hebrew and Arabic (with translations in English and German) of solidarity of mothers for there to be peace in the world for the sake of their children. . . .

Closing Prayer for United Nations Day, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription), John Paul Williams, Eugene Kohn and Mordecai Kaplan
Categories:	United Nations Day (October 24th)
Tags:	ecumenical prayers, United States, 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, civic prayers, American Jewry of the United States, anti-war, world government, 20th century C.E.
	This closing prayer for United Nations Day was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p. 272-273. . . .

Opening Prayer for United Nations Day, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription), John Paul Williams, Eugene Kohn and Mordecai Kaplan
Categories:	United Nations Day (October 24th)
Tags:	20th century C.E., ecumenical prayers, United States, 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, civic prayers, American Jewry of the United States, interdependence
	This opening prayer for United Nations Day, “The Significance of the Day,” was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p. 249-250. . . .

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:	Addenda, Modern Miscellany, National Brotherhood Week, United Nations Day (October 24th)
Tags:	civil declarations and charters, 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., Seven Noaḥide Laws
	The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English with its translations in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino. . . .

[Prayer on] the Birthday of the United Nations, by Rabbi Avraham Samuel Soltes (1947)

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Avraham Samuel Soltes
Categories:	United Nations Day (October 24th)
Tags:	20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., North American Jewry, English vernacular prayer, Universal Peace, universalist prayers
	A prayer for United Nations Day, the anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. . . .

מבוא לאמנת האומות המאוחדות | Preamble and Introduction to the United Nations Charter (1945)

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown Translator(s), Sol Bloom, Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve and Jan Christian Smuts
Categories:	Modern Miscellany, United Nations Day (October 24th)
Tags:	Universal Peace, World War II, civil declarations and charters, 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M.
	The Preamble (followed by the first article of the first chapter) of the Charter of the United Nations from 1945 translated into Hebrew by the State of Israel in 1949. . . .

War Can Be Abolished, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription), John Paul Williams, Eugene Kohn and Mordecai Kaplan
Categories:	United Nations Day (October 24th), War
Tags:	20th century C.E., ecumenical prayers, United States, 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, civic prayers, American Jewry of the United States, anti-war
	“War Can Be Abolished,” was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p. 262-265. . . .

Iwo Jima Memorial Address at Fifth Marine Division Cemetery, by Rabbi Chaplain Roland B. Gittelsohn (21 March 1945)

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription), United States Congressional Record and Roland B. Gittelsohn
Categories:	Modern Miscellany, National Brotherhood Week, Memorial (Decoration) Day Readings, United Nations Day (October 24th)
Tags:	United States, civil declarations and charters, democracy, 58th century A.M., World War II, Eulogy, anti-fascist, 20th century C.E., pluralism, anti-racist
	A chaplain’s eulogy over the fallen soldiers of Iwo Jima (also known under the title, “The Highest and Purest Democracy”) . . .

Prayer for Brotherhood, by Stephen Vincent Benét on United Nations Flag Day (14 June 1942)

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Stephen Vincent Benét
Categories:	Lincoln's Birthday (February 12th), National Brotherhood Week, United Nations Day (October 24th), Flag Day (June 14)
Tags:	English vernacular prayer, Universal Peace, World War II, vexillology, universalist prayers, 20th century C.E., United States, 58th century A.M.
	This prayer by Stephen Vincent Benét (1898-1943) was first publicly read in 1942 in the course of a United Nations Day speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. . . .

A Prayer for Peace and Goodwill Among the Nations of the Earth, by Rabbi Jonas Kaminkowski (1927)

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Jonas Kaminkowski
Categories:	National Brotherhood Week, United Nations Day (October 24th), Social Justice, Peace, and Liberty
Tags:	20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., World War I, League of Nations
	A prayer for intra-national peace, post WWI. . . .

Three stanzas adapted from “Worship,” a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier (1848)

Contributor(s):	Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Max D. Klein and John Greenleaf Whittier
Categories:	Davvening, Lincoln's Birthday (February 12th), National Brotherhood Week, United Nations Day (October 24th)
Tags:	Ethical Humanism, Openers, 57th century A.M., Philadelphia, English vernacular prayer, hymns, anti-war, 19th century C.E.
	A hymn for peace and the end of war. . . .

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