This is an archive of prayers, elegies, and other works composed in honor of President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), whose birthday on the 12th of February is celebrated as a civic day in the United States. (The corresponding birthdate in the Jewish calendar year would be commemorated on 26 Shevat.) Click here to contribute a prayer you have written in honor of Abraham Lincoln. Filter resources by Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category
A hymn for peace and the end of war. . . .
This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais (1828-1897), of Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia, was initially delivered on 15 April 1862 (the first day of Passover) at the conclusion of a sermon later printed in The Philadelphia Inquirer on 23 April 1862. A copy of that sermon was preserved in the Sabato Morais Ledger (p. 22, clip no. 23). (The prayer was also read by President Abraham Lincoln, who sent Rabbi Morais an acknowledgment). The letter was read into the congressional record on 29 February 1944 by Arthur G. Klein (1904-1968, D-NY) after it was brought to light by Moshe Davis at the 44th annual meeting of the American Jewish Historical Society on 12-13 February 1944 (Lincoln’s Birthday). . . .
A hymn by the abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, included in the hymnal of Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Philadelphia in 1926. . . .
This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered in conclusion to a sermon delivered at some point days after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln on 15 April 1865, and reprinted in The Philadelphia Inquirer on 20 November 1865. The time of the assassination corresponded to motsei shabbat and the beginning of the 6th day of Passover 5625, and so we can imagine this prayer having been delivered at some point over the remaining two festival days of Pesaḥ, on April 17th or 18th. The prayer was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 24, clipping 029), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.) Next to the clipping, Rabbi Sabato has written, “Andrew Johnson proved anything but a worthy successor to the sainted Abraham Lincoln.” . . .
Exalted are you Lincoln. Who is like you! You were highly respected among Kings and Princes. All that you accomplished you did with a humble spirit. You are singular and cannot be compared to anyone else. Who among the great are like Lincoln? Who can be praised like you? . . .
Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Abraham Lincoln, acrostic, Slaveholders' Rebellion (1861-1865), American Jewry of the United States, assassination, Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, civil rights, elegies, Emancipation, Memorial prayers, Prayers for leaders, Presidents Day, קינות Ḳinōt, United States
Walt Whitman’s famous poem eulogizing President Abraham Lincoln after his assassination, in English with Yiddish translation. . . .
Walt Whitman’s famous poem eulogizing President Abraham Lincoln after his assassination, in English with Yiddish translation. . . .
Walt Whitman’s famous poem eulogizing President Abraham Lincoln after his assassination, in English with Hebrew translation. . . .
An elegy by Walt Whitman for President Abraham Lincoln after his assassination, in English with Hebrew translation. . . .
This prayer by Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, first penned in his diary for 23 August 1942, was first published in The Radical American Judaism of Mordecai M. Kaplan, by Mel Scult (1990). Although the prayer was not included in Kaplan’s Sabbath Prayer Book (New York: The Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945), it was added to the loose-leaf prayerbook he kept at the Society for the Advancement of Judaism synagogue. . . .
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. . . .
“That Religion Be Not a Cloak for Hypocrisy,” by Rabbi Mordecai Menaḥem Kaplan can be found on p. 435-5 of his The Sabbath Prayer Book (New York: The Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945). . . .
Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., communal shame, corruption, difference disagreement and deviance, English vernacular prayer, false piety, חלול ה׳ Ḥillul Hashem, improper use of the crown, inclusion and exclusion, labor exploitation, Psalms 5, religious hypocrisy, tolerance and intolerance
A civic prayer for the Sabbath occurring during Brotherhood Week (February 19th-28th) in the United States. . . .
The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on Lincoln’s Birthday, 12 February 1948. . . .
“Prayer for National Holiday” by Rabbi Morrison David Bial was first published in his anthology, An Offering of Prayer (1962), p. 71, from where this prayer was transcribed. . . .
|