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🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November)

This is an archive of prayers, prayer-poems, and songs for Thanksgiving Day in the United States, a civic festival observed on the fourth Thursday of November.

Click here to contribute a prayer you have written, transcribed, or translated for Thanksgiving Day.

Resources filtered by TAG: “20th century C.E.” (clear filter)

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Prayer for a Thanksgiving Day Shabbat Service in Commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of Jewish Settlement in the United States (1905)

This prayer was prepared for use in a special service on the Sabbath before Thanksgiving Day, 1905, in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the settlement of Jews in the United States. It was published in The two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of the Jews in the United States, 1655-1905 (New York Co-operative Society: 1906), pp. 253-256. (The prayer also appears in the 14th volume of Proceedings of the American Jewish Historical Society (1906).) It was prepared by a committee consisting of a seven-starred constellation of prominent Reform and early Conservative movement rabbis: Rabbi Dr. Henry Pereira Mendes (chair), Rabbi Dr. M.H. Harris, Rabbi Dr. Philip Klein, Rabbi Dr. Kaufmann Kohler, Rabbi Dr. Solomon Schechter, Rabbi Dr. Samuel Schulman, and Rabbi Dr. Joseph Silverman. . . .

Categories: 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November), 🇺🇸 United States of America

Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, English vernacular prayer, Landing Day, North American Jewry

Contributor(s): Maurice Henry Harris, Philip Klein, Kaufmann Kohler, Henry Pereira Mendes, Solomon Schechter, Samuel Schulman, Joseph Silverman and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Opening prayer at the 250th Anniversary of Jewish Settlement in the United States — by Rabbi Joseph Silverman (1905)

The opening prayer offered by Rabbi Joseph Silverman for “the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of the Jews in the United States, 1655-1905,” at Carnegie Hall, New York City, Thanksgiving Day, 30 November 1905. The prayer was published in the Publications Of The American Jewish Historical Society number 14 (1906). . . .

Categories: 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November), 🇺🇸 United States of America

Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, English vernacular prayer, Landing Day, North American Jewry

Contributor(s): Joseph Silverman and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

מײן אַמעריקא (אונזער נײע הימנע) | My America (Our New Hymn) by Morris Rosenfeld (1917)

“My America (Our New Hymn)” was written by Morris Rosenfeld and published by the Jewish Morning Journal sometime mid-April 1917. On April 2nd, the United States had entered the World War against Germany and its allies. In the xenophobic atmosphere of the United States during World War Ⅰ, Representative Isaac Siegel (1880-1947), R-NY, offered the hymn as evidence of the patriotism of America’s “foreign-born” Jewish immigrants. The poem in its English translation was added to the Congressional Record on 18 April 1917 in an extension of remarks. Xenophobia in the United States though did not ebb. Nearly a year later, on April 4, 1918, a German immigrant, Robert Prager, was lynched in Collinsville, Illinois. . . .

Categories: 🇺🇸 Independence Day (July 4th), 🇺🇸 Veterans Day (11 November), 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November)

Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, Patriotic hymns, Prayers as poems, rhyming translation, United States home front during World War Ⅰ, World War Ⅰ, Yiddish translation, Yiddish vernacular prayer

Contributor(s): Morris Rosenfeld and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

הַנּוֹתֵן תְּשׁוּעָה | Prayer for the Government on Thanksgiving Day, offered by Rabbi David de Sola Pool (1945)

The Prayer for the Government offered by Rabbi David de Sola Pool in his service for Thanksgiving Day in 1945. . . .

Categories: 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November), 🇺🇸 United States of America

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, הנותן תשועה haNotén Teshuah, Nusaḥ Sefaradi, United States

Contributor(s): David de Sola Pool and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

God’s Goodness — the Testament of America, a prayer for Thanksgiving Day by Rabbi Milton Steinberg (1945)

“God’s Goodness — the Testament of America” by Rabbi Milton Steinberg appears on pages 559-560 of The Sabbath Prayer Book (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945) as part of a service for Thanksgiving Day. It is the last of four “testaments,” the other three being the testament of Nature, Man, and Israel, respectively. . . .

Categories: 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November)

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, English vernacular prayer

Contributor(s): Milton Steinberg and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

God’s Goodness — the Testament of [Am] Yisrael, a prayer for Thanksgiving Day by Rabbi Milton Steinberg (1945)

“God’s Goodness — the Testament of Israel” by Rabbi Milton Steinberg appears on page 558 of The Sabbath Prayer Book (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945) as part of a service for Thanksgiving Day. It is the last of four “testaments,” the other three being the testament of Nature, Man, and America respectively. . . .

Categories: 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November)

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., עם ישראל Am Yisrael, American Jewry of the United States, English vernacular prayer

Contributor(s): Milton Steinberg and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

God’s Goodness — the Testament of Man, a prayer for Thanksgiving Day by Rabbi Milton Steinberg (1945)

“God’s Goodness — the Testament of Man” by Rabbi Milton Steinberg appears on pages 556-557 of The Sabbath Prayer Book (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945) as part of a service for Thanksgiving Day. It is the last of four “testaments,” the other three being the testament of Nature, Israel, and America respectively. . . .

Categories: 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November)

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, בני אדם bnei adam, English vernacular prayer

Contributor(s): Milton Steinberg and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

God’s Goodness — the Testament of Nature, a prayer for Thanksgiving Day by Rabbi Milton Steinberg (1945)

“God’s Goodness — the Testament of Nature” by Rabbi Milton Steinberg appears on pages 553-556 of The Sabbath Prayer Book (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, 1945) as part of a service for Thanksgiving Day. It is the last of four “testaments,” the other three being the testament of Man, Israel, and America respectively. . . .

Categories: 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November)

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, English vernacular prayer, hymns of creation, Nature

Contributor(s): Milton Steinberg and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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

This closing prayer for Thanksgiving Day was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p. 327-328 — following at the end of a number of readings selected by Mordecai Kaplan, Eugene Kohn, and J. Paul Williams for the day. . . .

Categories: 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November)

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, civic prayers, ecumenical prayers, English vernacular prayer

Contributor(s): Eugene Kohn, John Paul Williams, Mordecai Kaplan and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Opening Prayer on the Significance of Thanksgiving Day, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)

This opening prayer for Thanksgiving 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. 304 — as preface to a number of readings selected by Mordecai Kaplan, Eugene Kohn, and J. Paul Williams for the day. . . .

Categories: 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November)

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, civic prayers, ecumenical prayers, English vernacular prayer, Problematic prayers

Contributor(s): Eugene Kohn, John Paul Williams, Mordecai Kaplan and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Thanksgiving Day Prayer, by Rabbi Max Klein (1954)

A prayer of gratitude to be recited on Thanksgiving Day (or the Shabbat prior). . . .

Categories: 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November)

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, English vernacular prayer, Philadelphia, thanksgiving, United States

Contributor(s): Max D. Klein and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer for National Holiday, by Rabbi Morrison David Bial (1962)

“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. . . .

Categories: 🇺🇸 Abraham Lincoln's Birthday (February 12th), 🇺🇸 George Washington's Birthday (3rd Monday of February), 🇺🇸 Independence Day (July 4th), 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November), 🇺🇸 United States of America

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., civil rights, English vernacular prayer, United States

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

Teach Us to Be Thankful, by Rabbi Louis M. Epstein (1962)

“Teach Us to Be Thankful” by Rabbi Louis M. Epstein was first published in Rabbi Morrison David Bial’s anthology, An Offering of Prayer (1962), p. 36, from where this prayer was transcribed. . . .

Categories: 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November)

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., anti-war, Cold War (1947–1953), English vernacular prayer, thankfulness

Contributor(s): Louis M. Epstein and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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Manischewitz matsah box cover art issued in honor of the 1654 Tercentenary arrival of "23 [Jewish] souls big and little to New Amsterdam." (Unknown artist, 1954) -- in the collection of the American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, Mass. and New York, N.Y., American Jewish Tercentenary Celebration Collection, I - 11 : Series IV, Box 7, Folder 5

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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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