Veterans Day • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶּקט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

This is an archive of prayers for Veterans Day in the United States.
In 1945, World War Ⅱ veteran Raymond Weeks from Birmingham, Alabama, had the idea to expand Armistice Day (commemorated internationally by many countries to mark the anniversary of the end of World War Ⅰ) to celebrate all veterans, not just those who died in World War Ⅰ. Weeks led a delegation to Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, who supported the idea of National Veterans Day. In 1954, at the urging of major U.S. veteran organizations, Armistice Day was repurposed as ‘Veterans Day.’ Veterans Day honors United States military veterans, that is, persons who both served in the United States Armed Forces and who were honorably discharged.
Click here to upload a prayer you have written for, or relevant to, Veterans Day.
Looking for something else?
For an archive of special readings for US Veterans Day, go here.
For an archive of prayers for Armistice Day, go here.
For an archive of special readings for Armistice Day, go here.
For prayers composed for United Nations Day (inaugurating the era ending WWII), go here.
For prayers offered for the well-being of Military Personnel & Veterans, including the Israeli Defense Forces (צה״ל), please visit here.
For prayers composed for or relevant to Memorial Day in the United States, please visit here.
For public readings selected for Memorial Day in the United States, please visit here.

A Prayer for America’s Veterans and Servicemembers on Veterans Day, by David Abernethy

Contributor(s):

David Abernethy

Categories:

Veterans Day

Tags:

United States, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, civic prayers, American Jewry of the United States

This is a brief prayer for America’s veterans and service members on Veterans Day . . .

Veterans Day Prayer at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, by Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff, Chaplain, USN (Retired)

Contributor(s):

Arnold E. Resnicoff

Categories:

Veterans Day

Tags:

58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, United States, 21st century C.E.

This Veterans Day Prayer was first published by Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff, Chaplain, USN (Retired), on his twitter page. He writes, “Because of COVID this is the first Veterans Day in a long time I am not part of a ceremony — and I know that’s the situation for many fellow vets. So I wrote it yesterday to share today as a virtual prayer for Veterans Day 2020.” On 11 November 2022, Rabbi Resnicoff offered the expanded revision of this prayer as offered above at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. . . .

מִי שֶׁבֵּרַךְ | Mi sheBerakh for United States Military War Veterans, by Hinda Tzivia Eisen

Contributor(s):

Cantor Hinda Labovitz

Categories:

After the Aliyot, Veterans Day, Military Personnel & Veterans

Tags:

United States, military, מי שברך mi sheberakh, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M.

A “mi sheberakh” prayer for U.S. war veterans on the shabbat preceding Veterans Day (November 11). . . .

A Prayer at the Dedication of a Monument for War Veterans, by Rabbi Jacob Bosniak (1924)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Jacob Bosniak

Categories:

War, Veterans Day

Tags:

20th century C.E., peace, 57th century A.M., dedications and consecrations, World War Ⅰ, Americanism, Spanish–American War

“Dedication of Monument for War Heroes” was written and delivered by Rabbi Jacob Bosniak at the dedication of a war memorial at Ocean Parkway, “near Fort Hamilton Parkway,” Brooklyn, in 1924. The prayer was first published in Rabbi Bosniak’s לקוטי תפלות Liḳutei Tefilot: Pulpit and Public Prayers (1927), pp. 108-109. We are not familiar with any war memorials in the vicinity of Ocean Parkway near Fort Hamilton Parkway that were dedicated in 1924. (The Theodore Roosevelt Memorial dedicated by veterans of the Spanish-American War in 1924 can be found just off of Ocean Parkway on the southern edge of Asser Levy Park, but that is a far distance from Fort Hamilton Parkway. Perhaps it had been relocated at some point?) If you know the exact location of this memorial, please leave a comment, or contact us. . . .