This is an archive of unique and representative prayers offered for the welfare of one’s government and country in the Jewish Diaspora. (For specific historical versions of the prayer “Hanoten Teshuah” not appearing in this category, look under the category for the country in which it was offered.) Click here to contribute a prayer you have written, or a translation of an existing prayer. Filter resources by Collaborator Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
A prayer composed for honoring Napoleon Ⅰ by the emancipated Jews of France. . . .
“[Gebet] Für den Regenten (Prayer for the Regent)” was first published in Pereẓ (Peter) Beer’s Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauenzimmer mosaischer Religion (1815), as teḥinah №11 on pp. 31-32 where it was rendered in Judeo-German. The German rendering transcribed above follows teḥinah №11 in Henry Frank’s 1839 edition on pp. 27-29. A variation can also be found in Beer’s 1843 edition as teḥinah №9 on p. 14-15. . . .
“Universal intercessory prayer” by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in the UK edition of Sacred Communings, pp. 76-77. It is not found in the US edition. . . .
“Ribon kol ha-Olamim” was almost certainly written by Rabbi Max Lilienthal in 1846 soon after he arrived in New York City where he was elected chief rabbi of New York’s “united German-Jewish community.” It was first published in L. Henry Frank’s prayerbook, Tefilot Yisrael: Prayers of Israel with an English translation (1848) without attribution. In 1998, Dr. Jonathan Sarna elucidated its authorship in an article, “A Forgotten 19th Century Prayer for the U.S. Government: Its Meaning, Significance and Surprising Author.” In Hesed Ve-Emet: Studies in Honor of Ernest S. Frerichs, eds. J. Magness and S. Gitin, 431-440. Athens, Ga.: Scholars Press, 1998. . . .
This prayer of gratitude for the emancipation of French Jewry was included by Rabbi Arnaud Aron and Jonas Ennery in their opus, אמרי לב Prières d’un Coeur Israelite (Société Consistoriale de Bons Livres, 1848), pp. 61-62. In the second edition published in 1852, it appears on pp. 95-96. . . .
An original prayer for the government of the United States, Ohio, and the city of Cincinnati by Rabbi H.A. Henry was published in an article, “Emendation of the Liturgy” in The Asmonean (21 June 1850), p. 6. . . .
This prayer for the government of a Republic (in contradistinction to a Kingdom) was offered in a Letter to the Editor by Abraham Prince (as “A. Prince”), an optician representing their Boston congregation, Ohabei Shalom.[foot]For more on Abraham Prince, Ohabei Shalom, and Boston’s early Jewish community, find “Boston: A Close Community” by Robert P. Swierenga in The Forerunners: Dutch Jewry in the North American Diaspora (2018).[/foot] The prayer appeared in The Asmonean (26 November 1852), on page 5. At the time, reformist minded rabbis and congregations in the United States were interested in liturgical alternatives to the form of the prayer for the government found in Hanotén Teshu’ah, to more pointedly or appropriately signal their approval of the representative government that guaranteed their minority rights and equal representation under the Constitution. . . .
“Father of nations! Judge divine!” by Penina Moïse, was published in 1856, and appears under the subject of “Our Country” as Hymn 149 in Hymns Written for the Use of Hebrew Congregations (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1856), pp. 144-146. . . .
A prayer for the French Emperor, Napoleon III, a year before he was captured by the Prussians in the doomed Franco-Prussian War of 1870, including the formula of the prayer, haNoten Teshuah, as adapted for Napoleon III. . . .
A prayer for the government composed by the Central Conference of American Rabbis and included in their Union Prayer Book. . . .
This prayer by Rabbi Arnold Kiss for the kingdom of Hungary in a time of national crisis, “Országos bánat, közös baj idején,” was first published in his anthology of prayers for Jewish women, Mirjam (1897) on p.289-291. . . .
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