This is an archive of prayers offered for the success of the democratically elected government of the United States of America and the well-being of its multicultural civil society. Click here to contribute a prayer you have written for the United States. Filter resources by Collaborator Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
This Thanksgiving Day prayer for welfare of the country and congregation by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered at the end of his sermon on 27 November 1851 and recorded in The Asmonean on 12 December 1851. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 2, clipping 001), 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.) . . . This prayer is found in conclusion to “A Sermon Delivered on Thanksgiving Day (November 25, 1852) Before the Congregation Mikvé Israel at their Synagogue in Cherry Street by the Rev. S. Morais, Reader of the Congregation,” pp. 10-11. . . . This Thanksgiving Day prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered at the conclusion of a “Thanksgiving Discourse. An Address. Delivered by a member of the order on the 24th of November, it being the Thanksgiving Day appointed by the Governor of the State of Pennsylvania.” and recorded in The Masonic Mirror and Keystone on 7 December 1853. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 3b-c, clipping 002), 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.) . . . This Thanksgiving Day prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered at the conclusion of a “The Watchfulness of Providence over Nations. A Thanksgiving Address delivered by the Rev. S. Morais, Minister of the Portuguese Synagogue, of Philadelphia, on the 20th November, 1856.” and recorded in The Asmonean (on 28 November 1856. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 8, clipping 007), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. A note next to the clipping reads, “His lecture aimed to oppose knownothingism (???) antagonism indirectly shown.” (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.) . . . This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered on Shemini Atseret, the day decreed by President Abraham Lincoln for “public humiliation, prayer and fasting” (26 September 1861) as recorded in an “Address. Delivered by the Rev. S. Morais, Minister of the Congregation Mikveh Israel, Philadelphia, on the National ‘Fast Day.'” published in The Jewish Messenger on 4 October 1861. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 21, clipping 022), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. The annotation accompanying the clipping reads, “at the breaking out of the unfortunate Civil War.” (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.) . . . This Thanksgiving Day Prayer for 28 November 1861 was reprinted in The Jewish Messenger (vol. 10, no. 12, p. 91), on 13 December 1861. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 22, clipping 023), 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.) Unfortunately, that bit of clipping containing the prayer had disintegrated enough to make much of the prayer illegible. But thankfully, a microfilm copy of the The Jewish Messenger for the date of printing was available at the HUC-JIR Klau Library, Cincinnati. . . . 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). . . . This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered on 30 April 1863 at the conclusion of a “A Sermon. Delivered in accordance with the Proclamation of the President of the United States, at the Synagogue in Seventh Street, above Arch, on the National Fast-day, by the Rev. S. Morais, Minister of the Congregation”, that was published in The Philadelphia Inquirer on 2 May 1863. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 23, clipping 026), 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.) . . . This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered on US Independence Day (4 July 1863) at the conclusion of a sermon reguested by the “Philadelphia Union League” and delivered before Congregation Mikveh Israel, that was published in The Jewish Messenger on 10 July 1863. July 4th, 1863, was the day following the Battle of Gettysburg, and hand’t yet been recognized as the crucial turning point in the defeat of the Confederacy during the Slaveholder’s Revolt. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 22, clipping 023), 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.) . . . This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered on Thanksgiving Day at the conclusion of a sermon reprinted the following day in The Philadelphia Inquirer on 25 November 1864. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 23, clipping 028), 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.) . . . 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.” . . . This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered (possibly for Thanksgiving Day) in conclusion to a sermon delivered at some point prior to its printing in The Philadelphia Inquirer on 8 December 1865. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 24, clipping 030), 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.) Above the clipping, Rabbi Sabato has written, “Andrew Johnson proved anything but a worthy successor to the sainted Abraham Lincoln.” . . . This Thanksgiving Day prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered in conclusion to a sermon reprinted the following day in The Philadelphia Inquirer on 30 November 1866. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 25, clipping 031), 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.) . . . This Thanksgiving Day Prayer was reprinted in The Philadelphia Inquirer on the following day, 29 November 1867. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 35, clipping 042), 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.) . . . This Thanksgiving Day Prayer for 27 November 1868 was reprinted in The Philadelphia Inquirer on 27 November 1868. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 36, clipping 044), 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.) . . . This Thanksgiving Day Prayer for 24 November 1870 was reprinted in The Philadelphia Inquirer on the following day 25 November 1870. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 44, clipping 057), 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.) Unfortunately, due to the fragility of the paper, a bit of the newsclipping providing the beginning of the prayer was lost. Thankfully, the missing text was recovered from a scan of the newspaper page made by the Fulton History project. . . . This Thanksgiving Day prayer was offered by Rabbi Sabato Morais at the end of his sermon at Mikve Israel in Philadelphia on 27 November 1873, and reprinted in The Jewish Messenger on 5 December 1873. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 61), 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.) . . . This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais for the recovery of President James Garfield after his being shot on 2 July 1881 is recorded in a newspaper clipping preserved on page 236 of the Sabato Morais Ledger, “‘A Nation Wounded.’ Opinions as Expressed in the Synagogue by a Prominent Rabbi.” The origin and date of the clipping is not indicated, however, the prayer was offered during the dedication of a synagogue in the then newly built Philadelphia Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum on 12 June 1881 in Germantown. If you know the date of this synagogue dedication or the newspaper from which this clipping was taken, please leave a comment or contact us. We know a handful of prayers for President Garfield offered by Rabbi Morais over the course of the former’s lingering death, and this prayer seems to us to be the earliest of them, probably given sometime in July following the assassination, and recorded in the Philadelphia Inquirer or another newspaper. . . . This prayer for the recovery of President James A. Garfield after he had been shot and his wound infected was offered by Rabbi Sabato Morais and recorded in the Jewish Record, “Prayers for Our Sick President. Synagogue Mickvé Israel” on 26 August 1881. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (p. 174, clipping 296), 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.) . . . This prayer for the recovery of President James A. Garfield after he had been shot and his wound infected was offered by Rabbi Sabato Morais and recorded in The Sunday Dispatch, “The Suspense of a Nation. A Thought and a Prayer” on 4 September 1881. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (p. 175, clipping 297), 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.) . . . This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais during the lingering death of President James Garfield is recorded in an undated and unsourced newspaper clipping, “A Petition in the Synagogue. Rabbi Morais’ Fervent Petition Before the Mickve Israel Congregation” preserved on page 237 of the Sabato Morais Ledger. The prayer is unique in appealing in the merit of four of the Founding Fathers of the United States (the first three presidents: George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, along with Benjamin Franklin). . . . This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais after the death of President James Garfield is recorded in an undated newspaper clipping preserved on page 176 of the Sabato Morais Ledger. The clipping appears next to one printed in the Jewish Record on 30 September 1881, a few days prior to Yom Kippur that year. From the column borders similar to both clippings, the prayer appears to also have been published in the Jewish Record, possibly as part of a service in eulogy for the fallen president sometime soon after 19 September. . . . This prayer for the government by Rabbi Sabato Morais, preserved in an undated newspaper clipping from an unknown newspaper, was offered on Thanksgiving Day (24 November) in 1881. It was preserved by Rabbi Sabato Morais in his ledger (p. 234, clipping 414), 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.) We were able to date the prayer from the context offered by surrounding clippings that detailed the circumstances in which the prayer was given. Another clipping provided an outline of the sixty-first annual meeting of the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society (founded 1820, thus giving the date of 1881). With that date likely, references to activities in surrounding clippings began to make sense, especially the attention given to the relief work that year of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in eastern Europe. The Kiev pogrom of 1881 began during the spring that year. In the prayer itself, the year 1881 provides the necessary context for understanding Rabbi Morais’s references to the “hour of peril” and “the stability of the government” — the mortal injury to President James A. Garfield shot that summer and who died that fall. When this prayer was offered, Chester A. Arthur, was president of the United States. . . . |
![the Open Siddur Project [logo]](https://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Open-Siddur-Project-Logo-2016.svg){kind=logo}
