“Prayer of Thanksgiving” was written by Lilian Helen Montagu and published in Prayers for Jewish Working Girls (1895), pp. 6-7. This prayer reads to me as possibly intended to be used as a prayer of transition, before the tradition of the bat mitsvah was universally adopted, at a time when a young woman might be old enough to begin contemplating their future, their marriage prospects, and their general “usefulness” — especially in regards to their future work — the overarching theme of this collection of prayers. This affirmation in particular stands out to me as radically important for Lilian Montagu and other young suffragettes to express in 1895: “Lord, whether in the future I marry or whether I remain single, I shall be able to lead a useful, happy life” and “Lord, I thank Thee for my womanhood!”

Categories:

Bnei (Bar/Bat) Mitsvah & Other Birthday Prayers

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Gratitude, Jewish Women's Prayers, paraliturgical modim, תחינות teḥinot, teḥinot in English, thanksgiving, West Central Girls' Club

Contributor(s):

Lilian Helen Montagu and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Birthday Prayer, by Julia M. Cohen (1907)

This “Birthday Prayer” is found in Julia M. Cohen’s The children’s Psalm-book, a selection of Psalms with explanatory comments, together with a prayer-book for home use in Jewish families (1907), pp. 304-305.

Categories:

Bnei (Bar/Bat) Mitsvah & Other Birthday Prayers

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., children's prayers, English vernacular prayer, תחינות teḥinot, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

Julia Matilda Waley Cohen and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

שֶׁהֶחֱיָֽנוּ | Sheheḥiyanu, a rhyming translation by Jessie Ethel Sampter (1919)

This translation of the blessing sheheḥiyanu was written by Jessie Ethel Sampter and published under the title “Blessing for Rosh-Hashanah” in her Around the Year in Rhymes for the Jewish Child (1920), p. 11.

Categories:

Bnei (Bar/Bat) Mitsvah & Other Birthday Prayers, Rosh haShanah (l’Maaseh Bereshit)

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., appreciation, blessings, rhyming translation, שהחינו shehiyanu

Contributor(s):

Jessie Ethel Sampter and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

On the Decalogue, life wisdom for a Bnei Mitsvah by Rabbi Dr. Mordecai Kaplan (ca. 1920s)

This is a restatement of the Decalogue offered as life wisdom by Rabbi Dr. Mordecai Kaplan for his daughters, sometime in the 1920s, possibly as early as 1922 at the Bat Mitsvah of his oldest daughter Judith. The document was found by Mel Scult and shared by him from his Mordecai Kaplan Discussion Group on Facebook.

Categories:

Bnei (Bar/Bat) Mitsvah & Other Birthday Prayers, Addenda

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., civil declarations and charters, Decalogue, declarations, מוסר mussar

Contributor(s):

Mordecai Kaplan and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Hymn for Shaḇuoth (Father, See Thy Children) — from a Confirmation hymn by Felix Adler (1868) adapted by Angie Irma Cohon (1921)

“Hymn for Shaḇuoth (Father, See Thy Children)” is based on “Confirmation (Father, see thy suppliant children)” an original hymn by Felix Adler published in Hymns, for Divine Service in the Temple Emanu-El (1871), hymn 34, p. 68. The last four lines of the hymn have been amended and replaced with “Till our lives shall bud and blossom…” by Angie Irma Cohon, for use on Shavuot. This version was published in her תפלת ישראל (Tefilat Yisrael) A Brief Jewish Ritual (Women of Miẓpah 1921), p. 19.

Categories:

Shavuot, Bnei (Bar/Bat) Mitsvah & Other Birthday Prayers

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., confirmation, hymns

Contributor(s):

Angie Irma Cohon, Felix Adler and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Israel’s Unity, a prayer for national identity established in the context of its religious mission (CCAR 1923)

“Israel’s Unity” is the twenty-eighth prayer found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 96-98.

Categories:

Bnei (Bar/Bat) Mitsvah & Other Birthday Prayers, Erev Pesaḥ, Conversion

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., alienation, English vernacular prayer, exhortation, Jewish identity, Jewish particularism, teḥinot in English, תוכחות tokheḥot

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown and Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

Shaḇuoth—the Festival of Weeks, an exhortation for parents of bnei mitsvah confirmants (CCAR 1923)

“Shaḇuoth—The Feast of Weeks” is the forty-first prayer found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 135-138.

Categories:

Shavuot, Bnei (Bar/Bat) Mitsvah & Other Birthday Prayers

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., confirmation, English vernacular prayer, exhortation, performing mitsvot, prayers on behalf of parents, teḥinot in English, עדות witnessing

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown and Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

Confirmation, a poem by Miriam del Banco (1932)

The poem “Confirmation” by Miriam del Banco (1858-1931) was included in her posthumously published anthology, Poetry and Prose (1932), p. 80-81.

Categories:

Bnei (Bar/Bat) Mitsvah & Other Birthday Prayers

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English poetry, English vernacular prayer, Prayers as poems

Contributor(s):

Miriam del Banco and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

מזמור לתודה לכבוד משה איש האלהים | A Thanksgiving in Commemoration of Moses Maimonides, an octocentennial prayer by Ḥakham Shem Tov Gaguine (Bevis Marks Synagogue, 27 May 1935)

“A Thanksgiving in Commemoration of Moses Maimonides” with its accompanying Hashkabah is found in the Service of Praise and Thanksgiving to Commemorate the 800th Anniversary of the Birth of Moses Maimonides prepared by Bevis Marks Synagogue in London on 27 May 1935.

Categories:

Bnei (Bar/Bat) Mitsvah & Other Birthday Prayers

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Maimonides, Moshe ben Maimon, Western Sefaradim

Contributor(s):

Shem Tov Gaguine and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=1192

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Bat Mitzvah with Rabbi Alona Lisista (credit: Alona Lisista, license: CC BY-SA)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "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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