This prayer by Rabbi Sabato Morais on the second anniversary of the founding of the Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum in Philadelphia was offered in opening to an address “before the Jewish Foster Home Society, February 10, 1857” and recorded in The Asmonean on 20 February 1857. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 9, clipping 008), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. A note next to the clipping reads, “Isaac Leeser took exception at this lecture and became abusive.” (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.)

Categories:

Homes & Community Centers

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., dedications and consecrations, English vernacular prayer, prayers for fund-raising, צדקה tsedaqah

Contributor(s):

Sabato Morais and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer on the consecration of the new synagogue building for Ḳahal Ḳadosh Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia, by Rabbi Sabato Morais (1 June 1860)

This prayer for the consecration of the new synagogue building of Mikve Israel by Rabbi Sabato Morais was recorded in an “[Account of…] the consecration ceremony of the new Synagogue of the congregation Mikveh Israel… [Excerpted…] from The Philadelphia Inquirer, of May 25th.” and reprinted in The Jewish Messenger on 1 June 1860. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 17b, clipping 017), 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.)

Categories:

Homes & Community Centers

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., dedications and consecrations, English vernacular prayer, Ḳ.Ḳ. Miḳveh Israel (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), synagogue consecration

Contributor(s):

Sabato Morais and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Dedication-Hymn, by Felix Adler (1868)

“Dedication-Hymn” is a hymn written by Felix Adler and published in Hymns, for Divine Service in the Temple Emanu-El (1871), hymn №37, p. 71. We have tentatively dated this hymn to 1868, since another hymn by Adler (“School-hymn, no. 36”) can be found appended from another unattributed work in A Guide to Instruction in the Israelitsh Religion (Samuel Adler, trans. M. Mayer, Temple Emanu-El, 1864, 4th printing 1868). That date does match the year that the then new building for Temple Emanu-El’s synagogue was dedicated, 11 September 1868.

Categories:

Homes & Community Centers

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., dedications and consecrations, English vernacular prayer, hymns

Contributor(s):

Felix Adler and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer at the Consecration of the Central Synagogue by chief Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler (7 April 1870)

The prayer at the consecration of the Central Synagogue (in London) offered by the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire, Nathan Marcus Adler, on 7 April 1870. The prayer was reprinted in “A Sermon By the Chief Rabbi,” The Israelite, vol. 117 part 14 (29 April 1870), page 9.

Categories:

Congregation & Community, Homes & Community Centers

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., British Jewry, dedications and consecrations, English vernacular prayer, synagogue consecration

Contributor(s):

Nathan Marcus Adler, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer at the Dedication of the Home for the Aged and Infirm by the I.O.B.B. District Grand Lodge №1 by Rabbi Henry Samuel Jacobs (28 June 1882)

This prayer by Rabbi Henry S. Jacobs was offered at the Dedication of the Home for the Aged and Infirm by the District Grand Lodge No. 1 Independent Order of B’né B’rith on 28 June 1882 and published in their Proceedings of the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of District Grand Lodge No. 1 I.O.B.B. Held January 29, 30, and 31, 1882, pp. 68-70.

Categories:

Congregation & Community, Homes & Community Centers

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Prayers of Freemasons

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Henry Samuel Jacobs

[Prayer] for home, by Basil Lucas Quixano Henriques (1916)

Basil L.Q. Henriques’s prayer “For Home” was first published in The Fratres Book of Prayer for the Oxford and St. George’s Synagogue Jewish Lads Club in 1916, and later reprinted in the Prayer Book of the St. George’s Settlement Synagogue (1929), “Special Prayers” section, pages 95-96.

Categories:

Marriage, Homes & Community Centers

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., British Jewry, English vernacular prayer, Liberal Movement for Progressive Judaism in Britain, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

Basil Lucas Quixano Henriques and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Holy Places (CCAR 1923)

“Holy Places” is the thirty-sixth prayer found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 121-123.

Categories:

Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System, Homes & Community Centers, Well-being, health, and caregiving

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., dedications and consecrations, English vernacular prayer, synagogue consecration, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

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

God Our Eternal Home (CCAR 1923)

“God Our Eternal Home” is the forty-fourth prayer found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 146-148.

Categories:

Homes & Community Centers, Well-being, health, and caregiving

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., alienation, עבודה זרה avodah zarah, בצלם אלהים btselem Elohim, English vernacular prayer, interconnectedness, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

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

Prayer at [the] Dedication of a Community Center (CCAR 1928)

This “Prayer at [the] Dedication of a Community Center” is included in CCAR’s Rabbi’s Manual (1928), p. 117.

Categories:

Homes & Community Centers

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., dedications and consecrations, English vernacular prayer

Contributor(s):

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

Family Ceremony for the Consecration of a New Home (CCAR 1951)

“Family Ceremony for the Consecration of a New Home” is the first ritual ceremony found in the “Family Worship” section of the Union Home Prayer Book (CCAR 1951), pp. 7-11.

Categories:

Homes & Community Centers

Tags:

20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, dedications and consecrations, English vernacular prayer, Post–World War II economic expansion

Contributor(s):

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

Prayer for Dedication of Hospital Chapel, by Rabbi Morrison David Bial (1962)

“Prayer for Dedication of Hospital Chapel” by Rabbi Morrison David Bial was first published in his anthology, An Offering of Prayer (1962), p. 68, from where this prayer was transcribed. No contextual information was provided with the prayer, so we cannot say when the prayer was offered or even for which hospital chapel it was dedicated. If you know, please leave a comment or contact us.

Categories:

Homes & Community Centers, Well-being, health, and caregiving

Tags:

20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., dedications and consecrations, ecumenical prayers, English vernacular prayer, synagogue consecration

Contributor(s):

Morrison David Bial and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer for a Synagogue Consecration, by Lilian Helen Montagu

This “Synagogue Consecration Prayer ” by the Hon. Lily H. Montagu (1873-1963) was included by Rabbi Morrison David Bial in his anthology, An Offering of Prayer (1962), p. 50. Although the context is not provided by Rabbi Bial, we would like to imagine that the consecration was for the establishment of the West Central Liberal Jewish Synagogue in 1928 (destroyed by Nazi German bombardment of London in 1941).

Categories:

Homes & Community Centers

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., British Jewry, dedications and consecrations, English vernacular prayer, synagogue consecration

Contributor(s):

Lilian Helen Montagu and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים | El Malé Raḥamim – Interfaith Memorial Service for the Homeless, by Rabbi Victor Reinstein (2014)

This paraliturgical adaptation of the El Malei prayer for an Interfaith Memorial Service for the Homeless was offered by Rabbi Victor Reinstein in 2014.

Categories:

Homes & Community Centers

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., ecumenical prayers, אל מלא רחמים El Malé Raḥamim, English vernacular prayer, homeless and unhoused, interfaith prayer, Memorial prayers, paraliturgical el malé raḥamim

Contributor(s):

Victor Reinstein

A Prayer for the Steadfast on the Global Shabbat Against Home Demolitions, by Rabbi Brant Rosen (2016)

A prayer for the Global Shabbat Against Home Demolitions in response to the State of Israel’s policy,under the military occupation of Area C in the West Bank, of demolishing structures without building permits.

Categories:

Conflicts over Sovereignty and Dispossession, Homes & Community Centers

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, ארץ ישראל Erets Yisrael, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, מדינת ישראל Medinat Yisrael, Needing Translation (into Arabic), Needing Translation (into Hebrew), فلسطين Filasṭīn Palestine

Contributor(s):

Brant Rosen

A Prayer for Game Day [Super Bowl ⅬⅩ], by Rabbi Menachem Creditor

“A Prayer for Game Day” was offered by Rabbi Menachem Creditor and shared through the Open Siddur Project via our discussion group on Facebook, 3 February 2026, in the week before “Super Bowl ⅬⅩ” on 8 February 2026. The “Super Bowl” is the premiere contest between competing teams in the game of gridiron football, played predominantly in North America, in the United States.

Categories:

Homes & Community Centers

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., athletics, English vernacular prayer, gridiron football

Contributor(s):

Menachem Creditor

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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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