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a community-grown, libre Open Access archive of Jewish prayer and liturgical resources — for those crafting their own prayerbooks and sharing the content of their practice
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a community-grown, libre Open Access archive of Jewish prayer and liturgical resources — for those crafting their own prayerbooks and sharing the content of their practice
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20th century C.E. —⟶ tag: 20th century C.E. Sorted Chronologically (old to new). Sort most recent first? Jews have read sacred texts to commemorate miracles of redemption for a long time. Purim has Megilat Esther. Many communities read Megilat Antiochus or Megilat Yehudit for Ḥanukkah. But to many modern Jews, the most miraculous redemption in recent history was the founding of the state of Israel, as we commemorate on Yom ha-Atsma’ut. Like Purim, the story of the founding of Israel was entirely secular on a surface level, with no big showy miracles like a sea splitting or a mountain aflame. Like Ḥanukkah, a Jewish state in the Land of Israel won its independence against mighty forces allied in opposition. But we don’t have a megillah to read for Yom ha-Atsma’ut. Or do we? Just as Megillat Esther is said to be a letter written by Mordekhai to raise awareness of the events of Shushan, so too does the Israeli Scroll of Independence, Megilat ha-Atsma’ut, raise awareness of the events of the founding of the State of Israel. In this vein, I decided to create a cantillation system for Megilat ha-Atsma’ut. Ta’amei miqra were chosen attempting to follow Masoretic grammatical rules – since modern Hebrew has a different grammatical structure, the form is somewhat loose. Because of the thematic similarities to Purim, I chose Esther cantillation for the majority of the text. Just as some tragic lines in Esther are read in Eikhah cantillation, some lines regarding the Shoah or bearing grim portents for the wars to follow are to be sung in Eikhah cantillation. And the final phrases of chapters II and III are to be sung in the melody for the end of a book of the Ḥumash, or the Song of the Sea melody. They can be done in a call-and-response form, with the community reading and the reader repeating. . . . Categories: Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., civil declarations and charters, מדינת ישראל Medinat Yisrael, Progressive Zionism, Religious Zionism Contributor(s): The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on Lincoln’s Birthday, 12 February 1948. . . . Categories: 🇺🇸 Abraham Lincoln's Birthday (February 12th), 🇺🇸 United States of America, Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies Tags: 80th Congress, 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., Abraham Lincoln, Containment, English vernacular prayer, U.S. House of Representatives, Prayers for leaders, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, תחינות teḥinot Contributor(s): The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 28 April 1948. . . . Categories: Tags: 80th Congress, 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, U.S. Senate, תחינות teḥinot Contributor(s): A bilingual Hebrew-Italian prayerbook compiled by the chief Rabbi of Rome according to the Nusaḥ Italḳi. . . . Paltiel (Philip) Birnbaum’s translation of The Song of Songs (Shir haShirim) in Ha-Siddur Ha-Shalem (The [Complete] Daily Prayer Book), Hebrew Publishing Company, 1949. . . . The first edition of the Daily Prayerbook, Ha-Siddur Ha-Shalem, compiled and translated by Paltiel Birnbaum (Hebrew Publishing Co. 1949). . . . Did you know that the great songwriter and activist Woody Guthrie wrote Ḥanukkah music? It’s true. Though Guthrie himself was not Jewish, Marjorie Greenblatt, his second wife and their children were, and he would write Ḥanukkah songs for the kids in his neighborhood in the 1940s. Two of these songs were recorded by Moses Asch, head of Folkways Records, in 1949 — a kid’s song called “Hanuka Dance,” and a twenty-verse ballad retelling the story of Ḥanukkah called “The Many and the Few.” Below is an original Hebrew translation of “The Many and the Few,” preserving the meter of the original. With a simple melody and a lot of historical research, it could certainly be sung at a Ḥanukkah event. . . . Categories: Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Hebrew translation, ישראל Yisrael, זמירות zemirot Contributor(s): This prayer, initially delivered by Rabbi Joseph Baron as an invocation at the opening of the 12th U.A.W.-C.I.O. Labor Convention in Milwaukee, July 1949, was included in the anthology, The Prayer Book of the Armed Forces (ed. Daniel A. Poling, 1951), pp. 81-82. The prayer was selected for the anthology by Walter P. Reuther (1907-1970), a Lutheran, a leader of organized labor, and a civil rights activist who built the United Automobile Workers (UAW) into one of the most progressive labor unions in American history. . . . [Prayer for the] Dedication of a Medical Research Clinic, by Rabbi Avraham Samuel Soltes (ca. 1950s)“Dedication of Medical Research Clinic” was first published in Rabbi Avraham Soltes’ collection of prayers, תפלה Invocation: Sheaf of Prayers (Bloch 1959). . . . Categories: Tags: Contributor(s): . . . This prayer by Rabbi Samuel Thurman, of the United Hebrew Temple (St. Louis, Missouri), was recorded in the United States’ Congressional Record for January 20, 1949. . . . The poem, “Psalm of Gratitude” by the Jewish poet and educator, Ben Aronin. . . . Categories: Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., Chicago, depression, Distress, English vernacular prayer, first person, Gratitude, מודים Modim, Prayers as poems, thanksgiving Contributor(s): A prayer for the government for the royal family of the Netherlands and the city council of Amsterdam copied in the late 19th and mid-20th century from earlier sources. . . . Categories: Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., הנותן תשועה haNotén Teshuah, Queens, Spanish-Portuguese, Western Sepharadim Contributor(s): A bilingual Hebrew-English maḥzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (Ashkenaz). . . . A prayer for the continuance of “the American way of life” offered during the Cold War (1947-1953) in northern New Jersey. . . . In a poignant reflection on human limitation and the role of religion, Albert Einstein (1879-1955) consoled two rabbis each grieving the painful loss of their children. The first letter dated 12 February 1950, drafted in German before its translation into English, was written for Rabbi Robert S. Marcus after the death of the rabbi’s eleven-year-old son, Jay, from polio in September 1949. The second letter, dated 4 March 1950, was written for Rabbi Norman Salit after the death of Salit’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Miriam. Einstein’s letter to Rabbi Salit borrowed from and expanded upon the composition of his letter to Rabbi Marcus. In a few short lines, the letter expresses Einstein’s opinion on the prison-like delusion of consciousness — and the work of “true” religion to escape this prison through the intentional expansion of compassion beyond one’s self. . . . Categories: Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., cosmic religion, Humanist, Humanist Judaism, humility, statements of belief Contributor(s): The first nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l (“Sefardic-Ḥassidic”) prayerbook with a relatively complete English translation, published in 1951 by the Hebrew Publishing Company. . . . Categories: Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., English Translation, Needing Decompilation, Needing Transcription, North America, North American Jewry, Nusaḥ Ha-Ari z"l Contributor(s): The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 7 March 1950. . . . Categories: Tags: 81st Congress, 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., anti-communist, Cold War (1947–1953), English vernacular prayer, U.S. House of Representatives, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, תחינות teḥinot Contributor(s): A collection of civic prayers, poems, and readings arranged for thirteen civic holidays in the United States. . . . Categories: Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, civic prayers, ecumenical prayers, reconstructing Judaism Contributor(s): A bilingual Hebrew-English prayerbook for Shabbat, Festivals, and Weekdays, prepared in 1951 by Rabbi Max D. Klein for his congregation Adath Jeshurun, a Conservative synagogue in Philadelphia. . . . | ||
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