🆕 Opening prayer for the Ceremonies at the Site of the Statue of Religious Liberty by the Independent Order of B’nai Brith, by Rabbi Sabato Morais (5 July 1875)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription) and Sabato Morais

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30 June 2024 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

Independence Day (July 4th)

Tags:

19th century C.E., liberty, 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, American Jewry of the United States, statues of liberty, dedications and consecrations, United States centennial

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Almighty God! Thy spirit pervades the universe, but Thou vouchsafest notably to manifest it amidst multitudes assembled to do that which is pleasing in Thy sight.
	Lo! “the Sons of the covenant” have gathered round the spot they chose as a witness of their gratitude for Thy loving kindness to Israel of America. May thy Divinity hover above them and give stability to the one in which they are fraternally engaged.
	Grant that a united action, betokening sentiments which ennoble human nature, may draw down Thy blessing and this may be seen in the extinction of religious prejudices and in a brotherly blending of men of various races and creeds.
	Let Thy gracious looks, O Lord, rest on Thy servant, the skilful artificer, who, at our bidding, labors to fashion a monument designed to prove our patriotism. Oh, may the statue his hands shall have engraven speak to us and to generations yet unborn, of the wisdom wherewith Thou didst endow the father of this country, and by which, under Thy Providence, our wrongs were avenged and our rights fully recognized.
	Let Thy protection of the seed of Abraham be further shown, O Eternal, through the representative body here convened. Let it be felt in a closer union among all the Hebrews of this dear land of our birth or adoption; in a union founded upon historic memories; even upon long-cherished and undying hopes. May the unswerving fidelity of the free unto Thy revealed truths enhance in the estimation of their less favored co-religionists the franchises they enjoy and add beauty to liberty.
	And now, with all the fervency of prayer, with every pulsation of our hearts, we ask of Thee, O, Omnipotent being, to bestow the richest treasures of Thy goodness upon our regenerated republic, steadily leading the van of human progress because unencumbered^[1] An archaism that meant, “boundless and free” by the trammels of barbaric ages. Grant that not one of the bright stars in her political horizon may be dimmed. Deign to make her still more luminous, until all the inhabitants of the earth shall behold and acknowledge that Thou, who settest enthroned among the liberal-minded and generous, sheddest rays of glory upon the asylum of the oppressed, that Thou hast appointed Peace as her watchful guardian and Prosperity as the tutelary angel thereof. So may it be. Amen.

This was the opening prayer offered by Rabbi Sabato Morais at the “Ceremonies at the Site of the Statue of Religious Liberty by the Independent Order of B’nai Berith” for the Celebration of the Ninety-Ninth Anniversary of American Independence in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, July 5th, 1875 and published in a booklet containing the same. The site of the ceremonies was “the Walnut Street Railway, near the Centennial grounds.” The statue, “Religious Liberty,” was commissioned by B’nai B’rith and dedicated “to the people of the United States” as an expression of support for the Constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. It was created by Moses Jacob Ezekiel, a B’nai B’rith member and the first American Jewish sculptor to gain international prominence.

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Notes[+]

Notes
1	An archaism that meant, “boundless and free”

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“Opening prayer for the Ceremonies at the Site of the Statue of Religious Liberty by the Independent Order of B’nai Brith, by Rabbi Sabato Morais (5 July 1875)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Sabato Morais

Rabbi Sabato Morais (שבתאי מוראיס; April 13, 1823 – November 11, 1897) was an Italian-American rabbi, leader of Mikveh Israel Synagogue in Philadelphia, pioneer of Italian Jewish Studies in America, and in 1886, co-founder (with Henry Pereira Mendes) of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America to preserve the knowledge and practice of traditional, historical rabbinic Judaism in the United States.

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Prayer in Eulogy for Vice President Henry Wilson, by Rabbi Sabato Morais (1 December 1875)

Rev. George Jacobs (Fifty years' work of the Hebrew Education Society of Philadelphia- 1848-1898), p. 91

Prayer in Eulogy for Rabbi George Jacobs, by Rabbi Sabato Morais (18 July 1884)

Independence Day prayer [4 July 1863] (Sabato Morais Ledger p. 22, clip no. 023)

Prayer for the Protection of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania after the Battle of Gettysburg by Rabbi Sabato Morais (4 July 1863)

Removing The Wounded President From The White House, After Being Shot On 2 July 1881. American Newspaper Engraving, 1881

Prayer for the Recovery of President James A. Garfield, by Rabbi Sabato Morais (after 2 July 1881)

No. 7 [Prayer on Behalf of All Peoples] (Jewish Religious Union 1902)

Prayer on Behalf of the Religious Diversity of Humanity, by the Jewish Religious Union of London (1902)

Hegyon Lev: Israelitisches Gebetbuch für die häusliche Andacht (Benjamin Szold and Marcus Jastrow 1875) - title

📖 הֶגְיוֹן לֵב | Hegyon Lev (Meditations of the Heart): Israelitisches Gebetbuch für die häusliche Andacht, arranged by Rabbi Benjamin Szold (revised by Rabbi Marcus Jastrow 1875)

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Prayer on the second anniversary of the Jewish Foster Home and Orphan Asylum in Philadelphia, by Rabbi Sabato Morais (20 February 1857)

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Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=57136

Associated Image:

Moses Jacob Ezekiel’s “Religious Liberty” relocated from Fairmount Park to the grounds of the National Museum of American Jewish History (photo credit: Wally Gobetz, license: CC BY-NC-ND) – cropped

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "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