A Kavvanah on Praying, Singing, and Listening to Torah Readings, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (1942)
Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=24168
open_content_license: Fair Use Right (17 U.S. Code §107 - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use) Date: 2019-03-11
Last Updated: 2025-03-29
Categories: Before the Aliyot
Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Openers, Prayers for Praying
Excerpt: A prayer on praying, singing, and Torah learning by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan. . . .
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Translation (English) |
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Let every prayer we recite,
every song we sing,
every teaching we listen to
set the current of Israel’s life
coursing through our whole being,
challenge us to test the ever living truth
of what Israel has learned concerning man’s task on earth,
and reveal to us the God who always stands at the door of our heart
waiting as it were to be admitted.
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In this spirit let us pray:
“May the words of my mouth
and the meditations of my heart
be acceptable to Thee O God,
my strength and my redeemer.”
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From the Kaplan Diaries, October 4th 1942. Thank you to Dr. Mel Scult for informing us of this prayer.
Sources
Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Co-authors:
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Name: Mel Scult
Bio: Mel Scult, professor emeritus of Jewish thought at Brooklyn College, received his M.A. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from Brandeis University. He has taught at Brandeis, Vassar College and the New School for Social Research. Scult is the author of a biography of Mordecai Kaplan, Judaism Faces the Twentieth Century, The Radical American Judaism of Mordecai Kaplan and Communings of the Spirit-The Journals of Mordecai M. Kaplan Vol II, 1934-1941. He has co-edited, with Emmanuel Goldsmith, Dynamic Judaism: The Essential Writings of Mordecai Kaplan and The American Judaism of Mordecai Kaplan.
Website: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/author/scult-mel
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/mel-scult
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Name: Mordecai Kaplan
Bio: Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (June 11, 1881 – November 8, 1983), was a rabbi, essayist and Jewish educator and the co-founder of Reconstructionist Judaism along with his son-in-law Ira Eisenstein.
Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordecai_Kaplan
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/mordecai-kaplan
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Name: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Bio: 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.)
Website: https://aharon.varady.net
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/aharon-varady-transcription
Featured Image:
Title: Mordecai Kaplan Diaries – End of 4 October 1942
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