[Prayer for] Memorial Day, by Rabbi Avraham Samuel Soltes (1954)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=26728

Date: 2019-08-26

Last Updated: 2021-05-17

Categories: Memorial/Decoration Day (last Monday of May)

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., anti-communist, anti-fascist, English vernacular prayer, North American Jewry

Excerpt: A prayer for Memorial Day in the United States, composed in 1954. . . .

Content:

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	All kind and merciful Father, in whose sight a thousand years are but as a day,[1] cf. Psalms 90:4.  as we stand assembled here in this peaceful city on this beautiful day, we are deeply moved by memories, and spurred by hopes.
	We remember the fresh young lives whose sacrifice has desolated our homes and broken our hearts.
	We remember the dreams that died with them, the plans that with them passed away.
	Yet though these memories move our hearts to grieve and our eyes to weeping we know, O Heavenly Father, that not by tears nor by lamentation can we offer fitting tribute to these saviours of our Republic. ‘Twas not for weeping nor for monuments, for parades nor for speeches that they gave their lives.
	Our sons died, that we might live: that we might live as friends and neighbors, bound together by invisible cords of democracy and brotherhood. They died that we might be helped to bring closer the day of which Scripture has spoken: “Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. . .”[2] Leviticus 25:10, as inscribed on the Liberty Bell.
	Our sorrow is soothed, O God, in the knowledge that they are now at Peace with Thee. But, can we be at peace as long as the hopes for which they offered their immeasurable devotion are endangered or unfulfilled?
	Help us, O Father, to understand that there are no easy short-cuts to democracy; that the freedoms which Thy children won at such supreme cost, short days ago, cannot be preserved for us today by self-anointed inquisitors, who would destroy the very liberties for which they gave their lives, in the name of speedily saving the Republic. For he who strangles liberty, be it even with a flag, is as guilty of murdering her as though he wielded a hammer and sickle.
	Help us to appreciate, rather, the slow wisdom of the system our Founding Fathers established, wherein an epoch-making decision of our highest court can bring the dream of centuries closer to fulfillment.
	Aid us to see, O Master of the Universe, that this democracy with which we have been endowed by the blood and the wisdom of generations is never perfect; that its essence is “unfinished business,” which one generation passes on to another like the torch at Marathon.
	Help us to do our part, in this our blessed community, to bring its democracy closer to the heavenly ideal, that we may be truly proud of the banners we wave that we may march in our patriotic rhythms this day with heads held high, knowing that as we parade the spirit of our departed heroes marches beside us, genuinely proud of our achievements and satisfied that their supreme sacrifice was not made in vain. Amen.

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“Memorial Day” was first published in Rabbi Avraham Soltes’ collection of prayers, תפלה Invocation: Sheaf of Prayers (Bloch 1959) and dated to May 30, 1954.

Source(s)

Notes[+]

Notes

1	cf. Psalms 90:4.
2	Leviticus 25:10, as inscribed on the Liberty Bell.

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: Aharon N. Varady (editing/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
• 
  Name: Avraham Samuel Soltes
  Bio: Rabbi Avraham Soltes (1917-1983) was a Reform Jewish rabbi, the Jewish chaplain at the United States Military Academy in West Point, an author and a leading figure in Jewish cultural affairs. He was born in New York City. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1937 and received a master's degree from Columbia University in 1938. After being ordained in 1942 by the Jewish Institute of Religion (now HUC-JIR), he served as chaplain at Cornell and McGill Universities and then was assistant rabbi at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan from 1946 to 1949. He subsequently served as rabbi at Temple Sharey Tefilo in East Orange and Temple Emanuel in Great Neck. He began his service at West Point as a voluntary chaplain in 1963 and was made a permanent member of the staff in 1981. His interests also took him into commerce, and from 1969 to 1974, he was vice president for community affairs of the Glen Alden Corporation, which in 1972 was merged into the Rapid America Corporation. From 1974 to 1977, he was assistant to the president of Tel Aviv University. He was credited with a key role in the establishment of the New York medical division at the university. In 1981, Rabbi Soltes received the Jabotinsky Award from Prime Minister Menachim Begin for his service to Israel. From 1977 until his death Rabbi Soltes had been the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Chavairuth of Bergen County, in Tenafly, N.J. He participated in many cultural and educational activities that interpreted Jewish art, music and literature. He was chairman of the National Jewish Music Council from 1963 to 1969 and a member of the board of the National Jewish Book Council from 1967 to 1972. Rabbi Soltes, a commentator on Jewish music for American listeners, was the host of a radio program, ''The Music of Israel,'' on WQXR from 1974-1983. Among his writings were Palestine in Poetry and Song of the Jewish Diaspora (Master's thesis HUC-JIR 1942) and Off The Willows: The Rebirth of Modern Jewish Music (1970).
  Website:
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/avraham-samuel-soltes

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