[Prayer on the] Retirement of a Civic Servant (Mayor Charles Henry Martens), by Rabbi Avraham Samuel Soltes (1952)
Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=29596
open_content_license: Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication date_src_start: 1952-00-00 date_src_end: 1952-00-00 languages_meta: [{"name":"English","code":"eng","standard":"ISO 639-3"}] scripts_meta: [{"name":"Latin","code":"Latn","standard":"ISO 15924"}] Date: 2020-01-26
Last Updated: 2025-04-16
Categories: Labor, Fulfillment, and Parnasah
Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., civic prayers, English vernacular prayer, retirement
Excerpt: A prayer composed for a ceremony honoring the tenure of Charles Henry Martens, mayor of East Orange, New Jersey on his retirement from three decades of civic service. . . .
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O God of our Fathers,
who bestowest of Thy wisdom
upon the sons of men,
and givest of Thy Sovereignty
unto Thy children,
we ask Thy blessing
upon him
whom the people have called forth
year after year
to speak for them
in things of state.
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For more than three decades
he has proven faithful
to his sacred trust:
When tempted
by men whose god is gain,
he has proven true
to his city,
to himself,
and to Thee;
When godless men
have striven
to make a mockery of righteousness,
Thou hast touched his lips
and given him courage
to defend the right
as he saw the right.
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Through all these years
he has shared
with the prophets and leaders
of all time
in the slings and arrows
of outraged citizens,
in the flames of derision and contumely
which lap ever
at the feet of those
distinguished
in posts of public trust.
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Yet
didst Thou strengthen him,
that
the crucibles of torturous testing
converted his iron will
to a shaft
of steely determination,
and our city remained
free of corruption
and self-aggrandizement.
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As he doffs the mantle of leadership–
his service rendered,
his mission fulfilled,
we ask for him
continued health and strength
through the years Thou hast allotted to him;
that he may know
the fullness of blessing
envisioned by the Psalmist:
“The righteous
shall blossom like the palm tree
and grow
like a cedar in Lebanon…
They shall be sturdy
in old age,
flourishing and verdant;
to declare
that the Lord is upright,
my Rock,
in whom there is no unrighteousness.”
Amen.
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Rabbi Abraham Soltes’s “[Prayer on the] Retirement of a Civic Servant” can be found in his collection of prayers, תפלה Invocation: A Sheaf Of Prayers (Bloch 1959). Their he writes that the prayer was delivered November 8, 1952, “on the retirement of Mayor [Charles Henry] Martens [(1883-1955)] of East Orange after 32 years as the city’s chief executive.”
Source(s)
Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Co-authors:
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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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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: charles-henry-martens (1953)
Caption: Mayor Charles Henry Martens in The Syllabus (of East Orange High School) 1953
