A Prayer of Thanksgiving for Thursday, by Marcus Heinrich Bresslau (1852)

Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license

Date: 2020-06-10

Last Updated: 2025-02-18

Categories: Thursday

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Jewish Women's Prayers, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: A prayer for the fifth day of the week. . . .

Content:

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	Hallelujah! Unto Thee, exalted Creator of nature, shall resuound my song of praise; unto Thee be ever dedicated my lyre. O, soar up from thy mortal coil, my spirit, to the Creator of beings without number, to the Omnipotent, who on the fifth day of the Creation filled the earth, the waters, and the air with living creatures, which now all praise and exalt their Creator who at all times remembered them, and who is a Father unto all of them. The inhabitants of the spaces of all spheres, as well as the great monsters of the sea, the high-soaring eagle, as well as the worm in the dust, pay homage to Thy Majesty. From the dawn of morning, until the glowing of the evening-star on the heavens, these creatures all publish Thy grace and paternal care. And I, after having arrived at this conviction, should I allow my trust in Thee to be weakened by timid doubts or chilled scoffing? No, O beloved Father! may neither the one nor the other be capable to deprive me of the hopes, that Thou wilt never forsake me, that Thou wilt never deliver me up to destruction. Even if the path of my life remain clouded in obscurity, doth not the voice sounding like the melody of angels call unto me, “I am the Eternal thy God, I am with thee! I am thy refuge!” Yes, Father, it is Thou who continually watchedst over me; it is Thou who hast vouchsafed Thy blessing unto all those who remain on the path of the good and the virtuous, and whose efforts are directed to that purpose, to resemble Thee more daily in the pursuit of all that is good and virtuous, that I may exclaim with joy, יי לי לא אירא “the Eternal is with me, I fear nothing!”^[1] Psalms 118:6. Amen.

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Source (English)

Hallelujah! Unto Thee, exalted Creator of nature, shall resuound my song of praise; unto Thee be ever dedicated my lyre. O, soar up from thy mortal coil, my spirit, to the Creator of beings without number, to the Omnipotent, who on the fifth day of the Creation filled the earth, the waters, and the air with living creatures, which now all praise and exalt their Creator who at all times remembered them, and who is a Father unto all of them. The inhabitants of the spaces of all spheres, as well as the great monsters of the sea, the high-soaring eagle, as well as the worm in the dust, pay homage to Thy Majesty. From the dawn of morning, until the glowing of the evening-star on the heavens, these creatures all publish Thy grace and paternal care. And I, after having arrived at this conviction, should I allow my trust in Thee to be weakened by timid doubts or chilled scoffing? No, O beloved Father! may neither the one nor the other be capable to deprive me of the hopes, that Thou wilt never forsake me, that Thou wilt never deliver me up to destruction. Even if the path of my life remain clouded in obscurity, doth not the voice sounding like the melody of angels call unto me, “I am the Eternal thy God, I am with thee! I am thy refuge!” Yes, Father, it is Thou who continually watchedst over me; it is Thou who hast vouchsafed Thy blessing unto all those who remain on the path of the good and the virtuous, and whose efforts are directed to that purpose, to resemble Thee more daily in the pursuit of all that is good and virtuous, that I may exclaim with joy, יי לי לא אירא “the Eternal is with me, I fear nothing!” Amen.

Source(s)

Notes

Notes
1	Psalms 118:6.

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Co-authors:

Name: Marcus Heinrich Bresslau
Bio: Marcus Heinrich (also Mordecai Ḥayyim/Hyman/Heyman) Bresslau (ca. 1808-15 May 1864) was a Hebraist and newspaper editor. Born in Hamburg, he settled in England when young. For some time from 1834 he was Baal Ḳoreh (reader) at the Western Synagogue. He then taught Hebrew at the Westminster Jews’ Free School and went on to tutor privately. A maskil, he became involved with M. J. Raphall’s Hebrew Review and Magazine of Rabbinical Literature (1834-6). In October 1844 he was appointed editor of the relaunched Jewish Chronicle by proprietor Joseph Mitchell. Prickly and quarrelsome, he resigned in July 1848 but returned in around September. He remained until about October 1850. After Mitchell’s death in June 1854 he became proprietor (his middle name appearing as Heyman) and edited it until February 1855 when new proprietor Abraham Benisch succeeded him. Bresslau, who tried vainly to revive the Hebrew Review, wrote Hebrew poetry, produced a Hebrew grammar and a Hebrew dictionary, and translated various Hebrew manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. Bresslau compiled (we think) the first compilation of teḥinot in English for women. (Much of this information via Bresslau's entry in The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History)
Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Hyman_Bresslau
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/marcus-heinrich-bresslau

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

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Title: thursday prayer (Marcus Heinrich Bresslau 1852)
Caption: Detail of Marcus Heinrich Bresslau's Thursday prayer.