Opening Prayer on the Significance of Washington's Birthday, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=35754

Date: 2021-02-20

Last Updated: 2025-02-18

Categories: 🇺🇸 George Washington's Birthday (3rd Monday of February)

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, civic prayers, English vernacular prayer, United States

Excerpt: This opening prayer for Washington's Birthday, "The Significance of the Day," as first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951). . . .

Content:

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	On this day, sacred to the memory of George Washington, we gratefully renew our loyalty to our nation, of which he was the foremost founder.
	We rededicate ourselves to the cause of national freedom, a cause to which he remained steadfast through peril, hardship, treachery, and disaster, until victory was won and the new nation safely launched.
	God, grant that this day arouse in us the will to make of this nation the best that it can become, to justify the faith which the Founding Fathers reposed in it.
	May the ample resources with which nature has blessed our country nurture a nation of men and women strong, self-reliant, generous, and free.
	May the government which its people set up ever protect their liberties, advance their welfare, shield them against disloyalty from within and aggression from without. May it establish just and friendly relations between us and all the other peoples of the world.
	May the citizens of our country ever live together in mutual trust and good will. May they know the joy of creative labor in farm and in workshop, in studio and laboratory. Be theirs a religious faith free from bigotry and superstition, a piety that cherishes all things good and gracious which glorify the Source of all life. Amen.

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This closing prayer for Washington’s Birthday was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p. 51. I have replaced archaisms in this prayer (thee, thy, thou, etc.) and made other related changes. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

 

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Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: John Paul Williams
  Bio: Dr. John Paul Williams (1900-1973) was chairman of the department of religion at Mount Holyoke College. In 1946, he served as president of the National Association of Biblical Instructors (now known as the American Academy of Religion). He wrote What Americans Believe and How They Worship (1952, revised 1962) containing the chapter "Judaism -- the Mother Institution." Together with Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan and Eugene Kohn he co-authored the anthology of civic prayers, Faith in America (1951).
  Website:
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/john-paul-williams
• 
  Name: Eugene Kohn
  Bio: Eugene Kohn (January 26, 1887 - April 1, 1977) was an American Reconstructionist rabbi, writer and editor. Born in Newark, New Jersey he attended the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and in 1912 received ordination. It was here that he met Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan who taught him homiletics. Between 1912 and 1939 he served as a congregational rabbi in Conservative synagogues in the U.S. states of Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Wisconsin and Ohio. He also served as the president of the Rabbinical Assembly 1936-1937. He played a central role in the Reconstructionist movement. He edited its journal The Reconstructionist and, alongside Kaplan and Ira Eisenstein, edited The New Haggadah (1941), The Sabbath Prayer Book (1945) and The Reconstructionist Prayer Book (1948). Alongside Jack Cohen, Eisenstein and Milton Steinberg he was one of Kaplan's main disciples.
  Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Kohn
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/eugene-kohn
• 
  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
• 
  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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