Closing Prayer for Labor Day, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=36676

Date: 2021-04-11

Last Updated: 2025-04-15

Categories: 🌐 International Workers' Day (May 1st), 🇺🇸 Labor Day (1st Monday of September)

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

Excerpt: "Closing Prayer [for Labor Day]" was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p.165. . . .

Content:

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	This blessed land in which we dwell is rich in all the resources for satisfying human wants, and we, its people, have been amply endowed with the strength, knowledge, and art to convert these resources into the goods we need to live by.
	But without the further blessing of the spirit of justice, mutual loyalty, faith, and courage, we cannot build that civilization which would give evidence that we are created in God’s image.[1] Cf. Genesis 1:27.  Without this further blessing we cannot look upon our handiwork as a people and say, “Behold, it is very good.”[2] Cf. Genesis 1:31.
	Humbly do we acknowledge that unless you, O God, build the house, they labor in vain that build it, that unless our work serve you and your kingdom of justice and peace, it cannot truly serve us, cannot help us to fulfill our manhood and womanhood and to find joy and happiness in our labor.
	Give us, O God, the wisdom so to organize economic enterprise as to abolish all poverty, drudgery, and exploitation— all those social ills that are both effect and cause of humanity’s inhumanity.
	Strengthen our faith in the promise of a better day for our people and for all peoples of the earth.
	Give us the courage to accept the hazards and endure the hardships which the creation of a free and cooperative society requires.
	Then shall we find joy in our labor and render eternal thanks to you for the privilege of sharing in your work of creation, O you who are the strength of our hands, the wisdom of our minds, and the spirit of love and loyalty in our hearts.   Amen.

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“Closing Prayer [for Labor Day]” was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p.190. It is unclear from this publication whether the prayer was written by Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, or Eugene Kohn separately or together in collaboration. I have replaced archaisms in this prayer (thee, thy, thou, etc.) and made other changes to make this prayer more gender-neutral (e.g. by replacing ‘man’ with ‘humanity.’) –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

 

Notes

Notes

1	Cf. Genesis 1:27.
2	Cf. Genesis 1:31.

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Co-authors:

• 
  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: 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: 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

Featured Image:

Title: Labor day float from the early 1930s with Margaret Ray Duyungan wife of president Virgil Duyungan
Caption: Labor day float from the early 1930s with Margaret Ray Duyungan wife of president Virgil Duyungan