Awareness, a prayer-poem by Miriam Teichner (1921)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=36949

Date: 2021-04-30

Last Updated: 2021-05-01

Categories: Travel

Tags: 1918-1920 influenza pandemic, 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Prayers as poems, World War Ⅰ, עדות witnessing

Excerpt: A prayer for sustaining empathy and awareness of others' needs through the vicissitudes of life and labor. . . .

Content:

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	God—let me be aware. Let me not stumble blindly down the ways, Just getting somehow safely through the days, Not even groping for another hand, Not even wondering why it all was planned, Eyes to the ground unseeking for the light, Soul never aching for a wild-winged flight, Please, keep me eager just to do my share. God—let me be aware.
	God—let me be aware. Stab my soul fiercely with others’ pain, Let me walk seeing horror and stain. Let my hands, groping, find other hands. Give me the heart that divines, understands. Give me the courage, wounded, to fight. Flood me with knowledge, drench me in light. Please—keep me eager just to do my share. God—let me be aware.

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“Awareness” by Miriam Teichner (1887-1963) was first published in It Can Be Done: Poems of Inspiration compiled and edited by Joseph Morris & St. Clair Adams (1921), p. 87. We are grateful to Dr. Mel Scult for mentioning the poem in a note on Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan in the Mordecai Kaplan group on Facebook: “Kaplan inserted this poem into a manuscript (circa 1950s) in which he was discussing the ethical life.”

Source(s)

 

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: Miriam Teichner
  Bio: Miriam Teichner (1887-1963), from Detroit, was a journalist and poet. In 1915, she served as a a correspondent for the Detroit Evening News on the peace ship Oscar II that took Henry Ford to Europe on his ill-fated peace mission before World War I. Afterward she went on to work for the New York Globe.
  Website:
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/miriam-teichner

Featured Image:

Title: Der Strauß (1929/1965) by Hannah Höch
Caption: Der Strauß (1929/1965) by Hannah Höch