Thanksgiving for Divine Mercy, a hymn by David Nunes Carvalho (Reformed Society of Israelites, Charleston, South Carolina, 1826)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=39415

Date: 2021-10-08

Last Updated: 2024-12-17

Categories: Shaḥarit l'Shabbat ul'Yom Tov

Tags: 19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, American Reform Movement, English vernacular prayer, hymns, paraliturgical modim, South Carolina, United States, מודים Modim

Excerpt: A hymn provided for opening or concluding the morning Sabbath service of the Reformed Society of Israelites (Charleston, S.C.) ca. 1830. . . .

Content:

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Sovereign Lord of light and glory! Author of our mortal frame! Joyfully we bow before thee, And extol thy holy name. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Ever sacred be the theme.
	Kind dispenser of each blessing That surrounds the human race Gratefully may we possessing, Still adore thy boundless grace. Hallelujah! Hallelujah Praise to God, immortal praise.
	Thus with humble adoration, We attend before thy throne, And with grateful exultation, Thine abundant mercy own. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Praise belongs to thee alone.
	In thine every dispensation Love and mercy we descry, Thou the God of our salvation, To preserve us still art nigh, Hallelujah! Hallelujah Glory be to God on high.

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“Thanksgiving for Divine Mercy” appears as Hymn 21 in The Sabbath service and miscellaneous prayers, adopted by the Reformed society of Israelites, founded in Charleston, S.C., November 21, 1825 (1830, Bloch: 1916), p. 64. According to Isaac Harby the hymn is an adaptation of Psalms 91. (In this statement there must be some confusion as I have difficulty locating any connection between this hymn and the psalm. Rather, this appears to be an adaptation of the Modim prayer in the Amidah.) Gary Zola writes that the prayer was written by David Carvalho for the Society as indicated in Abraham Moïse’s annotated copy of the 1830 prayerbook.^[1] Find, “The First Reform Prayerbook in America” (p. 116 ft. 32) in Platforms and prayer books: theological and liturgical perspectives on Reform Judaism (2002)  I have preserved the wording as handwritten in the endpapers of the Constitution of the Reformed Society of Israelites, 1825. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

 

 

Notes

Notes

1	Find, “The First Reform Prayerbook in America” (p. 116 ft. 32) in Platforms and prayer books: theological and liturgical perspectives on Reform Judaism (2002)

Contributor: Reformed Society of Israelites

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: David Nunes Carvalho
  Bio: David Nunes Carvalho (1784-1860), born and educated in London, England, was a merchant, author, and ḥazzan for the Reformed Society of Israelites in Charleston, South Carolina, the first Reform congregation in the United States. He helped to compile the first Reform prayerbook in English, the fourth oldest Reform prayerbook in the world.
  Website:
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/david-nunes-carvalho
• 
  Name: Reformed Society of Israelites
  Bio: The Reformed Society of Israelites (1824-1833) was a group of forty-seven congregants of Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, Charleston, South Carolina, who gathered in late 1824 to petition the congregation to modify the service of prayers with an adapted liturgy emphasizing English translations, original hymns, and other modifications. Among other reforms, the group called for shorter services and sermons conducted in English that would relate the weekly parashah to everyday life. Prominent leaders in the group were Isaac Harby (1788–1828), Abraham Moïse (1799-1869), and David Nunes Carvalho (1784-1860). After Harby's death in 1828, the group published a prayerbook (later reprinted by Barnett Elzas/Bloch in 1916). In 1833, the group dissolved but in rejoining Beth Elohim they also managed to succeed in their original mission in putting the congregation on a firm Reform movement trajectory.
  Website:
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/reformed-society-of-israelites
• 
  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: Print; Carvalho, Solomon Nunes; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States; Charleston, South Carolina, United States; 1838_Kaplan Collection Upenn
Caption: Print; Carvalho, Solomon Nunes; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States; Charleston, South Carolina, United States; 1838_Kaplan Collection Upenn