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

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=39780

Date: 2021-10-16

Last Updated: 2025-04-11

Categories: 🇺🇳 United Nations, 🌐 United Nations Day (October 24th)

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

Excerpt: This closing prayer for United Nations Day was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p. 272-273. . . .

Content:

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	God of our nation and of all nations, people of different races and different faiths the world over implore you in many tongues for the boon of peace. By whatever name men call you, and by whatever creed you are to them, you are the Power that has implanted in their hearts the yearning for justice, for love, and for peace.
	We turn to you, ashamed of the sins that have alienated us from you and have corrupted the world with injustice, oppression, and war. We repent of the idolatrous worship we have at times accorded to our own national being. We repent of the blasphemy of having invoked you name to sanctify acts of ungodly greed and exploitation. Save us from ourselves. Fill our minds with wisdom and our hearts with love, that we may learn to reconcile our wants with those of our neighbors. Teach us to share without strife the blessings you bestow upon us.
	Give us the courage to defend the freedom of the weak against the strong who would enslave them. Grant us the patience to curb our resentments and to submit to arbitration the grievances we bear against our neighbors. Endow us with insight into the needs of other nations and peoples, and inspire us with the love to minister to those needs. Save us from bondage to those fears and passions that involve, in destructive and death-dealing pursuits, the powers which you would have us consecrate to your service and that of our fellow men.
	Help us to build a world government that will command the loyalty of men and women everywhere by its beneficent influence on their lives. Speed the day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation,[1] Cf. Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3.   when men shall no longer train for war, when the burden of armaments shall be lifted from the shoulders of men, and the world shall be full of that knowledge of you[2] Cf. Habakkuk 2:14.   which will teach us how to live in harmony and love.
	AMEN.

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This closing prayer for United Nations Day was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p. 272-273. 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 all archaisms in referencing the divine (Thee, Thy, Thou dost, etc.). –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

 

Notes

Notes

1	Cf. Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3.
2	Cf. Habakkuk 2:14.

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

Featured Image:

Title: 1920px-Flag_of_the_United_Nations.svg
Caption: Flag of the United Nations