📖 [Abridged] Prayer Book for Jewish Members of His Majesty's Forces (Office of the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire 1940)

§ 206.01. Edicts of government

Date: 2022-06-20

Last Updated: 2025-02-02

Categories: Comprehensive (Kol Bo) Siddurim

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., British Jewry, military, World War Ⅱ

Excerpt: An abridged prayer book for Jewish personnel in the service of the British armed forces in 1940, prepared by the Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire, Joseph H. Hertz, based upon the 1917 prayer book offered during the first World War. . . .

Content:

This work was scanned by Aharon Varady for the Open Siddur Project from a volume held in the collection of the HUC Klau Library, Cincinnati, Ohio. (Thank you!) This work is cross-posted to the Internet Archive, as a repository for our transcription efforts.

This work is in the Public Domain due to the copyright exception given to publications of foreign governments (Compendium II: Copyright Office Practices, § 206.01. Edicts of government).

PREFATORY NOTE.

This Prayer Book is substantially the same as that issued in the latter part of the Great War. The Prayer for those on Active Service, the Prayer before a Battle, and the War and Intercession Prayers have all been revised; and a few of the Statutory Prayers are given in a free rendering.

The translation of the other Prayers is, by kind permission of the Jewish Religious Education Board, taken from the Authorised Prayer Book.

This new edition was seen through the Press by the Senior Jewish Chaplain, Dayan M. Gollop, S.C.F., B.A.

J. H. H.
Office of the Chief Rabbi,
23rd Shevat, 5700.
2nd February, 1940.

Contributor: Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth

Co-authors:

Name: Joseph Herman Hertz
Bio: Joseph Herman Hertz (25 September 1872 – 14 January 1946) was a Jewish Hungarian-born rabbi and biblical scholar. He is most notable for holding the position of Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom from 1913 until his death in 1946, in a period encompassing both world wars and the Holocaust. Hertz edited a notable commentary on the Torah (1929–36, one volume edition 1937). Popularly known as the Hertz Chumash, this classic Hebrew-English edition of the Five Books of Moses, with corresponding Haftorahs, is used in synagogues and classrooms throughout the English-speaking world. He also edited a Hebrew-English edition of the Jewish Prayer Book or Siddur (1946), and contributed to the Jewish Encyclopedia and the Encyclopædia Britannica.
Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Hertz
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/joseph-herman-hertz

Name: Mark Gollop
Bio: Rabbi Dayan Mark Gollop (d. 1950) was the Senior Jewish Chaplain to H. M. Forces in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Dayan Gollop was born in Russia and came to England at the age of 13. After attending the Beth Hamedrash for Rabbinical studies he was appointed, in his 18th year, a member of the teaching staff of the Great Garden Street Talmud Torah, a post he resigned on entering Jews’ College and University College, London. From 1906 until 1913 he devoted himself to several social, educational, and Zionist movements in the London. He was one of the founders of the Jewish National Institute, conducting a Talmudic Circle there for some time; founded the Young Hebrew Association, and took a leading part in the study circles of this organisation and of the London University Zionist Society; was on the committee of the Union of Talmud Torah Teachers; and was Hon. Financial and Joint Secretary of the Association of East London Zionists. In 1913 came an appointment—as minister to the Southend and Westcliff Congregation, and during the 1914-18 war the young minister was a Chaplain to the Forces, serving in Salonika, Palestine, Egypt and Greece. He was the only Jewish Chaplain with the British Salonika Forces and was Mentioned in Dispatches as a result of his work in this war zone. He was appointed senior Jewish Chaplain in 1926 and was also appointed by the Army Council to serve on the Inter-Denominational Advisory Committee on Chaplaincy services at the War Office. In 1921 Reverend Gollop was chosen by the Bayswater Synagogue to succeed Rabbi Sir Hermann Gollancz as minister. He gained his Rabbinical Diploma in 1924 and in 1929 was appointed as assistant Dayan on the London Beth Din. The following year he succeeded the Rev. A.A. Green as Rabbi of the Hampstead Synagogue. Dayan Gollop’s duties as Senior Chaplain became more arduous with the outbreak of the Second world War. After a visit to France early in 1940 he arranged for the appointment of Jewish chaplains for the British Expeditionary Force and later for troops in other war zones. He edited the new edition of the Prayer book for Jewish Members of H.M. Forces. His health broke down in October, 1943 and early in the following year he resigned from all his duties both as minister and senior Jewish Chaplain. He died in August 1950. (via Jeffrey Maynard's Jewish Miscellanies)
Website:
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/mark-gollop

Name: Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth
Bio: The Office of the Chief Rabbi is the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth and is the senior rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations. The present incumbent is Ephraim Mirvis who leads the Office of the Chief Rabbi (OCR).
Website: https://chiefrabbi.org
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/office-of-the-chief-rabbi

Name: Aharon N. Varady (digital imaging and document preparation)
Bio: Aharon Varady, founding director of the Open Siddur Project, is a copyright researcher and amateur book scanner. He prepares digital images and new digital editions of prayer books and related works in the Public Domain in order to make their constituent parts (prayers, translations, annotations, etc.) publicly accessible for collaborative transcription by project volunteers. (In some cases, he finds existing digital editions prepared by others that require correction and reformatting.) If you appreciate his efforts, please send him a kind note or contribute to his patreon account.
Website:
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/aharon-varady-digital-imaging

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