[Prayer] Before Sleeping (for Very Young Children) by Rabbi Clifton Harby Levy (1927)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=50233

Date: 2023-04-19

Last Updated: 2025-03-29

Categories: Bedtime Shema

Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., children's prayers, English vernacular prayer, Jewish Science movement, night, teḥinot in English, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: "For Very Young Children Before Sleeping" by Rabbi Clifton Harby Levy is found in The Helpful Manual (Centre of Jewish Science, 1927), p. 26. . . .

Content:

The privilege of leading our children to God is the most sacred right of parenthood. That they be helped to teach the little ones how to pray, prayers for children are presented.

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Dear God, I thank You for the good things that have been mine all day. For the love of dear Papa and Mama; for all the nice food they give me, for the good time I have had at play.
	May sweet sleep come to me, and may I wake to the new day well and ready for all it brings.
	Bless all I love and make them happy. Amen.

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“For Very Young Children Before Sleeping” by Rabbi Clifton Harby Levy is found in The Helpful Manual (Centre of Jewish Science, 1927), p. 26.

Source(s)

 

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: Clifton Harby Levy
  Bio: Rabbi Clifton Harby Levy (1867–1962), was a Reform rabbi in the United States. Born in New Orleans, he was ordained at Hebrew Union College (1890), served as rabbi of Congregation Gates of Hope, New York City (1890–91), and as superintendent of classes for immigrant children established by the Baron de Hirsch Fund. Levy later served congregations in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (1892–94) and Baltimore, Maryland (1894–96), where he organized a Jewish kindergarten in a religious school and the first United Hebrew Charities. He founded Tremont Temple, Bronx, New York, and was its rabbi from 1906 to 1921. He left the pulpit rabbinate in 1921 and in 1924 organized the Centre of Jewish Science, New York City. As part of the Jewish Science movement, it sought to counter the influence of Christian Science among acculturated American Jews and to inject spirituality into the Reform Jewish synagogue. He was a founding member of the American Council for Judaism, which consisted primarily of anti-Zionist Reform rabbis and laymen. While still a student, Levy published a five-act Purim play, Haman and Mordecai (1886). During his stay in Baltimore he edited Jewish Comment. He edited The Bible in Art (1936) and The Bible in Pictures (1942), and served as art editor of the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia.
  Website: https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/levy-clifton-harby
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/clifton-harby-levy
• 
  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: before sleeping for very young children (Clifton Harby Levy 1927)
Caption: before sleeping for very young children (Clifton Harby Levy 1927)