Prayer Before Mingling with the World, by Grace Aguilar (ca. 1830s)
Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=50600
open_content_license: Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication Date: 2023-05-06
Last Updated: 2025-02-18
Categories: Mixed Dancing, Well-being, health, and caregiving
Tags: 19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, social anxiety, teḥinot in English, עין הרע predatory gaze (ill will/evil eye), תחינות teḥinot
Excerpt: "Prayer before mingling with the world" by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in Sabbath Thoughts and Sacred Communings (1853), pp. 73-74. . . .
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Prayer before mingling with the world.
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O Mighty Father, may it please Thee
to pour Thy blessing upon me,
now that I am about to enter into
a scene of more temptation
than when I remain in my own home.
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Thou hast not commanded us to live entirely alone;
Thou hast, in Thine infinite mercy, ordained
that the happiness of this life
should not be entirely centred in ourselves.
Thou hast permitted a bond of brotherhood
to unite Thy creatures;
then in Thy mercy, O Lord,
be with me this night.
Let me feel that Thou art with me,
that Thy spirit dwelleth within me,
and permitteth me to pass this evening
as innocently as if I were alone with Thee.
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Let me not, in thoughtless gaiety,
forget myself,
and do or say that
to which hereafter I may look back
with self-reproach and regret.
Guard me from temptation and from sin.
Permit me to behave in such a manner
as will be acceptable to Thee,
and pleasing to my fellow-creatures.
O let my conduct shew forth Thy Glory O Lord,
and raise my beloved and ancient Faith
in the estimation of the strangers
amongst whom it may be my lot to mingle;
but O guard me in Thine infinite goodness
from pride or self-conceit;
make me humble, O Lord,
that words of flattery may fall harmless on my ear,
and that I may not feel pained or disappointed
at any neglect or unkindness I may receive.
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O Mighty Father,
do not forsake me now!
Let my cry come up before Thee,
and deign to shed Thy Holy Grace,
Thy blessing on my soul.
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Let me but feel that Thou art with me, O my God,
that Thy spirit dwelleth within me,
and that virtue may be mine,
whether alone with my God,
or mingling with my fellow creatures.
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O my Heavenly Father, hear me,
and vouchsafe to answer me.
Let Thy wing encircle me,
Thy blessing be upon me
this night and evermore!
Amen.
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“Prayer before mingling with the world” by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in Sabbath Thoughts and Sacred Communings (1853), pp. 73-74. In Essays and Miscellanies (1853) the prayer appears on pages 191-192.
Source(s)
Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Co-authors:
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Name: Grace Aguilar
Bio: Grace Aguilar (2 June 1816 – 16 September 1847) was an English novelist, poet and writer on Jewish history and religion. Although she had been writing since childhood, much of her work was published posthumously. Among those are her best known works, the novels Home Influence and A Mother's Recompense. Aguilar was the eldest child of Sephardic Jewish refugees from Portugal who settled in the London Borough of Hackney. An early illness resulted in her being educated by her parents, especially her mother, who taught her the tenets of Judaism. Later, her father taught the history of Spanish and Portuguese Jews during his own bout with tuberculosis which had led the family to move to the English coast. After surviving the measles at the age of 19, she began to embark on a serious writing career, even though her physical health never completely recovered. Aguilar's debut was an anonymous collection of poems, The Magic Wreath of Hidden Flowers. Three years later she translated Isaac Orobio de Castro's Israel Defended into English at her father's behest. Later her The Spirit of Judaism drew interest and sales in both Britain and the United States after being published in Philadelphia by Isaac Leeser. He added a preface to the work elucidating his differences with her, the first of many clashes her work would have with mainstream Jewish thought. In the 1840s her novels began to attract regular readers, and Aguilar moved back to London with her parents. Despite her success, she and her mother still had to operate a boys' Hebrew school to stay solvent, which she resented for the time and energy it took from her writing. In 1847, she became ill again with a spinal paralysis which she did not let prevent her from visiting her brother in Frankfurt. Her health worsened and she died there that September.
Website: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/aguilar-grace
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/grace-aguilar
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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
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