Opening Prayer on the Significance of Flag Day, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)
Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=51664
open_content_license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Date: 2023-06-14
Last Updated: 2023-06-14
Categories: US Flag Day (June 14)
Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, civic prayers, ecumenical prayers, English vernacular prayer, United States
Excerpt: This opening prayer for Flag Day, “The Significance of the Day,” was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p. 117 . . .
Content:
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On the fourteenth day of June in the year 1780,
the flag of our nation was born.
On that day the Congress of the United States resolved
“that the flag of the thirteen United States
be thirteen stripes,
alternate red and white;
that the Union be thirteen stars,
white in a blue field,
representing a new constellation.”
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Today we celebrate the anniversary of that event.
Today, over a vast territory
and over the hearts of many millions of people
that emblem holds sway,
a symbol endowed
with immeasurable potency
to evoke loyalty,
heroism,
and self-sacrifice.
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We are assembled to renew our allegiance
to the flag and to all that it symbolizes.
We are not idolaters.
Our homage is not to the flag
as a piece of colored cloth.
It is to what the flag means in our life
and the life of mankind;
to the land, the persons, the institutions,
the laws, the ideals, the human relationships
that the flag betokens.
To these our loyalty is directed,
and upon these we invoke the blessing of God.
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Grant, O God,
that the display of our national emblem
move us so to live that we may never disgrace it,
but always reflect honor upon it.
May our flag forever remain
the symbol of a nation
dedicated to freedom,
justice,
and the well-being of all mankind.
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This opening prayer for Flag Day, “The Significance of the Day,” was first published in The Faith of America: Readings, Songs, and Prayers for the Celebration of American Holidays (Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation 1951), p. 117
Source(s)
Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)
Co-authors:
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Name: Aharon N. Varady (editing/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
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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
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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
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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
Featured Image:
Title: Flag of the United States with star sizes relative to population (OmarZlada 2021)
Caption: Flag of the United States with star sizes relative to population (OmarZlada 2021)
