Opening Prayer on the Significance of Lincoln's Birthday, by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, J. Paul Williams, and Eugene Kohn (1951)
Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=35513
open_content_license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license Date: 2021-02-10
Last Updated: 2025-02-18
Categories: 🇺🇸 Abraham Lincoln's Birthday (February 12th)
Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, civic prayers, English vernacular prayer, United States
Excerpt: This opening prayer-essay for Lincoln's Birthday, "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) -- as preface to a number of readings selected by Mordecai Kaplan, Eugene Kohn, and J. Paul Williams for the day. . . .
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This day is gratefully dedicated
to the remembrance of Abraham Lincoln,
who led the United States
through four years of civil strife
to keep the nation one,
and who used the power of his office
to free the Negroes from slavery.
His memory is both an inspiration and a challenge.
It inspires us to dedicate our lives as he did his,
to freeing the bound.
It challenges us to make of our country
a land in which all men are accepted by their fellow men
for what they are
and for what they can make of themselves.
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We are wont in family life
to accept our brother;
we assume his right
to be himself,
to seek his own welfare in his own way;
we ask of him only
that he share with us a common devotion to the family.
So let us in our public life
accept our fellow man in brotherhood.
Let us acknowledge his right
to his own interests,
his own beliefs,
his own loyalties.
Let us ask of him only
that he share with us a common devotion
to the cause of all humanity.
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Ours is a nation built by men
of different races,
different faiths,
different cultural traditions.
To recognize all of them as our brothers
is to show respect for their right to be different from us.
It is to learn to value the special contribution
which each can bring to the common cause.
It is to welcome his cooperation in the building of a common civilization.
That civilization should be great enough to embrace all the diversities among us.
Let us make America safe for differences
and liberate all those who today are oppressed
by unbrotherly prejudice and rancor.
Thus and thus only can we honor the memory of Abraham Lincoln
and bring victory to the cause for which he lived and died.
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This opening prayer-essay for Lincoln’s Birthday, “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. 29-30 — as preface to a number of readings selected by Mordecai Kaplan, Eugene Kohn, and J. Paul Williams for the day. 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 archaisms in this prayer (thee, thy, thou, etc.) as well as adapted it with gender-neutral instead of male-by-default language. –Aharon Varady
Source(s)
Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Co-authors:
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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
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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: 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: 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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