Prayer for the United States on Thanksgiving Day, by Rabbi Sabato Morais (27 November 1851)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=45654

Date: 2022-07-13

Last Updated: 2025-02-18

Categories: 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November), 🇺🇸 United States of America

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, thanksgiving

Excerpt: This Thanksgiving Day prayer for welfare of the country and congregation by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered at the end of his sermon on 27 November 1851 and recorded in The Asmonean on 12 December 1851. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 2, clipping 001), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.) . . .

Content:

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Lord God! from whom proceeds all which is right, good, aud holy, may thy name be glorified on earth amidst the faithful, as it is blessed above by the immortals. May thy law of truth soon spread among thy creatures, that all born may worship thee, the only God, immutable, and eternal. May thy servants who have executed thy blessed will, enjoy enlargment and peace, till the voice of the Redeemer shall be beard on Mount Zion.
	Sovereign of all ages! deign to bless this country, this people, their homes, their fields, their commerce, their productions; maintain among them harmony of feeling, indissoluble brotherhood, and unity of power, now and evermore
	Father of all! bless also the rulers of this happy land, sustain them with thy wisdom, that they may dispense justice and equity for the continual preservation of civil and religious liberties.
	Bless all of them, of whatever nation, of whatever creed, who have this day like us gathered to thank thy abundant goodness, O Heavenly King!
	And over this devout community, over their old and young, over their rich and poor, over their wardens and officers, over their schools aud on their teachers, unfold, O God! the pavilion of thy peace; may their religious conduct and future progress in the path of true wisdom shine brilliantly over America, and on Israel thy beloved children. Amen.

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This Thanksgiving Day prayer for welfare of the country and congregation by Rabbi Sabato Morais was offered at the end of his sermon on 27 November 1851 and recorded in The Asmonean on 12 December 1851. It was preserved by Rabbi Morais in his ledger (page 2, clipping 001), an archive of newsclippings recording material he contributed to the press, among other announcements. (Many thanks to the Library of the University of Pennsylvania for helping to make this resource accessible.)

Source(s)

Thanksgiving Day [1851] (Sabato Morais Ledger, p. 2, clipping 001)

 

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: Sabato Morais
  Bio: Rabbi Sabato Morais (שבתאי מוראיס; April 13, 1823 – November 11, 1897) was an Italian-American rabbi, leader of Mikveh Israel Synagogue in Philadelphia, pioneer of Italian Jewish Studies in America, and in 1886, co-founder (with Henry Pereira Mendes) of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America to preserve the knowledge and practice of traditional, historical rabbinic Judaism in the United States.
  Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabato_Morais
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/sabato-morais
• 
  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: Thanksgiving Day [1851] (Sabato Morais Ledger, p. 2, clipping 001)
Caption: Thanksgiving Day [1851] (Sabato Morais Ledger, p. 2, clipping 001)