📖 Prayers for Jewish Working Girls, by Lilian Helen Montagu (1895)

Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license

Date: 2023-05-05

Last Updated: 2025-04-11

Categories: Personal & Paraliturgical collections of prayers

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., British Jewry, English vernacular prayer, Jewish Women's Prayers, teḥinot in English, West Central Girls' Club, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: Prayers for Jewish Working Girls (1895) is a collection of prayers in vernacular English by Lilian Helen Montagu (1873-1963). The prayerbook was dedicated to the members of the West Central Girls' Club, founded in 1893 by Lilian and co-led by her and her sister Marian Montagu. . . .

Content:

Prayers for Jewish Working Girls (1895) is a collection of twenty-five prayers in vernacular English by Lilian Helen Montagu (1873-1963). The prayerbook was dedicated to the members of the West Central Girls’ Club, founded in 1893 by Lilian and co-led by her and her sister Marian Montagu.

This work is in the Public Domain due to its having been published more than 95 years ago.

This digital edition was prepared by Aharon Varady for the Open Siddur Project from a copy held in the collection of the HUC-JIR Klau Library in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Thank you!) This work is cross-posted to the Internet Archive, as a repository for our collaborative transcription efforts.

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Co-authors:

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

Name: Aharon N. Varady (digital imaging and document preparation)
Bio: Aharon Varady, founding director of the Open Siddur Project, is a copyright researcher and amateur book scanner. He prepares digital images and new digital editions of prayer books and related works in the Public Domain in order to make their constituent parts (prayers, translations, annotations, etc.) publicly accessible for collaborative transcription by project volunteers. (In some cases, he finds existing digital editions prepared by others that require correction and reformatting.) If you appreciate his efforts, please send him a kind note or contribute to his patreon account.
Website:
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/aharon-varady-digital-imaging

Name: Lilian Helen Montagu
Bio: The Hon. Lilian Helen "Lily" Montagu, CBE (22 December 1873 – 22 January 1963) was the first woman to play a major role in Progressive Judaism. Until the age of 15, she was educated at Doreck College, and privately educated thereafter. In 1893 she founded with Emily Marion Harris the West Central Jewish Girls Club (which subsequently merged into the Jewish Girls' Brigade). She was active in social improvement, particularly in respect to unemployment, sweat shops and bad housing. In 1901 and 1902, Montagu laid the groundwork for the establishment of the Jewish Religious Union in London. In February 1902 she arranged the first meeting of the Jewish Religious Union for the Advancement of Liberal Judaism at her sister Henrietta Franklin's house. The Union set up the first synagogue in Liberal Judaism in the UK and helped found the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Montagu was a founding member with her sister of the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage. She sat on the executive committee and led the meetings in prayer. Following the retirement of Leo Baeck, Montagu served for a brief stint (1955–1959) in her 80s as president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, before handing the reins over to Solomon Freehof.
Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lily_Montagu
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/lilian-helen-montagu

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Title: Prayers for Jewish Working Girls (Lily H. Montagu 1895) – title
Caption: Prayers for Jewish Working Girls (Lily H. Montagu 1895) - title