Invocation by Rabbi Harry H. Mayer at the Democratic National Convention (6 July 1900)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=56058

Date: 2024-05-31

Last Updated: 2025-02-02

Categories: 🇺🇸 United States of America, Elections & Voting

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Democratic National Convention 1900, Democratic National Conventions

Excerpt: The invocation offered at the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Kansas City in 1900. . . .

Content:

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	O, our Heavenly Father, Father, too, of all mankind, Thou who art nigh unto all who call upon Thee in truth, we invoke Thy name to-day with the thrill of stirring scenes and strong emotions upon us that we may profess before Thee, the conviction of our hearts that unless Thou art with us we labor in vain.
	We thank Thee for the many worthy men Thou hast raised in leadership over us. Bless them and all those who labor for the establishment of wise government and just laws.
	Make us to rejoice not so much in the largeness of our domain as in the spread of truth and justice. Make us to perceive more and more clearly our duties toward those who stretch forth unto us their helpless hands in piteous appeal for that succor which we as common children of Thee, our Father, dare not deny them.
	May we be free from bitterness and bigotry toward those who hold opinions that clash with ours.
	Thou, O Lord, hast lifted up an ensign to the nations from afar and hast called for one of them from the end of the earth. May it come with speed, swiftly, not to blight but to bless, that the partition walls of party affiliation and racial affinities dividing men against themselves may be leveled and Thy spirit of kindness rule everywhere and always.
	Oh, may there be none weary nor stumbling among its men. We ask it for the sake of Thy name. Amen.

---

The opening prayer for the Democratic National Convention in Kansas City on 6 July 1900 was offered by Rabbi Harry H. Mayer, and published on the first page of The New York Times, “A Day of Many Speeches” (7 July 1900).

Source(s)

A Day of Many Speeches – Rabbi Harry H. Mayer [at the Democratic National Convention 6 July] (NYTimes, 7 July 1900)

 

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: Harry H. Mayer
  Bio: Rabbi Harry Hubert Mayer (1874-1965), from Allegheny, Pennsylvania, was a Reform rabbi in the United States. He studied at the University of Strasbourg before he was ordained in 1896 at Hebrew Union College. He served as rabbi of Little Rock, Arkansas's Temple B’nai Israel from 1897 to 1899, after which he came to Congregation B’nai Jehudah in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1913, he authored The truth about the Russian government and the ritual murder trial. In 1926, he was commended by the American Eugenics Society's Committee on Cooperation with Clergymen for a special Mother’s Day service in which he declared in a sermon: “May we do nothing to permit our blood to be adulterated by infusion of blood of inferior grade” (Daniel J. Kevles, page 61 in In the Name of Eugenics, 1985).
  Website:
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/harry-mayer
• 
  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: Democratic National Convention 1900
Caption: Democratic National Convention 1900 (credit: James Burton)