[Prayer for a] Tree Planting, by Rabbi Avraham Samuel Soltes (1952)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=26703

Date: 2019-08-25

Last Updated: 2021-04-29

Categories: National Arbor Day (last Friday of April), Planting

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, North American Jewry, planting trees, Prayers for Planting

Excerpt: A prayer for planting a tree or trees. . . .

Content:

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	O Thou, who first planted trees eastward in Eden, and hast created on earth a resemblance to Paradise through the overarching beauty of leaf and branch we thank Thee for the gift of fruit and shade, of food and shelter, which Thy Divine wisdom hast provided for the children of men.
	To our forefathers, wandering through the wilderness of Sinai, the sight of a tree meant respite from the beating rays of the sun, an oasis of refreshment amid the devouring desolation of the desert.
	To us, as we plant these saplings today, these trees, too, mean relief for the eyes from the surrounding wilderness of harsh brick and barren stone — they signify deliverance for the spirit from the cold, unyielding pavements that have sealed off the city from the soil and its Maker.
	We pray Thee, O Heavenly Father, that even as we break the earth’s crust to implant this foliage, so may we be helped to pierce the callousness of our hearts to the suffering of our brethren, and create within their arid indifference a heavenly oasis, wherein our fellowmen may ever find solace and understanding, sympathy and peace.
	Then will the sacrifices of our youth be delivered from vanity, and the ideals for which they perished ever flourish, like the tree of Moses Which, though scorched with suffering, was never consumed. Amen.

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“Tree Planting” was first published in Rabbi Avraham Soltes’ collection of prayers, תפלה Invocation: Sheaf of Prayers (Bloch 1959) and dated to April 27, 1952 just a few days after Arbor Day (April 24) in the United States.

Source(s)

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: Avraham Samuel Soltes
  Bio: Rabbi Avraham Soltes (1917-1983) was a Reform Jewish rabbi, the Jewish chaplain at the United States Military Academy in West Point, an author and a leading figure in Jewish cultural affairs. He was born in New York City. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1937 and received a master's degree from Columbia University in 1938. After being ordained in 1942 by the Jewish Institute of Religion (now HUC-JIR), he served as chaplain at Cornell and McGill Universities and then was assistant rabbi at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan from 1946 to 1949. He subsequently served as rabbi at Temple Sharey Tefilo in East Orange and Temple Emanuel in Great Neck. He began his service at West Point as a voluntary chaplain in 1963 and was made a permanent member of the staff in 1981. His interests also took him into commerce, and from 1969 to 1974, he was vice president for community affairs of the Glen Alden Corporation, which in 1972 was merged into the Rapid America Corporation. From 1974 to 1977, he was assistant to the president of Tel Aviv University. He was credited with a key role in the establishment of the New York medical division at the university. In 1981, Rabbi Soltes received the Jabotinsky Award from Prime Minister Menachim Begin for his service to Israel. From 1977 until his death Rabbi Soltes had been the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Chavairuth of Bergen County, in Tenafly, N.J. He participated in many cultural and educational activities that interpreted Jewish art, music and literature. He was chairman of the National Jewish Music Council from 1963 to 1969 and a member of the board of the National Jewish Book Council from 1967 to 1972. Rabbi Soltes, a commentator on Jewish music for American listeners, was the host of a radio program, ''The Music of Israel,'' on WQXR from 1974-1983. Among his writings were Palestine in Poetry and Song of the Jewish Diaspora (Master's thesis HUC-JIR 1942) and Off The Willows: The Rebirth of Modern Jewish Music (1970).
  Website:
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/avraham-samuel-soltes
• 
  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-transcription

Featured Image:

Title: Saplings
Caption: Some of the saplings growing in the nursery" (credit: iamsch, license: CC BY-SA)