תפלה לבני ישראל בעד הצלחת יושבי ארצנו בּמלחמתם עם השׂפּנים | Prayer for the success of the United States in its war with Spain, by Rabbi Joshua Seigel (1898)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=44987

open_content_license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Date: 2022-06-12

Last Updated: 2022-06-16

Categories: War, United States of America

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Concentration camps, Cuban War of Independence, Spanish–American War, United States, William McKinley, Needing Vocalization

Excerpt: A Prayer for American Victory in the Spanish-American War by Rabbi Joshua Seigel (1846-1910), New York: Eliakum Zunser, [1898]. . . .


Content:
Source (Hebrew) Translation (English)
תפלה לבני ישראל
בעד הצלחת יושבי ארצנו
בּמלחמתם עם השפנים.
Prayer of Bnei Yisrael
for the victory of the inhabitants of our country
in their war with the Spaniards.
אנא ד״ רב חסד ואמת
אשר בידך נפש כל חי ורוח כל איש,
אתה בראת תבל ומלואה,
בצדק יסדתה,
ובמשפּט תכנת עמודיה,
אבינו מלכנו
ראה נא כי קמו עדת עריצים
המה השפּנים עם לא ישר,
העקובים מדם זה מאות בשנים,
ויצאו חוצץ כלם
לעוון משפּט
ולעקש הישרה,
במשלם בּאכזריות חמה
על נענים ונדכים המה הקיובּים,
ובמעט בלו מתגרת ידי מעניהם,
לולי קמו לעזרתם אנשים טובים וצדיקים
המה שכניהם בּעלי ארצות הברית אשר באמעריקא,
התמימים והישרים,
אשר מעולם המה למחסה עוז
לכל איש מצוק ומר נפש הניגש ונידה מממשלת זדון,
המה יצאו לעזרת ד׳ בגיבורים
ללחום מלחמת מצוה
למען לקרוא דרור לעם עני ומעונה.
Please Hashem, abounding in kindness and faithfulness[1] Cf. Exodus 34:6. 
within whose grasp is the soul of all life and the spirit of every human being
you created the world and all it holds
founded in justice
and built to stand on righteousness
Our Father our King
please recognize that a group of tyrants (lit. thorns) has arisen
They, the Spanish nation, is not upright,
the bloodiest in hundreds of years,
they went out to attack,
to pervert judgement
and trample the upright
in their ruling, with intense cruelty,
the impoverished and downtrodden, namely the Cubans,
depriving them of their trade and possessions.
Were it not for good and righteous people to step up to help them –
they, their neighbors, the United States that are in America,
[land of] the earnest and upright
that has ever been a refuge of the brave
for every desperate and bitter soul expelled by or exiled from malicious governments —
they came out, by the help of Hashem, with enormous strength
to fight a righteous war
for the sake of freedom cried out for a poor and tormented people![2] Cf. Emma Lazarus, “the New Collosus” at the Statue of Liberty. 
אנא ד׳
צא נא לישע צבאותיהם
בעמדם בּקרב
בּרוח צדק ומשפט,
הצליח דרכם בכל אשר יפנו להדרך קמם תחתיהם,
כי אתה תאיר אליהם אור פּניך, (כמו תהלים יח:כט)
ופּניך הולכים בקרב, (שמואל ב׳ יז:יא)
והעומדים מחלוצי צבאותנו
בּין בים בין ביבשה
אתה תלחום להם,
כי מי כמוך איש מלחמה עבור האמת והיושר
להדוף שונאיהם ולהיות מגן ומחסה לכל הולכי בתמים.
Please Hashem,
go forth to save their armies
while they stand in battle
in the spirit of righteousness and justice
make their way successful in trampling whoever stands against them
for you, Elohim, shall shine upon them the light of your countenance (Cf. Psalms 18:29)
and your face shall go into battle (II Samuel 17:11)
and stand at the front lines of our armies
whether on sea [or] on land
you will fight for them —
for who like you is a warrior for Truth and Uprightness?
Repel their enemies and be a shield and a refuge for all the innocent civilians.
גם השָׂרִים אשר לְמִשְׁפָּט יָשֹׂרוּ
הפרעוידענט
והװײס פרעזידענט
הסענאט והקאגגרעס
Also the administrators that govern with justice:[3] Cf. Isaiah 32:1.  
the President [4] William McKinkley (1843-1901)  
and Vice-President,[5] Garret Hobart (1844-1899)  
the Senate, and the Congress —
שים נא ד׳ עינך עליהם
לטובה וברך כל מעשה ידיהם
ויראו פּרי עמלם חיש מהר,
והמפקדים בראשי צבאות חננם מאתך
דעה בינה והשכל
כּערכם מערכה,
אשר לא יחטיאו המטרה,
ואמץ זרועותם להדבר
תחת רגלם את עם חרמם
מהרה ישובו ממקום המלחמה
המה עם ההולכי לרגלם בזר נצחון על ראשם,
לשמחת לב הפּרעזידענט היקר וכל ראשי העם,
ולשמחת לב כל אנשי מדינתנו,
המצפים לישועה.
וחי׳ שלום אמת
וְשַׁלְוַת הַשְׁקֵט,
לא ישמע עוד קול נוגש
והזדון כליל יחלוף,
וגם אנחנו בּני בריתך
נקח חבל בנעימים בתוך הנושעים,
כי תושע יהודה וישראל ישכון לבטח
אמן.
Please, Hashem, keep an eye on them.
For goodness sake bless all they strive for
and they will swiftly see the fruit of their hard work.
And grace the commanders at the head of the armies
with understanding, wisdom, and intelligence,
as much as they need for their battle tactics
so that they will not miss the target.
And strengthen their limbs in the [struggle] 
subdue the depraved nation under their feet.
May they soon return from the battlefield
marching with wreaths of victory on their heads
for the joy of the honorable President and all the leaders of the country
and for the joy of our [fellow] citizens
who are anticipating [the Cuban people’s] salvation.
And [may the Cuban people] live peacefully and faithfully[6] Cf. Esther 9:31. 
and [with] untroubled tranquility.[7] Ezekiel 16:49. 
The voice of the oppressor shall no longer be heard
as for the malicious ones, they will vanish completely[8] Cf. Isaiah 2:18.  
and we, the children of the covenant,
will take our place among the saviors
so that Yehudah and Yisrael will too dwell securely,[9] Cf. Deuteronomy 33:12. 
Amen.
יהיו לרצון אמרי פינו
והגיון לבנו
לפניך
ד׳ צורנו וגואלנו.
May the words of our mouth
and the prayer of our heart
be acceptable to You,
Hashem, our rock-fortress and our redeemer. (Cf. Psalms 19:15)
נתחברה מאת הרב הגאון מו״ה ר׳ יהושע סיגל נ׳י
רב הכולל דקהלות ישראל בנויארק.
בדפוס ר׳ אליקום צונזער, 171 איסט בראדװײ, נויארק.

This is a Prayer for American Victory in the Spanish-American War by Rabbi Joshua Seigel (1846-1910), New York: Eliakum Zunser, [1898]. While this prayer will be widely recognized as an expression of Jewish American patriotism, I think it should also be recognized as a prayer on behalf of justice and freedom for the Cuban people. The Cuban War of Independence saw the first use of modern concentration camps as innovated under Spanish rule. This is the use of the medium of prayer for rallying Jewish opinion for the sake of another people and that, I believe, is special, especially in the evolution of the particularly American Jewish conception of Judaism as working for repair of brokenness in our world, tiqun olam. I also read this prayer as providing something of a precedent for the prayers that many of us feel today in regards to Russian aggression in its invasion and the suffering and death they’ve forced upon Ukraine.

We are grateful to Sothebys for sharing an image of this prayer at a high enough resolution sufficient for a relatively straightforward transcription. Thank you to David Selis for informing us of this prayer. Many thanks to the Baruch Thaler for looking over my rough translation and suggesting corrections. Please leave a comment or contact us with any corrections or improvements to this translation — and thank you. –Aharon Varady

Source

Prayer for United States victory in the Spanish-American War (Joshua Seigel 1898), cropped from an image of an item in auction at Sothebys

 

Notes

Notes
1 Cf. Exodus 34:6.
2 Cf. Emma Lazarus, “the New Collosus” at the Statue of Liberty.
3 Cf. Isaiah 32:1.
4 William McKinkley (1843-1901)
5 Garret Hobart (1844-1899)
6 Cf. Esther 9:31.
7 Ezekiel 16:49.
8 Cf. Isaiah 2:18.
9 Cf. Deuteronomy 33:12.

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Co-authors:

Featured Image:
Theodore-Roosevelt-Rough-Riders-Spanish-American-War-Kurz-1898
Title: Theodore-Roosevelt-Rough-Riders-Spanish-American-War-Kurz-1898
Caption: Theodore Roosevelt leading the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War, 1898; print created by Kurz & Allison. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-DIG-pga-01946)