July 2023

The following lines are from a long prayer,
“That America Fulfill the Promise of Its Founding,” by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan. Though written in 1945, it rings true yet today.

O God, who is Liberator and Redeemer, Lawgiver and Judge, …

May America remain loyal
to the principles of the Declaration of Independence,
and extend their application to ever-widening areas of life.

Keep out of our life all manner of oppression,
persecution,
and unjust discrimination;
save us from religious,
racial and class conflicts;
may our country be a haven of refuge
to the victims of injustice and misrule.

Instruct us in the art of living together,
of reconciling differences of opinion
and averting clashes of interest,
of helping one another
to achieve a harmonious and abundant life …

That the Star-Spangled Banner,
the symbol of our American democracy,
may ever wave o’er the land of the free
and the home of the brave. Amen.