INTRODUCTION
In 1967, the sociologist Robert Bellah employed the term “Civil Religion” to describe those shared beliefs, values, symbols, rituals and holidays that characterize American life that are independent of, although not necessarily incompatible with, the different religious and spiritual traditions in which many Americans participate as individuals. Although the understanding that societies are bound together by these elements predates Bellah, the expression “Civil Religion” has proven to be a useful term.
Participation in American Civil Religion has been a feature of American Jewish life. It is not uncommon for rabbis to offer prayers at civil functions. Jewish organizations participate in local celebrations of American holidays. For American Jews, American Civil Religion has offered a pathway for Jews to integrate into American life.
Already in the late 1940s, if not earlier, Mordechai Kaplan, using the insights of Emil Durkheim and other anthropologist, explored the significance of the system of beliefs and practices that are expressed in the “secular” aspects of American Life. One product of this work was the publication in 1951 of The Faith of America, an anthology of readings, songs and prayer for the celebration of American holidays, which he compiled with J. Paul Williams and Eugene Korn. The book presents liturgies for the celebration of American holidays focusing on each one’s special theme. For Kaplan what each of the holidays “stand for may be said to constitute the national faith.” The celebration of these days plays an important role in our experience of American Civil Religion. Although Kaplan’s collection of liturgies which consist of prayers, readings from foundational American texts, poetry and musical selections connected to the theme of the holiday did not become the prayer book of American faith, American holidays are still celebrated by a set of culturally grounded practices that reflect their core values.
Over the last 75 years, America has changed, yet the challenge that Kaplan and his associates faced to make the celebration of these events more than perfunctory remains. Today’s America is far more aware, and, hopefully, accepting of our diversity than it was in the mid-twentieth century. The public celebration of our national holidays needs to be sensitive to the diverse spiritual lives of all Americans.
This is of particular importance this year, 2026, as certain political, religious, and cultural groups are attempting to use the Semiquincentennial celebration of the American Declaration of Independence to promote their own parochial concerns, making deliberate choices to exclude differing American voices. Against this backdrop of national division, local civic rituals become crucial battlegrounds for inclusion.
As a rabbi, I have often been asked to participate in the ceremonies and celebrations of American Civil Religion. This year 2026, as it has been often the case for many years in the past, I received the honor of offering the Benediction at the end of my township’s Memorial Day commemoration. The program, or in religious terms, the liturgy, is always the same: presenting the colors, recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, singing the national anthem, an invocation, introducing local political, civic and religious leaders, a short speech, a moment to remember the dead and the MIA/POWs, a gun salute, taps and a concluding prayer, a benediction.
As I understand it, my challenge each year, except on those days when Memorial Day and Shavuot coincide, is to create something prayerful that avoids religious specific language and/or ceremonial deism—the superficial use of generic religious phrases, such as “God bless America” that strips them of true spiritual power. The former excludes many in our religiously and culturally diverse community and the latter trivializes religious language and still excludes those who are not connected to God language. Here are eight closing prayers that I have composed as benedictions for this communal gathering. In them, I try to focus on our shared experiences, our sense of loss, our search for meaning and the power of memory. Each of us speak in our own voices and out of our own hearts. I offer these eight prayers as examples showing how I try to bring the diverse community of Cherry Hill, NJ together as we pause to honor and remember all those who offered everything so that America could stay true to its vision.
[1] MEMORIAL DAY 2006 (REVISED 2026)
To Our Dead Soldiers
You looked so sharp, so strong, so tall
When you said good-bye
With a hug
And a kiss
And a smile
And we played ball
Went to the beach
Celebrated birthdays
Weddings
Graduations
And counted the days
Until you returned
But you did not
And you left us memories
So today
Help us remember your hugs and your kisses
You smiles, laughter, your dance and your songs.
Help us remember your hopes and your wishes.
And help us remember your love
And hug us
And kiss us
And bless us
Today
With the courage we need to stand up to injustice.
With the strength we need to set people free
With the vision we need to walk towards freedom.
With the wisdom we need to use our gifts for good
With the insight we need to honor your memory
And with the love we need
To stand tall,
To look sharp
To be strong
So we can still share
Your hugs and your kisses
And make your smile our own.
[2] MEMORIAL DAY 2007 (revised 2026)
Let Us Hear
We’ve heard all the speeches
The tributes
The honors
We’ve listened
We’ve stood, saluted and cried
And with the summer before us
And the world all in bloom
In tune with the bugle
In beat with the drum
They sounded out
All the right words
So
Let us hear “dead” before we hear “honored”
Let us hear “lost” clearer than “sacrifice”
Let us hear “boys” sharper than “brave”
Let us hear “mother” brighter than “Gold Star”
Let us remember that before the parades
Come funeral processions
And not every soldier comes marching home.
So
Together today we count our losses
Together today we face our grief
We know the price they’ve paid for our freedom
And only together can we cherish their gift.
[3] MEMORIAL DAY 2011
Memories
So today we remember
Our youth, our dreams, and our hopes
Sunny days, warm breezes, picnics, ball games
The sea shore, the mountains, the woods, the lakes
And those who shared our joy
Before they marched away
Far away
To places off our mental maps
To places found on the other side of our globes
And in the back part of our atlas
The big book on the coffee table
We rarely open.
They marched off beyond the sea
To distant mountains
To far off forests, lakes and plains
To keep us safe
To fight our foes
To protect our lives, our dreams, our hopes
Our sunny days, warm breezes, picnics, ball games and such
Before they came home
Some whole, some wounded, some dead
So today we remember
Their youth, their dreams, their hopes
Their sunny days, their warm breezes, picnics, ball games
Their love of our seashore, our mountains, our woods, our lakes
And the joy they brought us
The love we shared
The life we envisioned
Before they marched away
Far away
To rest in forever
In the uncharted regions of our hearts.
Today we remember
And find blessings in the memories.
[4] MEMORIAL DAY 2013
Let Us Remember
Let us remember those who have fallen
Let us remember those who have fallen so that we can be here
Let us remember those who have fallen so that we can be here and remember
Let us remember
Their faces, their names, their hopes, their dreams
Let us remember
Their loves and fears
Let us remember those they left behind
And let us remember why we remember
And let us why we are here.
Let us remember those we asked to stand up for us in the face of danger
To protect us, our liberties, our freedom, our dreams, and our lives
At the cost of their liberty, their freedom, their dreams and their lives.
And let us remember and pray:
That we never forget them – their lives, their deaths,
And that we never forget that shared vision of a better America
The “more perfect union”
For which they died:
An America in which we are all a band of brothers and sisters
An America in which we are all safe, secure, and free
An America which stands with all who cherish freedom
An America which stands against all who despise liberty
An America which cherishes all,
honors all,
nurtures all,
protects all
An America which remembers the price of liberty
So that all can be free.
[5] Memorial Day – 2016
A Soldier’s Death is Not Pretty
A soldier’s death is not pretty –
Gassed green-gray in a trench;
Ripped, torn, crushed, cut
By machine guns hidden in hedgerows,
By bombs or shells or mines;
Bleeding out in the sand,
The dirt,
The grass.
Punctured by a lead ball round as a marble
On a field
Better used for farming
Or baseball;
Shattered by a device in the road
In a postcard village,
With mountains behind,
Gray, green, blue and white,
Now red;
Embraced by the North Atlantic waters;
Fire reaching from an infected leg to the heart and mind
Lost first in delirium, then in death;
Overcome by demons unable to suppress
Locked in a wounded body and trapped in a wounded brain;
A soldier’s death is not pretty.
So look beyond the statues – generals on horses
Once gold
Now green
Giving commands to pigeons
Look beyond the paintings – great murals
Of great battles
Of waves of men rising and crashing and retreating
Of flags and banners
Of bugles and drums
Of sunbeams cast on the commander’s heroic death.
Instead, remember the boys, the men, the women, the girls
Always young, always strong,
Sometimes brave, often scared
Dreaming of life and home
And always dead
Remember their dreams, their hopes, their prayers
Remember their families, their comrades, their friends
Remember to listen, to see, to sense:
Their deaths,
Their lives,
Their gifts
And give honor
And give love
And give thanks
[6] MEMORIAL DAY 2019
Peace is Our Goal
Your dream was to be with us
Yet you gave your life for us
So please forgive us
If we sometimes forget
That:
Freedom is precious
And War marks a failure
Though Victory, opportunity
But we need to be brave.
For if Hatred divides us
Then Love can unite us
And Peace is our goal
May we remember
What we lost forever
And that through living comes life.
But Fear is our enemy
And Anger our foe
Though Hatred might divide us
Our Love can unite us
So help us be brave.
Hope will sustain us
And Memory maintain us
For you were our children
Our brothers, our sisters
Our neighbors, our friends.
So help us remember
That
When Hatred divides us
Your sacrifice can remind us
That Love will unite us
Our values will guide us
To wholeness, and wellness
Because peace is our goal
So please abide with us
And bless us and trust us
As we march on forward
To Peace, our shared goal.
[7] MEMORIAL DAY 2025
Drums Beating
Drums Beating
Bells Tolling
Bugels blasting
And a Gun Salute
Can’t silence weeping
Can’t stop tears
Can’t restore voices
Can’t bring them home.
To empty beds
To empty rooms
To empty chairs
To broken hearts
Nor can body bags
And drapped flags
And honor guards
And rows of marble monuments
Nor speeches
Nor prayers
But their memory sustains us
Their sacrifice commits us
Their death commands us
To live with our losses
To build with their visions
To care for each other
To share the dreams
For our nation
For which they died
The dreams
Of liberty
Of justice
Of happiness
Of equity, unity, community
And peace.
Peace
In a world at peace
Peace at home
Peace abroad
Peace in our hearts.
And the peace of feeling whole once more.
And now, we part
Holding on to our sorrow for those we have lost
With the resolve
To honor their memories
by living with compassion,
by standing for what is right,
and by striving always to be worthy of their sacrifice.
So, let us leave this sacred place
with peace in our hearts,
with purpose in our hands,
with the strength of community
and with the bitter-sweet consolation of memory.
Amen
[8] MEMORIAL DAY 2026
Benediction
We have said the proper words
We have sung the expected songs
We have stood up and saluted
The passing flag.
We have read your names
Slowly, solemnly
Reverently, respectfully
And we have heard the bugle
Call you back
To your eternal rest.
And yet we still have one small request
From you who have offered us so much –
That you pray for us
That we don’t forget
Your dream for our country
Your hope for our homeland
Your wish for our children
Help us not forget
The dream that we all will be free
The belief that we all are equals
The understanding that our unity grows out of our diversity
The promise that justice will prevail
The commitment to care for each other
The assurance that public service is public trust
And the hope that
The clash of arms,
The call to war
Will no longer be heard in our land.
It’s not a long prayer
But it’s one we need
This morning
and tomorrow
and tomorrow’s tomorrow
And always.
So pray for us
As we remember you
So that we honor your lives
So that we cherish your dreams
And so that we can build the better home
For which you gave so much.
