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Though the Abba
Hillel Silver archives have poems he wrote in 1910 and 1911 while an
undergraduate at the University of Cincinnati, only this poem,
"America", probably composed in 1923, seems to have had much
exposure.
This patriotic poem praises our nation and the brave immigrants who
came here. Rabbi Silver may have written it as a way to push back at
the growing anti-immigrant sentiment and increasingly restrictive
immigration policies of the early 1920s. He too was an immigrant,
having come here in 1902 as a boy of nine. It is a poem of praise,
without criticism, yet it ends with mention of a purpose sublime
which, to me, suggests that there is more to be done.
Its first two recitals were in 1923, within days of each
other. The first was by Silver, on Thursday evening May 17 at the Statler Hotel.
It ended his address at the annual
dinner of the National Association of Purchasing Agents. Its second
reading was by a young woman being confirmed at The Temple on East
55th Street and Central Avenue on Monday morning May 21.
How diligently The Temple staff - probably the
rabbi's secretary - collected and saved his talks and writings, even
in 1923. The Silver archives at the WRHS include his talk as typed
and as it appeared in NAPA's magazine "The Purchasing Agent". We
note that this is the only document we have seen in which Rabbi Abba
Hillel Silver refers to himself as "Rabbi Abba Silver".
Arnold Berger February 2019
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Thursday evening May 17, 1923 |
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That evening Rabbi
Silver spoke at the dinner of the National Association of Purchasing Agents,
held at the Statler Hotel.
His talk "Organizing for Service" was published in the July 1923 issue of
the NAPA magazine "The Purchasing Agent". It was a plea to "bring forth an economic condition which will bless
every one and hurt no one."
We show only the last page.
The poem starts four lines from the bottom of the middle column:
"God built a continent ... |
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Monday morning May 21, 1923 |
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Confirmation
services are held on Shavuot, which celebrates the
receiving of the Law on Mount Sinai. In 1923 The Temple's
service was held on Monday morning May 21. The weekly Jewish Independent
newspaper reported on it on Friday May 25 but there was
no room in the eight page issue for all the details. On
page 7 of the June 1 issue we see the poem "America"
being read by Jean Willner Roth.
The poem was also read in the
confirmation services of 1924 and 1925. We have not searched for
its inclusion in subsequent years. |
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AMERICA |
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We found
the
patriotic poem
America in searches many years ago on several websites. It was
on the website of the 2000 presidential campaign of
Republican Pat Buchanan. |
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God built Him a continent of glory and filled it with treasures untold;
He carpeted it with soft-rolling plains, and columned it with thundering
mountains;
He studded it with sweet-flowing fountains, and traced it with long-winding streams;
He planted it with deep-shadowed forests, and filled them with song.
Then He called unto a thousand peoples and summoned the bravest among
them.
They came from the ends of the earth, each bearing a gift and a
hope.
The glow of adventure was in their eyes, and in their hearts the
glory of hope.
And out of the bounty of earth and the labor of men,
Out of the longing of hearts and the prayers of souls,
Out of the memory of ages and the hopes of the world;
God fashioned a nation in love, blessed it with a purpose sublime
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And
called it
AMERICA. |
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Searches
of The Plain Dealer and our Jewish papers found no mention of
the poem. A recent
web search found
the copy shown below,
with no mention of who had printed it. |
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A
chronology of Silver's writings by Temple librarian Miriam
Leikind in "In
The Time of Harvest" shows
"America" as first published in the New
York Times on August 17, 1923. We found it in
the August 19th, 1923 Times, page XX10, titled A Definition of
America by Rabbi Abba Silver. A search on "God built a continent of glory" found it
easily.
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The form of "America" changed
As shown
above, the first publication of America was as prose, not as a poem.
Remove
from the N Y Times version the first paragraph and the first three sentences of the second
paragraph. What remains is the poem, starting with "God
built a continent of glory"
The poem changed words and some phrases. As examples:
"God built a continent" became "God built Him a continent"; "pillared it"
became "columned it"; and "the labor of men and the bounty
of earth" became "the bounty of earth and the labor of men".
"America" and The Temple
Printed on a card shown at the left, "America"
was found in the archives of The Temple - Tifereth Israel. About 4 x 7 inches,
it could be mailed in a business envelope.
We hope to learn when the cards were
printed and how they were distributed. |
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