Revised "Maoz Tzur" From Early Reconstructionist Siddur

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Posted on November 17, 2016

Reconstructionist Maoz Tzur

This revision of a familiar Hanukkah song was published in the 1945 Reconstructionist siddur. The original text was amended to address ethical concerns raised by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan - specifically, the first verse is changed so that instead of anticipating God “preparing the slaughter of the blaspheming foe,” we look forward to the end of slaughter and the stilling of the sound of battle. See attached for the Hebrew and (non-literal, but poetic) translation.