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“Rabbi Hanina, the deputy High Priest, said: Pray for the welfare of the kingdom, because if people wouldnot fear it, men would swallow each other alive.” (Mishnah, Tractate Avot 3:2)
Throughout history, Jewish communities have recited prayers for the welfare of the kingdom or government the lived under. Surprisingly, this custom was continued in Russia even after the Bolshevik Revolution, despite the fact that this atheistic “kingdom” opposed all religion, proclaimed that it did not believe in God, and forbade religious worship. To avoid conflict with communist authorities, the Jewish prayer before you does not directly pray for the Soviet Union. Instead, it praises the communist kingdom as the guardian of world peace.
