Growing up, every Sabbath, after the Torah reading, the Rabbi would say four prayers. The prayer for the sick, the prayer for the American Gov't, the prayer for the State of Israel, and a prayer for the IDF. The last two are prayers that were developed within the last fifty years, and they get modified every so often. The prayer for the IDF was modified maybe three years ago. Traditionally Jews always say a prayer for the welfare of the country in which they live, I'm not sure when this one was codified. When I was in England, I was asked to lead services, but they had someone who spoke "Proper English" say the prayer for the royal family. :-) Some synagogues I've been to say them in English, some in Hebrew, some in both.
But they very rarely add a new prayer, or at least a permanent one. A year ago, they added one for thirteen Jews being help prisoner in Iran simply for teaching Torah to their children, but we stopped saying it after they were released this fall.
In light of current events, the RCA (Rabbinical Council of America, a committee of Orthodox Rabbis) recently suggested that synagogues add this, I'm linking to the translation:
http://www.onlysimchas.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/prayer.htmI like it. Not too politically jingoistic, and it gets the point across.
"stagnant, old-school, religion that ignores the world around it," my ass.
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