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Tags:Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Gary Klein, Temple Ahavat Shalom, Palm Harbor, FL
Sponsor: Rep. Gus Bilirakis, (R-FL)
Date of Prayer: 06/27/2017
Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to welcome my great friend, Rabbi Gary Klein, who has led the Temple Ahavat Shalom of Palm Harbor, Florida, for the past 30 years.
Temple Ahavat Shalom is a congregation that serves nearly 500 households in my district. Since coming to Pinellas County in 1987, he served on the board of the St. Leo University Center for Catholic–Jewish studies and currently serves on the National Council of AIPAC.
Rabbi Klein is a long–time advocate on behalf of the U.S.–Israel alliance.
As co–chair of the Congressional Hellenic Israeli Alliance, I welcome his continued advice and counsel, especially as it relates to security in the Eastern Mediterranean.
For several years now, I have joined Rabbi Klein and the congregation for Passover Seder, and I very much look forward to continuing this tradition.
I am thankful for his friendship, and I wish him many more years of blessed leadership.
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Religious traditions teach that people and God are to work together to create a better world. Therefore, as we begin this day of work of the House of Representatives, we pray first, O God, that You join with medical professionals to help Congressman Scalise and others injured with him experience complete recoveries. | |
We also pray that You bless the efforts of this legislative body so that the collective courage, dedication, compassion, and wisdom of its Members help this country maintain its position as “a light unto the nations.”[1] Rabbi Klein here transfers to the United States of America, the imperative of the people of Israel in Isaiah 42:6, Isaiah 49:6, and Isaiah 60:3 | |
You have also taught us through the Talmud, a work of Jewish religious literature, that trying to improve the world, even if you do not complete the task, is life’s most sacred duty.[2] A paraphrase of Rabbi Tarfon’s maxim in Pirkei Avot 2:16 Help us and our legislators to also understand the Talmudic concept that reinforces this when it states: If you save a single life, it is as if you saved the entire world.[3] Cf. Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5 | |
O God, help each of us as Americans recognize the significance of the work done by our legislators, and help us to always be grateful to them. God, we also pray that You keep our legislators healthy and safe so that they may continue their work of improving the world. Amen. |
Source(s)
115th Congress, 1st Session. Congressional Record, Issue: Vol. 163, No. 110 — Daily Edition (June 27, 2017)
Link: https://chaplain.house.gov/chaplaincy/display_gc.html?id=2563
Notes
“Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Gary Klein on 27 June 2017” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.
the Congressional Record of the United States of America
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