[Mr. BOOZMAN] Madam President, Senator Cotton and I would like to welcome Rabbi Barry Block and thank him for delivering the opening prayer to the Senate today. I am proud that he accepted our invitation to lead the Senate with his spiritual guidance.
Rabbi Block is the leader of B’nai Israel–Arkansas’s largest Jewish congregation–a position he has held since 2013. I have gotten to know Rabbi Block and his dedication to his congregants through his annual visits to Washington with the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. He has served Reform Judaism as a member of the Board of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and chair of its Resolutions and Nominating Committee and as president of the Southwest Association of Reform Rabbis.
Serving as the guest Chaplain is an incredible honor. Today he is joined by his sons Robert and Daniel. He wished to share this experience with his congregants as well. I enjoyed meeting yesterday with him and his confirmation students to hear about their concerns on a wide variety of social issues. I appreciate his prayer for our country and its leaders.
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Divine Source of Blessing, we come before You today to ask Your blessings on the United States Senate and on the 100 men and women who serve our Nation here. | |
Like King Solomon before them, let these Senators lead our Nation with wisdom, with Your Word and our Nation’s Constitution constantly guiding them to pursue liberty and justice, opportunity and equality, for every man, woman, and child within our borders, for those who would peacefully seek refuge on our shores, and for each of Your children on Earth. | |
Make them ever mindful of Your command to remember the heart of the stranger– the people most unlike them and the least powerful of voices– for we were all strangers in one Egypt or another. | |
In this age of division, unite these Senators, for only when working together across party lines do they truly represent all Americans. | |
Temper the majority’s resolve with humility. Let the minority manifest an opposition that is as loyal as it is robust. Let all come together to ask Your choicest blessings on the United States of America. | |
אָמֵן׃ |
And let us say, Amen. |
Source(s)
115th Congress, 1st Session. Congressional Record, Issue: Vol. 163, No. 16 — Daily Edition (January 31, 2017)
“Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Barry Block on 31 January 2017” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.
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