Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Abraham Hecht on 21 April 1983

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription), Abraham Hecht and the Congressional Record of the United States of America

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21 April 2024 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

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Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies, United States of America

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חבּ״ד ḤaBaD Lubavitch, 98th Congress, 20th century C.E., תחינות teḥinot, 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, U.S. Senate

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Abraham Hecht, Shaare Zion Congregation of Brooklyn, New York, president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America.
Sponsor: Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY)
Date of Prayer: 21 April 1983

Mr. JACKSON. Mr. President, I want to say a special word of thanks to my friend, Rabbi Abraham Hecht, for his opening prayer at our session today.
Rabbi Hecht is a wonderful man and a strong community-minded leader. For more than 30 years, he has served the Shaare Zion Congregation on Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn–a flourishing congregation of more than 10,000 families. He and his wife have their own family of 10 children. It is not surprising that Rabbi Hecht is a great believer in the importance of close and supportive family ties and in the value of family traditions in the raising and education of the younger generation.
Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I am sure the entire Senate would echo the sentiments of the Senator from Washington. We are grateful to the Rabbi for his leading the Senate in prayer as we open this session.
Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, today this Chamber has had the honor· of having Rabbi Abraham B. Hecht, a leader in the American orthodox community offer the opening prayer. Rabbi Hecht is president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America and Rabbi of the largest Syrian Sephardic Congregation in America, Congregation Shaare Zion in Brooklyn, N.Y. He also serves with distinction on the board of governors of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.
The Syrian Sephardic community of America has over 30,000 members and has established an impressive record of community service on both a national and international scale. The community should be commended for its old age home facilities, network of all day schools, community centers, beautifully modern congregational buildings, and other communal institutions that so greatly benefit the areas they serve.
It is a pleasure to have Rabbi Hecht and other distinguished members of the Syrian Sephardic community join us today, and I especially want to thank the Rabbi for delivering such an inspiring prayer.

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Our Father in Heaven, we beseech you to bless the Members of this august body, who represent the people of our beloved United States. We ask also for Your blessings for our dear President Ronald Reagan and his family, and for the members of his cabinet, and advisers.
	In these unsettled and turbulent times, when the fate of the world is indirectly determined by the decisions reached in this Chamber, we instinctively turn to You, our Heavenly Father, for Your divine assistance in guiding the distinguished Representatives in their deliberations.
	Dear God; we are humbled as we realize the awesome responsibility they share for the peace and security, not only of our own country, but also for the international community. This, in addition to their immediate obligation of passing legislation designed to improve the quality of life for all of our citizens. It is precisely because we recognize the enormousness of their task, that we plead for your divine inspiration and guidance.
	Almighty God; we are always mindful of the innumerable blessings of freedom, liberty, and equality of opportunity enjoyed by all the inhabitants of our blessed country. And it is with a sense of deep gratitude and acknowledgment of Your kindness, that we pray for Your continued protection and blessings.
	We supplicate You to please grant to every Senator good health, happiness, peace of mind, and tranquility. May they all succeed in utilizing their great talents and wisdom for the prosperity of our country, and for the advancement of the cause of peace and harmony throughout the world.
	Together let us all, in a spirit of reverence and humility, answer this prayer with a resounding Amen.

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the fourth month of the first session of the 98th US Congress in the Senate, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 129, part 7 (21 April 1983), page 9405.

Source(s)

Congressional Record, vol. 129, part 7 (21 April 1983), p. 9405

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“Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Abraham Hecht on 21 April 1983” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Abraham Hecht

Rabbi Avraham Berl Hecht (April 5, 1922 – January 5, 2013) was a ḤaBaD-affiliated Orthodox rabbi in the United States, president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America – Igud HaRabanim. Hecht was a disciple of both the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, and the preceding "sixth" Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn. He was one of the first ten students of Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim in America. Hecht served as a shaliaḥ (emissary) in Boston, Buffalo, Newark, and New Haven, establishing Yeshiva Achei T'mimim elementary schools for both boys and girls. He served as rabbi of Congregation Shaare Zion of Brooklyn, New York, the largest Syrian-Sephardic congregation in North America, comprising more than 3,500 families. Hecht served the congregation for more than fifty years. On June 19, 1995, Hecht told the gathered members of the International Rabbinical Coalition for Israel "that by handing over Israeli land and property, Israeli leaders are betraying Jews to non-Jews" and that, according to Maimonides, "such people should be killed before they can perform the deed." An October 1995 article in New York Magazine referred to Hecht as the rabbi who "sentenced" Yitzḥak Rabin to death, and quoted Hecht as praising Israeli mass murderer and American expatriate Baruch Goldstein, as "a great man, a holy man." Hecht also led protests against the film Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), claiming that it "was produced in hell."

the Congressional Record of the United States of America

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Printing Office and issued when Congress is in session. Indexes are issued approximately every two weeks. At the end of a session of Congress, the daily editions are compiled in bound volumes constituting the permanent edition. Statutory authorization for the Congressional Record is found in Chapter 9 of Title 44 of the United States Code. (wikipedia)

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Works of related interest:

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Abraham Hecht on 25 April 1966

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Efry Spectre on 12 May 1983

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Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Isaac Neuman on 11 April 1983

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Shea Hecht on 30 November 2016

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Morris M. Hershman on 1 February 1983

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Irving J. Block on 2 June 1983

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Israel Poleyeff on 5 April 1995

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17