Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Chaim U. Lipschitz on 9 June 1960

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

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🇺🇸 United States of America, Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies

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86th Congress, 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, U.S. House of Representatives, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, תחינות teḥinot

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Chaim U. Lipschitz, director of Community Service Bureau of Yeshiva and Mesivta Torah Vodaath, Brooklyn, New York
Sponsor: n/a
Date of Prayer: 9 June 1960

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Our God, and God of our fathers, grant wisdom, understanding, and blessedness to the men commissioned to formulate the laws of this blessed country, the United States of America.
	Teach them what to say; instruct them how to speak; grant their petitions; and show them the way to glorify Thee. May they walk in the light of Thy favor, invoking Thy own blessings upon all Thy people. O grant a life of happiness, grace, and kindness.
	Bless us all alike, our span class=”divine-referent”>Father; and with the light of Thy countenance lead us to a life of uprightness, mercy, and peace.
	Spread over us the tabernacle of Thy peace; direct us aright through Thine own good counsel; save us for Thy name’s sake; be Thou a shield about us; remove from us every enemy, pestilence, sword, famine, and sorrow; remove also the Adversary from before us and behind us. O shelter us beneath the shadow of Thy wings; for Thou, O God, art our Guardian and our Deliverer; yea, Thou, O God, art a gracious and merciful King; and guard our life forth and forevermore.^[1] Cf. the prayer of protection “Hashkivenu” in the blessings after the Maariv Shema, and in the Bedtime Shema. Amen.

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the sixth month of the second session of the 86th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 106 part 9 (9 June 1960), page 12240.

Source(s)

Congressional Record, vol. 106, part 9 (9 June 1960), p. 12240

Notes

Notes
1	Cf. the prayer of protection “Hashkivenu” in the blessings after the Maariv Shema, and in the Bedtime Shema.

Chaim Uri Lipschitz

Rabbi Chaim Uri Lipschitz (1912-2002), born in Jerusalem, was an Orthodox rabbi and author in the United States. He served as director of the yeshivah, Mesivta Talmudical Seminary (Brooklyn, New York). He wrote Discrimination in banking; a survey in depth (1970), ספר אורי חיים : על ענינים שונים (1980, 1982), Betrothed Forever (1980), Franco, Spain, the Jews, and the Holocaust (1984) and נס הצלה The Shanghai Connection (1987), a story of the rescue of the Mir Yeshiva during the Holocaust, אשכבתא דצדיקיא (1990), and with Neil Rosenstein, The Feast and the Fast: The Dramatic Personal Story of Yom Tov Lipman Heller (1984). We know very little else about Rabbi Lipschitz. If you can add additional details to this short bio, then please contact us.

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)

Aharon N. Varady (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.)

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=57004

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "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)

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Chaim U. Lipschitz on 9 June 1960

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