Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Isaac Landman on 23 October 1939

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Landman and the Congressional Record of the United States of America

Shared on:

16 June 2026 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

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

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., 76th Congress, English vernacular prayer, U.S. House of Representatives, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, תחינות teḥinot

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Isaac Landman, of the Eighth Avenue Temple, Brooklyn, New York
Sponsor: n/a
Date of Prayer: 23 October 1939

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Heavenly Father, we invoke Thy blessing upon our country and upon this House, representatives of the will of our citizenry.
	Prosper our Nation, O Lord, in all its industries and its commerce, on land and on sea, so that there may be no want or scarcity.
	Grant that they whom the people have placed in authority may be filled with Thy spirit, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of Thee.^[1] Proverbs 14:34
	May Thy blessing rest upon our free institutions, that our beloved land may remain forever the home of liberty.
	May good will obtain among all its inhabitants and peace dwell within its borders.
	Guide us and help us, O Lord, to make our country a stronghold of peace, and the advocate of peace in the counsels of nations; and vouchsafe, O Heavenly Father, that the spirit of religion pervade our every home, so that America may be exalted in righteousness. Amen.

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the second month of the second session of the 76th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 85 part 1 (23 October 1939), p. 755.

Source(s)

Notes

Notes
1	Proverbs 14:34

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.)

Isaac Landman

Isaac Landman (1880–1946), born in Sudylkiv, Ukraine, was a scholar and Reform movement rabbi in the United States. In 1890, together with his parents, he emigrated to the United States. He graduated from Hebrew Union College and in 1911, he founded a Jewish farm colony in Utah (with the assistance of Jacob Schiff, Julius Rosenwald, and Simon Bamberger). During World War Ⅰ he served as a chaplain for US Army in Europe. He was a leader in Jewish–Christian interfaith ecumenism. He was editor of American Hebrew Magazine from 1918, served as the delegate of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. An outspoken opponent of Zionism, in 1922, while the United States Congress was considering the Lodge–Fish resolution in support of the Balfour Declaration, Rabbi Landman and Rabbi David Philipson presented the Reform movement's (then) anti-Zionist position to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He also printed many opinions against the resolution and Zionism in American Hebrew Magazine. He became rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim (Brooklyn, New York) in 1931. Three years later he began editing the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, which was published in ten volumes in the 1940s.

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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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 Isaac Landman on 23 October 1939

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