You are here:   🖖︎ Prayers & Praxes   —⟶   🌍︎ Collective Welfare   —⟶   Sovereign States & Meta-national Organizations   —⟶   🇺🇸 United States of America   —⟶   Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Louis Wolsey on 8 February…

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Louis Wolsey on 8 February 1940

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Louis Wolsey, D.D., Congregation Rodeph Shalom, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sponsor: n/a
Date of Prayer: 8 February 1940


Contribute a translationSource (English)
O Thou God of all the peoples of the world,
in whose hands
are the fate
and the destiny
of the children of men,
and before whom
all the families of the earth
are as one brotherhood,
we come to Thee to ask
that Thy spirit may rest upon this Congress,
that forth from this place may go those influences
that shall make for justice
and for freedom.
Do Thou consecrate us, O God,
unto freedom,
that liberty to speak and to do,
not in whispers
but loudly and with courage,
to know and to think,
to toil and to be rewarded,
and to share with our neighbor
and with our world.
Dedicate this House, O God,
to Thy Divine truths
and Thy Divine laws,
and when the nations stir up
wrath against one another
do Thou cause this great House
to be an instrumentality for peace.
Bless the Speaker of this House
and restore him to health
and to his responsibility.[1] A prayer for the health of William Brockman Bankhead (April 12, 1874 – September 15, 1940), the 42nd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives whose tenure ended later that year upon his death. 
Bless all the officers of this great Nation
that they may rule and guide
in justice
and in peace.
And finally, O God,
do Thou establish the work of their hands,
yea, the work of their hands establish Thou it.[2] Cf. Psalms 90:17 
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. 86 part 2 (8 February 1940), pp. 1230-1231.

Source(s)

 

Notes

Notes
1A prayer for the health of William Brockman Bankhead (April 12, 1874 – September 15, 1940), the 42nd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives whose tenure ended later that year upon his death.
2Cf. Psalms 90:17

Read a comment / Leave a comment (moderated)

Leave a Reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

  

  

  

 

 


the Open Siddur Project  //  Main Menu

 

Categories Index: