The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 29 April 2003.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 28 April 2003.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 22 January 2003.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 2 October 2002.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 1 October 2002.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 8 November 2001 (after 9/11).

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 11 July 2000.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 5 March 1998.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 8 March 1995.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 20 April 1994.

This prayer was delivered by the U.S. Navy Chaplain, Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff, at the 1987 National Civic Commemoration of the Days of Remembrance, in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. It was first published in Days of remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust: a Department of Defense guide for commemorative observance (Office of the Secretary of Defence, 1988).

This prayer by Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk at the second inauguration of President Ronald Reagan was recorded in the United States’ Congressional Record on January 21, 1985.

This prayer by Rabbi Seymour Siegel at the second inauguration of President Richard M. Nixon was recorded in the United States’ Congressional Record on January 20, 1973.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 25 May 1972.

This prayer by Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin was recorded in the United States’ Congressional Record on January 20, 1969.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 5 June 1968.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 27 May 1967 on the eve of the Six Day between the State of Israel and its neighbors.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 23 May 1967 on the eve of the Six Day between the State of Israel and its neighbors.

This prayer by Rabbi Hyman Judah Schachtel, Congregation Beth Israel (Houston, Texas), was recorded in the United States’ Congressional Record on January 20, 1965.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 21 May 1964.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 4 December 1963.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 23 May 1963.

This benediction for President John F. Kennedy by Rabbi Dr. Nelson Glueck, was recorded in the United States’ Congressional Record on January 20, 1961.

This prayer at the second inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower by Rabbi Dr. Louis Finkelstein, chancellor, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, was recorded in the United States’ Congressional Record for January 20, 1957.

This prayer by Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, of Cleveland, Ohio, was recorded in the United States’ Congressional Record for January 20, 1953.

This prayer by Rabbi Samuel Thurman, of the United Hebrew Temple (St. Louis, Missouri), was recorded in the United States’ Congressional Record for January 20, 1949.

The poem “The Phylacteries” (1931) by Rabbi Alter Abelson.

This is an untitled prayer offered in the Evening Service for the Sabbath from the Union Prayer Book Newly Revised (CCAR 1924), pp. 68-69, as a reading between the Shema and the Amidah. As a prayer for protection it fits as a paraliturgical haskivenu, and in New York City, it makes sense in the context of the terrifying news of mass-murder, rape, and genocide being reported from Ukraine at the time. (Find Nokhem Shtif’s “פּאָגראָמען אין אוקראַיִנע : די צײַט פֿון דער פֿרײַװיליקער אַרמײ (The Pogroms in Ukraine: the Period of the Volunteer Army)” (1923) offered in Yiddish and in English translation at In Geveb.) The Ukrainian context of this prayer is further underscored in that the prayer is not found in the 1918 revised Union Prayer Book, but in the later 1924 edition. It may have been unique to Congregation Emanu-El in New York City, who compiled this version of the Union Prayer Book for radio listeners joining their service.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 16 February 1905.

The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 2 February 1904, the first prayer of a rabbinic guest chaplain recorded in the Congressional Record

“Hannukah” appears as hymn XXXVIII in מנהג אמעריקא: תפלות בני ישורון Minhag America: Hymns, Psalms & Prayers in English and German by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, et al (1868), p. 104 and 106.

“Hannukah” by Minna Kleeberg appears as hymn number 38 in מנהג אמעריקא: תפלות בני ישורון Minhag America: Hymns, Psalms & Prayers in English and German by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, et al (1868), p. 105 and 107.

“Exercise for a Wife who is married to an irreligious Husband” appears on pages 131-132 of רֻחָמָה (Ruḥamah): Devotional Exercises for the Use of the Daughters of Israel (1852) edited by Rabbi Morris Jacob Raphall (1798–1868). The prayer appears unique to this collection which otherwise contain selections from the teḥinot anthologies in German of Meir Letteris (1800-1871), Max Emanuel Stern (1811-1873), and Yehoshua Heshil Miro. If you know of another collection from which this prayer first appeared, please leave a comment or contact us.

“Exercise for the Anniversary of a Parent’s Decease, (YahrZeit.)” appears on page 138-139 of רֻחָמָה (Ruḥamah): Devotional Exercises for the Use of the Daughters of Israel (1852) edited by Rabbi Morris Jacob Raphall (1798–1868) from selections made from the teḥinot anthologies in German of Meir Letteris (1800-1871), Max Emanuel Stern (1811-1873), and Yehoshua Heshil Miro.

This is a paraliturgical prayer for rain during the wet season, read during the festival of Sukkot, following in the tradition of Yiddish tkhines, albeit written in French. The prayer was included by Rabbi Arnaud Aron and Jonas Ennery in their opus, אמרי לב Prières d’un Coeur Israelite (first edition) published in 1848 by the Société Consistoriale de Bons Livres.

The earliest recorded prayer or piyyut providing an acrostic for the 42 letter divine name.