Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the Massachusetts State Senate: Rabbi Joseph Rudavsky on 24 March 1959

Contributor(s):

United States Congressional Record and Joseph Rudavsky

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14 March 2019 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies, Purim

Tags:

58th century A.M., Massachusetts, Massachusetts Senate, Lawrence, 86th Congress, 20th century C.E.

Extension of Remarks of Hon. Thomas J. Lane of Massachusetts in the House of Representatives, Tuesday, April 14, 1959.
Mr. LANE. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks in the RECORD, I wish to include the prayer of Rabbi Joseph Rudavsky, of Lawrence, at the opening session of the Massachusetts Senate on March 24, 1959, who was the guest of Senator William X. Wall, Lawrence. Mass.
The following prayer was offered by Joseph Rudovsky of Lawrence:

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Today is Purim, festival of joy, gladness dedicated to the proposition that the Hamans of all ages— men, merchants of prejudice, purveyors of hatred— may yet learn the truth “that to bigotry there can be no sanction.”^[1] George Washington’s Letter to the Jews of Newport, Rhode Island (1790) Purim, festival of religious equality, commemorating the right of worship. The privilege to stand stalwart, consistent with one’s faith and belief.
	On Purim we pray to thee, O God, creator of all, to implant in humanity the qualities of love and understanding, of courage and wisdom, of patience and humility. As we are grateful to Thee for people of prophetic stamp, so do we pray to Thee, for our leaders, who serve to inculcate these ideals in the people.
	O God of our fathers, bless us and shield our leaders with wisdom and fortitude, that they may lead the people in righteousness. Enable our legislators to make of our land, a land of justice and goodness for all. Help them to organize our life for a better day. Strengthen their hands and bless them with consecrated hearts to serve our people with devotion and dedication, that our land, the land of the brave, may ever be the home of the free, its beacon shining, a guiding light to those yet struggling in darkness and oppression, yearning for the light. May their inspiration ever be peace, and their lodestar ever be justice for all mankind.
	Amen.

This prayer offered by Rabbi Joseph Rudavsky as an opening prayer for the Massachusetts Senate was added to the Congressional Record of the United States House of Representatives by Rep. Thomas Lane (MA 7- D) on 14 April 1959.

Source(s)

1959-04-14 – HOR – Rabbi Joseph Rudavsky – 0001

1959-04-14 – HOR – Rabbi Joseph Rudavsky – 0002

Notes[+]

Notes
1	George Washington’s Letter to the Jews of Newport, Rhode Island (1790)

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the Massachusetts State Senate: Rabbi Joseph Rudavsky on 24 March 1959” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

United States Congressional Record

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)

Joseph Rudavsky

Rabbi Rudavsky (1922-2016), a Brooklyn native, was spiritual leader of Temple Sholom, a Reform congregation, from 1962 to 1988. The synagogue became Temple Avodat Shalom after a 2009 merger with a Fair Lawn congregation. The Holocaust was Rabbi Rudavsky's academic specialty. He earned a doctorate in Holocaust studies from New York University and wrote a book titled "To Live With Hope, to Die With Dignity: Spiritual Resistance in the Ghettos and Camps." In 1980, on the heels of the acclaimed television miniseries "Holocaust," he founded what is now The Gross Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies at Ramapo College. Rabbi Rudavsky taught classes on the Holocaust at Ramapo and created workshops for high school teachers who wanted to incorporate the Holocaust into their curriculums. He was the center's director until 1996. Prior to coming to Temple Sholom, Rabbi Rudavsky directed Hillel organizations at the University of Texas and the University of Georgia, and occupied the pulpit of a congregation in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

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Seal of the Senate of Massachusetts

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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