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Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Abram Simon
Date of Prayer: 22 February 1925
Sponsor: n/a
Date of Prayer: 22 February 1925
Sponsor: n/a
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O Thou, our Heavenly Father, Thou who art our dwelling place, we come to Thee in this sacred and solemn hour. We would open our hearts that Thou mayest fill them with Thy love and Thy grace. | |
We thank Thee, Father; for Thy many manifestations of bounty and of goodness, for that which is the highest gift of all, life, and of life full of love of life that may be consecrated to service. | |
We come to Thee, Father, in a moment that is inspired with tender recollections of one of Thy children, who sat in these halls, and whose grace of form, whose grace of speech, and whose grace of personality were lent to the dignity and to the honor of the country. | |
We thank Thee for whatever influence Julius Kahn[1] Julius Kahn (February 28, 1861 – December 18, 1924) was a United States Congressman (R-CA) who was succeeded by his wife Florence Prag Kahn after his death. He has been described by the American Jerusalem as “among the most influential Jews in San Francisco—as well as national–civic life, from the middle of the 19th century into the 1930s.” Today, he is mainly remembered (infamously) as the author of the legislation that ultimately became the “Alien Exclusion Act.” was able to render to his country. We feel that he was always in the line of duty, and upon the altar of his country placed the gift of a rich and endowed soul. | |
We thank Thee for his leadership in the hour of danger, and for the numbers of men who rallied when the call went forth, who were ready to offer all of their best to the country. | |
We thank Thee, Father, that in this sacred hour we may rehearse the memory and the deeds of our friend, and feel that our life and our country are the better for whatever of service Thy servant was able to render. | |
But there comes to us, Father; something of a solace in the thought that the woman to whom Julius Kahn gave the wealth of his soul is to sit here; and that there will be “voice answering to voice”; that she will give an unique vitality to his message. Who can the better take the sting ont of our loss than the wife herself whose very life and consecration to duty, will be the finest of all tributes to be paid to the memory of her husband. | |
And, Father, bless this hallowed hour so that the thought of Thy noble servant may stimulate us to a deeper earnestness to our country. | |
Take into Thy fatherly care the President of our country, his Cabinet, and Congress, and all those who are charged with high and solemn duties for our peace and progress. |
This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the final days of the 2nd session of the 68th US Congress in the House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 66, part 3 (1925), page 4379. Rabbi Simon’s elegy for Representative Julius Kahn was the first of a series of eulogies given in honor of the legislator in that day’s session.
Source(s)
Congressional Record vol. 66, part 4 (1925), p. 4379
Notes
| 1 | Julius Kahn (February 28, 1861 – December 18, 1924) was a United States Congressman (R-CA) who was succeeded by his wife Florence Prag Kahn after his death. He has been described by the American Jerusalem as “among the most influential Jews in San Francisco—as well as national–civic life, from the middle of the 19th century into the 1930s.” Today, he is mainly remembered (infamously) as the author of the legislation that ultimately became the “Alien Exclusion Act.” |
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“Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Abram Simon on 22 February 1925” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.
Abram Simon
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