Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi David Greene on 12 July 2005

Contributor(s):

the Congressional Record of the United States of America and David Greene

Shared on:

5 November 2019 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies, United States of America

Tags:

U.S. House of Representatives, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, שבע מצות בני נח Seven Noaḥide Commandments, חבּ״ד ḤaBaD Lubavitch, 109th Congress, תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi David Greene of Rochester, Minnesota
Sponsor: Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-MN)
Date of Prayer: 2005-07-12

Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of our guest chaplain and my friend, Rabbi David Greene of Rochester, Minnesota. I often tell students when they come to visit the Capitol that the first official act of the United States Congress was to appoint a chaplain. The second thing that they did was they prayed, and it was not a perfunctory prayer. They prayed for 1½ hours. We have long understood the importance of faith in our society.
Rabbi Greene was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He attended the first Orthodox Jewish parochial school in Minnesota, received his ordination from the Rabbinical College of Canada in 1984, and completed post-graduate Judaic studies at Lubavitch Yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York.
Since 1988 Rabbi Greene has served as the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Emissary to Rochester, more specifically, to the Mayo Clinic. In his service, he meets the spiritual needs of Jewish people who reside in or visit Rochester, Minnesota.
I thank Rabbi Greene for his service as our guest chaplain to the United States House of Representatives today.

TOGGLE COLUMNS (on/off):

ADJUST COLUMN POSITIONS: select the column header cell and drag it where you want. show me!

COPY INDIVIDUAL COLUMN(S): use CopyTables, a browser extension.

TABLE HELP

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Almighty God, Master of the Universe, according to the Jewish tradition, You instructed mankind to obey seven universal laws:^[1] Sanhedrin 56a; cf. Tosefta Avodah Zarah 9:4 and Genesis Rabbah 34:8. The following litany of mitsvot follows the teaching of Maimonides: “Six items were commanded to Adam: concerning idolatry, blasphemy, bloodshed, illicit sexuality, theft, and laws…God added to Noah, the law of not eating from the flesh of a live animal.” (Mishneh Torah, Kings and Wars 9:1). For a full list of the mitsvot bnei Noaḥ, find “The Seven Commandments for All Humanity (Bnei Noaḥ) in early Rabbinic sources.” The impetus behind sharing the sheva mitsvot in the context of ḤaBaD Lubavitch originates with the following teaching of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson: “We must do everything possible to ensure that the seven Noahide laws are observed. If this can be accomplished through force or through other kinder and more peaceful means through explaining to non-Jews that they should accept God’s wishes [we should do so]…Anyone who is able to influence a non-Jew in any way to keep the seven commandments is obligated to do so, since that is what God commanded Moses our teacher,” (“Sheva Mitzvot Shel Benai Noach,” Hapardes 59:9 7-11, 5745). Not to worship false gods; Never to blaspheme your Holy Name; Not to murder; Not to commit adultery, incest or any sexual misdeeds; Not to steal, lie or cheat;^[2] A broad interpretation of gezel, taking without consent, i.e., theft. Not to be cruel to any living creature;^[3] A broad interpretation of ever min hê-ḥai, predatory behavior (literally, not [tearing] the limb of a living creature) and That every society govern by just laws based on the recognition of You, O God, as the sovereign ruler of all men and all nations.
	Today, the members of this house convene to fulfill one of these commandments, to govern by just laws.
	May it be your will, that those assembled here enact laws to govern this great country, be mindful of Your presence and conduct themselves in all their matters with justice, kindness and peace.
	Grant them success in making this country truly fit for Your presence. Bless them with good health, wisdom, compassion, good cheer and fellowship.
אָמֵן׃	Amen.

Source(s)

109th Congress, 1st Session. Congressional Record, Issue: Vol. 151, No. 93 — Daily Edition (July 12, 2005)

link: https://chaplain.house.gov/archive/index.html?id=255

Notes[+]

Notes
1	Sanhedrin 56a; cf. Tosefta Avodah Zarah 9:4 and Genesis Rabbah 34:8. The following litany of mitsvot follows the teaching of Maimonides: “Six items were commanded to Adam: concerning idolatry, blasphemy, bloodshed, illicit sexuality, theft, and laws…God added to Noah, the law of not eating from the flesh of a live animal.” (Mishneh Torah, Kings and Wars 9:1). For a full list of the mitsvot bnei Noaḥ, find “The Seven Commandments for All Humanity (Bnei Noaḥ) in early Rabbinic sources.” The impetus behind sharing the sheva mitsvot in the context of ḤaBaD Lubavitch originates with the following teaching of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson: “We must do everything possible to ensure that the seven Noahide laws are observed. If this can be accomplished through force or through other kinder and more peaceful means through explaining to non-Jews that they should accept God’s wishes [we should do so]…Anyone who is able to influence a non-Jew in any way to keep the seven commandments is obligated to do so, since that is what God commanded Moses our teacher,” (“Sheva Mitzvot Shel Benai Noach,” Hapardes 59:9 7-11, 5745).
2	A broad interpretation of gezel, taking without consent, i.e., theft.
3	A broad interpretation of ever min hê-ḥai, predatory behavior (literally, not [tearing] the limb of a living creature)

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi David Greene on 12 July 2005” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

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)

David Greene

Rabbi David Greene is Co-Founder & Executive Director of Chabad of Southern Minnesota.

Pocket Pinterest Reddit 𝕏 Facebook Telegram WhatsApp SMS Email

Works of related interest:

Flag of the United States House of Representatives

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi David Algaze on 11 July 2012

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Gershon Avtzon on 25 July 2019

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Dr. Gary P. Zola on 26 May 2005

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Jehiel Orenstein on 12 April 2005

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Dovid Cohen on 10 July 2014

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Stephen Leon on 22 July 2009

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Peter E. Hyman on 30 July 2008

prev next

Comments, Corrections, and QueriesCancel reply

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=27963

Associated Image:

Flag of the United States House of Representatives

(This image is set to automatically show as the "featured image" in shared links on social media.)

Source Data: XML | JSON

Re-formatted: HTML | ODT

Terms of Use: Be a mentsch (a conscientious, considerate person) and adhere to the following guidelines:

Properly attribute the work to the Congressional Record of the United States of America and David Greene.
Clearly indicate the date you accessed the work and in what ways, if any, you modified it. (If you have adapted the work, let us know so that the contributor might consider endorsing your revision.)
Provide the stable link to this resource: <https://opensiddur.org/?p=27963>.
Indicate that the original work was shared under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication. (To redistribute or remix this work in any format, modified or unmodified, you must refer to the terms of the license under which the work is shared.)

Additional Notes:

The views expressed in this work represent the views of their creator(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Open Siddur Project's developers, its diverse community of contributors, patrons, or institutional partners.
We strongly advise against printing sacred texts and art containing divine names as these copies must be regarded with reverence, complicating their casual treatment and disposal.
If you must dispose of a printed sacred text (one containing Divine Names), please locate the closest genizah (often established by a synagogue) and contact its custodians for further instructions. We also recommend using Morah Yehudis Fishman's Prayer for Adding a Work to the Genizah.

Support this work: The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture. If you like what you've found here, please help keep our project alive and online with your financial contribution.

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