https://opensiddur.org/?p=27106Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Jacob Luski on 28 October 20092019-09-14 14:51:26The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 28 October 2009.Textthe Open Siddur ProjectUnited States Congressional RecordUnited States Congressional RecordJacob Luskihttps://opensiddur.org/copyright-policy/United States Congressional Recordhttps://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/105Opening Prayers for Legislative BodiesUnited States of Americaתחינות teḥinot21st century C.E.58th century A.M.English vernacular prayerU.S. House of RepresentativesPrayers of Guest Chaplains111th Congress
Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Jacob Luski, Congregation B’nai Israel, St. Petersburg, FL
Sponsor: Rep. Bill Young, (R-FL)
Date of Prayer: 10/28/2009
Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Speaker, our guest chaplain today is Rabbi Jacob Luski of Congregation B’Nai Israel in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Rabbi Luski is a longtime friend and constituent and one of our community’s most respected religious leaders. He has served his congregation faithfully for 32 years and is an important leader in a number of community organizations, including serving as a Jewish chaplain ministering to our veterans for the last 20 years at the Veterans Medical Center at Bay Pines.
Madam Speaker, Rabbi Luski is a 1971 graduate of Georgia Tech with a bachelor of science degree in industrial management. He went on to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City and was ordained there in 1977, and he earned his doctorate of divinity degree there in 2003.
Something very interesting about Rabbi Luski : He was born in Havana, Cuba, on November 2, 1949, which makes him, in just a couple of days, 60 years old. But he left Cuba 50 years ago at the age of 10 and came to the United States with his family. Rabbi Luski has with him this morning his mother, his father, and his sister.
Madam Speaker, it is an honor for me to welcome Rabbi Luski to the House this morning, along with his wife, Joanne, and one of his four children, Rachel.
Thank you for your inspiring life story, Rabbi, and for your devotion to your synagogue and to the people of our community and for your friendship of many, many years.
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Loving God,
we are grateful to You
for this moment of meditation,
which can help us to catch our breath
in the midst of our busy,
crowded,
and often self–centered day.
Lift us,
lest we be too gloomy
to hope,
too proud
to change,
or too timid
to venture.
Help us to be guides
into unborn tomorrows
rather than merchants
dealing with yesterdays;
to be creative cooperators
in the world as it should be,
rather than clever competitors
in the world as it is.
Help us to appreciate
one another
and to respect
the many and varied ways
that we serve You.
Bless all the members of this House of Representatives.
Grant them wisdom
so they may govern
our great nation
with justice
and compassion.
Guardian of life and liberty,
may our nation
always merit your protection.
May the spirit of peace and love
renew our country,
our communities
and our world.
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Rabbi Jacob Luski is rabbi emeritus of Congregation B’nai Israel (CBI) of St. Petersburg, Florida. He was born in Havana, Cuba and immigrated with his family to the United States when he was 11. Rabbi Jacob Luski graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management. From there, he enrolled in the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, New York, where he received his Master of Arts in 1974, and then continued at JTS to graduate from Rabbinical School, At CBI, he established meaningful educational experiences and activities such as the JTS Tampa Bay Outreach Lecture Series, the first Mitzvah Day in Pinellas County, and Congregational trips to Israel. He also established the Hevra Kadisha Burial Society to ensure respectful and spiritual care for Jewish people after death. For 26 years, he has been the Jewish Chaplain at the VA Medical Center, Bay Pines, Florida. Both he and his wife Joanne, were instrumental in founding the Pinellas County Jewish Day School, welcoming the school on the CBI campus as it grew over it’s first 11 years. Rabbi Luski founded the Vaad Kashrut of Pinellas County, to ensure Kosher supervision for local hotels, restaurants, and caterers. After retiring from Congregation B’nai Israel in June of 2018 and earning the title of Rabbi Emeritus, he continues his support of Israel as the 17th Chairperson of the International Rabbinic Advisory Council of the State of Israel Bonds.
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