Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Jacob Luski on 28 October 2009

Contributor(s):

United States Congressional Record and Jacob Luski

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14 September 2019 under the Public Domain (17 U.S. Code §105 - Subject matter of copyright: United States Government works)

Categories:

United States of America, Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies

Tags:

English vernacular prayer, House of Representatives, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, 111th Congress, תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M.

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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	Opening Prayer Given by the Guest Chaplain:
	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.
אָמֵן׃	Amen.

Source(s)

111th Congress, 1st Session
Issue: Vol. 155, No. 158 — Daily Edition (October 28, 2009)

Link: https://chaplain.house.gov/chaplaincy/display_gc.html?id=1283

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“Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Jacob Luski on 28 October 2009” is shared by the living contributor(s) 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)

Jacob Luski

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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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