Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Mark Schiftan, Congregation Ohabai Sholom, Nashville, TN
Sponsor: Rep. Jim Cooper, (D-TN)
Date of Prayer: 06/20/2018

One Minute Speech Given in Recognition of the Guest Chaplain:

Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, the opening prayer today was given by Rabbi Mark Schiftan of Nashville, the senior rabbi of the oldest and largest Jewish congregation in middle Tennessee. The congregation dates back to 1851, when the Vine Street Temple began worship services in downtown Nashville, even before the Civil War.

Rabbi Schiftan has led today’s temple, Congregation Ohabai Sholom, for nearly 20 years and is well known and beloved in our community.

His family escaped the Holocaust from Vienna, Austria, fleeing first to Shanghai, China, and then to San Francisco.

Rabbi Schiftan was educated at San Francisco State University, the Hebrew Union [College] of Los Angeles, and then was ordained at the Hebrew Union [College] of Cincinnati.

Under Rabbi Schiftan’s leadership, the temple has been the indispensable religious and cultural institution for all of middle Tennessee.

I would like to personally thank the rabbi for his strong leadership in our community, for our personal friendship, and for opening the House with prayer today.

Source(s)

115th Congress, 2nd Session. Congressional Record, Issue: Vol. 164, No. 103 — Daily Edition (June 20, 2018)

Link: https://chaplain.house.gov/chaplaincy/display_gc.html?id=2751

“Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Mark Schiftan on 20 June 2018” 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)

Mark Schiftan

Mark Schiftan is rabbi of The Temple–Congregation Ohabai Sholom. He came to The Temple in 1999 from Temple Emanu-El, an historic urban congregation in San Jose, California. Having served as rabbi there since 1994, Mark had led another Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco, California, serving from 1987 until 1994. Rabbi Schiftan received his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from San Francisco State University. Hebrew Union College of Los Angeles awarded Rabbi Schiftan’s Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters, and he was ordained at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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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