Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Harry H. Epstein on 16 March 1978

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Harry H. Epstein and United States Congressional Record

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16 March 2024 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

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Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies, United States of America

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95th Congress, 20th century C.E., תחינות teḥinot, 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, U.S. House of Representatives, Prayers of Guest Chaplains

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Harry H. Epstein, Ahavath Achim Synagogue, Atlanta, Georgia
Sponsor: Rep. Elliot Levitas (D-GA)
Date of Prayer: 16 March 1978

Mr. LEVITAS. Mr. Speaker, for 50 years, Rabbi Harry H. Epstein has led the congregation of Ahavath Achim, in Atlanta, Ga. I have known and been guided by the spiritual wisdom of Rabbi Epstein all of my life, and I am happy he could be here today so that all of you might hear him.
The rabbinical tradition is generations deep in Rabbi Epstein’s family. His grandfather, uncle, and father were rabbis. Rabbi Epstein was trained in the Slobodka Yeshiva, a seat of great rabbinical knowledge and headed by his uncle, himself a famous Talmudic scholar. He was also one of the first students at the Hebron Yeshiva in Palestine in 1924. He has distinguished himself as a rabbinic scholar as well as the leader of a congregation grateful for his devotion for all this time. He also holds a master’s degree from Emory University in Atlanta and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois.
His wonderful wife, Reva, is also descended from a family of rabbonim. Together they have provided Atlantans, Jewish and Christian, with a shining example of leadership, strength, and dedication.
In addition to being our spiritual leader all these years, Rabbi Epstein and his wife have been close personal friends to my parents. We looked upon them as members of our family. My father was on the selection committee that chose him as our rabbi, and met him at the old Atlanta Terminal Station when he first arrived. The synagogue has dedicated this entire year to a celebration of his jubilee year, and it is our honor to have had Rabbi Epstein lead us in prayer today, as he has led me and the others of the Ahavath Achim congregation for so many years.

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Eternal God, reverently we ask your guidance for the Members of this House.
	May the words here spoken broaden vision and narrow division.
	May the power of principle, rather than the principle of power, be the measure of its deliberations.
	We pray not for ease in resolving the responsibilities of directing the affairs of our Nation, for we are aware that we live in days large with challenge and perplexity.
	But we do pray for understanding adequate to the times’ demands, for integrity sufficient for the tasks, for vigilance to recognize all evil plus steadfastness sufficient to overcome it, and for compassion that embraces all people in the circle of its concerns.
	May we remember that “the effect of righteousness (is) quietness and confidence forever.” (Isaiah 32:17)

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the second month of the second session of the 95th US Congress in the House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 124, part 6 (1978), page 7293.

Source(s)

Congressional Record, vol. 124, part 6 (16 March 1978), p. 7293

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Harry H. Epstein on 16 March 1978” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Harry H. Epstein

Rabbi Harry H. Epstein (1903–2003) born in Plunge, Lithuania, was, for much of his career, rabbi of Congregation Ahavath Achim in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois where his father, Ephraim, was one of the most prominent rabbis of the Orthodox community. In 1922, at Slabodka Yeshiva in Lithuania, he studied with his uncle, Rabbi Moshe Mordecai Epstein, and in British Mandate Palestine was one of the first students at the Hebron yeshivah. He received his semikhah from Rav Abraham Isaac Quq in 1925 and accepted his first pulpit at Congregation B'nai Emunah in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1927. A year later, at the age of 25, Rabbi Epstein left Tulsa for Ahavath Achim in Atlanta where it became one of the largest Conservative movement affiliated congregations in the South.

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)

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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