Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Harvey Waxman on 21 June 1967

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription), Hershel Waxman and the Congressional Record of the United States of America

Shared on:

15 June 2024 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, 90th Congress, 20th century C.E., תחינות teḥinot, 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Harvey Waxman, Congregation Beth Medrosh Elyon, Monsey, New York
Sponsor: n/a
Date of Prayer: 21 June 1967

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)
	We open this session with thanks and prayer.
	In our hearts, we citizens of America utter thanks each moment for this great Hall of laws— wherein is exercised the free will of the people to legislate the law of our land.
	We thank the Almighty for that priceless right, the freedom to speak, to debate and to be governed through our own duly elected representatives. The gifts of freedom were not easily won nor are they easily maintained. In our generation the price of freedom has been the supreme sacrifice by so many of our bravest and noblest heroes.
	We humbly beseech the Almighty for the justice of thought and deed, the strength of truth and understanding, soundness of mind and body so that we be enabled to enjoy our sacred liberties and preserve them for the generations to come. We pray for the guidance and power to insure the blessing—that: “A government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from this earth.”^[1] From President Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address,” 19 November 1863.
	May God give strength to this Nation. May God bless our Nation with the peace of Shalom.
	O God, our Father, in this hour of sorrow we pray for our beloved companion who has gone into Thy nearer presence.^[2] This is a reference to the death, the evening prior, to Jesse Arthur Younger (April 11, 1893 – June 20, 1967), a United States representative from California. A Republican, he was the first Representative from San Mateo County, California, serving seven terms from 1953 to 1967. We thank Thee for him, for the contribution he made to this body and to our country. May the comfort of Thy spirit rest upon his family and upon us all. Help us to trust Thee, to know that love and life are everlasting and that Thy mercy never fails. Amen.

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the sixth month of the first session of the 90th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 113, part 13 (21 June 1967), pages 16658-16659.

Source(s)

Congressional Record, vol. 113, part 13 (21 June 1967), p. 16658

Congressional Record, vol. 113, part 13 (21 June 1967), p. 16659

Notes[+]

Notes
1	From President Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address,” 19 November 1863.
2	This is a reference to the death, the evening prior, to Jesse Arthur Younger (April 11, 1893 – June 20, 1967), a United States representative from California. A Republican, he was the first Representative from San Mateo County, California, serving seven terms from 1953 to 1967.

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Harvey Waxman on 21 June 1967” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Hershel Waxman

Rav Hershel (Tsvi Elimelekh, Harvey) Waxman (1925-2021), born in New York, was a Ḥassidic rabbi in the United States and community leader in Monsey, New York. He was an early student at Bais Medrash Elyon in Monsey and eventually became its executive director. Later, at the request of the Satmar Rebbe, he founded a kollel, Bais Medrash D'Monsey. He authored a six volume compilation of learning in Sefer Teferes Elimelekh.

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)

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 Gershon B. Chertoff on 19 April 1967

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi William Spigelman on 23 May 1967

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Dr. Israel Goldstein on 21 February 1967

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Jay Kaufman on 17 April 1967

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Herbert W. Bomzer on 23 May 1967

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Richard M.E. Marcovitz on 14 June 1984

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Jacob A. Max on 20 June 1966

prev next

Comments, Corrections, and QueriesCancel reply

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=56817

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 Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription), Hershel Waxman and the Congressional Record of the United States of America.
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=56817>.
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