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Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Israel Goldstein, of Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, New York, chairman, American Committee for the Celebration of Israel’s 10th Anniversary
Sponsor: n/a
Date of Prayer: 23 April 1958
Sponsor: n/a
Date of Prayer: 23 April 1958
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Lord, Creator, Shepherd, Father, if a thousand years are but as yesterday in Thy sight, 10 years are but as a moment. Yet there are great moments in the human drama which attest to the divine spark in man[1] Find Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 2:7, and Genesis 5:1-3. On the history of this idea, the scholar Rabbi Louis Jacobs (1920-2006) writes: “The belief that there is a special mystical ‘spark’ in every human breast can be traced back, in western mysticism, at least to Jerome in the fourth century. Both Bonaventura and Bernard of Clairvaux speak of this mystical organ; the latter, calling it scintillula, a small spark of the soul, and speaking of the nearness of God, said: ‘Angels and archangels are within us, but He is more truly our own who is not only with us but in us.’ However, both these mystics are anxious to prevent an identification of this mystical spark with the divine. Eckhart, on the other hand, embraces the identification, calling the spark, among other endearing names, das Kleidhaus Gottes, ‘the house in which God attires Himself ’. This and other pantheistic tendencies in Eckhart’s thought were condemned in the papal Bull of 1529…” (in “The Doctrine of the ‘Divine Spark’ in Man in Jewish Sources” Studies in Rationalism, Judaism and Universalism, ed. Raphael Loewe (Humanities: 1966) 87-114.) For those more familiar with Quaker theology, a similar belief is shared by George Fox (1624-1691). –Aharon Varady and to Thy finger in history.[2] Find Exodus 8:16–20 in the context of the divine intervention of the Ten plagues, and Exodus 31:18 and Deuteronomy 9:10 in the inscription of the Decalogue at the Theophany on Mt. Sinai. Such was the fashioning of these United States of America into a new society of human freedom and dignity. Such too has been the restoration and rededication of an ancient people to nationhood upon its ancient soil thrice hallowed by religious inspiration. | |
It was meet that our beloved America, reared in the spiritual heritage of ancient Israel’s timeless book, helped the modern State of Israel come into being, and strengthened it during its infant years. And little Israel has given as well as received. It has given an example of how to reclaim the soil and how to redeem human beings, of how to provide homes for the homeless, and boons of freedom and dignity for the underprivileged. It has shown how to overcome fear with faith at a time when the world is filled with apprehensions. And its hand of fellowship and peace is extended. Shalom, shalom la’raḥoḳ v’laḳarov, “peace, peace to those that are far and to those that are near.” (Isaiah 57:19) | |
Grant, O God, that the bonds which make us feel a sense of spiritual kinship with Israel may grow with the years. | |
In the words of Israel’s ancient prayer we pray today and every day: Spread Thy tabernacle of peace over the habitation of men everywhere,[3] A universal adaptation of the phrase from the evening prayer of protection, Hashkivenu. so that in peace and in comity men and nations may build a world worthy of Thy blessing, O Lord, Creator, Shepherd, and Father. Amen. |
This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the fourth month of the second session of the 85th US Congress in the House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 104, part 6 (23 April 1958), page 7068. The prayer was offered in the context of Congressional legislation made in recognition of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel.
Source(s)
Congressional Record, vol. 104, part 6 (23 April 1958), p. 7068
Notes
| 1 | Find Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 2:7, and Genesis 5:1-3. On the history of this idea, the scholar Rabbi Louis Jacobs (1920-2006) writes: “The belief that there is a special mystical ‘spark’ in every human breast can be traced back, in western mysticism, at least to Jerome in the fourth century. Both Bonaventura and Bernard of Clairvaux speak of this mystical organ; the latter, calling it scintillula, a small spark of the soul, and speaking of the nearness of God, said: ‘Angels and archangels are within us, but He is more truly our own who is not only with us but in us.’ However, both these mystics are anxious to prevent an identification of this mystical spark with the divine. Eckhart, on the other hand, embraces the identification, calling the spark, among other endearing names, das Kleidhaus Gottes, ‘the house in which God attires Himself ’. This and other pantheistic tendencies in Eckhart’s thought were condemned in the papal Bull of 1529…” (in “The Doctrine of the ‘Divine Spark’ in Man in Jewish Sources” Studies in Rationalism, Judaism and Universalism, ed. Raphael Loewe (Humanities: 1966) 87-114.) For those more familiar with Quaker theology, a similar belief is shared by George Fox (1624-1691). –Aharon Varady |
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| 2 | Find Exodus 8:16–20 in the context of the divine intervention of the Ten plagues, and Exodus 31:18 and Deuteronomy 9:10 in the inscription of the Decalogue at the Theophany on Mt. Sinai. |
| 3 | A universal adaptation of the phrase from the evening prayer of protection, Hashkivenu. |
“Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Israel Goldstein on 23 April 1958” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.
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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
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