Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Israel Mowshowitz, Hillcrest Jewish Center, Flushing, New York
Sponsor: Rep. Lester Wolff (D-NY)
Date of Prayer: 15 March 1973
Mr. WOLFF. Mr. Speaker, I am truly proud that Rabbi Israel Mowshowitz, who just delivered the invocation so beautifully and movingly, is the spiritual leader of the Hillcrest Jewish Center located in my congressional district.
Rabbi Mowshowitz’ outstanding record of service to his community, State, and Nation certainly deserves to be honored by his invitation to lead us in prayer here today. A graduate of Duke University, he is past president of the New York Board of Rabbis, the largest body of its kind in the world. In addition he is an honoree of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the Jewish War Veterans, and the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies.
A cofounder and cochairman of Crossroads Africa, a study and work camp project which brought 300 students annually to Africa, Rabbi Mowshowitz has been honored as a life member of the NAACP and the Knights of Pythias.
As a representative of American Jewry, Rabbi Mowshowitz served as spokesman for the first delegation of rabbis to visit the Soviet Union in 1956 at the invitation of the chief rabbi of Moscow and was the only Jewish representative to be officially invited as the guest of the Shah of Iran at the 2,500th anniversary celebration.
As well as being a great spiritual leader Rabbi Mowshowitz is a great American.
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Our God and Father,
in whom and through whom
we are brothers one to the other,
we thank Thee
for this good and ample land
and for the vision of freedom
which founded this Republic,
one nation
under God,
indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
Make us worthy of our goodly heritage.
Guide and inspire us
to remove from our midst
the yoke of oppression,
the finger of insolence,
and the words of malice.
Make Thou, O Lord,
our beloved land
strong with justice,
mighty with love,
great with compassion;
crown her good with brotherhood
and grant that it become Thy dedicated instrument
for the establishment of world peace.
Teach us
to do justly,
to love mercy,
and to walk humbly in Thy sight. Amen.
This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the third month of the first session of the 93rd US Congress in the House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 119, part 7 (1973), page 7955.
Source(s)
Congressional Record, vol. 119, part 7 (15 March 1973), p. 7955
“Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Israel Mowshowitz on 15 March 1973” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.
Israel Mowshowitz
Rabbi Dr. Israel Mowshowitz (1914–1991), born in Poland was an Orthodox rabbi in the United States. He emigrated with his family in 1929, attended Yeshiva University for his undergraduate degree and was ordained at its Rabbi Yitzhak Elchanan Theological Seminary in 1937. He earned a Ph.D. in psychology from Duke University and Yeshiva University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1966. He served synagogues affiliated with the Conservative movement, first in Durham, North Carolina, and then at Omaha, Nebraska. In 1949, he was appointed rabbi of Hillcrest Jewish Center in Queens, New York, becoming rabbi emeritus in 1983. Respected in both the Orthodox and Conservative movements, Mowshowitz rose to become arguably the most prominent Jewish communal leader in New York. He was a founder of the International Synagogue at Kennedy International Airport and served as its honorary president. He also served on the boards of numerous charitable, interfaith, and interracial organizations in New York. He was active in the American civil rights movement and joined Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in March 1965. Mowshowitz helped establish Crossroads Africa, a pilot project that was a forerunner of the Peace Corps. In the 1960s, Mowshowitz was the president of the New York Board of Rabbis, and in that capacity, became a nationally quoted spokesman on political and social issues impacting Jewish interests. New York Governor Mario M. Cuomo, a Roman Catholic called Mowshowitz "my rabbi." He held the title of special assistant for community affairs in the governor's office, where he negotiated issues between the state and religious groups. According to Israel Miller, head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, "[Mowshowitz] was the one all of us would call when we needed something done of a political nature." Mowshowitz traveled throughout the world on behalf of Jewish causes. In 1956, he was a member of one of the first delegations of rabbis to visit the Soviet Union to investigate the conditions of Soviet Jewry. He also traveled to Poland, South Africa, Iran, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and other countries on similar missions, including a study trip to 13 countries with the National Conference of Christians and Jews. The New York Board of Rabbis established the annual Rabbi Israel and Libby Mowshowitz Award, to honor both them and rabbis who excel in public service. He wrote two books, Fires to Warm Us (1978) and To Serve in Faithfulness (1975). With Debra Orenstein he co-authored, From Generation to Generation (1992).
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)
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