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Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Stanley Rabinowitz, Adas Israel Synagogue, Washington, D.C.
Sponsor: n/a
Date of Prayer: 23 April 1969
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Our God and God of our fathers:
We are grateful for those
whose lives are consecrated
to the service of man.
May we be blessed in our deliberations
so that where there is ignorance and superstition,
there may be knowledge and enlightenment;
Where there is prejudice and hatred,
there may be tolerance and love;
Where there is fear and suspicion,
there may be confidence and trust;
Where there is tyranny and oppression,
there may be freedom and justice;
Where there is illness, hunger and poverty,
there may be healing, sustenance and bounty;
Where there is strife and discord,
there may be harmony and tranquillity. Amen.
This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the fourth month of the first session of the 91st US Congress in the House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 115, part 8 (23 April 1969), page 10039.
Source(s)
Congressional Record, vol. 115, part 8 (23 April 1969), p. 10039
“Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Stanley Rabinowitz on 23 April 1969” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.
Rabbi Stanley Rabinowitz (1917–2012), born in Duluth, Minnesota, was a prominent Conservative movement rabbi in the United States. After graduating from the State University of Iowa in 1939 he was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in1943. He began as a rabbinic chaplain serving in the Armed Forces, and later as director of the Midwest office of the Jewish Theological Seminary, director of field services for the United Synagogue of America, and as as acting director of the United Synagogue. In 1947 Rabinowitz assumed the pulpit of B'nai Jacob Congregation in New Haven, Connecticut, where he served for five years, and then moved to Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Minneapolis (1953–60) before coming to Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, DC, where he served for 26 years. A champion of women's rights in Conservative Judaism, he initiated the bat mitzvah ceremony at his three congregations and counted women in the minyan at Adas Israel well before it was sanctioned by the Rabbinical Assembly. He was instrumental in pushing for the desegregation of Washington, DC, encouraging building owners in his congregation to desegregate their facilities. He allowed and encouraged Adas Israel to hold multiple services on Shabbat morning including a Ḥavurah service and an Orthodox minyan. Adas Israel also did not follow the lead of many other inner city synagogues that moved to the suburbs following the 1968 riots. He chaired the Committee on Synagogue Standards for the Rabbinical Assembly; and was later vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly in 1974–76 and then president in 1976–78. He represented the Conservative movement in its confrontations with Prime Minister Menaḥem Begin over an amendment to the Law of Return regarding non-Orthodox conversions. He also traveled to Egypt soon after Anwar Sadat's path-breaking trip to Jerusalem. He was the founding president of the Zionist Organization of the Conservative Movement (mercaz) (1977–1985) and chaired the Rabbinic Cabinet of United Jewish Appeal (1986).
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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