Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Walter Jacob, Rodef Shalom Congregation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Sponsor: Rep. Bill Moorhead (D-PA)
Date of Prayer: 15 June 1978
Mr. MOORHEAD of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful for the opportunity of welcoming Rabbi Walter Jacob to this Chamber. Rabbi Jacob has been an outstanding religious figure in our city of Pittsburgh for many years. His congregation, Rodef Shalom, is the oldest Jewish congregation in Pittsburgh and Rabbi Jacob has served there with great distinction for more than 20 years.
His contributions, however, have not been limited to his own people. He has taken on the battle for human rights whenever he found an opportunity on behalf of Jews and Christians alike.
A man of unusual talent, Rabbi Jacob has also distinguished himself as a literary contributor, having published many, many articles. as well as several books.
We in Pittsburgh have been blessed to have Rabbi Jacob among us and I am proud to have the honor of welcoming him to this Chamber.
I hope that the House of Representatives will join me in thanking Rabbi Jacob for being with us today and wishing him success and happiness for the future.
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Heavenly Father,
we are grateful for Thy blessings
upon this body of lawmakers
and upon this land.
Now at the height
of our national power
and development,
we seek Thy guidance.
We have benefited from Thy blessings
of a rich land
and its varied gifted inhabitants.
Grant that we use those blessings
wisely.
May the ancient spirit of Biblical prophet and sage
be mingled with the vitality and idealism
of our American ancestors of two centuries ago.
Let that spirit enable this land
to become a beacon
of democracy and idealism,
of intellectual and spiritual light
for the entire world. Amen.
This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the sixth month of the second session of the 95th US Congress in the House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 124, part 14 (15 June 1978), page 17796.
Source(s)
Congressional Record, vol. 124, part 14 (15 June 1978), p. 17796
Rabbi Walter Jacob (b. 1930) in Augsburg, Germany, is a prominent Reform movement rabbi in the United States and Germany. Rabbi Jacob founded and was the first chairperson of the Solomon B. Freehof Institute for Progressive Halakhah and of the Associated American Jewish Museums, which organizes free art exhibits for synagogues and Jewish centers. He emigrated to the United States in 1940, narrowly avoiding the Holocaust in Europe. He received his BA from Drury College (Springfield, Missouri, 1950) and ordination and an M.H.L. from Hebrew Union College in 1955. Immediately following, he was named assistant rabbi at Rodef Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, under Rabbi Solomon Freehof. He served as a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force in the Philippines during the years 1955–57. He earned his D.H.L. in 1961 from HUC-JIR. In 1966, Jacob succeeded Freehof as senior rabbi, becoming emeritus in 1997. He was adjunct professor at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (1968–74). He took a leading role in interfaith dialogue with his book Christianity through Jewish Eyes (1974, 2007) which brought him into a close friendship with Cardinal John Wright and Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl. He was president of the Religious Education Association of America (1981–85) Jacob served the Reform movement in the United States as president of CCAR (1991–93). His interest and expertise in Jewish law led him to serve as chairman of the Responsa Committee of the CCAR (1974–1990). and chairman of the International Responsa Committee of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ). He served as president of the Religious Education Association of the United States (1981–85). He and his wife (Irène Jacob) established the largest Biblical Botanical Garden in North America in 1986 and published in that field. He also wrote on interfaith issues. Jacob served as overseer of HUC-JIR, Vice-President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism (1990–94), and chairman of the Publications Committee of Hebrew Union College Press (1976–1999). As CCAR president, he emphasized a broader Reform interpretation of the halakhah. As the sixteenth generation of rabbis, he has continued the work of Benno Jacob's biblical commentaries. Jacob has published 43 books and more than twelve hundred essays, sermons, and monographs on a range of topics which include responsa, Jewish theology, biblical studies, interfaith dialogue, modern Jewish problems, and gardening together with his wife, Irene Jacob. He received a D.D. from Drury College in 1990. Also in 1990, he along with a small group re-established Liberal Judaism in Germany. For several years he served as the Honorary Liberal Rabbi of Munich, Germany and in 1998 was co-founder of the Abraham Geiger College, the first rabbinic seminary in Central Europe since the Holocaust in Berlin/Potsdam. He continues as its President and has ordained six classes. He was made a Knight Commander of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1999 and received the Commander of the Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great from Pope John Paul II in 2004. The city of Augsburg honored him with a special award in 2014.
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)
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 naqeniשְׁגִיאוֹת 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.)
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