Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Barry Block on 31 January 2017

Contributor(s):

United States Congressional Record and Barry Block

Shared on:

29 April 2018 under the Public Domain (17 U.S. Code §105 - Subject matter of copyright: United States Government works)

Categories:

United States of America, Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies

Tags:

58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, 115th Congress, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, Senate, תחינות teḥinot, 21st century C.E.

[Mr. BOOZMAN] Madam President, Senator Cotton and I would like to welcome Rabbi Barry Block and thank him for delivering the opening prayer to the Senate today. I am proud that he accepted our invitation to lead the Senate with his spiritual guidance.
Rabbi Block is the leader of B’nai Israel–Arkansas’s largest Jewish congregation–a position he has held since 2013. I have gotten to know Rabbi Block and his dedication to his congregants through his annual visits to Washington with the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. He has served Reform Judaism as a member of the Board of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and chair of its Resolutions and Nominating Committee and as president of the Southwest Association of Reform Rabbis.
Serving as the guest Chaplain is an incredible honor. Today he is joined by his sons Robert and Daniel. He wished to share this experience with his congregants as well. I enjoyed meeting yesterday with him and his confirmation students to hear about their concerns on a wide variety of social issues. I appreciate his prayer for our country and its leaders.

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	Divine Source of Blessing, we come before You today to ask Your blessings on the United States Senate and on the 100 men and women who serve our Nation here.
	Like King Solomon before them, let these Senators lead our Nation with wisdom, with Your Word and our Nation’s Constitution constantly guiding them to pursue liberty and justice, opportunity and equality, for every man, woman, and child within our borders, for those who would peacefully seek refuge on our shores, and for each of Your children on Earth.
	Make them ever mindful of Your command to remember the heart of the stranger– the people most unlike them and the least powerful of voices– for we were all strangers in one Egypt or another.
	In this age of division, unite these Senators, for only when working together across party lines do they truly represent all Americans.
	Temper the majority’s resolve with humility. Let the minority manifest an opposition that is as loyal as it is robust. Let all come together to ask Your choicest blessings on the United States of America.
אָמֵן׃	And let us say, Amen.

Source(s)

115th Congress, 1st Session. Congressional Record, Issue: Vol. 163, No. 16 — Daily Edition (January 31, 2017)

. Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication . 1.0 . Universal .

“Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Barry Block on 31 January 2017” is shared by the living contributor(s) with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.

United States Congressional Record

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)

Barry Block

Rabbi Barry Block is the rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel in Little Rock, Arkansas. A Houston native, Rabbi Block was ordained in 1991 at the New York Campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, after having been awarded the degree, Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters, at the Los Angeles Campus in 1988. Rabbi Block previously served Temple Beth-El in San Antonio, Texas, beginning in 1992 as Assistant, then Associate, Rabbi; and as Senior Rabbi from 2002 to 2013. Rabbi Block has served Reform Judaism nationally and regionally as a member of the Board of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and Chair of its Resolutions and Nominating Committees, and as President of the Southwest Association of Reform Rabbis. For 21 years, he represented his colleagues throughout Texas and Oklahoma as Rabbinic Advisor of the Union for Reform Judaism’s Greene Family Camp for Living Judaism in Bruceville, Texas. He is a member of the President’s Rabbinic Alumni Council of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Rabbi Block is the author of "Unplanned Fatherhood,” slated for 2013 publication by CCAR Press in The Sacred Encounter: Jewish Perspectives on Sexuality. Rabbi Block is Past Board Chair of the Planned Parenthood Trust of South Texas. In 2013, he completed long service to Methodist Healthcare Ministries, the largest non-governmental provider of indigent health care in south Texas, and Methodist Healthcare System, the largest hospital group and second largest private employer in San Antonio. His service there included several terms as Chair of the Healthcare System’s Ethics and Compliance Committee. In 2012, Human Rights Campaign bestowed its Equality Award upon Rabbi Block at its annual gala in San Antonio.

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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