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Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Milton Balkany, New York
Sponsor:
Date of Prayer: 2007-03-22
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Our Father in Heaven,
snowflakes windswept to sky-piercing peaks
do more than cloak mountaintops
in their fine wintry vestments.
Their varied crystalline structures
speak of how You,
the Master Artist,
have sculpted our world
to exemplify the beauty
of contrast.
Heartfelt differences
are the hallmark of our times.
O Lord,
help us realize
that division
need not be
the lyric of sorrow
but the signature of brotherhood.
In the pursuit of truth
and righteousness,
disputes can compose verses
of hard-won wisdom.
Consider the rent of rock
running through the Grand Canyon.
It is a break,
a fissure,
a divide miles deep
and, yet,
is there a sight more majestic?
Unity is not sameness,
nor is it bland agreement.
Only when Moses parted the waters
was a nation set free.
We pray, O God,
give us strength to grapple for the great good,
defend the passion of our convictions,
and still retain the devotion of brothers and sisters.
Bless all of us
in this hallowed hall of lawmaking
with clarity of vision
so that we may gaze upon the heights
of our shared destiny. Amen.
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)
Milton Yehoshua Balkany (born 1946) is an American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, past director of the Jewish girls′ school Bais Yaakov of Midwood, conservative political activist and fundraiser from Brooklyn, New York, dubbed "the Brooklyn Bundler." In September 1960, Balkany founded Bais Yaakov of Brooklyn, now Bais Yaakov of Midwood, a strictly orthodox girls′ school in Borough Park, and served as its dean. A conservative Republican, he has been active in political fundraising since the early 1980s, mainly for Republican politicians, and has also often acted as a lobbyist for various Jewish causes. Dubbed "the Brooklyn Bundler," he had a reputation as someone who had access not only to elected officials but to several government agencies as well. For several years, he gave the invocation at an annual dinner honoring President Ronald Reagan, and was offered to become the rabbi chaplain of the Senate, an offer he declined. In 1994, Balkany tried to have David Luchins, an Orthodox Jew, official of the Orthodox Union, self-described liberal, and then aide to Senator Daniel Moynihan excommunicated by a Jewish religious court, blaming him for having "caused yeshivas in the land of Israel to lose money." He became widely known for giving public religious benedictions (brakhot) to senior politicians at city council, state legislature, and Congress, where he served as guest chaplain in June 2003, opening the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives with the prayer "I stand here today among the jewels of our nation, men and women who are precious, who radiate dedication, and they have been selected as the leaders of our land." He is the son-in-law of Aaron Rubashkin.
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