![the Open Siddur Project [logo]](https://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Open-Siddur-Project-Logo-2016.svg){kind=logo}
Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Efry Spectre, Adat Shalom Synagogue, Farmington Hills, Michigan
Sponsor: Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)
Date of Prayer: 12 May 1983
Sponsor: Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)
Date of Prayer: 12 May 1983
TOGGLE COLUMNS (on/off):ADJUST COLUMN POSITIONS: select the column header cell and drag it where you want. show me!COPY INDIVIDUAL COLUMN(S): use CopyTables, a browser extension.
| Contribute a translation | Source (English) |
|---|---|
Our God and God of our ancestors: As this august legislative body, the U.S. Senate, once more assembles we call to mind at this season Your giving of the Law thousands of years ago to the Children of Israel at Mount Sinai. | |
Ever conscious that You have decreed us made in Your image,[1] Find Genesis 1:26-27 and Genesis 5:1-3. Including the animating principle, find Genesis 2:7. and seeking anew some understanding for applying meaningfully that concept, we remind ourselves that, with all the possible attributions of glory and power which might invoke Your Name, You have chosen to identify Yourself in those Ten Commandments as “the Eternal your God Who brought You forth out of the land of Egypt, the House of Bondage.”[2] I am not sure why, but the Congressional Record here obscured “Eternal, your” and “the land of Egypt” by replacing the words with asterisks. I have reconstructed the verse based on its familiar translation, with an educated guess that Rabbi Spectre used “the Eternal” as a translation for the Tetragrammaton. (Exodus 20:2, Deuteronomy 5:6) | |
O Lord, may these Senators, our great country’s leaders, in like manner find the fortitude within them to make this their touchstone— that the law issuing forth from these revered Chambers find its source and inspiration in the ideal of responsible freedom. May we be worthy, thereby, to walk with You in Your “ways of pleasantness” and know Your “paths of peace.” (Proverbs 3:17) Amen. |
This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the fifth month of the first session of the 98th US Congress in the Senate, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 129, part 9 (12 May 1983), page 12051.
Source(s)
Congressional Record, vol. 129, part 9 (12 May 1983), p. 12051
Notes
| 1 | Find Genesis 1:26-27 and Genesis 5:1-3. Including the animating principle, find Genesis 2:7. |
|---|---|
| 2 | I am not sure why, but the Congressional Record here obscured “Eternal, your” and “the land of Egypt” by replacing the words with asterisks. I have reconstructed the verse based on its familiar translation, with an educated guess that Rabbi Spectre used “the Eternal” as a translation for the Tetragrammaton. |
“Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Efry Spectre on 12 May 1983” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication 1.0 Universal license.
Stable Link:
https://opensiddur.org/?p=55783
Associated Image:
Flag of the United States Senate
(This image is set to automatically show as the "featured image" in shared links on social media.)
Terms of Use:
Be a mentsch (a conscientious, considerate person) and adhere to the following guidelines:
- Properly attribute the work to Efry Spectre, the Congressional Record of the United States of America and Aharon N. Varady (transcription).
- Clearly indicate the date you accessed the work and in what ways, if any, you modified it. (If you have adapted the work, let us know so that the contributor might consider endorsing your revision.)
- Provide the stable link to this resource: <https://opensiddur.org/?p=55783>.
- Indicate that the original work was shared under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication. (To redistribute or remix this work in any format, modified or unmodified, you must refer to the terms of the license under which the work is shared.)
Additional Notes:
- The views expressed in this work represent the views of their creator(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Open Siddur Project's developers, its diverse community of volunteer contributors, or its institutional partners.
- We strongly advise against printing sacred texts and art containing divine names as these copies must be regarded with reverence, complicating their casual treatment and disposal.
- If you must dispose of a printed sacred text (one containing Divine Names), please locate the closest genizah (often established by a synagogue) and contact its custodians for further instructions. We also recommend using Morah Yehudis Fishman's Prayer for Adding a Work to the Genizah.
Support this work:
The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-commercial, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture.
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
Comments, Corrections, and Queries