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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
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| 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.
Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Efry Spectre
United States Congressional Record
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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
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