Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Max B. Wall, Ohavi Zedek Synagogue, Burlington, Vermont
Sponsor: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Date of Prayer: 21 June 1984
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to note that it is a proud day for me as it is for all Vermonters to have Rabbi Max Wall open this august body with a prayer. All Vermonters, of all religious faiths, have turned to Rabbi Wall for decades for spiritual leadership. He is a close and dear and beloved friend of the Leahy family. He is a man to whom I have, throughout my career in public life, turned for help and guidance and spiritual leadership. I hope that we, as a Senate, will take heed of what he has said, especially when he said, “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall people learn war any more.”[1] Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3.
All Americans yearn for peace. Americans know in a nuclear age that peace also requires true arms control. When an arms control treaty is finally negotiated the responsibility for its acceptance will be here in the Senate.
This is the body. We are the 100 people who will eventually, someday, vote on arms control treaties. At that time, I shall repeat again what Rabbi Wall has told us today.
I thank my good friend for praying with the Senate today and seeking the blessings of our God. Shalom.
I yield back my time.
Mr. BAKER. I yield 1 minute to the senior Senator from Vermont.
Mr. STAFFORD. I thank the majority leader.
Mr. President, I share in the pride Senator Leahy has expressed and the sentiments he has expressed for the most distinguished member of the clergy from Burlington, VT, Max Wall. I have known Rabbi Wall ever since I came into State affairs and I shall not mention for him or for me how long that is, but it covers a considerable period of time. As Senator Leahy and all Vermonters, I have looked up to Rabbi Wall as one of the cultural and spiritual leaders of Burlington and the entire State and one of the true community leaders in the broadest meaning of that term in Burlington, Vermont.
I am very proud that he is here representing Vermont spiritually.
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Our God and God of our ancestors.
By Thy will
the planets in the universe
whisper of Your glory
and the amoeba came into being.
You have put us into a universe
replete with mystery and power
beyond compare.
From the smallest of Your planets
You took some dust,
touched it with Your spirit
and called it Adam.
A soul You gave us
and then commanded us
to have dominion over
all Your creation.
We who have the mandate
to lead and serve this Nation
pray that our deliberations and decisions
will unite all the inhabitants of our country,
whatever their origin and creed,
into a bond of true brotherhood
to banish hatred and bigotry,
and to safeguard the ideals and free institutions
which are our country’s glory.
May this land under Thy providence
be an influence for good
throughout the world,
uniting people in peace
and freedom
and helping to fulfill the vision of Thy prophets:
“Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall people learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3) Amen.
This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the sixth month of the second session of the 98th US Senate, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 130, part 13 (21 June 1984), page 17731.
Source(s)
Congressional Record, vol. 130, part 13 (21 June 1984), p. 17731
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.)
Max B. Wall
Rabbi Max B. (Meir) Wall (1915-2009), born in Poland, was a Conservative movement rabbi in the United States. His family emigrated to America in 1921 and lived in Denver, Colorado until 1927, when the family relocated to the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. He received an AB from Yeshiva University, and his semikhah from the Jewish Theological Seminary. After taking a pulpit in Woodbury, New Jersey for a year, he enlisted in the Army Chaplain Corps and served with the Ninth Infantry Division during the Battle of the Bulge and took part in the liberation of the concentration camps. As the Jewish chaplain he was able to help thousands of displaced persons. Captain Wall was instrumental in the revival of Jewish worship in Munich and was the first to conduct a Jewish service there after the war. After returning from Europe in 1946, Rabbi Wall and his family moved to Burlington, Vermont where he served Ohavi Zedek Synagogue from 1946 until his retirement in 1987. He was one of the founders of the Burlington Ecumenical Action Ministry (BEAM) and joined the faculty of St. Michael's College where he taught Jewish related classes from 1964-1993. He also taught Religion and Ethics at Champlain College, and guest lectured at UVM and Norwich University. Rabbi Wall was a moral educator and activist with an enduring commitment to social justice, advocacy for human rights and a tireless effort to improve the social well being of all peoples. He served as the Jewish Chaplain for the State Institutions from 1946-1993, visiting the Brandon School, Waterbury State Hospital, and Vermont prisons. He served on the boards of the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, Champlain College, and Howard Mental Health, where he was the chair of the Psychiatric Disabilities Committee. He served on the Governor's Advisory Committee on bio-medical ethics, the Governor's Committee on Youth, the Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, and the Vermont State Housing Authority. Rabbi Wall was awarded honorary doctorates from the Jewish Theological Seminary, University of Vermont and St. Michael's College. He received a Commissioner's Award from the Vermont Agency of Human Services in 1994, and many other honors. The Rabbi was a member of the Rotary Club and a Chaplain Emeritus of the Masons. He belonged to several Veterans' groups, and numerous Jewish organizations. He served on the Executive Board of the Rabbinical Assembly of America and the New York Board of Rabbis.
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)
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