Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Robert S. Widom on 17 February 1970

Contributor(s):

Robert S. Widom and the Congressional Record of the United States of America

Shared on:

17 February 2024 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

Categories:

🇺🇸 United States of America, Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies

Tags:

91st Congress, 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., Cold War (1962–1979), English vernacular prayer, U.S. House of Representatives, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, תחינות teḥinot

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Robert S. Widom, Temple Emanuel, Great Neck, New York
Date of Prayer: 17 February 1970
Sponsor: n/a

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Lord of the universe, we ask Thee this day for fresh inspiration and new perspective.
	In a world haunted by the skeletons and ghosts of a shattering war past and present, and in the throes of fear of massive destructive forces held back only by a thin leash, we ask Thee for wisdom and knowledge that we may learn somehow to construct the essential foundation for an enduring peace.
	Make us to realize that lasting world peace requires the implementation of such positive elements as equality, security, and justice for every man everywhere.
	Bless our country that it may become more and more a stronghold of equality, security, and justice.
	Enlighten with Thy wisdom the President of our land, his counselors, advisers, and lawmakers, and all those who have accepted the trust and accompanying burdens of high office in order to make and keep our country secure and sound.
	Bless, O Lord, their efforts and the efforts of all who labor to advance the frontiers of mutual understanding here in our land and everywhere, who strive to push the walls of darkness back in the faith that it is Thou who art the giver of light. Amen.

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the second month of the second session of the 91st US Congress. The source images of the prayer were copied by Howard Mortman and shared via his @CongressRabbi Twitter account. All credit to Howard Mortman for his research in digging up this prayer. Unfortunately, neither the source images nor his tweets provide an exact citation reference to the volume, issue, and page number of the Congressional Record in which the prayer was published. If you know, leave a comment, or contact us.

Source(s)

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain (Robert S. Widom, 17 February 1970)

Robert S. Widom

Rabbi Dr. Robert S. Widom is Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanuel of Great Neck, New York. He received his undergraduate degree from New York University in history and philosophy. He was ordained at the New York school of the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, where he received an earned doctorate for his work in explicating a little-known area of Polish-Jewish history. He was invited to join the faculty of the School of Education of the Hebrew Union College, and taught history and philosophy. He currently serves on the Town of North Hempstead’s Board of Ethics, a position he has held since April 15, 1975. Several years ago, Rabbi Widom organized an association of faith partners composed of Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu and Muslim groups.

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)

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=54258

Associated Image:

Flag of the United States House of Representatives

(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 Robert S. Widom and the Congressional Record of the United States of America.
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=54258>.
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׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "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)

Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Robert S. Widom on 17 February 1970

Source(s)

Read a comment / Leave a comment (moderated)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply