This is an archive of civic prayers offered by an appointed chaplain or designated guest chaplain for opening a legislative session of a governmental body. Initiating such meetings with a prayer may have started with the “Elizabethan Parliaments” presided over by Queen Elizabeth Ⅰ of England beginning in 1559. By the 18th century, the tradition had spread to Freemasons as a ceremonial custom for opening their Lodge meetings. Famously, Rev. Jacob Duché, Rector of Christ Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, opened the First Continental Congress with a prayer, and so the tradition became woven into the fabric of the founding of the United States. While the practice was early dominated by Christian clergy, Jewish leaders began asserting their requests for equal representation in American civic life around 1830. While existing research is not yet comprehensive, Jewish participation in this tradition appears to first arise in the state legislatures. Often left unrecorded in legislative records, around 1850, these prayers started getting more popular coverage in historic newspapers. In 1860, Morris Raphall, offered the first prayer of a rabbinic guest chaplain in the US House of Representatives, and in 1870, Isaac Mayer Wise offered the first prayer of a rabbinic guest chaplain before the US Senate. The civic custom couples easily with rabbinic Judaism’s long-standing practice of offering public prayers for the welfare of sovereign leaders. —Aharon Varady Filter resources by Collaborator Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
A prayer offered at the inaugural session of the Grand Sanhedrin (9 February 1807) by Rabbi David Sinzheim, as found in Italian in Raccolta degli atti dell’assemblea degli Israeliti di Francia e del regno d’Italia (1807), p. 21-23, and in French in Collection des Proces-verbaux er decisions du Grand Sanhedrin (1807), p. 23-25. . . . A prayer composed for convening the Grand Sanhedrin established under the court of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807. . . . An opening prayer offered by the guest chaplain before the Virginia House of Delegates (1849-1850 legislative session) in the week of January 15-18, 1850, and published in The Richmond Enquirer (25 January 1850), p. 1. . . . The opening prayer offered by Rabbi Dr. Isaac Mayer Wise, in his role as guest chaplain before the 74th New York State Senate on 24 June 1851, and published under the header, “Albany” in The Asmonean (11 July 1851), on page 5. The prayer is one of the earliest offered by a rabbi before a state legislature in the United States. . . . This is one of three opening prayers offered by the guest chaplain, Rabbi Dr. Isaac Mayer Wise, before the Legislature of the State of New York, in the State Assembly (on Tuesday, the 13th of January or Thursday the 15th of January 1852), and in the State Senate (on Monday the 12th, Wednesday the 14th, or Friday the 16th). The prayer was published in The Asmonean (30 January 1852), in a letter dated 20 January from a correspondent identified only under the pseudonym “Bassist.” This prayer is one of two prayers offered in the letter. . . . This is one of three opening prayers offered by the guest chaplain, Rabbi Dr. Isaac Mayer Wise, before the Legislature of the State of New York, in the State Assembly (on Tuesday, the 13th of January or Thursday the 15th of January 1852), and in the State Senate (on Monday the 12th, Wednesday the 14th, or Friday the 16th). The prayer was published in The Asmonean (30 January 1852), in a letter dated 20 January from a correspondent identified only under the pseudonym “Bassist.” This prayer is one of two prayers offered in the letter. . . . This is one of three opening prayers offered by the guest chaplain, Rabbi Dr. Isaac Mayer Wise, for the week commencing 11 April 1853. The prayer was published in “The Israelite Chaplain in the N.Y. Legislature,” The Asmonean (15 April 1853), p. 5. It is the only prayer we have from this week that he officiated in 1853. . . . This is the text of the Rabbi Morris Jacob Raphall’s prayer offered before the U.S. House of Representatives as recorded in the Congressional Globe, (part 1, 36th Congress, 1st Session, 1859-1860) pp. 648-649, and reprinted in The Occident and American Jewish Advocate, 18:46 9 Feb 1860, pp. 275-276. . . . The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 20 May 1870. . . . The opening prayer offered before the Virginia House of Delegates on 26 May 1870. . . . A civic prayer for opening the Wisconsin State Senate session by Rabbi Edward B.M. Browne in 1871 (repurposed for the US Senate 27 May 1884) . . . The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 9 January 1872. . . . This prayer of Rabbi Isidor Kalisch was offered on 15 January 1873 before the Tennessee State Senate, and published in the Republican Banner (16 January 1863), page 4. . . . The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 27 April 1888. . . . The opening prayer of the Jewish Women’s Congress held at the World Parliament of Religion at the World’s Columbian Exposition as published in the Papers of the Jewish Women’s Congress: held at Chicago, September 4-7, 1893 (1894), p. 8. . . . The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 28 February 1899. . . . |
![the Open Siddur Project [logo]](https://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Open-Siddur-Project-Logo-2016.svg){kind=logo}
