Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Isaac Neuman on 11 April 1983

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=55255

Date: 2024-04-06

Last Updated: 2025-03-27

Categories: 🇮🇱 Yom haShoah (27 Nisan), 🇺🇸 Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust, 🇺🇸 United States of America, Opening Prayers for Legislative Bodies

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., 98th Congress, English vernacular prayer, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, the Holocaust, U.S. House of Representatives, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 11 April 1983. . . .

Content:

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Isaac Neuman, Sinai Temple, Champaign, Illinois
Sponsor: Rep. Daniel Crane (R-IL)
Date of Prayer: 11 April 1983

Mr. DANIEL B. CRANE. Mr. Speaker, the prayer opening today’s session of Congress was delivered by Rabbi Isaac Neuman of the Sinai Temple in Champaign, Illinois.

He also is the father of two fine sons. As a young man, Isaac Neuman perhaps had more experiences than most as he matured. For immediately following the completion of his education in Warsaw, war erupted in Europe, World War Ⅱ, as we all know it today.

We cannot begin to imagine what went through his mind as he spent the war years in the camps of Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. Doubtless he would try to forget, if remembering was not so important to the entire world.

Perhaps in part because it was the United States that crushed his captors, Isaac Neuman came to this country, the land of the free and the home of the brave, on April 11, 1950, exactly 33 years ago today.

Quickly mastering his studies at the University of Cincinnati and Hebrew Union College, he completed his studies in 1958 and served in Panama, traveling throughout South America to recruit Jewish Latin American students.

Mr. Speaker, it is a great honor for me and this House to host a man of the stature of Rabbi Neuman, who truly knows the difference between a slave state and a free state.

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	God of our fathers, our God, humbly a survivor of Auschwitz stands in Thy presence amid the chosen servants of a great people, a generous people, who opened their gates to homeless victims of totalitarianism.
	We raise our voices in gratitude to Thee that on this day 38 years ago, the U.S. Armed Forces entered Buchenwald Concentration Camp and freed the prisoners from the Nazi gas chambers.
	I raise my voice in gratitude to Thee because on this day, 33 years ago, I first set foot on these blessed shores.
	May our country hold true to its traditions, and remain a refuge for the homeless and oppressed, as it has been for us and for all our forefathers.
	O Sovereign of the World, may this our land retain its zeal for justice. Awaken its compassion and mercy for the hungry and the homeless.
	Strengthen in Thy law the endeavors of these, our Representatives, and the hands of all those who labor for peace, for justice, and for freedom, at home and abroad.
	Praised art Thou, O Lord our God, who freest the captives. Amen.

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This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the fourth month of the first session of the 98th US Congress in the House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 129, part 6 (11 April 1983), page 7889.

Source(s)

Congressional Record, vol. 129, part 6 (11 April 1983), p. 7889

 

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: Isaac Neuman
  Bio: Rabbi Isaac Neuman (1923-2014), born in Poland, was a Reform movement rabbi in the United States. A survivor of the Holocaust, he emigrated to the US on 11 April 1950 and studied at Hebrew Union College and the University of Cincinnati, completing his rabbinical degree in 1958. He went on to serve in Panama and throughout South American Jewish communities. worked for social justice reforms, Rabbi Neuman was part of the 1965 civil rights march with Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, Alabama. In 1974, he came to Sinai Temple (Urbana-Champaign, Illinois). In 2000, he published The Narrow Bridge: Beyond the Holocaust, a memoir of his experiences before and during the Holocaust.
  Website:
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/isaac-neuman
• 
  Name: the Congressional Record of the United States of America
  Bio: 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)
  Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Record
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/united-states-congressional-record
• 
  Name: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
  Bio: 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 naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת 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.)
  Website: https://aharon.varady.net
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/aharon-varady-transcription

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