Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Herman Eliot Snyder on 28 April 1948

Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license

Date: 2024-04-27

Last Updated: 2025-02-02

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

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., 80th Congress, English vernacular prayer, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, U.S. Senate, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 28 April 1948. . . .

Content:

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Herman Eliot Snyder, Sinai Temple, Springfield, Massachusetts
Sponsor: n/a
Date of Prayer: 28 April 1948

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	We pray unto our God who instilled His spirit in all humanity. Thou didst teach us the common brotherhood of man. Thou didst reveal Thyself as the emancipator of the enslaved. Thou didst instruct us to worship Thee in acts of loving kindness and justice.
	We pray that our beloved Nation may be preserved as a citadel of righteousness, as the protagonist of justice, and as a constant example of human kindness and mercy.
	We pray that we may be instruments of Thy will in establishing Thy kingdom on earth, to the end that people everywhere may live in peace and security without fear of the tomorrows to come.
	Protect Thou and inspire the guardians of our liberties and freedom, that the generations to come may bless their vision and devotion. Amen.

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the fourth month of the second session of the 80th US Congress in the Senate, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 94, part 4 (28 April 1948), page 4922.

Source(s)

Congressional Record, vol. 94, part 4 (28 April 1948), p. 4922

Contributor: Herman E. Snyder

Co-authors:

Name: Herman E. Snyder
Bio: Rabbi Herman Eliot Snyder (1901-1992), born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, was a Reform movement rabbi in the United States. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati and a degree in Hebrew Literature from Hebrew Union College (HUC) in 1926 after which he was ordained 1928. He served student and summer pulpits in Wausau, Wisconsin; Kalamazoo, Michigan; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Owensboro, Kentucky; Binghamton, New York; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; nd Dallas, Texas. In 1928, he accepted the pulpit of Congregation B'rith Sholom in Springfield, Illinois. During the 1930s Snyder was chairman of the local Joint Distribution Committee to raise relief funds. Snyder actively promoted Jewish-Christian relations; he was the first Rabbi elected president of the Springfield Ministerial Association His active interest in promoting equality in human relations led to his appointment to the Illinois State Committee on Naturalization and Americanization (a committee concerning race relations) by the Governor and to seeking equal employment practices for African Americans. In March of 1944, Snyder was commissioned a Chaplain (Lieutenant) in the US Naval eserve. After completion of Chaplain's Training School in Virginia, he was assigned to the arine Corps at Camp Joseph Pendleton in Oceanside, California. In addition to his regular duties as Chaplain, Snyder conducted services at San Diego area military bases and at Santa argarita Naval Hospital. Snyder was discharged from active duty in March of 1946, but continued to serve as an instructor at the Naval Reserve Training Center at Great Lakes, Illinois. After 1946, Rabbi Snyder came to Temple Sinai in Springfield, Massachusetts where he spent the remainder of his career. He was discharged from the Naval Reserve in 1954, but served as a parttime chaplain for the US Air Force from 1957-1967 at Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts and led a Torah Convocation (sponsored by the National Jewish Welfare Board) in 1954 for Jewish airmen in the Azores. He was founder and first President of the New England Region group of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. He traded or shared pulpits with Christian clergy in Springfield to promote better Jewish-Christian relations. During the 1950s and 1960s Sinai Temple and the Trinity United Methodist Church held joint "Brotherhood Week" services.
Website: https://collections.americanjewisharchives.org/ms/ms0598/ms0598.html
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/herman-snyder

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

Featured Image:

Title: Flag_of_the_United_States_Senate.svg
Caption: Flag of the United States Senate