Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Dr. Abraham Shusterman on 3 February 1953

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Date: 2024-02-19

Last Updated: 2024-02-19

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

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., 83rd Congress, English vernacular prayer, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, U.S. House of Representatives, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 3 February 1953. . . .

Content:

Guest Chaplain: Dr. Abraham Shusterman, rabbi, Har Sinai Congregation, Baltimore, Maryland
Date of Prayer: 30 January 1947
Sponsor: Rep. Samuel Friedel (D-MD)

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Heavenly Father, in whose hands are our lives and destinies, we lift our hearts unto Thee in thanksgiving and praise.
	We render thanks unto Thee for our country and for those brave men, the quick and the dead, who have preserved its integrity as a land of justice and freedom. May our devotion to the ideals for which they lived and died ever bear witness to our gratitude and our faith.
	Enlighten with Thy wisdom and uphold with Thy strength all who guide our free institutions. Bless those who serve within the several branches of our Government; grant them the courage and faith to lead our Nation and all who look to it for guidance toward that goal of peace and security which Thou hast ordained for all Thy children. Uphold the arms of the Members of this House; set their minds and hearts on Thee.
	Speed the day when, united in loving service, we may establish Thy kingdom.
	Establish Thou also upon us the work of our hands; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it.^[1] Cf. Psalms 90:17. Amen.

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the first month of the first session of the 83rd US Congress in the House of Representatives. 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 (Abraham Shusterman, 3 February 1953)

Notes[+]

Notes
1	Cf. Psalms 90:17.

Contributor: Abraham Shusterman

Co-authors:

Name: Abraham Shusterman
Bio: Rabbi Abraham Shusterman (1907-1995), born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, was a rabbi in the American Reform movement, best known for his ecumenical work. He was a 1929 graduate of the University of Cincinnati and a 1931 graduate of the Hebrew Union College, where he later earned a doctorate. He also did graduate work at the Johns Hopkins University. After his ordination in 1931, he served the congregation Children of Israel in Athens, Georgia and was the first director of the Jewish Student Union at the University of Georgia. He also served at Temple Israel in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before coming to Baltimore. He led Baltimore’s Har Sinai Congregation from 1941 to 1972. From 1955 until 1968, Rabbi Shusterman appeared weekly with a priest and a minister on “To Promote Good Will,” a television discussion program. He had been a volunteer chaplain at Fort Meade and a chaplain aboard cruise ships. From 1977 to 1983, he was the rabbi of Temple Sholom in Naples, Fla., where he spent winters. He was also a former chairman of the advisory council of the Maryland Department of Employment Security, a committee to study possible revisions of the unemployment compensation laws. He was chairman of the Special Committee on Life Preservation, which recommended that the state require each hospital and nursing home to appoint a committee to make ethical judgments on the artificial prolonging of patients’ lives. In addition, he helped start the Maryland Food Committee. Distressed at a 1966 City Council meeting when Cardinal Lawrence Shehan was jeered for advocating open housing for all, he wept publicy, news of which was taken to heart by many. Cardinal Shehan later presented him with the Cardinal Gibbons Medal for his work for brotherhood. He was an adjunct professor of theology at Loyola College and served on the advisory board of St. Mary’s University and Ecumenical Institute. He also had been co-chairman of the Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Baltimore and had served on the board of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. He had also headed the Clergy Brotherhood of Baltimore, the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Mid-Atlantic Association of Reform Rabbis, the Baltimore Council of Reform Rabbis, the National Association of Retired Reform Rabbis and the Baltimore Jewish Council. Rabbi Shusterman also wrote a column for the News American, frequently spoke to organizations and wrote a history of the Har Sinai Congregation, the oldest surviving congregation in the nation that has been continuously affiliated with the Reform branch of Judaism. The history was published in 1967, when Har Sinai celebrated its 125th anniversary.
Website:
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/abraham-shusterman

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

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