Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi David Algaze on 11 July 2012

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=23085

Date: 2018-12-27

Last Updated: 2025-04-11

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

Tags: 112th Congress, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., 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 11 July 2012. . . .

Content:

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi David Algaze, Ḥavurat Yisrael Synagogue, Forest Hills, NY
Sponsor: Rep. Bob Turner, (R-NY)
Date of Prayer: 07/11/2012

Mr. TURNER of New York. Madam Speaker, fellow Members, I am privileged to have had the honor of inviting Rabbi David Algaze here to lead us in the benediction. Rabbi Algaze serves as the senior rabbi of Ḥavurat Yisrael Synagogue in Forest Hills, Queens, a position he has held since founding the congregation in 1981.

Rabbi Algaze has always held a commitment to academics both as a student and as a teacher. He holds multiple master’s degrees and has served as a professor in all levels of academia. He is a former president of the Association of Sephardic Rabbis of America, and is the founder and president of the World Committee for the Land of Israel.

He has always been a strong advocate for the Jewish community in Queens and throughout New York. An ardent supporter of the State of Israel, Rabbi Algaze continues to fight to ensure its safety, security, and well–being. A prime example of these efforts is his work to educate the world about the current situation in Iran and the threat it poses to Israel and the United States.

A scholar, educator, and pillar of religious leadership in our community, he has been a terrific friend to me and has always been there for all those in need.

I thank you, Rabbi Algaze.

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	God, from Whom all blessings flow, bless this assembly to steer this great Nation to the prominence You bestowed upon her; a land where even a humble bicycle messenger can soar to serve in this Hall, where every man has dignity and the capacity to prosper, where the ignorant can reach knowledge and the persecuted sanctuary. Move it from finiteness to infinity, from constriction to amplitude, from isolation to leadership, from cynicism to faith. Uphold its pre–eminence among the nations, for its message of freedom is beneficial to all men.
	Let us pray for wisdom, not passion; for knowledge, not shallowness; for truth, not trend; for enduring amity to allies and steadfast stand against its foes.
	Bring us the day when all men shall turn to one another in pleasantness, when they combine regardless of differences in a union under Your reign, as the prophet Zachariah proclaimed: ‘‘On that day, God shall be One, and His Name one.”[1] Zechariah 14:9.

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Source(s)

112th Congress, 2nd Session. Congressional Record, Issue: Vol. 158, No. 103 — Daily Edition (July 11, 2012)

Link: https://chaplain.house.gov/chaplaincy/display_gc.html?id=1819

Notes

Notes

1	Zechariah 14:9.

Contributor: the Congressional Record of the United States of America

Co-authors:

• 
  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: David Algaze
  Bio: Rabbi David L. Algaze, originally of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is the founder and spiritual leader of Ḥavurat Yisrael, Forest Hills, New York. He received his smikhah from Rabbi Joseph Messas, Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Israel, and from Rabbi Ezra Basry, head of the Bet-Din of Jerusalem. Rabbi Algaze founded Eli, a city in Samaria, in 1984. In 1989 he founded The Coalition for Israel. He has been Rosh Yeshivah of Ohr Torah Institute and a delegate of the Soviet Union. A graduate of the University of Buenos Aires, he holds a Master of Philosophy degree from Columbia University and a Master of Hebrew Literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary. The Rabbi has been a Fellow of the Herbert Lehman Institute of Ethics, a Columbia University President's Fellow, and a Kent Fellow of the Danfourth Foundation. A sepharadi rabbi, his forefathers include the Maharit, Rabbi Yomtov Algaze, who was Rishon Letzion, chief rabbi of the ancient Jewish community of Eretz Yisrael, and Rabbi Shlomo Algaze, the chief rabbi who excommunicated Shabbetai Tzvi.
  Website: http://www.davidalgaze.com
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/david-algaze

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