Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Abram Simon on 16 January 1905

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Date: 2024-02-18

Last Updated: 2025-02-18

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

Tags: 20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., 58th Congress, English vernacular prayer, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, U.S. Senate, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 16 January 1905. . . .

Content:

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Abram Simon, Washington, DC
Date of Prayer: 16 January 1905
Sponsor: n/a

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Profoundly grateful for all Thy countless blessings and fully conscious of Thy presence here and wherever Thy name is called upon in sincerity, we invoke Thy spirit to dwell among us at this hour and at all times.
	Every spot in our fair land has a glory all its own to enkindle our pride and to prompt our prayer. We feel Thy everlasting arms support us, and we pray that we may never cease to deserve Thy protection nor fall below the great mission which Thou hast placed in our hands.
	Even as the sun, ready to run his race, stands this hour highest in the heavens, declaring Thy glory, so does our beloved America enjoy now the high noon of prosperity and promise. May she not lose her queenly zenith nor go the downward slope to decline.
	Give us, therefore, O God, a deeper apprectation of the heroism of peace and of the apostleship of justice with which Thou has commissioned us.
	May we feel that the consciousness of American sovereignty lies in a righteous citizenship. Let us realize soulfully that honesty is not only the best policy, but the only principle of a self-respecting nation or individual.
	May we learn to hear Thy voice, not in the storm of formidable power nor in the fire of flinty steel nor in the quake of raging creeds, but in the still small voice of equity, justice, and peace.
	And not only here, but everywhere, may Thy blessings be bountifully bestowed. Wherever there is a hand uplifted to heal and to help, do Thou treble its efficacy for good; wherever there is a voice crying out against injustice and persecution, do Thou give ear and force to its righteous appeal.
	Bless all the peoples with increasing wisdom, freedom, and brotherliness, that the day may not be far distant when all may stand in the high noon of full-orbed liberty and recognize in the great Republic of a united humanity but one citizenship, that of a consecrated manhood and womanhood, under Thee, the Father and Ruler of all. Amen.

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the second month of the third session of the 58th US Congress and was published in the Congressional Record, vol. 39, part 1 (1905), page 891.

Source(s)

Congressional Record-Senate, vol. 39 part 1 (1905), p. 891

Contributor: Abram Simon

Co-authors:

Name: Abram Simon
Bio: Abram Simon (1872–1938), was a rabbi and leader in the Reform movement in the early 20th century. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, he was educated at the University of Cincinnati where he earned his B.A. in 1894, the same year he was ordained by Hebrew Union College. Upon ordination he served as rabbi of B'nai Israel Congregation in Sacramento and then as rabbi of Temple Israel in Omaha, Nebraska (1899–1904). In 1903 he was elected as the first rabbi of Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, D.C.. In Washington, Simon became a communal leader. In addition to the Board of Education he was a trustee and later president of the Columbia Hospital for Women and also president of the Public Library of Washington. Rabbi Simon was a member of the Red Cross during World War I, broadcast radio lectures, and was president of both the Board of Education in Washington as well as the Conference of Christians and Jews. He was a founding member of the Reform movement's Committee on Jewish Education. Simon launched the National Committee on Religion, which boosted synagogue attendance and set up Hebrew schools. In 1917, Simon earned a Ph.D. from George Washington University, writing on the "The Constructive Character and Function of Religious Progress." He was president of the Central Conference of American Rabbi from 1923 to 1925, a founder and later president of the Synagogue Council of America. He was an early enthusiast of women's participation in the synagogue. Fay Sonnenreich recalled that in 1920, with his permission, she and another young girl sat in the pulpit, held the Torah and read from it. "I still remember the shocked expressions on the faces of the congregation," she recalled many years later. "Dr. Simon told us afterwards that the board of trustees was angry with him for permitting girls to participate in what traditionally belonged to the men. But he believed in developing the potential of each individual, and his encouragement made a lasting impact upon our lives."
Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abram_Simon
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/abram-simon

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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