Sponsor: Rep. Toby Roth (R-WI)
Date of Prayer: 8 March 1979
Mr. ROTH. Mr. Speaker, I am honored today to be able to recognize Rabbi Dov Edelstein, who delivered our opening prayer this morning.
Rabbi Edelstein has served for 9 years at the Moses Montefiore Synagogue in my hometown—Appleton, Wisconsin. He is well known in Appleton as an exemplary citizen with an outstanding reputation for community service.
The Rabbi is a native of Romania, and was ordained to the rabbinate in Hungary in 1944. He is also a former inmate of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. Following the war, he was one of the 50,000 Jews interned by the British in camps on Cyprus prior to the establishment of the State of Israel.
From 1947 to 1962, he lived in Israel and taught Hebrew at several institutions and also taught the language to immigrants. In 1962 he entered the United States and settled in Weirton, West Virginia, the sight of his first congregation, coming from there to Appleton 9 years ago.
Rabbi Edelstein holds a graduate degree in American history and is the author of a major study of the relationship of the Wisconsin press toward President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.
It is certainly a pleasure and an honor to welcome him here today.
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Ever living God:
In these trying times of confusion and perplexity, we are looking to Thee for guidance and sustenance. |
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We pray and grasp for peace
and for harmonious relations among all Thy children; yet, there are detractors who despise these lofty aims and hinder their realization among mankind. |
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Give us, O Lord,
strength and encouragement that we may not falter. |
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Bestow Thy guidance
and inspiration upon the elect representatives of this American Nation that they discharge their heavy responsibilities with prudence, courage, and humility. May they navigate the ship of our Nation in the turbulent waters to secure and tranquil havens. |
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Do Thou crown with success
the efforts of the President of the United States at establishing lasting peace among the nations in the Middle East. |
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Imbue, O Lord,
the hearts of all Thy children with the precious gift of peace as an everlasting blessing for us, and for Thy eternal glory. Amen. |
This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the second month of the second session of the 96th US Congress in the House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 125, part 4 (1979), page 4472. Later that month, on 26 March in a ceremony at the White House, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel signed the Egypt–Israel peace treaty.
Source(s)
Congressional Record, vol. 125, part 4 (8 March 1979), p. 4472
