Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Gershon B. Chertoff on 25 March 1963

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=55005

Date: 2024-03-23

Last Updated: 2025-02-02

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

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., 88th Congress, Cold War (1962–1979), English vernacular prayer, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, U.S. Senate, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 25 March 1963. . . .

Content:

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Gershon B. Chertoff, of the Temple B’nai Israel, of Elizabeth, New Jersey
Sponsor: n/a
Date of Prayer: 25 March 1963

---

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Sovereign of the universe, whose law is perfect: Do Thou instruct out of Thy law the Members of the Senate of these United States, that they might exercise just and rightful authority.
	Confer upon them the wisdom and understanding to convert righteousness into law, and justice into statute.
	Remove from them a sense of guilt in the employment of power, by alerting them to the ethic of power.
	Uphold them in their conviction that the complexities of international relations admit of no easy solutions: so that they shall pursue peace, not despair, and seek security with quiet confidence.
	The days proclaimed by Daniel are at hand: “There shall be a time of trouble such as never has been since there was a nation.” (Daniel 12:1 part) Do Thou, O God, confirm Daniel’s hope and trust in Thee that: “Every one of your people shall be delivered.” (Daniel 12:1 part)
	May God bless you with every good, and keep you from all evil.
	May He enlighten your heart with lifegiving prudence, and favor you with enduring insights.
	May He befriend and prosper you with peace, now and forever.
	Amen.

---

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the third month of the first session of the 88th US Congress in the Senate, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 109, part 4 (1963), page 4775.

Source(s)

Congressional Record, vol. 109, part 4 (25 March 1963), p. 4775

 

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: Gershon B. Chertoff
  Bio: Rabbi Gershon Baruch Chertoff (1915-1996) was a Conservative movement rabbi in the United States. He was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary and received a doctoral degree in philosophy and anthropology from Columbia University. During World War II, he served as an Army chaplain. In 1946, he came to Temple B’nai Israel (Elizabeth, New Jersey). After urban rioting erupted across the United States in the late 1960s, Rabbi Chertoff was named by President Lyndon Johnson to chair an advisory panel studying housing discrimination in New Jersey. Coming in the aftermath of the 1967 Newark riots, hearings by the New Jersey Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission received widespread attention and Chertoff continued in the position for many years. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was named by the state Supreme Court as a non-attorney member of the Disciplinary Review Board, which hears appeals to attorney disciplinary actions.
  Website:
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/gershon-chertoff
• 
  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