Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. Senate: Rabbi Jay Kaufman on 17 April 1967

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Date: 2024-04-14

Last Updated: 2024-06-01

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

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., 90th Congress, English vernacular prayer, Joint warfare in South Vietnam, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, U.S. Senate, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. Senate on 17 April 1967. . . .

Content:

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Jay Kaufman, executive vice president, B’nai B’rith, Washington, D.C.
Sponsor: n/a
Date of Prayer: 17 April 1967

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Oh Lord, God of men, God of the strong and of the weak, from this august Chamber guerdoned with our Nation’s power wherein labor the architects of fate, rearing the walls of our day’s destiny, we pray for deeds to match our dire dilemmas.
	We pray for enactments to stay the unraveling of our Nation’s unity, for statutes and ordinances designed to raise the lowly, the scorned seething to break the man-forged manacles binding them to despair, to lowly recompense, crumbling dwellings, deficient preparation to self-sufficient maturity, yet forced to live in their penury, face to face with fellow citizens granted in abundance all the fruits of the bounties of our most prosperous of lands.
	From the hearts of all gathered here there rises unto Thee, oh Lord, the earnest beseechment for peace, the prayer for the wisdom to find our way out of the toils of war; a peace brought not by the coward’s flight but through the brave man’s concord.
	Our Heavenly Father, may the means be found to stay the carnage where brave men slay their brothers also brave, where the enemy we fight to Thee, oh Lord, is also dear.
מַה־נָּאווּ עַל־הֶהָרִים רַגְלֵי מְבַשֵּׂר מַשְׁמִיעַ שָׁלוֹם (ישעיה נב:ז)	Ma navu al he-harim raglei m’vaseir mashmiya shalom, How beautiful upon the hilltops are the feet of the messenger of the good tiding that announce Thy most precious gift of peace.—(Isaiah 52:7).
הֱוֵי מִתַּלְמִידָיו שֶׁל אַהֲרֹן אוֹהֵב שָׁלוֹם… אוֹהֵב אֶת הַבְּרִיּוֹת וּמְקָרְבָן לַתּוֹרָה (משנה אבות א:יב)	Oh God, may these legislators of our land follow the instructions of Hillel the Sage: Hevei mi-talmidov shel Aharon. Ohev shalom, ohev et ha-briyot… u-m’ḳorvan la-Torah. Be of the disciples of Aaron, lovers of peace…^[1] This quotation omits rodef shalom (“pursue peace”). lovers of all men^[2] ha-briyot literally translates to “all creatures.” and may be ye ever nigh unto God’s law—(Cf. Mishnah Avot 1:12).
אָמֵן	Amen.

This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the fourth month of the first session of the 90th US Congress in the Senate, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 113, part 8 (17 April 1967), page 9786.

Source(s)

Congressional Record, vol. 113, part 8 (17 April 1967), p. 9786

Notes[+]

Notes
1	This quotation omits rodef shalom (“pursue peace”).
2	ha-briyot literally translates to “all creatures.”

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Co-authors:

Name: Aharon N. Varady (editing/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

Name: Jay Kaufman
Bio: Rabbi Jay Kaufman (1918-1971), born in Cleveland, Ohio, was a prominent Reform movement rabbi and community leader in the United States. After graduating from Western Reserve University, in 1946 he was ordained at Hebrew Union College‐Jewish Institute of Religion, where he received the Youngerman Prize for Preaching and the Henry Morgenthau Traveling Fellowship for two years of graduate rabbinic studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Rabbi Kaufman joined the staff of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1948, and became a vice president in 1957. In 1961 he assisted in setting up institutions of liberal Judaism in Israel. In 1965, he began serving as executive vice president of the international Jewish organization, B'nai B'rith. Throughout his career Rabbi Kaufman sought to diminish the partisanship growing out of the diverse, often competing, secular and religious elements and ideologies in Jewish life. His concern, he once said, was for “the overriding unity of purpose and hope by which the Jewish people survives.” He was a strong advocate of greater community support for Jewish education and the advancement of “an authentic Jewish culture, rooted in our people's traditions, for contemporary Jews.” He served on the boards of the Synagogue Council of America, the National Jewish Welfare Board and the National Zionist Organization of America. He was also a member of the governing body of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, a founding member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and chairman of the Jewish education committee of the World Conference of Jewish Organizations.
Website:
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/jay-kaufman

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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