Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi William Spigelman on 23 May 1967

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=55853

Date: 2024-05-12

Last Updated: 2025-04-25

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

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., 90th Congress, English vernacular prayer, Prayers of Guest Chaplains, Six Day War, U.S. House of Representatives, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 27 May 1967 on the eve of the Six Day between the State of Israel and its neighbors. . . .

Content:

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi William Spigelman, Congregation Shaarei Tefila, Los Angeles, California
Sponsor: n/a
Date of Prayer: 23 May 1967

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Help us O Lord; the waters have reached unto our very souls (Psalms 69:1).
	Almighty God, in this world when sacred freedom and weary embers of despair challenge the dignity of man, we invoke Thy blessing for the power of freedom, which alone makes the growth of civilization possible.
	As the flesh of humanity is now being scarred by the corrosive acids of brutality, we beseech Thee to eradicate false pride that would impede the passionate quest for a just peace, which is the poetry of life.
	Inspire our leadership to pierce the barriers of callousness, which is submerged beneath the waves of suspicion and inundated by the tides of abject fear. No country has bequeathed profounder love for all mankind.
	Let us, therefore, never succumb to the “shocks that man is heir to”[1] Adapted from Hamlet (act 3, scene 1) by William Shakespeare: “To die, to sleep— No more—and by a sleep to say we end The heartache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to— ’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep— To sleep, perchance to dream.”  nor acquiesce to the regimen of cruelty which divides and destroys.
	Let us continue to search for man’s inherent goodness and kindness that make all mortals kin. Amen.

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This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the fifth month of the first session of the 90th US Congress in the House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 113, part 10 (23 May 1967), page 13568.

Source(s)

Congressional Record, vol. 113, part 10 (23 May 1967), p. 13568

 

Notes

Notes

1	Adapted from Hamlet (act 3, scene 1) by William Shakespeare: “To die, to sleep— No more—and by a sleep to say we end The heartache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to— ’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep— To sleep, perchance to dream.”

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: William Spigelman
  Bio: Rabbi William (Zeév) Spigelman (1917-1994) was an Orthodox rabbi in the United States. After graduating from Yeshiva College, he became rabbi of the Woodside Jewish Center in Queens, New York in 1939, Later he served Congregation Shaarei Tefila in Los Angeles, California. In 1961, he was elected president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California.
  Website:
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/william-spigelman
• 
  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

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