Prayer of the Guest Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives: Rabbi Selig S. Auerbach on 20 July 1955

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=56914

Date: 2024-06-17

Last Updated: 2025-04-16

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

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., 84th Congress, Cold War (1953–1962), English vernacular prayer, Geneva Summit (1955), Prayers of Guest Chaplains, U.S. House of Representatives, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: The Opening Prayer given in the U.S. House of Representatives on 20 July 1955. . . .

Content:

Guest Chaplain: Rabbi Selig S. Auerbach, Hebrew Congregation, Superior, Wisconsin
Sponsor: n/a
Date of Prayer: 20 July 1955

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Our Heavenly Father, at the beginning of this session we again turn to Thee for guidance.
	Be Thou, we ask Thee, with the Representatives of our Nation. Guide them in their deliberations. Lead them in Thy way, to perform their sacred task for the true benefit of this great country of ours, and to the betterment of the entire world.
	Give them courage and wisdom to speak the right words which at this crucial hour will give strength and council to our President and his advisers, assembled in Geneva for the purpose of restoring true peace to a stricken world.[1] This was the Geneva Summit (1955), a Cold War-era meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. Held on July 18, 1955, it was a meeting of “The Big Four”: President Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States, Prime Minister Anthony Eden of Britain, Premier Nikolai A. Bulganin of the Soviet Union, and Prime Minister Edgar Faure of France. The first such meeting since the Potsdam Conference ten years earlier, the purpose of the Summit was to bring together world leaders to begin discussions on peace. Although those discussions led down many different roads (arms negotiations, trade barriers, diplomacy, nuclear warfare, etc.), the talks were influenced by the common goal for increased global security.
	Let all those gathered there realize the truth of the words spoken by Thy prophet that two opponents can walk together only if both parties commit themselves to adhere to their agreements in truth, according to Amos 3:3.
	Let the time not be distant when the words of Thy great seer will be fulfilled that the lamb will rest next to the wolf, and none will frighten them (Isaiah 11:6). Then the time will be here when the world can be arranged as the Kingdom of God; the vision shared by Thy prophets and the Founding Fathers of our Republic. To achieve this task we ask for Thy blessing, O God, Ruler of the World, Prince of Peace.[2] The employ of the translation “Prince of Peace” based on שַׂר־שָׁלֽוֹם from Isaiah 9:5 is remarkable in a Jewish prayer, since this usage is widely understood by trinitarian Christians to refer to their messianic deity. Possibly it is here offered as an extraordinary ecumenical gesture. If anyone can help to explain this further, please leave a comment or contact us. –Aharon Varady  Amen.

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This prayer of the guest chaplain was offered in the seventh month of the first session of the 84th US House of Representatives, and published in the Congressional Record, vol. 101 part 9 (20 July 1955), page 11051.

Source(s)

Congressional Record, vol. 101, part 9 (20 July 1955), p. 11051

 

Notes

Notes

1

This was the Geneva Summit (1955), a Cold War-era meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. Held on July 18, 1955, it was a meeting of “The Big Four”: President Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States, Prime Minister Anthony Eden of Britain, Premier Nikolai A. Bulganin of the Soviet Union, and Prime Minister Edgar Faure of France. The first such meeting since the Potsdam Conference ten years earlier, the purpose of the Summit was to bring together world leaders to begin discussions on peace. Although those discussions led down many different roads (arms negotiations, trade barriers, diplomacy, nuclear warfare, etc.), the talks were influenced by the common goal for increased global security.

2

The employ of the translation “Prince of Peace” based on שַׂר־שָׁלֽוֹם from Isaiah 9:5 is remarkable in a Jewish prayer, since this usage is widely understood by trinitarian Christians to refer to their messianic deity. Possibly it is here offered as an extraordinary ecumenical gesture. If anyone can help to explain this further, please leave a comment or contact us. –Aharon Varady

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: Selig Sigmund Auerbach
  Bio: Rabbi Selig Sigmund Auerbach (1906-1997), born in Hamburg, Germany, was an Orthodox rabbi in Germany and Conservative movement rabbi in the United States. He studied at the University at Marburg, and afterward, at the University of Berlin. In 1932, he moved to Wurzburg where he worked as an assistant rabbi and high school teacher. In April 1934 he became District Rabbi of Recklinghausen, Westphalia, located near the border of Holland. Before narrowly escaping Europe, his home was set on fire and his pregnant wife lost her child after jumping from a window. In the United States, he took pulpits in Wisconsin and upstate New York. He was the lone dissenting voice in the Conservative movement's vote to ordain women rabbis.
  Website:
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/selig-auerbach
• 
  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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