Video:
United States House of Representatives Opening Prayer by
Rabbi Gary P. Zola, Ph.D.


To mark the beginning of the celebration of the 350th anniversary of Jewish communal life in North America, as well as the beginning of National American Jewish History Month, Dr. Gary Zola, Executive Director of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives and Chair of the Commission to Commemorate 350 Years of American Jewish History, opened the United States House of Representatives with prayer as guest chaplain on September 21, 2004.
 
Transcript:

As we begin legislative deliberations in this great shrine of democracy, we call to mind the words of an American original – Sam Levenson (1912-1980), - the Spanish teacher turned entertainer whose homespun stories about his immigrant parents delighted our nation for a generation.  Upon his death, Levenson’s children discovered their father’s ethical will containing these prayerful sentiments:

To America, I owe a debt for the opportunity it gave me to be free and to be me.

To my parents I owe America.  They gave it to me, and I leave it to you. Take good care of it.

To the Bible, I owe the belief that the human does not live by bread alone, nor do we live alone at all.  This is also the democratic tradition.

Preserve it.

In this year marking the 350th anniversary of Jewish life to this great land, may we all acknowledge our debt to America, to the courageous immigrants who gave us this national inheritance, and to the Source of All for endowing us with the benefit of our patriot’s dream – a nation pledged to uphold the conviction that liberty and justice are for all.

Thankful are we, this day, for the manifold blessings that our daily portion and possession in this great and blessed nation. Amen.