The Congressional Globe: Containing the Debates and Proceedings of the First Session of the Thirty-Sixth Congress

(AMERICAN JUDAICA).

John C. Rives

Washington, D.C.

1860

On pp. 648-49 a full account of the prayer offered by the Rabbi M.J. Raphall of New York

Singerman 1684

The First Jewish Prayer Intoned at the Opening of the House of Representatives Morris Jacob Raphall (1798-1868), Rabbi of Cong. B'nai Jeshurun of New York, was the first Jew to deliver a prayer in the U.S. Congress. Raphall closed his remarks with the Hebrew words of the ancient priestly benediction, here as recorded by the Congressional Globe: "Yebarekeka A-donai Veyishmireka…" (p.649). As the historian Bertram Korn noted, this event was noteworthy in that it was "the initial recognition by the House of Representatives of the equal status of Judaism, with Christianity as an American faith."