Rabbi Jacob Luski
Congregation B'nai Israel
St. Petersburg, FL
Sponsor: Rep. Bill Young, (R-FL)
Date of Prayer: 10/28/2009
One Minute Speech Given in Recognition of the Guest Chaplain:
Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Speaker, our guest chaplain today is Rabbi Jacob Luski of Congregation B'Nai Israel in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Rabbi Luski is a longtime friend and constituent and one of our community's most respected religious leaders. He has served his congregation faithfully for 32 years and is an important leader in a number of community organizations, including serving as a Jewish chaplain ministering to our veterans for the last 20 years at the Veterans Medical Center at Bay Pines.
Madam Speaker, Rabbi Luski is a 1971 graduate of Georgia Tech with a bachelor of science degree in industrial management. He went on to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City and was ordained there in 1977, and he earned his doctorate of divinity degree there in 2003.
Something very interesting about Rabbi Luski : He was born in Havana, Cuba, on November 2, 1949, which makes him, in just a couple of days, 60 years old. But he left Cuba 50 years ago at the age of 10 and came to the United States with his family. Rabbi Luski has with him this morning his mother, his father, and his sister.
Madam Speaker, it is an honor for me to welcome Rabbi Luski to the House this morning, along with his wife, Joanne, and one of his four children, Rachel.
Thank you for your inspiring life story, Rabbi, and for your devotion to your synagogue and to the people of our community and for your friendship of many, many years.
Opening Prayer Given by the Guest Chaplain:
Loving God, we are grateful to You for this moment of meditation, which can help us to catch our breath in the midst of our busy, crowded, and often self–centered day.
Lift us, lest we be too gloomy to hope, too proud to change, or too timid to venture.
Help us to be guides into unborn tomorrows rather than merchants dealing with yesterdays; to be creative cooperators in the world as it should be, rather than clever competitors in the world as it is.
Help us to appreciate one another and to respect the many and varied ways that we serve You.
Bless all the members of this House of Representatives. Grant them wisdom so they may govern our great nation with justice and compassion.
Guardian of life and liberty, may our nation always merit your protection. May the spirit of peace and love renew our country, our communities and our world.
Amen.
To learn more about Members who have sponsored a Guest Chaplain, please visit the Congressional Biographical Directory