Rabbi Aaron Krupnick
Congregation Beth El
Voorhees, NJ
Sponsor: Rep. Donald Norcross, (D-NJ)
Date of Prayer: 06/06/2018
One Minute Speech Given in Recognition of the Guest Chaplain:
Mr. NORCROSS. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to welcome our guest chaplain, Rabbi Aaron Krupnick of Congregation Beth El in Voorhees, New
Jersey.
The congregation has been part of our South Jersey community since
1920, when it was originally founded in Camden City.
Now it offers a spiritual home for hundreds of Jewish families in South Jersey.
Rabbi Krupnick came to our community in 1994 from Montgomery, Alabama. There, he helped lead interfaith services with leaders like Martin Luther King, III, and Rosa Parks.
As you heard in his prayer, he often discusses patience,
understanding, kindness, compassion.
In a world where religion too often creates so much conflict, Rabbi Krupnick focuses on togetherness. He knows there is more that connects us than divides us.
I have been fortunate enough to attend services and seder at Beth El. I have witnessed firsthand how the community is welcoming, loving, and
supportive of all.
Mr. Speaker, today I am honored to welcome Rabbi Krupnick to the House of Representatives and I thank him for his offering of this
morning's prayer.
His compassion, his teachings, his strong leadership have helped
foster a vibrant Jewish community in our region, and I know it will stay that way for years to come.
Opening Prayer Given by the Guest Chaplain:
Our God and God of our ancestors:
On the long road to freedom from Egypt, You led 12 diverse tribes, instructing each to march under their own banner. They did not always see eye to eye, but they could, nonetheless, walk shoulder to shoulder. In spite of their disagreements, they had sworn an oath to You to be one nation under God.
Dear Lord, help the Members of this Congress to be ever mindful of the fact that the right to disagree is fundamental to our democracy. Foster in them the art of disagreement that the Jewish people have been practicing for millennia. Enable them to grant their adversaries moral respect; to give those of opposing opinions the intellectual benefit of doubt; to have sympathy for their motives and listen with empathy to their lines of reasoning.
Grant all the Members of our House of Representatives insight into this art of disagreement. Endow them with discernment and wisdom, patience and understanding, kindness and compassion. Let them walk humbly before those who they serve and thereby bring us all that much closer to You and to one another. God, bless this great Nation and those who lead it. Amen.
To learn more about Members who have sponsored a Guest Chaplain, please visit the Congressional Biographical Directory