[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 204 (Tuesday, December 12, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S5901]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 PRAYER

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Our guest Chaplain, Rabbi Peter S. Berg, of 
The Temple, Atlanta, GA, will offer the opening prayer.
  The guest Chaplain offered the following prayer:
  Eternal God, may Your Name be invoked only to inspire and to unify 
our country but never to divide it.
  We ask Your blessings upon our U.S. Senators and all who serve this 
body, that today and every day, they lead wisely and with civility, 
working together for our common good.
  Tonight, Jews all around the world will light the sixth candle of 
Hanukkah. We will do so in a world that is teeming with xenophobia and 
hatred. Let us never forget that this is a time of year where we all 
bring light and hope to despair and to darkness.
  Be with us now, God. Make us strong to do Your will. Help us to 
understand and proclaim the truth that not by might and not by power, 
but by our spirit alone can all of us prevail. Let injustice and 
oppression cease, hatred and cruelty and wrong pass away.
  Bless, O God, the lights of this season. May they shine their 
radiance in this historic Chamber. They kindle within us the flame of 
faith and of zeal that, like the Maccabees of old, we bravely battle 
for Your cause.
  May our Senators be blessed today to use their God-given light to 
chase away the darkness. Let us resolve to do our share to hasten the 
day by taking a true measure of life, by learning to face life, to 
judge the challenges that are set before us with realism, with courage, 
and with understanding.
  These things we ask in Your Name, O God, until the radiance of peace 
and righteousness for all of God's children shines to the ends of the 
Earth. Amen.

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