[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18786]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  Dr. Gary P. Zola, Executive Director, American Jewish Archives, 
Cincinnati, Ohio, offered the following prayer:
  As we begin legislative deliberations in this great shrine of 
democracy, we call to mind the words of an American original, Sam 
Levensen, that Spanish-teacher-turned-entertainer whose homespun 
stories about his immigrant parents delighted our Nation for 
generations. Upon his death, Levensen'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 in 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 are our 
daily portion and possession in this great and blessed Nation.
  Amen.

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