In the News

Rabbi's D.C. Sermon Nonpartisan

1/18/2020
Arkansas Democrat Gazette

WASHINGTON -- As a guest chaplain on Capitol Hill, Rabbi Barry Block's prayers are scrupulously nonpartisan, but they don't steer clear of current events.
The spiritual leader at Congregation B'nai Israel in Little Rock highlights age-old moral precepts while giving a nod to breaking-news headlines.

In the past three years, Block has offered invocations on both sides of the Capitol.

The rabbi delivered the opening prayer before the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month, one week after a deadly U.S. missile attack on an Iranian major general. Tehran had responded by unleashing its own weapons of war, missiles that struck, to little effect, in Iraq.

Block's appeal, written in Arkansas as anger escalated, sought divine guidance in the midst of conflict.

"As the winds of war threaten all humanity," he prayed, "inspire the members of the people's House to work toward peace, for the ability to wage peace is a greater measure of a nation's strength than the capacity to wage war."

On Jan. 31, 2017, Block performed similar duties for the U.S. Senate.

That prayer was offered four days after President Donald Trump's executive order restricting the flow of refugees into the United States. It also sought to temporarily bar entry to visitors from seven predominantly Muslim nations.

"For every man, woman and child within our borders, for those who would peacefully seek refuge on our shores and for each of your children on Earth, make them ever mindful of your command to remember the heart of the stranger, the people most unlike them and the least powerful of voices. For we were all strangers in one Egypt or another," Block prayed.

The last line echoed the words of Deuteronomy 10:19; "Love ye therefore the stranger; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."

Both prayers described God as the source of blessing. Both sought divine favor for the nation and amity among its leaders.

"At this time of grave division, inspire these members of the people's House to reach across every kind of aisle, to build new friendships that may grow into opportunities for greater understanding, seeking shared solutions to America's greatest problems," he asked during his Jan. 10 prayer.

The prayer, three years earlier, included a similar appeal.

"In this age of division, unite these Senators, for only when working together across party lines do they truly represent all Americans," he prayed then.

"Temper the majority's resolve with humility. Let the minority manifest an opposition that is as loyal as it is robust. Let all come together to ask your choicest blessings on the United States of America."

In an interview, Block said his both of the Washington prayers were crafted during times of crisis.

His aim, each time, was to deliver "a prayer, not a partisan statement, not a statement about policy or anything of that nature, but still praying for healing a division in our country and praying for peace," he said. "It was extremely important now, as it was in 2017."

The House was largely empty when Block addressed it. But young people from his synagogue's confirmation class were on hand, witnessing the moment from the House gallery. U.S. Sen. John Boozman, a Republican from Rogers, also stopped by.

In addition, U.S. Rep. French Hill, a Republican from Little Rock, was there to greet him.

"Rabbi Block is a good friend and I had suggested months ago that, if he was interested, I would love to invite him to be a guest chaplain," Hill said in an interview afterward.

He was the House's first guest chaplain of 2020, Hill said.

B'nai Israel, which was organized in 1866, describes itself as the home for Reform Judaism in Central Arkansas. Block has been in the pulpit there since July 1, 2013.