Irvine rabbi gives invocation at President's town hall

[question everything]

Arnold Rachlis, who heads University Synagogue, received invitation late Tuesday
By ERIKA CHAVEZ
The Orange County Register
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Rabbi Arnold Rachlis, a former White House Fellow under President Ronald Reagan who served as a senior foreign affairs adviser in the State Department, delivered the invocation at President Barack Obama's town hall meeting in Costa Mesa today. The invocation, a prayer of welcome, was hastily written as Rachlis' appearance wasn't confirmed until late Tuesday. The invitation originated from the Democratic Party of Orange County, said Elaine Larkins, secretary to the rabbi.

"The name 'Barack' means blessed and our President is truly a blessing for our country and the world," Rachlis said in his invocation. "Our President is grateful for the blessings of love, education, and opportunity that he has received and he knows that the truest gratitude that he or we can show is to pay our blessings forward to empower and ennoble the lives of others."

The role of government was a recurring theme in Rachlis' prayer.

"We, who are gathered here today…know that government alone can't cure all of the ills of the world, and yet here we are today to declare that government has a crucial role, an indispensable role, a holy responsibility," Rachlis said. "We need our government to support us, and we need to support our President through challenges unimagined even a year ago." Rachlis was appointed a regional panelist for the President's Commission on White House Fellowships in both Democratic and Republican administrations.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/president-rachlis-government-2339481-today-role

And the text of the invocation

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs016/1102000675226/archive/1102513935620.html

[donheld]

1. What's with all the prayer?

:grr:

[question everything]

2. Good question. I dislike invocation and benediction

and any other religious "tion" in public gatherings. But, as we've noted during the primaries, Obama has to still "prove" that he is not Muslim.

I don't remember: where there other clergy during the inauguration? I think that other Presidents, like Truman, had.

And if the White House is going to outreach for other clergy, will they dare inviting a Muslim one?