Virginia - Rabbi Amends Senate Prayer At Clerk's Request

Norfolk, Virginia - The State Senate and House of Delegates opens each day with a prayer, with religious leaders, whom legislators invite, and who are asked to limit the prayers to 30 seconds and to tailor them to an ecumenical audience that reflects a diversity of religions. They are also asked to submit copies in advance.

But at the Virginia Senate the prayer of Rabbi Panitz was shortened because of remarks deemed politically sensitive.

Rabbi Michael Panitz, of Norfolk, Virginia, dropped a paragraph that referred to the winners of the recent election in Gaza as "the party of blood-stained hands."
Rabbi Panitz said he eliminated the paragraph at the request of Senate Clerk Susan Clarke Schaar. "She said the message was strong enough without it,". Panitz said afterward, He stood by the remarks, which he said were not political. Hamas is a terrorist organization, he said.

Sen. Nick Rerras, R-Norfolk, who invited the rabbi to give the invocation, said, "There was concern the statement was too strong."