Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, director of Yeshiva University’s Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, delivered the invocation at the opening session of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida last night.
“It is extraordinary privilege to deliver an invocation at a cherished ritual of American democracy,” said Rabbi Soloveichik before his speech. “The fact that I have been teaching courses about the connection between Jewish ideas and American democracy makes this moment all the more meaningful for me.”
An associate rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan, Rabbi Soloveichik graduated summa cum laude from Yeshiva College, received his semicha from Yeshiva Rabbeinu Yitzchok Elchonon and was a member of its Beren Kollel Elyon. In 2010, he received his doctorate in religion from Princeton University. Rabbi Soloveichik has lectured throughout the United States, in Europe and in Israel to both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences. His essays on these subjects have appeared in Commentary, First Things, Azure, Tradition and the Torah U-Madda Journal.
“We Americans unite faith and freedom in asserting that our liberties are your gift, G-d, and not that of government, and that we are endowed with these rights by You, our Creator, and not by mortal man,” Rabbi Soloveichik said in his invocation.
Rabbi Soloveichik also mentioned Israel and told the delegates, referring to the Ribono Shel Olam, “You have called us to be a beacon of the world and an ally of free countries like the state of Israel, an island of liberty, democracy and hope.”
Rabbi Soloveichik quoted in Hebrew the posuk that is inscribed on the Liberty Bell and asked Hakadosh Boruch Hu - referring to “Avinu Av Harachamon” - to bless Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan.
Click below to watch a video of Rabbi Soloveichik’s remarks:
