‘The Haggada’s Politics’ – A Conversation between Rabbi Sacks and Sen. Joseph Lieberman

On Sunday, March 22, 2015, Yeshiva University presented a conversation with former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and former Senator Joseph Lieberman on “The Haggada’s Politics: From 2,000 Years Ago to Today.”

The conversation, hosted by Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future and the Abraham Arbesfeld Kollel Yom Rishon and Mille Arbesfeld Midreshet Yom Rishon, was held at YU’s Wilf Campus, New York City. Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, director of YU’s Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, moderated the discussion.

Rabbi Sacks is a global religious leader, philosopher, author and educator. He is currently the Kressel and Ephrat Family University Professor of Jewish Thought at Yeshiva University and Ingeborg and Ira Rennert Global Distinguished Professor of Judaic Thought at New York University.

Joseph Lieberman represented Connecticut in the U.S. Senate from 1989 to 2013 after serving in the Connecticut State Senate for 10 years and as attorney general of Connecticut for six years. He was appointed the inaugural Joseph Lieberman Chair in Public Policy and Public Service at YU in July 2014.

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik Quotes Posuk in Invocation at GOP Convention, Refers to “Avinu Av Harachamon”

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: