September 18, 2023
George Washington’s Jewish Letters and the Creation of a Constitutional Republic
By Rabbi Meir SoloveichikRabbi Soloveichik gives a special Constitution Day address at Stanford University about the first president’s correspondence with the Jewish community.
As president of the Constitutional Convention, and of the nascent United States, George Washington received several fascinating letters from members of the tiny American Jewish community, which tells us a great deal about how Jews perceived of the Constitution. Watch Rabbi Meir Soloveichik explain why the astounding way in which Washington responded allows us to better understand the essence of the American idea, and what we commemorate on Constitution Day in our age. (Speech begins at 8:15).