Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, president and Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva University, spoke to Arutz Sheva-Israel National News after giving a speech at US President Donald Trump’s inauguration this week.
“It was really such an honor to represent the Jewish people, to be asked to speak at the inauguration and to lead the nation in prayer at the benediction,” said Rabbi Dr. Berman.
Asked what he thought of as he sat down to plan his speech, Rabbi Dr. Berman said, “You know, this is a moment of enormous opportunity for America. We're at a historic point in this country and around the world. I certainly wanted to address that moment.”
“You know, from my experiences and my travels, I can share with you that Americans are searching for meaning. They are looking for purpose. We see this at Yeshiva University with the enormous, overwhelming amount of applications that come to us. We see it all throughout faith-based universities in America,” he added.
“So I knew that I wanted to address that search for meaning. I wanted to address the situation in college campuses and root the country in thinking about its core values, which really stem from the Tanakh. The foundational values of America are all from the Tanakh,” said Rabbi Dr. Berman. “And for us, for America to understand that, to think about that, reflect on that, and what it means to have that shared purpose.”
He continued, “I would also say that it was clear to me from the beginning, I was going to talk about the hostages and talk about Israel. Meaning right from the start, that was my plan. And I had to rework the exact language based on the fact that we had the three young women who returned home a day beforehand. But certainly that was uppermost in my mind, that I wanted to make sure it was uppermost in the minds of America, and that the rest of the world will be seeing that that's what we talk about at the inauguration of the President of the United States. We talk about the hostages and we talk about peace for Israel.”
On the responses he has received to the prayer and statement, Rabbi Dr. Berman said, “Of course, all throughout the Jewish community, I've been receiving a number of sentiments of appreciation and people who've been very moved by my words. But what I want to really focus on are the non-Jews, and this is something very important for Israel to know and Israelis to know and Jews to know throughout the world. There's enormous amount of support for Jews who respect their tradition. There's enormous amount of appreciation for Israel.”
“We hear a lot about the antisemitism, which is real and needs to be combated, about anti-Zionism, which is real and needs to be combated whenever it shows its head. But we don't speak enough about the philo-Semitism and about the support that the Jewish people have and the support that the state of Israel has all throughout America and all throughout the world,” he continued, “and that has been particularly gratifying for me to hear from them, their appreciation and approval of the words that were mentioned in the benediction.”
Rabbi Dr. Berman noted that he had a chance to meet President Trump and that the two spoke twice on stage. He added that he met the members of Trump’s cabinet. “All those two days, we had opportunities at different events to meet with the leadership of the incoming administration, the business leadership, the business icons of the generation, and really the leadership of the United States and the global leadership that were present, representing the Jewish people and representing Yeshiva University…It's really been just heartwarming and truly humbling to see.”
Rabbi Dr. Berman was asked about the fight against antisemitism and whether he thinks that we are really at the beginning of a new era.
“Well, I think it's an opportunity. It's definitely an opportunity, and we should recognize that,” he replied. “With this new administration, with the amount of support that Israel has within this administration, this is time for us to show clearly that there's no gap, there's no daylight between Israel and the United States of America, and the strength that comes from that is enormous.”
“I do think this is an opportunity for Israel. It's an opportunity for America and the world. And we hope to work in a promising way forward that will bring great success to this country, to Israel, and throughout the globe,” continued Rabbi Dr. Berman.
Finally, Rabbi Dr. Berman sought to highlight the soldiers of the IDF who are fighting for the State of Israel and who he said are the real heroes of this moment.
“Our soldiers, they are the heroes, and we're here to support them. And anything we can do to support them in their heroism, that's what we're here for. So I thank you for this time, and I want to mention what I think is really essential for us to think about today.”