It has been an extraordinary week, especially for those of us in the United States. Just 45 years after the 1964 Civil Rights act, we have a black President. I think that this is part and parcel of what has made the United States such a Medina Shel Chesed, kind host to its Jewish population, especially after the Holocaust. The United States was, after all, built by European refugees fleeing religious persecution. As such, their need to work together and avoid in-fighting between each others led to a Constitution extraordinarily cognizant of the human rights of minorities of whatever variety.
May G-d grant our new President continued recognition of the unique position of and dangers faced by our brethren in the Land of Israel, and a generous outlook towards the needs of Jewish Americans concerned about our safety, our rights under the Constitution, and the education of our children in the ways of their ancestors.
Good Shabbos!
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
Director, Project Genesis – Torah.org
