Lone rabbi speaking at mass DC prayer rally calls antisemitism ‘utterly un-American’

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, a prominent Jewish political conservative, gives an homage to Irving Berlin’s ‘God Bless America,’ drawing applause at largely Christian event

The only non-Christian speaker at the White House’s mass prayer rally on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on Sunday was an Orthodox rabbi who got the crowd applauding his denunciation of antisemitism.

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik leads New York City’s Congregation Shearith Israel, also known as the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, which lays claim to being America’s oldest Jewish congregation.

He has also long been a leading Jewish voice in American political conservatism. He is a senior fellow at Tikvah, the conservative Jewish think tank, and sits on the Religious Liberty Commission that President Donald Trump convened last year. He delivered an invocation at the 2012 Republican convention.

Sunday’s event, called “Rededicate 250,” was a largely Christian mass prayer festival featuring speeches by top Trump administration officials, part of a program of celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary. In a video message inviting Americans to attend, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said it was an opportunity to “rededicate this republic to God and country.”

Speaking to the crowd, Soloveichik, wearing a black hat and suit, described the Jewish history of one of the US’s most iconic patriotic songs.

“God Bless America” was written by Irving Berlin, who as a child witnessed his home village in Russia burned in a pogrom. He composed the song as he served in the US Army during World War I, and wanted to thank the country that gave him refuge, Soloveitchik explained.

He said that decades after writing the lyrics, Berlin resurrected them as fascism spread and the Nazi persecution of Germany’s Jews intensified, premiering the song on the radio the day after the Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938.

“At the very moment when darkness deepened abroad, America raised its voice, united in the song that Irving Berlin wrote,” Soloveichik said. He called the song “a plaintive prayer to God that America continue to be blessed.”

A few moments later, he said, “The prayer that is ‘God Bless America’ was carried by American soldiers who defeated evil, liberating Europe and the world. And it is a reminder, as hatred of Jews makes itself manifest again, that antisemitism is utterly un-American.”

The line drew substantial applause, according to multiple videos of the event.

The rally, along with Trump’s call for Jews to observe “Shabbat 250” the day before, drew mixed reactions from American Jews. Some, particularly in the Orthodox world, said they appreciated any effort to increase Shabbat and religious observance. Others said the events represented an inappropriate merger of church and state, as well as an appropriation of Jewish values in service of Christian nationalism.

Soloveichik did not directly address any of the debates during his four-minute address. But he did say that the staying power of Berlin’s song points to a unique feature of the American character.

“The power and popularity of ‘God Bless America’ reveals to us,” he said, “that America’s passion for prayer and its love of liberty are always intertwined.”

In addition to writing “God Bless America,” Berlin is famous for authoring one of the most enduring Christmas songs in the American canon, “White Christmas.”