Rabbi Meir Soloveichik at the Republican National Convention. Photo: screenshot via youtube.

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik delivered the invocation today at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.  The Yeshiva University professor studies and teaches the links between Jewish faith and democracy in the United States.

During his address to the attendees in Tampa, Soloveichik spoke about the “endowed” rights of American citizens.

“We Americans unite faith and freedom, in asserting that our liberties are your gift G-d, not that of government, and that we are endowed with these rights, by you our creator, not by mortal man,” Soloveichik said.

Soloveichik is a rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshrun on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and is the director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University.

The rabbi used the famous biblical verse, “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof,” to begin his speech.  According to Soloveichik, this verse “embodies American independence.”

To watch Rabbi Soloveichik’s invocation, click below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bHSMZLuyOg&feature=player_embedded