1/10/09

Forward: Brilliant Sermon by Rabbi Genack About Obama and Lincoln

We need to commend our neighbor Rabbi Menachem Genack, rabbinic administrator and CEO of O.U. Kosher, for showing that an Orthodox rabbi can maintain a liberal political worldview and state his case with great eloquence. Genack's account of Lincoln's religion in "Swearing on Lincoln’s Bible" is brief but fair.

His connection of Lincoln to Obama is a fair stretch that others too will make. He concludes with a prayer,
Like Lincoln, Barack Obama takes office in a time of almost unprecedented challenges for America. As Obama places his hand upon Lincoln’s Bible, let him be inspired by the spirit of Lincoln — his decency and his wisdom, his eloquence and his humility. May our next president, following Lincoln’s example, always be true to the high standards that he has set for his administration and the nation. “I desire to conduct the affairs of this administration,” Lincoln said, “that if in the end, when I lay down the reins of power, I have lost every friend on earth, I shall have at least one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside me.”

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a lovely post...inspiring.

vy said...

According to a website created by a YU graduate, hosting interviews with the talmidim of Rav Aharon Kotler, a grandson of the famed Lakewood Rosh Yeshiva was working on a report on A. Lincoln in eighth grade (the highest level of education required) and the Rosh Yeshiva's reaction was denigrating, "just another goy."

Compare and contrast.