April 17, 2015, New York, NY–Yeshiva University will present “Jews for George: An Exploration of
Judaism in the Age of the American Revolution,” a four-week Community Beit Midrash program
beginning Wednesday, April 29, at Congregation Shearith Israel, The Spanish Portuguese Synagogue.
Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik, director of YU’s Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western
Thought and rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel, will teach the course using original source
documents from the archives of Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in America, established
in 1654.
The course, sponsored by the Straus Center, Center for the Jewish Future (CJF) and Congregation
Shearith Israel, will meet on consecutive Wednesdays, April 29, May 6, 13, and 20, from 11 a.m. to
12:30 p.m. Rabbi Menachem Genack, Rosh Yeshiva at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary,
will join Rabbi Soloveichik for the May 20 session on President Abraham Lincoln.
“The Community Beit Midrash Program allows the broader Jewish community to benefit from the
extraordinary depth and talent of the Yeshiva University faculty,” said Rabbi Yaakov Glasser, David
Mitzner Dean of the CJF. “Rabbi Soloveichik is renowned for his scholarship and insight in making the
values and traditions of our community come alive through engaging and creative lectures and shiurim.
As the United States begins to initiate the momentum towards a presidential election, this exploration of
the convergence of American and Jewish history will resonate with both relevance and meaning.”
