Join us for a pre-Sukkot lunch and study session with Rabbi Meir Soloveichik on the meaning of the holiday and the faith it takes to follow God into the wilderness.
As a window into that theme, Rabbi Soloveichik will share a little-known chapter of American history: on July 4, 1776, right after approving the Declaration of Independence, the Second Continental Congress formed a committee to design a seal for the newborn nation, and two of its members — Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson — proposed designs inspired by the stories and symbols of the Hebrew Bible, including the Exodus. Rabbi Soloveichik will unpack these forgotten seals and what they reveal about Sukkot itself.
Lunch will be served.
As a window into that theme, Rabbi Soloveichik will share a little-known chapter of American history: on July 4, 1776, right after approving the Declaration of Independence, the Second Continental Congress formed a committee to design a seal for the newborn nation, and two of its members — Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson — proposed designs inspired by the stories and symbols of the Hebrew Bible, including the Exodus. Rabbi Soloveichik will unpack these forgotten seals and what they reveal about Sukkot itself.
Lunch will be served.
Pre-Sukkot Lunch: Sukkot and the Symbol of the United States with Rabbi Meir Soloveichik
Wednesday | September 23, 2026
12:30–1:30 PM
The Dupree Conference and Education Center
12:30–1:30 PM
The Dupree Conference and Education Center
Rabbi Meir Y. Soloveichik is a senior fellow and contributor at Tikvah, director of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University, and senior rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. He is also the host of the popular Bible 365, Jerusalem 365, and Ten-Minute Mitzvah daily podcasts. He has lectured throughout the United States, Europe, and Israel to both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences on topics relating to Jewish theology, Zionism and the miracle of modern Israel, the Hebraic roots of America, Jewish and American history, bioethics, wartime ethics, and Jewish-Christian relations. Rabbi Soloveichik's essays on these subjects have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Commentary, Mosaic, First Things, Azure, Tradition, and the Torah U-Madda Journal. His book Providence and Power: Ten Portraits in Jewish Statesmanship was published by Encounter in 2023, and Sacred Time was published in 2024 by Koren's Maggid Press. He is the son of Rabbi Eliyahu Soloveichik, grandson of the late Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik, and the great-nephew of the late Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.
