On Monday, July 21, 2025, Zahava and Moshael J. Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought staff and faculty participated as panelists at the Conference on the Future of American Jewry, a collaboration between the Rabbi Sacks Legacy and Reut USA.
In anticipation of the United States鈥 250th anniversary in July 2026, the conference discussed the condition and direction of American Jewry for the coming decade by bringing together executives, academics and educators from across the globe. Invoking the writings of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on the uniquely covenantal character of the US, the conference provided an avenue for Jewish leaders to reflect on the American Jewish community鈥檚 current condition and direction in a time of tumultuous change.
Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern, Straus Center deputy director and senior advisor to the provost, spoke on the conference鈥檚 opening panel. Titled 鈥淕reat Diasporas in Jewish History: What Can American Jewry Learn?,鈥 the discussion focused on the ongoing tension and movement between sovereignty and diaspora as a central theme of Jewish history. Drawing lessons from the 鈥済reat diasporas鈥 of Egypt, Persia, Spain, Germany and Poland, the panelists considered their relevance for American Jewry today, using insights from the Book of Devarim alongside modern sources.
Rabbi Halpern spoke about the unique role the Hebraic strand in the American story compared to its usage in certain European countries, including the Dutch comparing themselves to Esther in their fight with Catholic Spain, which they viewed as the forces of Haman. Rabbi Halpern also cited Meirav Jones鈥檚 recently released England鈥檚 Israel and the Foundations of Modern Political Thought, which details how Great Britain also looked to the Hebrew Bible for guidance when it was debating the removal of its monarch, Charles I, a debate that ironically took place during a time when no Jews lived in the country, having been exiled 300 years earlier.
America, however, Rabbi Halpern argued, is historically unique in that the Hebraic strand has guided the American project from its Pilgrim and Puritan roots to contemporary presidential addresses, existing in the founding imagery, symbolism and mythology of the country. The American diaspora鈥檚 uniqueness, therefore, is that it exists in a country whose biblical roots provide a foundation for Jewish flourishing, something their European brethren, as history shows, did not have.
In the Q&A, Rabbi Halpern shared the tale of the American Jewish diplomat and lay leader Mordecai Manuel Noah and his attempt to build a state for the Jews in upstate New York in 1825. Noah鈥檚 failed efforts demonstrate the ever-present question of whether America is a replacement for the land of Israel or a stop along the road back to Jerusalem, a similar situation the Jews of Shushan found themselves in as they built their thriving community in the heart of ancient Persia.
Other panelists during the opening session included Rabbi Simon Taylor, national director of communal engagement at the Orthodox Union and Rabbanit Karen Miller-Jackson, an educator at the Matan Institute. The panel was moderated by Ms. Tikvah Wiener, CEO of Kadima Coaching, and featured Rabbi Chaim Strauchler, senior rabbi at Rinat Yisrael, and Ms. Irina Rakhlis, executive director of the Millstone Scholars at the Tikvah Fund, as respondents.
Later in the day, Straus Center Clinical Assistant Professor Rabbi Dr. Dov Lerner moderated 鈥淢orality: Jews and American Values,鈥 which spoke about the Jewish idea of 鈥渃ovenant鈥 through Rabbi Sacks鈥 holiday essays. The panel included Rabbi Daniel Sherman, rabbi at West Side Institutional Synagogue; Rabbi Binyamin Krauss, SAR Academy principal; Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, a member of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition; and Michelle Greenberg-Kobri, clinical professor of law at Cardozo School of Law. Respondents included Sarah Robinson, rabbanit and professor at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work; and Sarah Hurwitz, author and former speech writer for President Barack Obama, Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator John Kerry.
As the moderator of the panel, Rabbi Dr. Lerner framed the conversation with Rabbi Sacks鈥檚 argument that Judaism is a proselytizing faith鈥攏ot in the sense that it seeks converts, but in the sense that it is deeply invested in sharing its received wisdom and moral truths with every human being on Earth.
As Rabbi Sacks wrote in To Heal a Fractured World, 鈥淲e have a duty, not just to ourselves, our families and friends, but also to the ever-widening concentric circles鈥攃ommunity, society, humanity鈥攐f which are a part.鈥
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