Similarities and commonalities that are present and found across multiple religions should be recognized, celebrated and appreciated, said Rabbi Dr. Meir Y. Soloveichik.

Rabbi Soloveichik is the senior rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel, known as the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue of New York, the oldest Jewish congregation in America established in 1654. He is the director of the Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University, as well as the host of podcast “Jerusalem 365.”

One key aspect Rabbi Soloveichik stresses is the importance of understanding the context of the Old Testament. “The wonder of studying the Hebrew Bible is that you are reading the story of a people and that story is continuing today,” he said in a recent interview on the Church News podcast.

Rabbi Soloveichik explained that such scriptures of old make predictions about the future, which have occurred in the present day and are yet to occur still. Their relevance makes it imperative to apply scriptures’ teachings today.

For instance, Rabbi Soloveichik said that the first idea presented in the Old Testament is that there was a God who created the universe. Humans were then created in God’s image, meaning that we are free — yet instructed to “recognize our obligations toward the other.”

Such teachings of the Hebrew Bible are challenged daily, Rabbi Soloveichik said, but this first lesson “is one that really should guide every moment in which we live.”

Building upon this idea of understanding the “obligations” in which individuals have with one another, Rabbi Soloveichik explained that those of faith, whether of the same faith or not, must rely on each other.

“As much of larger culture has grown hostile to a great deal of what people’s traditional faith holds dear, different faith communities have found each other,” he said. For him, this means identifying both the differences and similarities among various religious groups, allowing for this sense of unification.

The underlying factor is truth. Rabbi Soloveichik said this is a foundational element, along with connection to scripture. He said that with troubling changes taking place within society, today, this sense of brotherhood is one that he feels may be celebrated.

Rabbi Soloveichik said that while many may be concerned about religious liberty in this day and age, it is understood that religious liberty within America is embedded within areas outside of just church buildings. It is a driving force which serves as a guide in all aspects of life.

“It’s our faith that drives us to help those beyond ourselves and to sanctify society beyond ourselves,” the rabbi said. “And so when, now, we see threats to religious liberty, what’s essentially being threatened is the very nature of religious identity and faith itself.”

He said he feels that “freedom of worship” is not the same as “religious free exercise,” because “freedom of worship” is restricting religion to be within the home, synagogue, etc, removing faith from the public. “That’s really what’s at stake in our debates about religious liberty today in America,” he added.

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, professor of Judaic studies at Yeshiva University and rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York City, stands to speak at the Brigham Young University Wheatley Institution Truman G. Madsen Lecture on Eternal Man in Provo, Utah, on Oct. 21, 2021. Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, right, is pictured in the audience.

Credit: Gabriel Mayberry

Religion, for Rabbi Soloveichik, is not something that should be practiced just within the home, as this would be asking an individual to leave a part of themselves each time they were to go out. He said that not only is this a case for individual faith, but for sustaining America, as well.

Rabbi Soloveichik referenced Alexis de Tocqueville’s book “Democracy in America” which teaches that when something needs to take place in the country, associations are the ones to accomplish tasks. “And as he described the most important things that happen in America, happened to a faith community,” the rabbi said. “Because it is they who are driven by Biblical values to make things happen in America.”

In order to do so, individual and community covenant living are vital. Rabbi Soloveichik said it must be noted that each person has something to offer, yet at the same time, this is expressed through continental living which is a greater goal outside of oneself.

He added that while recognizing that the heart of all covenants is God, the answer to restoring American vitality is in the Hebrew Bible’s concept of covenants and rediscovering these.

“So, understanding that faith is something we bring with ourselves into the larger world is important both for the objective understanding of how faith is and why religious freedom is important,” the rabbi said.

He continued, “But it’s also essential to the very well-being of America, because it’s an understanding of how religion can actually impact lives. That has always marked the uniqueness of America itself in the West.”