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A Prayerful Beginning to the RNC

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik leads the RNC crowd in prayer

by
Adam Chandler
August 28, 2012
People from the Texas delegation bow their heads during the second day of the Republican National Convention on August 28, 2012 in Tampa, Florida. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
People from the Texas delegation bow their heads during the second day of the Republican National Convention on August 28, 2012 in Tampa, Florida. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Following up on our convention correspondent Yair Rosenberg’s excellent dispatch from the Republican National Convention yesterday, a profile of Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, we thought to include video of the invocation led by Rabbi Soloveichik today.

There are some great images: a winking woman, a cavalcade of Texas flag shirts (which every good Texan owns), and a rabbi on a platform spouting ivrit to a largely non-Jewish crowd.

As for the content, there’s some nice and not-so-subtle intermingling of themes of religion and state, a sincere note of tribute to those in the path of Isaac’s storm, and a befuddling–at least to this viewer–blessing of guidance for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.

It’s early in the convention so I won’t fault the audience for not picking up on the applause lines quickly. But that all aside…it looks like we’re off!

Related: GOP Convention’s Rabbi in Chief [Tablet Magazine]

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.