Jews’ Special Obligation to Defend the Story of the American Founding

When the Mayflower arrived in what is now Massachusetts, its passengers knelt on the ground and recited Psalm 107—inspired, it seems, by a British Hebraist’s citation of Moses Maimonides, who instructed that this chapter be recited by those who have safely completed an oversea journey. This episode leads Meir Soloveichik to contemplate Judaism’s role in the American founding: