Rabbi Meir Soloveichik to offer opening invocation at Republican convention

(JTA) — Rabbi Meir Soloveichik is scheduled to deliver the opening invocation at the Republican National Convention.

“It is an extraordinary privilege to deliver an invocation at a cherished ritual of American democracy,” said Soloveichik of the invocation, which he is scheduled to deliver on Tuesday in Tampa, Fla.

Soloveichik is the director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University and associate rabbi at the Kehilath Jeshurun synagogue, both in New York City.

A frequent contributor to several publications, including the politically conservative Commentary magazine, Soloveichik also is a member of a prominent family of American Orthodox rabbis that includes his late uncle, Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik, the former head of Yeshiva University.

In July, the Times of Israel reported that Soloveichik was being courted to replace British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks at the conclusion of the latter’s tenure in September 2013.

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