JERUSALEM - Ambassador David Friedman, who was the U.S. ambassador to Israel from March 2017 to January 2021, is admired and beloved by many Israelis. He was involved in the diplomatic efforts leading to moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and to recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. He was part of the group responsible for the Abraham Accords, leading to agreements between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. The ambassador received the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Meritorious Civilian Service Medal in 2019, the National Security Medal in 2020 from President Donald Trump, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021. He is the founder of the Friedman Center for Peace through Strength and in February, 2022, published his memoir with HarperCollins, Sledgehammer: How Breaking with the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East.

On the evening of April 19, during chol hamoed Pesach, his dedication to the Jewish people and the State of Israel resulted in another honor: He received the prestigious Guardian of Zion Award from the Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies of Bar Ilan University, sponsored by Ira and Ingeborg Rennert; Mrs. Rennert presented the award at the evening’s conclusion.

The crowd was very moved by the musical entertainment provided by Kelim Sheluvim, a group of musicians who are part of a Bar Ilan program that, in conjunction with Akim Israel, prepares students with developmental challenges, including autism, in the musical disciplines.

Before the guests entered the elegant dining hall of the King David Hotel for the presentation ceremony and a sumptuous meal, I asked the Ambassador one question: What will he do after the elections in 2024?

He replied, “If a Republican is elected the next president, I hope to return to my previous job.”

What follows are some excerpts from the Distinguished Rennert Lecture on Jerusalem he delivered on “America’s Biblical Roots.”

Ambassador Friedman said to the several hundred people gathered to honor him, many of them Americans who had made aliya to Israel, “I think you all know how much I love Jerusalem. Not only is it our home but it is… the center of the world and the wellspring of all our values. So this award, for so many reasons, means the world to me…Some 67 years ago, my great uncle, Pinchas Churgin, left his position as the head of the Teacher’s Institute at Yeshiva University to become the first president of Bar Ilan. His daughter Batya, took her PhD in musicology from Harvard and moved to Israel to start Bar-Ilan’s music department. So Bar Ilan lives somewhere within my DNA ….

“One of the most common forms of antisemitism in America is the accusation that Jews have dual loyalty…. In the four years that I was Ambassador to Israel, I was on the receiving end of that terrible canard more than a few times – oddly enough, often by groups of Jewish Americans. It’s shameful and it’s nonsense…Support for Israel is a quintessential American value.  Indeed, the Bible, so much of which is predicated upon God’s covenant to our forefathers… to restore the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, is foundational to the principles upon which America was founded.”

In spite of America’s First Amendment, “which makes it abundantly clear that, unlike most countries, we do not have a national religion…” he said, “every government building and virtually every coin or paper currency in America contains the words ’In God we Trust.’ And in Federal and State courts throughout the land, almost every witness, before testifying, ends his oath with the words “…so help me God.””

And yet, said the ambassador, “It’s not schizophrenia that produces this dichotomy in American life. It’s the brilliance of America’s founders who saw enormous value in the Judeo-Christian principles that they followed, but who also saw the importance of a non-coercive system where these values would be taught, appreciated and hopefully followed, but never imposed… make no mistake that the values of the Bible are deeply infused within our foundational roots. 

“The Bible is God’s gift to humankind – the formula for how to lead a just, fulfilling and meaningful life. By many accounts – certainly mine --   it is the most important written work of all time.”

What’s in second place?

“The United States Declaration of Independence. Why? The Declaration of Independence provided that every human being was created equal and endowed by their creator – remember those words -- with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The notion that essential human rights came from God and not man was a revolutionary concept. It made those rights permanent, undeniable, non-negotiable and immune from the vagaries of politics.

“How did our founding fathers know which rights God considered unalienable?” He said they knew because “They all read the Bible…all of the unalienable rights identified in the Declaration of Independence – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- find their home in the Bible itself.”

He gave the Biblical source for each of those three rights. “Let’s start with life …. Deuteronomy 30:19: ‘… I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses, now choose life so that you and your children may live. 

“How about liberty ……Leviticus 25:10: ‘And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.’” He added, “These words adorn the famous Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, inscribed about 30 years before the Declaration of Independence.

“And happiness … perhaps this one is representative: Deuteronomy Chapter 26:11. ‘And you shall be happy in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and your household – you, the Levite and the stranger who dwells in your midst.’ It’s all there in the Bible, undoubtedly the strongest single influence on the drafters of the Declaration of Independence.”

Referring to the location of the King David, he continued, “About a kilometer from the ancient City of David, we can’t help but see not only the Biblical roots of America but the geographic roots of America as well…Recognized as a prophet in all three great monotheistic faiths, Isaiah proclaims, ‘Out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.’ ‘Ki mezion tetze Torah u’dvar Hashem m’Yerushalayim.’

“To understand this connection between the birth of America and the values that emerged from City of Jerusalem is to understand…why the Pilgrims risked their lives in the 17^th century to reach a new world and establish what many of them referred to as a ‘new Jerusalem.’

“It is to understand why some of the great Universities of the 18^th century put biblical references on their coats of arms: Yale, with the famous Urim V’tumim, referred to as light and truth but constituting the means by which the Israelite High Priest – the Kohen Gadol -- would communicate with God. And Columbia, my Alma Mater, put on its symbol the four-letter name of God. These institutions produced some of America’s founders and early thought leaders – and they all were biblical scholars.

“Understanding America’s biblical heritage also is to understand how 13 American colonies, all hugging the East Coast, somehow expanded thousands of miles in all directions under the doctrine of “Manifest Destiny’ – a doctrine asserting the Divine right and destiny of America to inhabit the land from ocean to ocean. Our American founders took to heart God’s words to Jacob as he slept in Bet El and dreamed of a ladder ascending the heavens: ‘Ufaratzta yama vakedma, v’tzaphona v’negba’ – ‘you shall spring outward west and east, north and south.’” 

He also recalled that the United States opened a consulate in Jerusalem in 1844, 104 years before the State of Israel came into existence, “…at which time the new consul general planted an American flag at the Jaffa Gate, and declared that the United States of America ‘hereby extends its protection to the Jews of Jerusalem.’

“It is also to understand why Mark Twain and Ulysses Grant visited Jerusalem, and President Lincoln told his wife Mary, upon the conclusion of the Civil War, that he’d like to take some time off and travel to Jerusalem. Some say these were Lincoln’s last words.”

He pointed out that many small towns in America have biblical names, “from Bethlehem to Shiloh to Bethel to Hebron to Jericho to Nazareth to Zion to even Jerusalem.” (I even remember taking a family photo in front of a traffic sign in Pennsylvania that said, “South Lebanon.”)

Ambassador Friedman also noted that, in 1995, “The United States Senate, and the United States House of Representatives, by overwhelming majorities, passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act recognizing Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel and mandating the transfer of our embassy to that city,” though only President Trump carried through on the promise.

He informed the crowd that, “Just before leaving office, together with the Chairman of the President’s Commission for the Preservation of American Heritage Abroad, my friend Paul Packer who is here tonight, I officially recognized the City of David in Jerusalem, the place where the Biblical kings ruled and the prophets preached, as an American heritage site.

“America’s physical beginnings may be traced back to Plymouth Rock, Valley Forge, the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, the 4^th of July…But America’s spiritual beginning, its bedrock foundational principles, its understanding of the God-given rights of every human being, that spiritual beginning occurred with, in the words of Isaiah, ‘the word of the Lord emerging from Jerusalem.’

“Do Jews betray a ’dual loyalty’ when they support Israel? Absolutely not, God forbid. Jews who support Israel stand for the very best of our American heritage and our American values. America is at its best when it supports Israel….

“So many of us today look to our capital in Washington DC with such confusion, bewilderment and disappointment. Who are we as Americans, what have we become, what do we stand for? Where we used to feel such pride and confidence we are now left with uncertainty and even emptiness…

“The answer to this existential crisis in America is not to become a Republican and it’s not to become a Democrat. The answer is to return to the Judeo-Christian values upon which America was forged – to restore our foundational commitment to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To renew our relationship with our Creator and the eternal principles for a purposeful and meaningful life given to us in the Holy Torah.”

Ambassador Friedman commended Israel for having made Jerusalem a beautiful city, open to all religions. “Israel has earned the right to be responsible for Jerusalem and it must never relinquish that right. And Israel may never divide Jerusalem – this is the will not only of the Jewish People but of the millions throughout the world, and it is the law of the United States. For so many people around the world, Jerusalem is our north star.”

Referring to geopolitical events of the last few years, he said, “The greatest risk to the US-Israel relationship is that America no longer leads the world, whether because it no longer wishes to lead the world or it no longer possesses the moral authority to do so.” He spoke out against the abandonment of US citizens and partners in Afghanistan, quoting Leviticus 19:16: “Lo ta’amod al dam re’echa” – “Do not endanger your neighbor’s life,” and against the oppression of over one million Muslim Uyghers in China. 

“When the United States lifts economic sanctions on Iran, the greatest state sponsor of terrorism…we lose our moral authority.”

In conclusion, the Ambassador referenced Rashi, “who asks, ‘Why did God begin the Torah with the story of Creation,’ and Rashi answers, ‘the Creation story is essential to support God’s grant of the Land of Israel to the Jewish people.’

“Every prayerbook of every stream of Judaism – Orthodox, Conservative and Reform -- asks God to return the Jewish people to their biblical homeland. But the restoration of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel is not just an integral part of our faith – it is an integral part of the principles and wisdom which informed the founding of the American Republic. It is for this reason that while Israel has many allies – and I hope that it will gain many more – it has only one America.

“No other country was created with a built-in love of Israel and a built-in commitment to Israel. Those views may not be shared by all its citizens, but love of Israel continues to live within the architecture of the American republic. And we have to make it even stronger.

“I challenge all Israelis and all Americans to all become Guardians of Zion. To Stand for Zion, for Jerusalem, as the eternal undivided capital of the Jewish State and as the wellspring of all that we hold sacred and worth preserving. In so doing we will stand for all that makes America and Israel the two greatest nations on earth and the last and best hope for our collective humanity.”

The author is an award-winning journalist, theater director and the editor-in-chief of WholeFamily.com.

Tammy and David Friedman