Talmidim of the Philadelphia Yeshiva say the ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ and sing the National Anthem before their graduation ceremony.
Philadelphia Yeshiva is led by Hagaon HaRav Shmuel Kamenetzky Shlita, one of the leading Roshei Yeshiva in America.
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26 Responses
Great video and much hatzlacha to the grads….question: were the rabbonim on the stage singing along with their talmidim during the singing of the national anthem?
Kudos.
It’s so nice that we have gedolia Yisroel who understand that we give thanks to America
May the sar Hatorah Harav Hagon Reb Shmuel Kaminetsky and his Rebbetzin have longevity till 120.
singing the national anthem is not a hiddush; singing the hatikva as well that would be a hiddush. i am sure some am ha’eretz will wonder why this is muttar during sheloshim for RSK.
Beautiful! That’s why Reb Shmuel Kaminetsky is a gadol hador and manhig of Klal Yisroel.
A breath of fresh air. This country has been good to Jews, for the most part. This is considered something special to America and thus it is proper to do. For millenia Jews have said teffilos for the well being of their host country and its leader; be it a monarch, prime minister or president. This newly developed yeshivish generation seems to be indifferent, for no real reason! כל הכבוד
Very nice,and that’s how it should be,don’t know why this would be news.
But of course we will never see chareidi young men singing in Israel their national anthem,and that should really bother us
This ain’t news. They’ve been doing this for over 50 years.
I don’t get what the big deal is here. They’ve been doing this for decades.
Weird! Sorry I’ve been through the Lakewood yeshiva system and this is weird. Of course you can have hakoras hatov. But they don’t do this in other yeshivos. Weird!
These Yidden are Americans. That’s what Americans do.
Gadolhatorah: another chance to say something about a Rabbi.
Enough.
what a chillul hashem
I wish some people would understand what real kavod shamayim is.
(maybe some better use of time is to sit and learn
ayef12, weird is other yeshivot
LITVOCK, who was the Sar Ha’Torah in Lita? We need such appellations as we need an appellation for the measles queen.
YOU ASK WHATS THE CHIDDUSH???? My daughter graduated from Rutgers this year and they did NOT say the pledge of allegiance or the national anthem even though they had a band there to play the graduation theme. To make things even worse the guest speaker was the Lt Gov of NJ. She spewed liberal tripe for a half hour and the graduates just ate it up!! obviously not my daughter who knows better.
Don’t bochurim in Yeshiva of Philadelphia wear hats? I didn’t realize it was a yeshiva for more modern bochurim.
And this is news because????
DrYidd:
Why would they sing hatikvah? This is the United States of America, not Israel.
Do the schools in Israel say the pledge of allegiance and sing the US National Anthem?
Don’t mix apples and oranges.
Truthfully had Philly not been around since the 1960s this probably would not be a part of their graduation ceremony and tradition.
Back then
(1)the concept of pledging allegiance and the singing the national anthem was much more respected and expected in the non-Jewish world. Therefore it behooved a Yeshiva to follow suit
(2)America was much more regarded as a malchus shel chesed. It was not nearly as hostile to Torah values and religion.
(3) The haskafa of we are in golus and have to bend over backward not to antagonize our hosts was much more stressed and widespread
(4)Being that the frum community was smaller and by necessity had much more contact with the non-Jewish world there was a much greater consciousness of their feelings and expectations.
(5) Most people had parents or grandparents and everyone knew people who had suffered terribly in the Holocaust and before in Europe. Therefore there was a much greater sense of gratitude to the US
Today those factors are no longer present. Therefore a Yeshiva with the same basic haskafa as Philly opening up today would not do this at a graduation anymore (assuming they even have one)
I would love my kids to go there! Amazing that there are still such yeshivas left.
Gadolhadorah, the rabanim will sing along the national anthem, when you quit ridiculing and trashing rabanim
To Gadolhadorah And do athletes sing the national anthem when its being sung before a game? They do not. Your comments drip with anti rabonimism. Don’t try to find a negative in something positive.
Kudos and praise to this yeshiva! My daughter’s school (in the mid-west) sings the national anthem and Hatikva at every social event – school dinners, sports games and graduation. I am so proud to be an American and a Jew. We may be Jews first but we owe this country a debt of gratitude for living here peacefully in the US.
To GitM and AhYid. Read my post…it was a positive message with no disparaging comments (other than what you imagined.) And, yes some athletes do sing and some don’t. At frum events I’ve attended, many Rabbonim do sing and some don’t . Here it was hard to tell and my post simply asked whether their tradition at this Yeshiva is to sing along. I found it very positive at the ruach shown in the video and the respect shown for our national anthem (Much more so than at several public school graduations I attended this year where some of the grads kept chattering during the singing. If you read, there was no negative wording or intent but of course, your free to find something to kvetch about. Some complained about not hearing the Hatikvah and others responded it may not be ordinarily sung. I find the Hatikvah sung more at MO and non-Frum Jewish events than at Yeshivsh events.
To those who ask what the big deal is. What’s the odds that madrassa a few miles to the east is singing the anthem at all?