At the heart of Jewish identity stands freedom. The people of Israel were born out of the eternal cry: “Let my people go!”
This is our founding story, the DNA of Jewish existence, the yearning for liberty, the duty to break the chains of bondage, and the understanding that freedom is the precondition for a worthy human life. And it is no coincidence that freedom precedes the giving of the Torah: Without freedom, there can be no choice, and without choice, values themselves are stripped of meaning. Freedom is what separates man from beast.
That same value—freedom—stands at the foundation of American identity as well. The Declaration of Independence opens with words about natural rights: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness … .”
Both the people of Israel and America know well that where there is no faith, there is no freedom; where there is no Divine presence, there can be no moral order. As America’s founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, expressed when they embraced the immortal words of the Protestant theologian John Ponet: “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.”
From here flows the profound bond between Israel and the United States. It is not merely an alliance of interests, but a partnership of essence. Israel and the United States are nations of liberty, standing as spiritual twins against the forces of tyranny, darkness and enslavement: in ancient times against the yoke of Pharaoh’s Egypt and the yoke of monarchical despotism, and in our own time against regimes of terror, fundamentalism and oppression.
Charlie Kirk was a man of faith who embodied the value of freedom. He breathed it and radiated it in every word and every deed. He understood that liberty is not an empty slogan but the very foundation of human existence—the precondition for any free and just society.
He naturally embodied the profound and unbreakable bond between Israel and the United States. He knew that freedom is the shared value at the heart of the connection between the ancient nation of liberty and the new nation of liberty.
At the very moment he shot—while seeking to advance those values through dialogue and persuasion—he was wearing a white shirt with a single word inscribed on it: freedom. That word was his testament and his call to action.
Now it is up to us to carry on the struggle and to stand together, Jews and Christians, Americans and Israelis, to ensure that liberty will triumph over the sword of Islamist fanaticism and over neo-Marxist tyranny disguised in a liberal mask.
