Marvin Hier Image by Getty Images

By Josh Nathan-Kazis January 20, 2017

Simon Weisenthal Center founder Rabbi Marvin Hier delivered a benediction at President Donald Trump’s inaugural ceremony, just moments after Trump employed a slogan in his address that was made famous by a 1940s-era anti-Semitic organization.

“Bless President Donald J. Trump and America and our great nation,” Hier said. “By the rivers of Babylon we wept as we remembered Zion,” he said, quoting the Psalm.

Moments earlier, Trump had pledged to put “America first.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land,” Trump said. “From this day forward it’s going to be only America first. America first.”

Trump was criticized during the campaign for his use of the “America first” slogan, which recalls the America First Committee, a national group that was sympathetic to the Nazis and led by well-known anti-Semites. The Anti-Defamation League asked Trump to stop using the phrase, but he declined.

Hier’s benediction came moments after Trump’s speech.

Hier is the leader of the California-based Simon Weisenthal Center. In 2013, the Forward reported that Hier was the most overpaid head of a U.S. Jewish nonprofit, based on an independent analysis of tax filings.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected]

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount