WATCH: Mike Pence Recites Shehecheyanu Prayer In Knesset Speech
Vice President Mike Pence speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel. Image by Getty Images
By Aiden Pink January 22, 2018
Vice President Mike Pence recited the Shehecheyanu, a Jewish prayer thanking God on a special occasion, in his speech to the Knesset in Israel on Monday.
פנס דיבר בעברית בנאומו: “שהחיינו וקיימנו והגיענו לזמן הזה” pic.twitter.com/JHeJERPUey
— חדשות 2 (@Channel2News) January 22, 2018
Pence’s speech noted that Israel will mark the 70th anniversary of its independence later this year. “As you prepare to commemorate this historic milestone, I say, along with the good people of Israel, here and around the world: Shehecheyanu, v’kiyimanu, v’higiyanu la’z’man ha’zeh,” he said.
Pence’s use of the prayer earned him a standing ovation.
Pence also pledged in his speech that the United States would move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by the end of 2019 — an earlier timeframe than was anticipated.
Although the beginning of Pence’s speech was marred by protests and walkouts from Arab-Israeli members of Knesset who were eventually removed by security, the rest of the address was largely positively received.
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
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. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
