May the Lord Bless the Royal Baby

Image by getty images
When the rabbi is asked, in “Fiddler on the Roof,” whether there’s a prayer for the Czar, he says, “May God bless and keep the Czar… far away from us.”
But this week British and American Jewish communities have clasped one royal family close to its virtual bosom. Websites, facebook pages, twitter feeds have been overloaded with mazeltovs and Jewish angles to the birth of the new Prince of Cambridge.
And it’s true that, as a dynasty, the Windsors have not championed anti-Semitism like the Romanovs did. However, those American Jews who feel impelled to wish the British Duke and Duchess of Cambridge mazeltov on the birth of their baby might pause for thought.
In Samuel I, when the elders of Israel call upon Samuel for “a king to judge us,” God gets angry for it shows that “they have rejected Me, that I should not be king over them.” And, although God relents and Saul becomes king, the long history of Jewish civilization only unfolds with the end of the monarchy.
With rabbinic Judaism as a model for distributing authority and communal autonomy as a pragmatic heritage, we have built a unique civilization. Not for us the model of a Pope or King as the head of state telling us what to believe and how to act. Though we have been oppressed by secular and religious powers, we have forged our way community by community, teaching first every boy and, increasingly, every child to know that they have as much right to lead the community, in their own time, as any other.
And as Americans our particularity begins with the overthrow of the British monarchy — discarding decisively the yoke of established religion. For the first time in a successful secular state, legitimacy came from citizens not through inheritance or by Divine Right. The right to appoint our leaders comes from having a government of the people, by the people, for the people.
So, while the mass Jewish adoration of the prince is hardly an expression of a desire to bow a knee, it is nevertheless an acknowledgement that the monarchy is a legitimate reason to spend time looking at a stranger’s baby while our history suggests quite the opposite.
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.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.