We don't really know why the author of creation gave us the power of speech, but from the

beginning of human history it is the power of speech that has separated us from all the other

creatures living under the sun. The capacity for speech expresses something that is

distinctly human. Speech allows us to communicate the inner workings of the mind and soul

and make other people understand our sentiments and ideas, but speech does even more than this.

The very mental labor of reasoning occurs in and through the concepts that we learn from speech.

It is inseparable from the intellectual and rational faculties that, some very prominent

Jewish philosophers argue, make us well and truly made in the image and likeness of God.

So it is no wonder that, at key inflection points in the drama of our lives, we look

to speech, to explain us to ourselves. Speeches can challenge us and elevate our experience.

We seek out speeches at occasions of great moment, like weddings and funerals, at important

holiday gatherings when we are primed to think higher thoughts.

There's a very widespread custom in the United States for speeches to be offered at educational

landmarks, as, for example, when students graduate from college. Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm

your host, Jonathan Silver. This week, I'm bringing you something very different,

not a conversation, but a speech. It's a speech that was offered up to Jewish high school and

college graduates across the United States by my colleague Tikva's CEO, Eric Cohen. Well,

here's some background. Several years ago, in the fall of 2021, four remarkable leaders

in the American Jewish community, Carolyn Rowan, Liz Lang, Nina Davidson, and Rebecca Sugar,

came together to create a center of gravity for parents grappling with the challenges of

raising proud and committed Jewish children, from elementary school to high school to college,

particularly in

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