This week America celebrates 249 years of independence. So as the countdown begins to our 250th birthday, our semi-quincennial,

it's natural to ask what citizenship means to us, as Americans, and as American

Jews. How do we fulfill our obligations, not just to preserve what we've inherited, but to renew it

for future generations? These are not just political questions, they are moral ones, rooted in how we

understand our responsibilities to one

another and to the institutions that shape our common life. Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your host

Jonathan Silver. This week, I thought I'd do something a little different. Rather than host a

conversation, I'm bringing you a speech by one of the great teachers of American civics,

Yuval Levin of the American Enterprise Institute, and the editor of National Affairs.

Speaking at the 2024 Jewish Leadership Conference, Levin offered a meditation on what we can

learn from the biblical figure of Nehemiah, drawing from the account of rebuilding Jerusalem's

walls to understand how we must approach the renewal of American culture today.

His central insight is striking.

Just as Nehemiah's workers rebuilds the walls of Jerusalem with, quote, a trowel in one

hand and a sword in the other, we too must simultaneously rebuild and defend

our institutions. This is a speech that aims to bridge ancient biblical wisdom to the challenges

of American society, showing how the Hebrew Bible speaks directly to our moment of cultural

dissolution and the opportunity for renewal.

If you enjoy this conversation, you can subscribe to the Tikva podcast on Apple Podcasts,

Google Play, Spotify. I hope you'll leave us a five-star review to help us grow this community of ideas. I welcome your feedback on this or any of our other podcast episodes at

podcast at Tikva.org. And of course, if you want to learn more

about our work at Tikva, you can visit our website, tikva.org, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

...