The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) hosted the 2026 Neal B. Freeman Lecture for TFAS students on Tuesday, June 23. TFAS welcomed Rabbi Meir Soloveichik as this year’s speaker to deliver a lecture titled, “American Covenant: Trumbull’s ‘Declaration of Independence’ and the Exceptional Story of America.”

In addition to being the rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States, Rabbi Soloveichik is the director of the Straus Center for the Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University, a senior fellow at the Tikvah Fund and a member of the president’s Religious Liberty Commission established in 2025.

Rabbi Soloveichik delivered his expert lecture on America’s Founding in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of American independence. He used artist John Trumbull’s painting titled “Declaration of Independence,” which depicts the Founding Fathers signing the Declaration, to illustrate the significance of the American Founding.

“The painting, therefore, rightly understood, embodies our country,” Soloveichik said. “It’s America as an ongoing work in progress, centered around the Declaration.”

Trumbull’s painting is especially significant in that it honors not only the people that pledged independence from Great Britain, but also the ideas that established the democratic foundation for the United States. It commemorates the covenantal basis of America’s Declaration, in which the Founders made commitments to each other under divine providence in dedication to the principles of liberty and equality.

“That painting sits at the heart of American democracy,” Soloveichik said. “Because the painting is America, the American idea; one which allows us to understand the covenantal nature of what occurred and the obligation that we have as Americans in the years to come to prove worthy of this gift.”

Motivated by the compelling remarks, students eagerly lined up at the microphones to engage Rabbi Soloveichik on his thoughts and ideas regarding the American Founding.

At the conclusion of the Freeman Lecture, students left with a deeper appreciation for the Declaration’s influence on the world and an enhanced understanding of the magnitude of America 250.

The Freeman Lecture Series is made possible by a generous contribution of its namesake, Neal B. Freeman, who is a businessman, political writer and Trustee Emeritus of TFAS.

Since 2015, Freeman Lectures have highlighted great orators to impart TFAS students with a deeper understanding of the role that virtue plays in free society. Past speakers include Daniel Hannan, Lord of Kingsclere, TFAS Trustee Emeritus Mitch Daniels and David Bahnsen of The Bahnsen Group.

Watch the full lecture below:

To learn more about the incredible array of TFAS’s Teaching Freedom 250 programming, visit TeachingFreedom250.org.