NEW YORK, NY - In case you missed it, House Republican Leadership Chairwoman Elise Stefanik delivered a commencement address to Yeshiva University and was awarded the Presidential Medallion for Global Leadership.
View highlights from Chairwoman Stefanik's speech as prepared:
"Hello, Maccabees!
Thank you very much to Rabbi Berman, whom I had the chance to hear deliver a beautiful and moving benediction at President Trump’s inauguration.
Thank you to the Board of Yeshiva: I am truly honored to receive the Presidential Medallion from an institution I deeply admire.
It is humbling to be associated with those recipients who have led with moral clarity, served this institution with distinction, and have used their gifts to defend our most precious ally Israel.
I’m thrilled to be here with all of you graduates and your families during such a special celebration and time in your lives.
A time that is of course juxtaposed with one of the most challenging times in the world particularly for your generation.
As we all know, the period we’re in right now is not only graduation season. It’s also the Omer.
For anyone who didn’t count yet, today is Day 39.
These 49 days of counting are a somber period of reflection, commemorating the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva who were killed. And over the years, it has come to commemorate Jewish victims of many other massacres and persecutions across the world, including the Holocaust.
There is so much important symbolism in this period, and so many lessons for Americans - and especially for the next generation of Jewish American leaders.
First: You are so blessed to belong to a people that is so connected and unified that it mourns its own for generations. To me, that aspect of the Omer is embodied by one who bears its name: Omer Neutra.
I have spent many hours with hostage parents and family members including Omer's parents. I have seen how you, the young generation of Jewish Americans, advocated for him.
How you fought for and mourned Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose mother Rachel we are all humbled to be with today.
How you continue to fight and advocate for the remaining 58 hostages.
You have been bold. You have been tenacious. You have the moral clarity to fight the just and righteous fight to stand arm in arm, side by side, with the world in demanding the immediate release of all the hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
Every. Single. One.
And In a world today where we have seen grave depravity and atrocities against the Jewish people, the world desperately needs to hear leaders with moral clarity.
After the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7th, I heard from Jewish students, faculty members, and staff about antisemitic attacks engulfing American college campuses. And I led Congress to host a hearing to hold colleges and universities accountable for their failure to protect the Jewish community.
Let me ask you a question: Did you all see that hearing?
Yes. The world saw that hearing.
And I want to take you into that moment.
It was the last question of the hearing. The most junior member on the committee yielded me her remaining three minutes.
And I had asked questions earlier in the hearing going back and forth with the president of Harvard, now former President , and I had struggled to get a direct answer.
So in preparing the last question, which was not pre-written — I wrote it down with a pencil right before and thought to myself, “how can I ask this in a straightforward, moral way to force them to answer correctly?”
It was a moral question, not a political one.
And that question was — “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university’s code of conduct?”
And one after the other, after the other answered “It depends on the context.”
And the world heard.
Let me tell you — it does NOT depend on the context.
Those morally bankrupt answers–and I’ve been in a lot of high profile committee hearings over the years–I’ve never witnessed the moral depravity of witnesses like I did in that hearing.
In one week, there were over one billion views worldwide. It is now well into the multiple billions. And there is a reason that it is now the most viewed testimony in the history of the United States Congress.
And that is because it exposed the moral rot at the highest levels of these so-called elite universities.
And as I said after the resignations of university presidents: two down, now five down, and so many to go.
That hearing set off an earthquake.
And you, hardworking and proud graduates, are entering into adult professional life at a time when you will meet this earthquake and this moment with moral clarity.
Which brings me back to the Omer, there is a second, more celebratory lesson of the Omer, embodied by yet another Omer – Omer Shem-tov.
Through the tireless efforts of President Trump, Omer was released from Gaza in March. His return has been a beacon of hope and joy amidst so much darkness.
Since then, he has been a beautiful example of Jewish tenacity and resilience. At only 23 years old, he has been travelling and speaking eloquently and passionately on behalf of the remaining 58 hostages.
Omer is such a fitting role model for all of you, Yeshiva’s Maccabees, who are entering a world where Jews are under physical and ideological threat.
Here in the United States, our founding fathers fought to create a different kind of society, one where those kinds of threats to Jews should be a figment of the past.
One can look no further than our first President, the great George Washington.
Washington wrote to the Jewish Community of Newport, Rhode Island, in 1790, “May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
Well, it turns out that in the America of 2025, we still have to fight to achieve this ideal. And while the collective challenges we face together as Americans are significant, so too are the opportunities.
As you go forward, carry with you the values that have guided this great institution and the ideals that are the foundation of our nation. Not only accept the responsibilities, but the moral obligations that come with membership in this grand American experiment in our Constitutional Republic.
So, class of 2025, you have had a safer, richer and deeper experience than most over the last 4 years because you chose this special University to attend.
I ask you to use the education you received here at Yeshiva, along with the unbreakable traditions and faith that you learned in your homes, and join me in the fight to restore our country to a place of light, moral clarity, and liberty and dignity enshrined in our Constitution.
Among you are future leaders of the American Jewish community, of industry, of academia, of culture and even politics.
May you internalize the lessons of the Omer and choose to fight the right fights, with the tenacity, determination, and fearlessness of the Maccabees.
May Hashem bless the work of your hands. May He illuminate your path. And may He grant you the strength to be proud Jews and compassionate citizens in our great country.
Congratulations and Thank You!"
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