BY RABBI ELLEN BERNHARDT, Jewish Community Relations Committee Director and Community Chaplain
By Rabbi Ellen Berhnardt, JCRC Director and Community Chaplain
On the coldest day of the year in 2025, approximately 25 people gathered in the warm kitchen at Woodburn, the home of the Governor of Delaware. The building, itself, is an 18th-century Georgian mansion, replete with relics and pictures of the history of Delaware. On the dining room table is a set of china with the seal of the State of Delaware in the middle. In the foyer are portraits of the first ladies of the State.
The home, reportedly, was a station on the underground railroad, and there are supposed passageways which hid slaves on their dangerous journey from slavery in the south to freedom in the north. This is particularly close to the hearts of Jews, as many of our prayers contain “zacher l’yitziat Mitzrayim.” This phrase means we remember the Exodus from Egypt, when the Hebrew people were led out of bondage to the promised land of Israel over 3,000 years ago.
We know that our governor, Matt Meyer, and his wife, Dr. Lauren Meyer, affirm their Jewish values of democracy, freedom, charity, and the concern for those in need.
Rabbi Chuni Vogel, Rabbi Abe Rabinowitz, Rabbi Julie Danan, and Cantor Liz Pellen joined Josh Schoenberg (co-chair of the JCRC), Yuval Moha (community emissary from Israel), and community leaders and members in the intimate ceremony in which the Governor and First lady—together with their son, Levi—affixed a mezuzah to the door of their official home, Woodburn.
I delivered the following remarks on the occasion:
“Governor Meyer and First Lady, Rabbis and guests, thank you for inviting us to participate in this intimate moment in your home, one in which you are publicly stating the importance of your Judaism. We do not take for granted that we, in the United States, can display our Judaism protected by the law of the United States.
The mezuzah is one of the most recognizable symbols of our tradition, one which embodies history, from the blood on the doorposts of the home of the Israelites as the angel of Death passed over their homes in ancient Egypt, to the Shema—the most important prayer, which affirms our belief in one G-d. That tiny scroll rolled up inside the mezuzah case contains the first two paragraphs of the Shema, and it is it says, ‘You should teach them [the commandments] to your children and speak of them when you are in your homes or on your way, when you are lying down and when you rise up . . . and inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gate.’
We find ourselves just a few days from the start of Hanukah, the holiday of lights, in which we celebrate our fight for religious freedom. Governor, my prayer is that you always continue to fight for freedom and the Jewish values that I know you hold dear: kindness, empathy, education, the dignity of all people, and helping those in need.
On Hanukah, the rabbis ask if we should light one candle the first night and add one each night or light eight candles the first night and one less each night and, as we know, we light one candle the first night until the Hanukiah is blazing with candles on the eighth night. Why? ‘Maalin b’kodesh’—We should increase our holiness.
Governor and Lauren, you have chosen to be public servants, giving up privacy and financial gain. We thank you for your commitment to leading the people of our great State and, as we light the Hanukah candles, we wish you ‘maalin b’kodesh,’ that this mezuzah which we affix today increases the holy work that you do for this State and for all whom you touch.
We began this ceremony by singing Hinei Ma Tov—how good it is that we are all together—and we conclude it by singing the prayer for peace, for Shalom Bayit, peace in your home, peace in the State of Delaware over which you preside, for the entire United States, for our beloved State of Israel, and for the entire world.
Oseh Shalom bimromav—May G-d grant peace to the Universe, bring peace to us and to all Israel and let us say, amen.
Mazel Tov!”
