Yeshiva University president, controversial imam to give Trump inaugural benedictions

“It is a profound privilege to offer a prayer of unity and hope on behalf of Yeshiva University and for all Americans at this historic moment,” said Rabbi Berman.

By Mike Wagenheim, JNS

The leader of America’s flagship Jewish university will give a benediction following Donald Trump’s inaugural presidential address on Jan. 20. So, too, will an imam who refused to label Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

A program showing the lineup for Trump’s inauguration at the Capitol indicates that Rabbi Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University in New York City, and Imam Husham Al-Husainy of the Karbalaa Islamic Center in Dearborn, Mich., will take the podium back to back immediately following Trump’s speech.

They are two of four religious leaders who have been selected for the honor.

“Working on the benediction for the inauguration,” Berman wrote on X, with a picture of him at a desk, pen in hand, with a pad of paper and a thick book in front of him:

“It is a profound privilege to offer a prayer of unity and hope on behalf of Yeshiva University and for all Americans at this historic moment.”

Berman has served as Yeshiva University’s fifth president since 2016, during which time the institution has experienced significant growth in several key categories.

Al-Husainy, who was among the Arab and Muslim leaders the Trump campaign leaned on during the 2024 election, has declined to call Hezbollah a terror organization and attended a 2006 pro-Hezbollah rally in Dearborn during Israel’s conflict with the southern Lebanese-based Iranian proxy.

The Middle East Forum reported that Al-Husainy held up a photo of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on the stage at the rally. Nasrallah was eliminated by an Israeli bunker-busting strike near Beirut this past September.

Al-Husainy was invited by Democrats the following year to give an invocation at the national committee’s winter meeting, during which he prayed that God would “help us to stop the war and violence, and oppression and occupation” in Iraq.

(JNS sought comment from the Trump transition team.)

Critics said Al-Husainy was referring to the United States military as an oppressor. While Al-Husainy denied it, he did not explain who he was referring to during an interview on Fox News that year.

When asked during that interview if Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, Al-Husainy said, “No.”

“Hezbollah is a Lebanese organization,” he said. “And I’ve got nothing to do with that. But there is a biblical meaning of Hezbollah. It is in Judaism and Christianity and Islam, meaning people of God.”