On Tuesday, January 19, Biden departed his home state of Delaware in a send-off ceremony at his late son Beau Biden's namesake Major Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III National Guard/Reserve Center in New Castle;[84] the event included remarks from Delaware Governor John Carney, Biden, his wife Jill, and a benediction by Rabbi Michael S. Beals of Congregation Beth Shalom in Wilmington.[85] Later that day, Biden, Harris, and their spouses participated in a nationwide lighting ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.[86] Inaugural organizers invited communities around the United States to light buildings and ring church bells at 5:30 p.m. ET on the eve of the inauguration in a moment of "unity and remembrance" for those lost to the pandemic.[86] The Lincoln Memorial lighting was held simultaneously, providing a moment of national reflection to help Americans find the spirit to rebuild after the pandemic.[87] Cardinal Wilton Daniel Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, delivered the ceremony's invocation; gospel singer Yolanda Adams sang "Hallelujah" and Michigan nurse Lori Marie Key performed "Amazing Grace". Both Biden and Harris, in their addresses, emphasized the importance of national grieving, with Biden saying it's "how [Americans] heal".[84] Several national landmarks participated in the lighting ceremony, including the Empire State Building, Space Needle, and other buildings in major U.S. cities, as well as on tribal lands.[87] Washington National Cathedral tolled its bells four hundred times, each one in memory of a thousand Americans who had died, thus far, in the COVID-19 pandemic.[88]

So allow me to conclude my dear friend, President-Elect Biden, with the same blessing I gave you six years ago, when you first publicly declared me your rabbi. At that Jewish New Year’s Celebration, I offered you a blessing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py3QxXhXWCY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYrBEiTZcJM

Watch the next conversation with Rabbi Michael Beals, Congregation Beth Shalom in Wilmington, Delaware also known as “Joe Biden’s rabbi”; Maayan Zik, Hasidic Jewish social activist; and Deborah Cornavaca, deputy chief of staff to N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy.