Let Freedom Ring

"You shall proclaim freedom throughout the land to all its inhabitants."
--Leviticus 25:10

Peter Wiernik, and Orthodox editor-in-chief of a Yiddish daily in the early 20th century, had a bookplate made that depicts an ornamental ark holding a Torah scroll. The curtain or parochet that covers the ark is drawn back. When we look closely we realize that this is no ordinary ark cover. It is an American flag. The stars and stripes point down vertically, with a Torah scroll securely resting behind it.

Jonathan Sarna, the preeminent scholar of American Jewish history, writes of this bookplate in American Judaism that:

Judaism in this portrayal forms the core of Jewish identity, while Americanism provides its outer protective garb. Symbolically and rhetorically, then, the two worlds of American Jewry joined in the optimistic hope that they could accomplish what Jews had not successfully achieved anywhere else in the diaspora. Instead of having to choose between competing national and religious allegiances...they could be both American and Jewish, their dual identities complementing and mutually enhancing each other, much like the Torah and its protective curtain.

The same could be said of matza boxes with George Washington's picture on them, Hanukah menorahs made of standing Statues of Liberty or lapel pins that join the American and Israeli flags. The intertwining of American symbols with Jewish traditions reflects a level of comfort and pride in being an American Jew, itself an identity that emerged from anxiety.

This anxiety is reflected in a letter sent by the American Jewish community of the Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island to President George Washington and his subsequent response. Unaccustomed to enjoying citizenship throughout Europe, early Jewish Americans wrote to the president in an official capacity to ask if their freedoms were secure. Washington wrote back with the famous words describing the United States government as one which "gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution, no assistance." More important than this famous saying was his guarantee that freedom is an inherent natural right and not something his to grant or repeal.

Our verse above graces the Liberty Bell. Its biblical context reflects another kind of freedom. In ancient days, the jubilee year - a cycle of 50 years - was marked with the blowing of the shofar and the release of individuals from debts and certain forms of slavery. The land is also to lie fallow, without being actively harvested. Freedom in this sense is not only enjoyed by human beings but is extended to our surroundings as well. Cycles of intense activity are followed by periods of rest where the usual structures of finance, agriculture and human control are relaxed. It is a freedom so expansive that it is celebrated at limited intervals.

This week affords us time to think about our personal and national freedoms as citizens of the United States and arguably the world. American lived up to Washington's promise for the Jews. July 4th should be more than barbeques and lazy days by the pool. For Jews it marks a historic break from the relationship that Jews had in host countries, what Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, in his latest book, has called visitors in a guest house. We are not guests in this house. It is a home we have built and continue to build together. Our independence allows the foundations of the house to be stable and enduring.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Independence Day.

By Erica Brown  |  July 3, 2009; 3:37 PM ET
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