It is the 4th of July. American Independence Day. Our country is divided. It is hurting. There is rising anti-semitism. Young Israeli embasy staffers should not be gunned down in front of a Jewish Museum in DC. Period. There is rising political violence. State representatives and their families should not be shot in their homes. NOR THEIR DOG! This is wrong, period. This violence seems to be both on the left and the right. This is wrong, period.  

This year seems different. Again. I wrote these words some other year: 

“So again, this year, I am angry. Still not strong enough. Outraged. Enraged. Engaged.” 

And I think I am sad. Gun violence is a topic I have worked on for decades. And I fear it has only gotten worse. Solving a disagreement with a gun never ends well.

I have written other 4th of July posts before. 4th of July has always been important to me and my family, It leads into my mother’s birthday, the 6th and my father’s, the 7th. I have such fond memories. Parades. Picnics. Up North Beach. Fireworks. Mexican food. Late night runs to Meijers for home repair supplies. Mini-golf. Evanston. Grand Rapids. Charlevoix and Leland. Elgin.  

In our family, the question was never where will you be for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. No, the question was where will you be for the 4th of July and Thanksgiving—the two most American holidays. And also somehow profoundly Jewish as well. I think that was the point. These holidays were a measure of how American we were. 

This year seems different. Again. I wrote these words some other year: 

“So again, this year, I am angry. Still not strong enough. Outraged. Enraged. Engaged.” 

How do we take our anger and channel it to stay engaged. How do we find hope and resilience in a world that seems even more repressive. That seems to not care about human life. That cannot provide food or medical care for the most vulnerable amongst us. That turns every hate filled skirmish into a full scale battle.  

Jews have prayed on behalf of their secular leaders and governments since Jeremiah’s day. As an American Studies major with a concentration on colonial American History, I have loved the prayer that was written by the Jews of Richmond for George Washington, shortly after he began his presidency. It is elegant, with Washington spelled out in Hebrew acrostic. http://opensiddur.org/prayers-for/collective-welfare/government/prayer-for-george-washington-first-president-of-the-united-states-of-america-by-kahal-kadosh-beit-shalome-1789/ 

It is aspirational. Filled with hope. It is not that different than the prayer we will do for our current government in our siddur, Siddur Sim Shalom. It is aspirational, too.  

People have asked me if we can still pray for our president, for his leaders and advisors that they may administer all affairs of state fairly. The answer is yes. We must. It is aspirational.  

AND, we need to channel our anger, our disappointment, our fear, into action.  

• Don’t like putting up the 10 Commandments in classrooms, while not feeding children, find a way to work to get food into the hands of those who need it most. I like Mazon as an agency. 

•  Don’t like canceling tax credits for clean energy, buy the energy star appliances anyway. Advocate for not drilling in our national parks. Try joining the Sierra Club.  

• Don’t like the idea that rural hospitals might close (some are already, I heard this morning on NPR, another organization worth supporting. ) and health care will be denied to millions of people, talk to your own primary care doc and see how you can help. Make sure you are current on ALL your vaccines. Including shingles. Don’t be like me.  

• Don’t like the idea that this country, dedicated to welcoming the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, is deporting thousands of people, partner with agencies that are doing the hard work. HIAS tops my list, but locally try Centro de Informacion or CMAA.  

The list goes on and on.  Each action must be brought back to Jewish values. Love your neighbor. Love the stranger. Love G-d. Pekuach nefesh, preserve a life. Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with G-d. If we are not doing that, somehow, we are missing the mark. 

So again, I am still angry. Still not strong enough. Outraged. Enraged. Engaged. And sad.

We must stay engaged. We must “fight” for this country we love, that has reflected our Jewish values (and my Girl Scout ones!).  

George Washington penned a letter of thanks and appreciation to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, RI. I quote is almost every year 

He made it very clear and he was so eloquent, that Jews were welcome here in this country. That it is not a Christian nation, per se. This letter became the basis of the Bill of Rights: 

“It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my administration and fervent wishes for my felicity. 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.” 

. http://www.tourosynagogue.org/history-learning/tsf-intro-menu/slom-scholarship/86-washington-letter 

And maybe that is the point. We Jews in America have participated in the life of this country almost since America’s inception. The earliest congregations were founded in the 1600s. I can imagine Jews in their synagogues praying and celebrating the morning the Declaration of Independence was pronounced, on July 4th Later, there were Jews like Hayyim Solomon and Rebecca Gratz that were at the vanguard of funding the Revolutionary War. 

The Hagaddah that we use at home, a compilation of many begins talking about living in two communities. The Jewish community and the American community. 

“We share common histories— both the Exodus and the American experience; we share common dreams of equality, justice, and peace. …And so we join together to send out a message of freedom which we hope will ring through the hills of our land and across the seas. 

It spells out what some of those freedoms are that we celebrate: 

freedom from bondage        and freedom from oppression,
freedom from hunger          and freedom from want,
freedom from hatred           and freedom from fear,
freedom to think                 and freedom to speak,
freedom to teach                 and freedom to learn,
freedom to love                  and freedom to share,
freedom to hope                 and freedom to rejoice, 

It too is aspirational. It gives us a blueprint of the actions we need to take.  

This country is still a great country. One I pray for every day, using the ancient words of my Jewish ancestors. This country is a great country, founded on principles that mesh with my Jewish values and my heritage of being a third generation Girl Scout. This country is a great country that welcomed my ancestors even before Lady Liberty with her poem written by Emma Lazurus, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” This is a great country that includes the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is a great country that guarantees freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press,freedom of assembly. We need to safeguard these freedoms.  

It would be my hope that we continue to uphold the dream, rededicate ourselves to this dream. To be a light to the nations. To speak truth to power. To do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with G-d.  Then as Washington, quoting Isaiah and Micah, will be right. This is a nation where “everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.” Here. In this country. Today. Amen.