The American flag is waving this week. Americans are gathering with family and friends for familiar July 4th celebrations to honor hard-won independence from British rule. Our democracy was birthed from hopes, dreams, and long-fought battles to emerge into a world of freedom and liberty. How did they do it? How did a gathering of colonizers among colonies grow stronger and victorious? The sacrifices that were made shouldn’t be forgotten nor the oft-forgotten heroes who fought and financed the war of independence.

Haym Salomon was a Jewish patriot and financial hero of the war. He nearly single-handedly financed the American Revolution. His contributions and camaraderie are memorialized with a statue where he stands to the right of George Washington and Robert Morris, the colonies’ finance director.

About Salomon it was written, “[He] was the principal financier of the American Revolution. Without the money he gave and raised, we would no doubt have lost the war with England. Salomon gave his personal fortune, and also raised huge sums of money. He gave everything to help establish the United States.”ⁱ

Not the background of one’s family nor the faith of one’s heart were barriers to the hope of the burgeoning nation. So it should also be remembered that it was on August 18, 1790, that President Washington addressed his letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island. He wrote:

“The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by 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.”

Washington’s concluding paragraph spoke directly to the Hebrew Congregation, and echoes still in our hearts and minds. He wrote:

“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 everyone shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.”

Jewish contributions didn’t stop with the Revolutionary War. The hope and blessing of America inspired newcomers to plant roots, to see their destiny here, and to welcome others to do the same. The Jewish poet, Emma Lazarus, is remembered for her words, which are inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. They still inspires us:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Our forefathers and foremothers felt blessed in this land of blessings, and so should we. We need the hope that is America, and as America is still a beacon of light of the free world, then we should shed that light on all people in the world for their freedom, too. On this July 4, 2024, nearly 250 years since the birth of our nation, let us honor its place in our world just as others did before us with a pledge to sacrifice for its well-being, support its future, and defend it against all enemies.

God bless America.

L’Shalom,