Many Jewish Americans cannot give their roots address in this country, but I can. At the same time, not only is inheritance proud, but also to remember what this country means for the Jewish people always have a unique feeling to remember.
My great grandmother ran away from Hungary at the 19th century turn, escaping the Jewish life in Europe to avoid antismitism. She reached a country that was perfect. The Jews met with suspicion.
My great-grandmother came anyway because she believed what America represented. democracy. Justice. opportunity. And freedom, not only atrocities, but to dignity. So slowly and laborily, he created a life here. He worked hard to raise a citizen, a teacher, and a family.
That story is no less than the American dream. It is a dream created on a promise, which began not only with immigration, but also with the great birth of this nation.
America’s promise for Jewish people was not an accident of modern tolerance. It was codified in the birth of the nation.
In 1790, President George Washington A letter sent to Hebrew Circle at Newport, RIWhose words are standing as one of the most radical guarantee offered by a government for a religious minority: “happily for the United States Government, which does not approve bigotry, no one helps …”
Washington did not tolerate only the Jews; He invited him to participate in the Republic project. He promised him that he would sit safely under his vine and fig tree, fearlessly.
For the Jews, who were deported, was dispersed and hunted in the continents, it was a new holy covenant.
Nevertheless, it is also to be Jewish that taking it out means what it means and it means that sometimes the Jewish story is one of both societies and communities around the world. We survived the regime that used to see us as dangers and flourished in places that used to see us as citizens.
America is a separate world for Jews, however, because we have been part of this great democratic experiment. We helped to create this great nation, even in its early days. In doing so, we claimed in its blessings.
While most of the Jews arrived in the US late 1800s and early 1900s, some had already participated in the establishment of the US. Jewish, a separdic from Francis Salvador, South Carolina, was the first Jews selected to the public office in colonies and was about to die in the first revolutionary war.His sacrificeThere was no discrepancy. Hem SolomanA Polish -born Jews became one of the main financers of the revolutionary war. He fed Washington’s soldiers and raised armed money.
In Georgia, Mordcae Sheftal Rose to get up Supreme ranking Jewish officer Of the continental army. In Philadelphia and New York, Jewish traders such as Isaac Moses and Moses Michael Hays financed the supply and organized support for the continental army, while the small Jewish congregation with Eastern Cabboards pledged their rare resources for the freedom struggle.
The US increased commitment to this new life, and the Jewish Americans served this country in war and peace, in Congress, in laboratories, in lecture halls and in court. We participated in major movements including labor movement, civil rights movement, American press and technical revolution. We did not live just in this country; We participated in pride.
Unfortunately, we now look at the growing antisementism on American roads – some of it violent, some of it sophisticated, so many unwanted. The Jewish cultural figures are disintegrated or condemned, and the leaders who have Shakti are contained for the Jewish demise.
We see that Jewish students were disturbed on elite complexes – a cruel irony is that the complexes were set up to protect the investigation and freedom. In this way, it can be easy to increase the diarrhea of America in a moment. To forget what this country is. Or worse than – to stop believing what it can still be.
But do not make any mistake: What America means to do so is a betrayal of what America means – a better tomorrow promise.
In 1944, the world looked away because the Jews were marched for their death. Conversely that with June 2025, when in a historic step, America took decisive action A existential threat from Iran and Jewish people and lonely Jewish stood for the kingdom. The US worked with clarity that the Jewish life is worth rescue, that the Jews are not alone. The US sometimes chose moral leadership in its lacking world.
This is July 4, let us set different partisan scoring. Let’s see which politicians, which party, which bill did the bill, and why, and how. Let us return to the great truth: This country gave the Jews a place to breathe and build. This gave us shelter. It gives future to our children. This allows us to be completely Jews and fully American, not under stress, but in miraculous pilgrimage.
Being a Jewish American is not a contradiction but a gift. Never forget to contribute and lead to this land of possibility. Be cautious in his most dark time, and be grateful to his bright light. A nation, under God, inseparable.
we are American. We are Jews. And we are proud of both of us.
Jackie Kalsha is a six-time Amy-nominated multimedia journalist and a board member of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles.
