Political Action & The American Jewish Community

Rabbi Joel Fleekop

Friday, February 15, 2008

In 1790 the Hebrew Congregation of Newport Rhode Island, better known today as the Touro synagogue, sent a letter to the newly inaugurated president of the United States, George Washington. Writing on behalf of the Jewish community, Moshe Seixas asserts,

We now, with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty Disposer of all events, behold a government, erected by the majesty of the people, a government which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance, but generously affording to all liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship, deeming every one, of whatever nation, tongue, or language, equal parts of the great government machine.

The letter concludes by thanking God for all the “blessings of civil and religious liberty” enjoyed by Jews in America and asking God to bless George Washington.

The language Moshe Seixas uses is a combination of praise and prayer, but his intent is very clear. Writing in a period prior to the Bill of Rights, he is petitioning the President to ensure that the fledgling country not forget the highest ideals of the Enlightenment on which it was founded.

In his response, President Washington echoes Seixas’ words, declaring that the United States “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance”. He assures the community of their safety and shares his hope that “the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land will continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants;” promises that are soon guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

Though the Jewish population of America has changed dramatically since 1790, growing from 3,000 Jews centered along the Eastern Seaboard to nearly 6 million spread across the continent, the causes capable of uniting the American Jewish community continue to be those addressed by Moshe Seixas’ letter, the rights and safety of Jews.

In the 238 years since the Hebrew Congregation of Newport wrote to President George Washington, the American Jewish community has repeatedly come together in petitioning the United States government to act when well the being of Jews, whether in America or abroad, is in jeopardy.

For example, in 1840, in response to Syrian accusations of blood libel known as the Damascus Affair, American Jews met in major East Coast cities and passed resolutions calling on the United States to intervene to ensure that justice, not prejudice, would be carried out. These resolutions helped spur US action that ultimately helped end the persecution.

On the domestic front, in 1862 the Jewish Community united to fight Ulysses S. Grant’s General Order Number 11. This order, the lone instance of official U.S. government anti-Semitism, expelled and banned all Jews, be they from the Union or the Confederacy, from the Department of the Tennessee. Protest rallies were organized throughout the Midwest and indignant telegrams were sent to the White House by the leaders of Jewish communities around the country. Roughly two weeks after its declaration, President Lincoln met with Cesar Kaskel a merchant from Paducah Kentucky, Adolphus Solomons, a prominent Washington D.C. Republican and leader of many Jewish organizations, and Congressman John A. Gurley of Ohio. Following the meeting Lincoln rescinded General Order Number 11.

There are examples from more recent history as well. Divided at first over the issue of Zionism, the American Jewish community, especially after the State of Israel was created and its survival became intricately tied to the well being of millions of Jews, has united behind and successfully lobbied the American government on behalf of Israel. Though not as mono-vocal on this issue as it was a few decades ago, the safety and security of Israel remains a unifying concern within the American Jewish community.

And who can forget the solidarity brought about by efforts to free refuseniks from the Soviet Union, efforts that led to the Jackson-Vanik amendment in 1975, efforts that reached their culmination on Dec. 6, 1987 with a march on the National Mall in Washington. That morning, in the words of Sue Fishkoff of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, “more than 250,000 protesters, representing a cross section of American Jewry, showed up on a bitterly cold morning to shout ‘Let my people go,’ demanding that Gorbachev open the doors to free emigration. “

Of course not all petitions, letters, and requests made by the American Jewish community received a positive reply. Teddy Roosevelt rejected the 1905 appeal, led by Bnai Birth President Simon Wolf, to respond to the massacre of Russian Jews. And tragically Teddy’s cousin, Franklin failed to act on the Jewish community’s calls to prevent or at least slow the Nazi’s genocide of the Jews; maintaining for far too long that only when the Allies defeated Hitler could European Jewry be saved.

Though not always successful, the American Jewish community has rarely failed to come together around issues that affect the well being of their co-religionists. As the Talmud teaches, kol yisrael arevim zeh ba’zeh – “all of Israel are responsible for one another.”

But when the issue is not the safety and rights of fellow Jews, the American Jewish community has struggled to speak with one voice.

Jews played a disproportionately large role in the Civil Rights movement and much of the movement’s landmark legislation, including The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were drafted in the office of the Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center. Yet many Jews, especially in the South, disagreed with Jewish involvement in the Civil Rights movement. “In Birmingham Rabbi Grafman condemned the freedom riders for upsetting the balance between Jews and their white neighbors” while in Houston Rabbi Malev actually defended Jim Crow, “claiming that desegregation orders violated ethical law.”

The issues of today similarly divide American Jewry. With regards to Iraq, the Jewish community is nearly as split as the nation as a whole. Though a greater number are in agreement on issues of school prayer, censorship, the teaching of intelligent design, and school vouchers; the voices of dissent remain too strong for the Jewish community to truly unite around any of these issues.

Which brings us back to Moshe Seixas’ letter. Upon George Washington’s inauguration, the leaders of America’s Jewish community, centered in just six towns, all agreed that a letter of congratulation should be sent and roughly what it should say. But they couldn’t agree on the exact language. And so in 1789 and 1790 Washington received not one letter from the Jews of America but rather three; the first from Savannah, the second, from the Jewish communities in New York, Charleston, Richmond, and Philadelphia, and the third from Newport Rhode Island.

Finding a unifying voice in the Jewish community is not easy. As the joke goes, if you put two Jews in a room you will have three opinions. But when such a voice is found, it can be incredibly powerful. And so as we celebrate this president’s weekend, and as the search for our next president has many of us thinking about politics, let us consider what Jewish unity might look like today. Let us ask ourselves if it is possible for our increasingly diverse community, if not speaking in one voice, to at least sing out together in harmony.