A ten-year study to determine where America's founders got their ideas for the nation's founding documents, found that they quoted the Bible far more than any other source. The study also revealed that they quoted Deuteronomy more than any other book of the Bible. They quoted Deuteronomy because it is about nation building and they were seeking wisdom as to the best form of government to implement.
Being children of the Reformation and its emphasis on the authority and priority of Scripture, they realized that it
was the Jews who had given the world the Bible. It was also the Jews who were the human instruments God used to bring the Messiah and Savior of mankind into the world. This is the basis for John Adams’
following statement:
The
Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist,
and believed blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained
the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations (Hyatt, America’s Reawakening, 180).
Many of the early
immigrants to America considered themselves a Second Israel and looked to the
story of Israel in the Old Testament for
guidance and inspiration. They drew heavily on
the Old Testament image of God delivering Israel from Egypt’s bondage and many
saw themselves as a sort of new Israel and King George as a modern Pharaoh.
It is then not surprising that in 1790 George Washington visited the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island where he was warmly received by this Hebrew congregation. In his official welcome, Moses Seixas compared the Revolutionary War to the struggles of ancient Israel and Washington to King David and to Daniel, saying,
With
pleasure we reflect on those days—those days of difficulty and danger when the
God of Israel, who delivered David from the peril of the sword, shielded your
head in the day of battle: and we rejoice to think, that the same Spirit who
rested in the Bosom of the greatly beloved Daniel enabling him to preside over
the Provinces of the Babylonish Empire. rests and ever will rest upon you,
enabling you to discharge the arduous duties of Chief Magistrate in these
States (Hyatt, America’s Reawakening, 180).
Washington was
obviously moved by these sentiments and responded that same day in a letter in
which he addressed the members of this congregation as “children of the stock
of Abraham.” He assured them that because of America’s commitment to religious
liberty they could expect to experience the words of the Old Testament prophet,
who in Micah 4:4 said, Each one shall sit in safety under his own vine and
fig-tree and there shall be none to make him afraid. Washington went on to
say,
For happily
the Government of the United States 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 (Hyatt, America’s Reawakening, 181).
Washington's visit to this synagogue and his remarks were historic. Yaari Taal, of George Washington University, says that Washington’s remarks to this congregation established a precedent for protecting religious liberty and pluralism in the United States that persists to this day.
Washington's inclusive attitude towards Jews was characteristic of early America. Dr. Benjamin Rush (1745–1813), Founding Father and signer of the Declaration Independence, in describing an early July 4th parade in Philadelphia, said,
The rabbi of the Jews locked in the arms of two ministers of the Gospel was a most delightful
sight. There could not have been a more happy emblem (Hyatt, America’s Reawakening, 187).
Early America’s
embrace of the Jewish people resulted in America becoming a haven for
persecuted Jews from all over the world. This resulted in America becoming home
for the largest Jewish population in the world. This remained true until 2003
when the Jewish population in Israel surpassed that in America.
It is, therefore,
disheartening to see the antisemitism that has erupted on college campuses and
in the large cities of America. Such antisemitism is completely out of sync
with America’s founding principles of Faith and Freedom. Such Jewish hatred had
no place at America’s founding and should be given no place in America today. George Washington would be in complete agreement.
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