22—DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, September 17, 1954
Israel Played Early Role In U. S. History
(Obverse)
(Reverse)
The Bible as linked with the history of the children of Israel
was the motivating force that inspired the framers of our Consti-
tution and the designers of the Great Seal of the United States
pictured above. All the symbols in both the reverse and obverse
of the Seal have biblical significance. The number 13, usually
accepted as being unlucky, plays a dominant role. Though this
may be partially based on the fact that there were 13 original
Sta es, the reasons go ,deeper than that. ECHAD ("one" for God)]
in Hebrew numerically adds up to 13. Also, ancient Israel was
composed of 13 tribes, counting the two sons of Joseph.
On the obverse side of the seal, besides the 13 stars forming
a perfect Mogen David, we find the words E PluribUs Unum, 13 let-
ters and meaning "one out of many." The eagle, another biblfcal
symbol, I.olds in one of his talons an olive branch with 13 leaves,
end in the other, 13 arrows. Our flag, covering the eagle's body;
has 13 bars—seven standing out as in the seven - branched candle-
On the reverse side of the Seal we find the pyramid, rising in
wUerness and built in 13 layers of stone. Above it, in the head-
sten( is the all-seeing Eye of God. The words Annuit Coeptis--
mean" --ig "He hath prospered our beginning," and again in 13 let-
ters—are written over the pyramid. Below it we find: Novus Ordo
Seclorum, meaning "An old order of the ages born anew." The
Founding Fathers considered the Hebrew Republic one of the old
orc:ers of the ages.
The first de-
sign for the re •
verse of the
Great Seal of
the United
States was sub-
mitted to the
Continental
Congress by
Benjamin
Franklin,Thor-
as Jefferson and
John Adams. It
Portrays Moses
"with the Israel-
-:sites safe on the
shore while the
Egyptian_ s - a r e
being over-
whelmed by the
Red Sea.
-
-
/
An AJP Tercentenary Feature
In the year 1909, the State De-
partment of the United States
published an attractive booklet,
"The History of the Seal of the
United States." Gaillard Hunt,
then chief, Division of Manu-
scripts, Library of Congress, had
collected most of the data for
the research.
As an introduction to the work,
the State Department published
a communication which Mr.
Hunt had sent to the then Sec-
retary of State, Philander C.
Knox. This letter is probably the
IMMINI•11•11111111•1111•1,
tie SURE There
Is a Jewish
National Fund
ISRAEL STAMP'
On Your Synagogue
HOLY DAY TICKET
A J.N.F. Stamp
Implements Funds
For Israel's
Upbuilding
IMPORTANT ADVANCE
ANNOUNCEMENT
Annual Blue and White Box
Clearance will be on Oct. 3.
Please fill your box and ex-
tend a cordial Welcome to the
volunteer JNF worker.
only official State Department
record in existence which, by
the way of inference, links the
United States of America to
Manasseh, one of the lost tribes
of Israel.
The facts which the State De-
partment booklet reveals on the
origin, development and adop-
tion • of the Great Seal are in-
triguing. The Bible and the an-
cient hiStory of Israel are shown
to be the leit motif in the design
of the Seal.
The Declaration of Indepen-
dence was signed about two
o'clock in the afternoon of
July 4, 1776. In order to com-
plete the evidences of the In-
dependence of the United
States, the Continental Con-
gress, right after dinner that
afternoon, set itself to the
task of adopting an official
seal of sovereignty for the new
nation.
The Congress "Resolved, That
Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams and
Mr. Jefferson be a committee to
prepare a device for the Seal of
the United States of America."
From the records of these
three pillars of American free-
dom and from other historical
notes, it is known that the first
design submitted by the commit-
tee for the reverse side of the
Seal showed "Pharaoh sitting in
an open chariot, a crown on his
head and a sword in his hand
passing through the divided
waters of the Red Sea in pur-
suit of the Israelites; rays from
a pillar of fire in the cloud, ex-
pressive of the Divine Presence
and command, beams on Moses
who stands on the shore extend-
ing his hand over the Sea and
causes it to overwhelm Pharaoh."
John Adams, writing to his
wife on Aug. 14, 1776, related that
"Dr. Franklin proposes a device
for the seal: Moses lifting up his
wand and dividing the Red Sea,
and Pharaoh in his chariot over-
whelmed with the waters. The
motto: 'Rebellion to tyrants is
obedience to God.' Mr. Jeffer-
son proposed the children of Is-
rael in the wilderness, led by a
cloud by day and a pillar of fire
by night."
These bibical symbols, recall-
ing the history of the Exodus,
were actually desired, proposed
and submitted by Benjamin
Franklin, John A d a in s and
Thomas Jefferson for approval
by the Continental Congress for
the official Seal of the United
States. Other biblical symbols,
also linked with Egypt and Is-
rael, were later to take prece-
dence over the first design sub-
mitted, but the first seal was
never rejected.
The Columbia University Seal,
designed by the first president
of the university and adopted
June 3, 1755, contains several
biblical references in addition
to the Hebrew name "YHVH"
which stands out in a "Glory"
at the top.
This fact is almost as signi-
ficant as the Old Testament
design submitted by Franklin,
Jefferson and Adams for the
first seal of the United States.
That the Hebrew "YHVH"
was adopted is of cardinal im-
portance and may well hold
another clue to the real iden..
tity of America as a nation.
The Uni vet s it y, originally
known as King's College is rep-
resented on the seal by a woman
sitting on a throne with several
children, representing pupils, at
her knees. Out of the lady's
mouth over her left shoulder
goes a label containing the He-
brew words Ori-El, "God is my
Press Warns Against
German Sovereignty
LONDON, (JTA) -- England
must not "deceive" itself when
evaluating the grant of limited
sovereignty to Germany, and
must remember Nazi atrocities
against the Jews, the Sunday
Times warned in an editorial
entitled "Can We Trust the
Germans?"
The editorial called on B _ ritain
to neither suppress nor forget
the facts of the Nazi atrocities.
New evidences of German
anti-Semitism are again being
seen in Germany ,the Daily Ex-
press declared in a dispatch
from its top correspondent in
Germany, Sefton Delmer.
The correspondent declared
Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
and •ids chief adivsor, H. Golbke,
who was once Hitler's top ad-
visor in the Ministry of Inter-
ior, were powerless to halt for-
mer Nazi administrators "whom
they themselves restored to po-
sition.s of power from carrying
on a cold war against the anti-
Nazis," arnong whom are the
Jews.
light." The reference is to Psalm
27:1, thus acknowledging that
God is the Father of Lights. The
sun arising under the label al-
ludes to "the Sun of righteous-
ness arising with healing in his
wings," according to Malachi 4:2.
In a letter written to Thomas
Jefferson, John Adams wrote:
"In spite of Bolingbroke and
Voltaire, I will insist that the
Hebrews have done more to civ-
ilize men than any other nation.
If I were an atheist, and be-
lieved in blind eternal fate, I
should still believe that fate had
ordained the Jews to be the
most essential instrument for
civilizing the nations."
Israeli Deputy Fined as
Negligent in Accident
TEL AVIV, (JTA)—Schlome
Lavie, Mapai member of the Is -
rael Parliament, has been fined
100 pounds following- his convic)-
tion on charges of having caused
the death of a road maintenance
worker through negligence in
driving an automobile.
Immediately after the acci-
dent several months ago, Mr
Lavie offered to surrender his
parliamentary immunity in or -
der to stand trial. The Parlia-
ment refused to permit this ac-
tion, but later reversed itself
when Mr. Lavie threatened to
resign from Parliament, if ne-
cessary, in order to stand trial
NOW THREE COMPLETE OFFICE SUPPLY AND
GREETING CARD STORES TO SERVE YOU BEST!
MACAULEY'S
1255 GRISWOLD near Grand River Avenue
NORTHLAND CENTER
Bldg. B
—
—
Parking Lot E
2007 PARK AVENUE, at Adams
Open Thursday, Friday, Saturday Nights 'Ti! 9
PLACE YOUR FISH ORDERS FOR
THE HOLIDAYS With
DAVE'S FISH & SEA FOOD
9840 DEXTER
WE WILL FILET . .
AND. GRIND YOUR FISH °FREE!
TY. 4-8638
WE DELIVER
STILL TIME TO WISH THEM A
HAPPY NEW YEAR !
CARMEL GIFT CERTIFICATES provide the finest
ISRAEL
FOOD PARCELS F
g 7 F rEL NA DTIE NS
BY AIRMAIL, you can speed these
FOOD GIFT CERTIFICATES
in denominations from $8 to $23, with choice of SIX carefully
planned parcels of much-wanted foods, ready in ISRAEL
for immediate delivery. THE RELIABLE WAY to assure the
utmost in KASHRUTH, QUALITY and VALUE!
WRITE FOR FOLDER
250 WEST 511$ STREET, NEW YORK 19, N. Y., U.S.A.
ANN
•
ARCH°, Director
I iznZ n PI Z 11,0
Phone Circle 5-7207
1 , 1 131p r,
There Is Still Time to
Insert Your New Year Message to Your Relatives and Friends
Through the Columns of
THE JEWISH NEWS
Your Greeting Must Reach
U9
by
Monday, September 20
To Insert Your Greeting in the NEW YEAR. ISSUE of The
Jewish News, Fill in the Information in the Coupon Below
and Mail It at Once with $2 to THE JEWISH NEWS,
17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35, Mich.
and Family
Mr. and Mrs.
Address
PLEASE PRINT
re
„