oints of view
>> Send letters to: letters@thejewishnews.com
Contributing Editor
Editorial
Presidential Promise
Washington's 1790 letter to Jews
defined ideal of religious freedom.
"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, in giving
it on all occasions their effectual support."
- George Washington
I is the original affirmation of American religious
liberty and an eloquent expression of separation
between church and state. Jews virtually nowhere
at no time had heard such direct and uplifting civil
and religious protections from a non-Jewish leader.
George Washington's 1790 letter extolling the
privilege to pray without fear was sent to the Jews of
Newport, R.I. While Washington's opinion and not
itself law, the letter did elevate religious choice to new
heights in the young nation still carving its niche in
the worldwide corridors of tolerance.
The historic letter represents a turning point in
American and American Jewish history. Its poetry
and passion echo as much today as they did 222
years ago, given America's then-and-now charged
conversations about the timbers that frame the
national repository of faith-based freedoms.
"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:' the president wrote. "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 citi-
zens, in giving it on all occasions their
effectual support."
The presidential vow to uphold
religious freedom for all came, as the
National Museum of American Jewish
History (NMAJH) reminds, "at the same
moment that Jews in Russia were being
confined to the Pale of Settlement?'
Letter's Powerful Link
As we celebrate America's bounty of opportunity this
week amid the fireworks of Independence Day, the
letter serves as a timeless reminder of how lucky we
as American Jews are to have had as our nation's first
president a man who saw that the guarantee of reli-
gious equality was properly invoked and guarded.
How exhilarating to hear that the NMAJH in
Philadelphia will showcase the original letter as part
of a special exhibition, "To Bigotry No Sanction:
George Washington and Religious Freedom?' The
exhibition, costing at least $1 million, opened last
week and runs to Sept. 30. Among other displayed
documents are originals of Washington's letters to
the Quakers, Lutherans and Roman Catholics; "A
Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom?' drafted by
Thomas Jefferson in 1777; and the first public print-
ing of the Constitution in the Pennsylvania Packet, a
Philadelphia newspaper, in 1787.
The museum acquired the Newport letter, truly
a founding document of American freedoms, on a
three-year loan from its owner, the California-based
Morris Morgenstern Foundation. The letter can only
be displayed three months a year because it is fragile.
A Robust Exchange
Washington presented the letter to the Hebrew
Congregation of Newport after visiting that Rhode
Island town on Aug. 18, 1790. The letter was in
response to an address by congregation president
Moses Seixas that welcomed and praised Washington,
the newly elected first president and beloved
Revolutionary War general. During the war,
the British had occupied the town while the
American Navy had blockaded it — actions
that rained economic distress on the town.
Seixas, a town merchant, likely spoke the
morning of Aug. 18 when town leaders and
Christian clergy also gave addresses of wel-
come to the charismatic U.S. leader.
Seixas' message on behalf of the con-
gregation expressed pleasure that "the
God of Israel," who protected David, also
had shielded General Washington, and
that the same spirit that rested in the
bosom of Daniel and enabled him to preside over
the "Babylonish Empire" now rested with President
Washington.
Seixas' talk mentioned the ages-old deprivation of
rights for Jews elsewhere and the prospects of a U.S.
government, "erected by the Majesty of the People,'
that would ensure Jews and people of other faiths
their "invaluable rights as free citizens?' The talk
imagined a "great governmental machine" that was
"so ample and extensive" in "philanthropy, mutual
confidence and public virtue" that it must be "the
work of the Great God, who ruleth in the Armies of
Hatred Of Jews Fuels
Palestinian Mindset
0
nly a negotiated agreement can solve the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict and yield two states, one
Jewish and one Arab, that co-exist, side by side.
Key issues include borders, security, settlements, freshwater
rights and control of Jerusalem.
Israel is ready to talk without preconditions other than
Palestinian recognition that Israel is an independent Jewish
state.
Unfortunately, Palestinian leaders not only have yet to
acknowledge Israel's sovereign status, but they also con-
done teaching kids to hate Zionism and thus Jews – in the
classroom, on music videos and in the news media. The
Palestinian Authority (PA), the supposedly moderate over-
seer of the West Bank, continues to influence and incite its
suffering people through a relentless promotion of hate.
Little has changed since the failed Oslo Accords in the
mid-1990s, according to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW),
the highly respected Israel watchdog organization.
On May 14, the day before Israeli Independence Day, offi-
cial PA TV broadcast a series of anti-Israel political state-
ments as printed text on the screen, including:
• "Let all religions know that I do not make truces."
• "Let every person know that I do not compromise."
• "Let all the nations know that we are proud of [our]
aspirations."
• "Let Jaffa know that I will return to it."
Implications abound, including the historic Israeli city of
Jaffa is inside "Palestine" – and that negotiation isn't part
of the Palestinian lexicon. Ignored is just how much Israel
has helped improve the Palestinians' infrastructure, econo-
my and universities.
Still, Israel hasn't scuttled resuming talks provided
there's a hint the Palestinians want peace as opposed to a
takeover of "the Zionist endeavor." Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, with a unity government, is in his
strongest position yet to make compromises if he senses a
legitimate peace-seeking partner.
Since 2010, the PA has insisted on an Israeli settlement
freeze before new talks – knowing full well much of the dis-
puted construction (which, in fact, did stop for 10 months
at President Obama's urging) is inside Jewish communities
that would be part of Israel under any pact. The hollow
demand gives the PA a convenient opt-out of having to
compromise.
What drove Itamar Marcus, a former
Israeli government worker, to found PMW
14 years ago was Yasser Arafat's call for
jihad [struggle] and insistence that any
agreements with Israel were "temporary."
Keeping vigilance over Palestinian broad-
casts and newspapers, Marcus found a PA
culture of demonizing Israel and denying
its right to exist – a desperate hatred that ltamar Marcus
hasn't changed.
As Marcus put it: "When you look at the Palestinians,
adults and children, singing about Tel Aviv and Haifa being
Palestinian, or when you see their demonization of Jews
and the de-legitimization of Israel and Jewish history, if
you accept that as the official PA culture, then there's no
hope."
Truth must replace hate within the Palestinian Authority
if the harvest from revived talks were to be a bounty of
peace. ❑
Presidential Promise on page 28
July 5 • 2012
27