January 2, 2026
Happy New Year! As the pages of the calendar have literally flipped (or perhaps more accurately, we’ve started a new calendar, or scrolled down on our phones), the arrival of 2026 brings with it the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. The Semiquincentennial offers us a unique opportunity to reflect on our nation’s history, the stories of our nation’s past, and the values on which our country was founded.
Throughout our history, we have adapted and grown, holding onto many of the values upon which our country was founded while incorporating new ideas as immigrants shaped the arc of our nation’s story. This moment in history affords us the opportunity to sit together with friends from Beth Tikvah and across lines of faith to study what we might consider “American Scripture.” In partnership with an organization called faith250, we will join with several Worthington-area churches to engage in meaningful dialogue around these texts that have laid the foundation for the American experience.
The founders of faith250 imagined clusters of interfaith organizations coming together in a moment of rising political violence, where it seems that the “moral threads holding our democracy together are wearing thin.” As we gather with this multi-faith initiative, we can begin to “counter the division, contempt, and toxicity” that is tearing us apart. We do not often take the time to sit with people of diverse faiths and learn together about the place and the values we all share.
The four core texts we will study are Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus,” the Declaration of Independence, America the Beautiful, and Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” written in 1852.
Imagine thinking deeply about the meaning of “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” and sharing your family’s story of coming to America. As we think about our own pasts, we might consider how we can help those coming to America today. This text will encourage us to think about shared values of belonging and narrative formation. When we studied this text a few weeks ago with our interfaith partners, it was truly remarkable to hear the stories of people whose ancestors came to the U.S. in the 1600s, as well as those who arrived in the late 1800s, after the Holocaust, and as recently as the late 1990s.
Imagine reflecting on the values of equality and liberty while reading the Declaration of Independence. We will ask challenging questions about equality, especially when not everyone was considered equal at the time the text was written. As we study America the Beautiful, we will wonder what it means to “mend our moral flaws” and reflect on the meaning of nobleness. We will discuss how we exhibit moral aspiration. As we study Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” we will reflect on Douglass’ pain as he experiences this date in history and imagine a Fourth of July celebration that would have made him proud.
After our sessions, we will come together as one Worthington interfaith community around the Fourth of July to mark our Semiquincentennial with an interfaith service.
The first learning and community session will take place on Wednesday, January 28th at 7:00 PM at Congregation Beth Tikvah. We are grateful to our partners and friends at Worthington Presbyterian, St. John’s Episcopalian, All Saint’s Lutheran, and Lord of Life Lutheran for embarking on this journey together with us. We hope you will join us!
Once again, happy New Year and Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Rick Kellner