July 3, 2026
This Shabbat converges with July 4th, and this year’s celebration is the semiquincentennial anniversary of our country’s birth. 250 years invites us to reflect on the key lessons we have learned. Throughout the year, Congregation Beth Tikvah has been part of an interfaith collaboration with Worthington-area congregations to mark this anniversary with a program entitled Faith250. Envisioned by Rabbi Michael Holzman, a Reform Rabbi in Northern Virginia, and his colleagues, Faith250 was created to elevate this year’s special anniversary. They selected four core American texts that help us think about our country’s founding and the 250-year journey we have been on.
The core texts included Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus, The Declaration of Independence, America the Beautiful, and Frederick Douglass’s speech, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July.
The Declaration of Independence’s most famous words begin: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness…”
Though their vision was bold, the dream of equality expressed in it was limited to men, excluding women and enslaved Black people. As we studied this document, we reflected on its aspirational nature, and we wondered how we have upheld the vision or where we have fallen short of it. The struggle to achieve this vision endures each day. So many new Americans have faced challenges as they tried to settle here, and the effects of slavery are still felt by many in the African American communities. Attempts to curtail rights have been met by protest. Perhaps it is this built-in possibility for change that helps us understand that we are constantly trying to improve the society in which we live. Governments are established with the consent of those governed. This is the bedrock of our democracy. The right to vote and to have a voice in our government is the fabric of who we are as a nation. Preserving this is tantamount to our democracy’s survival over the next 250 years.
When we studied Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus, the poem that appears on the base of the Statue of Liberty, we reflected on the following words:
“‘Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’ cries she
With silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Studying these words, we were moved by the contrast between the ‘storied pomp’ of ancient lands and the ‘tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free” emerging from those same lands. The storied pomp was not for everyone, and many who came to America were persecuted, poor, or searching for opportunity in a place grounded in equality. Of course, we know new immigrants to America were not always met with open arms, but with hard work and commitment, many of those new immigrants would find new life. Many of us recall stories passed down through our families about those challenging times. The lamp greeting us was a beacon to the future.
The fabric of the American story continues to be written and rewritten. The vision held by our founding generation inspires us to continue to build for a better future—a future that sees the equality of every human being and creates structures to ensure that equality. As we build this vision, may we also build a future that is not grounded in the fear of scarcity but one that recognizes the abundance of opportunity.
We hope you will join our interfaith communities at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Worthington on Sunday, August 9 at 5:00 pm for an interfaith service to culminate in this learning partnership. More details will be shared very soon.
Shabbat shalom and Happy Fourth of July!
Rabbi Rick Kellner