Despite the fact that I was born in Britain, I am still so grateful for 250th anniversary of the US which will be celebrated across the USA tomorrow.
I also have a little bit of patriotism left in me and I am hoping that England makes it to the top in the FIFA world cup.
This week, besides having an amazing first week at Camp Gan Israel, we also finished a four week course on Sinai & Civics which delved into some of the Jewish touches, teachings and ideas that influenced the founding fathers and so much of what this country is about.
It was a fascinating course that really zoomed in to some of the great ideas that the founding fathers were seeking to include as they sought to build a society that respected freedom, freedom of religion, democracy and more.
While things were certainly not perfect in the beginning and it took time for ideas such as "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", to be fully implemented and perhaps to a certain degree they are a continuous work in progress. Yet certainly in those early moments, big ideas of equality and freedom, were being planted and developed, so that America, could become a beacon of light to the world.
So many great Jewish leaders, including the Lubavitcher Rebbe's would often refer to America, as a Malchut shel Chesed, a Kingdom of Kindness, due to the haven it has provided to so many immigrants and Jewish people escaping persecution elsewhere and the equality which it seeks to provide to all of its people. It has been a society that perhaps has protected our rights and ensured our freedoms, more than nearly any other society in history, and for that we should be grateful and proud of what the US works to be, and pray for the wellbeing of this great nation and the good that it does at home and around the world.
Indeed, let us remember that we are all endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights, and we are called to use them to fulfill our Divine responsibility on this earth.
Please join us for the July 4th Kiddush Luncheon tomorrow after services which will celebrate both Shabbat and the USA, which will take place after the Shabbat services.
G-d Bless America!
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos & Happy 4th of July!
Yisroel