Chabad of Westminster

LET'S WAKE THIS SLEEPING LION

Once upon a time, in a world that was completely mad, America invented itself as something radically different — a place of freedom, individual liberty, and calm, down-to-earth common sense. On a foundation of faith in our common Creator, and cornerstone values like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, America proved that a hands-off approach to governance brings out the best in people. And above all, America elevated kindness. On America's noble soil, mindless Jew-hatred never really took root the way it did over there.

In a world of darkness and backwards values, America emerged as a brilliant light — a magnificent blessing for humanity. And all that goodness came from the fact that they wanted to be different and were willing to dare it.

But today, that aspiration to be unique is slipping away. The entire American idea rests on a belief in a Higher Destiny: "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." Without faith in G-d, America loses its way — a country without a purpose, an aimless mass of land with no moral imperative to hold it together.

Americans used to believe that G-d had empowered the USA to save the world from itself. As Jewish people especially, we know the truth of this. If G-d had not sent America storming in over the Normandy beaches... one hesitates to finish the sentence.

We can reverse this trend by helping America find its way back to its roots — back to its reason, back to its destiny. A return to faith will save America, and it will absolutely happen. Those who traffic in evil hate and the ancient disease of antisemitism will have to scurry back to their holes. America awakened will not tolerate it.

Here is what's remarkable: the thread connecting Sinai to Philadelphia was there from the very beginning. When Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams were appointed to design the first national seal in 1776, they proposed an image of Moses parting the Red Sea. They wanted the face of the new nation to be a scene from Exodus.

That is precisely what the JLI course Sinai and Civics: The Jewish Ethics That Shaped America's Founding explores — and there is no better moment to study it than as America turns 250. Over four sessions, this timely course traces the influence of the Hebrew Bible on America's founding, from the Mayflower Compact to the Declaration of Independence to the structure of the Constitution, and asks what that history means for Jewish Americans today. Was it always self-evident that all people are "created equal"? What is the "pursuit of happiness"? What inspired America's system of checks and balances?

By rediscovering the Jewish roots of America's founding ideals, we don't just learn history — we help breathe the soul back into America's heart.

Please join us for the first lesson on June  16,for Sinai and Civics at Chabad of Westminster. No prior Jewish learning is necessary, and the course is CLE-accredited for attorneys. Click the link below to register — and come be part of awakening the sleeping lion.

Shabbat Shalom, good Shabbos!

Rabbi Benjy Brackman

P.S. Click here  to register