July 2, 2009
Celebrating Freedom
On America’s Independence Day, July 4th, we Americans celebrate independence from British rule. It’s more than that. It’s a celebration of freedom – how many of us actually think about that each 4th of July? Most of us are too busy grilling hot dogs and hamburgers, or trying to stay cool to stop and think what we have to celebrate.
America’s Founding Fathers believed in freedom of religion for all people. Do you know how rare that is around the world? Check out the Religious Freedom website, located at the University of Virginia, to see where we really are in this world. It has a clickable, alphabetical database of all the nations of the world and what religions occupy each. It’s truly amazing: http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/nationprofiles/ .
Freedom is a theme found throughout the Torah and is talked about, especially on Passover. People who were once slaves should never take freedom for granted.
I, for one, plan to attend Shabbat Evening Services at the Temple, to honor our Military, and again on Saturday morning, to start my celebration of freedom in an American Jewish way.
Happy 4th!
Geri Gregory
Member Services Coordinator
