Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Israel News

Celebrating Independence ‘Jewish Style’

Taking a page from the Shavuot playbook — when Jews commemorate the giving of the Torah by staying up all night to study it — a group of Philadelphia Jews is planning to spend the evening of July 3 studying the country’s founding documents: “America’s Torah.”

“We’re studying the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, Jewish style,” Catherine Fischer said. Fischer is the coordinator of the Kehillah of Center City, an interdenominational consortium of Philadelphia-area congregations.

The study session, led by University of Pennsylvania historian Michael Zuckerman, will take place at Congregation Mikveh Israel, a Spanish-Portuguese synagogue located just a block from the Liberty Bell. Founded in 1740, Mikveh Israel is often referred to as the “Synagogue of the Revolution.”

The event is geared toward those interested in “doing something meaningful on Independence Day as well as celebrating,” Fischer told the Forward. It runs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., just before the fireworks.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.