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.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
