None should make our Jewish neighbors afraid
The U.S. has been a safe haven for Jews from the start of the nation. George Washington assured the Jewish community they had a secure place among us.
This July 4th, as we celebrate 250 years of American nationhood, it’s worth taking a moment to look back at 1776 through the eyes of a tiny, often overlooked group of early Americans: our Jewish neighbors.
At the time of the Revolution, there were only about 2,500 Jewish people living in the colonies—less than 0.1% of the population. Yet, the vast majority of them enthusiastically risked their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor for the Patriot cause. One financer was Haym Salomon who worked with Robert Morris to secure international loans for the revolution. He also contributed much of his personal wealth to the cause.
To understand Jewish patriots they risked everything, we have to understand what they were escaping.
For more than 1,500 years in Europe, Jewish people lived as permanent second-class citizens. Under the "Old World" status quo, Jews were heavily taxed just for existing, forced to live in restricted ghettos, barred from owning land, and forbidden from holding public office or entering most professions. Worse, they lived under the constant threat of state-sanctioned violence and expulsions.
The American Experiment promised something entirely radical: a complete break from centuries of European antisemitism. We see the beautiful fulfillment of this hope in a famous exchange from 1790.
Moses Seixas, a leader of the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, wrote to George Washington to ask if the new government would truly protect their religious liberty.
Washington’s written reply went above and beyond standard political courtesy. He declared that the United States would look at religious freedom not as a matter of mere "toleration"—as if a dominant group was simply permitting a minority to exist—but as an inherent right.
Washington famously wrote:
"For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens..."
Our first president closed his letter by quoting Micah 4:4, praying that "the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land... shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid."
Washington didn't ask his Jewish neighbors to hide their identity or assimilate. He explicitly blessed them as Jews and affirmed their equal place at the American table.
As Christians dedicated to understanding our roots and loving our neighbors with the love of Messiah, this history is a profound reminder. The safe haven our founders built was a rejection of a dark history of persecution. The name of Jesus should never be forced on anyone at the point of a sword or a gun.
This Independence Day, as we thank God for 250 years of liberty, let’s also pray for—and actively stand with—the "Stock of Abraham" in our own communities. Let’s make sure that in our churches, neighborhoods, and nation, bigotry is given no sanction, and persecution is given no assistance.
Let us thank God for the grace he has shed on our nation. Let us keep loving our Jewish neighbors with the love of Jesus.
The full text of George Washington's historic letter
To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island
Gentlemen:
While I received with much satisfaction your address replete with expressions of esteem, I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you that I shall always retain grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced on my visit to Newport from all classes of citizens.
The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security.
If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good government, to become a great and happy people.
The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy—a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.
It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my administration and fervent wishes for my felicity.
May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants—while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.
May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.
G. Washington
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