We celebrate George Washington’s birthday in February. Although the third Monday in February on most calendars is marked “President’s Day”, Congress did not change the name of the holiday from George Washington’s birthday to President’s Day when it moved the Federal holiday from February 22nd to the third Monday in February. But if you prefer President’s Day, George Washington was the first of our Presidents in more than ways than one.
No one epitomizes the spirit of America more than George Washington. It was not just his stalwart leadership and genuine concern for his fellow Americans serving as his soldiers that characterized our first President. It was his broad minded outlook on the world. Although intimately bound up in a slave owning society, he wanted to provide an example to his fellow Virginians and emancipated his slaves upon his wife’s death. He wrote a wonderful letter to the Hebrew congregations of Philadelphia, New York, Charleston and Richmond in which he stated: “The liberality of sentiment towards each other, which marks every political and religious denomination of men in this Country, stands unparalleled in the history of nations. . . . May the same temporal and eternal blessings which you implore for me, rest upon your Congregations.” The letter, written in 1789, was addressed to the old Beth Shalome synagogue then on 19th Street, between Grace and Franklin Streets.
How do we, as members of Congregation Or Ami, live up to our own Jewish ideals and the faith placed in Richmond Jews over two hundred years ago by George Washington? I submit that it is by being involved in all aspects of life in Richmond. It is by offering our synagogue to civic organizations, community groups and artistic organizations. It is by our active membership in RISC, the faith alliance of over 100 churches and synagogues, that promotes social justice. It is by the ethical and caring conduct in the many professions and businesses in which our members engage. And it is by giving voice to our opinions on issues of the day. We have the liberty of digging deep into the storehouse of Jewish ethics and tradition to guide us in deciding what is good for our society, and we have the duty to make known our conclusions. For unless we use it, why do we have the liberty fought for not just by George Washington but by Richmond Jews such as Jacob I. Cohen, proprietor of the Bird in Hand Tavern, one of Richmond’s first, who fought as a soldier in the revolutionary Army until taken prisoner? May each of us continue to cherish and make use of our heritage of liberty, purchased at so dear a cost by George Washington, Jacob I. Cohen and so many others.
