This invocation was given at the 78th annual George Washington Letter Reading Event, August 17, 2025 (23 Av, 5785), held by the Touro Synagogue Foundation to celebrate the famous 1790 letter exchange between the Jewish community of Newport, Rhode Island (represented by warden Moses Seixas) and first president of the United States, George Washington. Washington’s response to Seixas’s letter, in which he quotes some of his most iconic phrasings, is one of the first official statements by the US government on the value of religious freedom. This Letter Reading Event was held in the Old Colony House (where the Jewish community’s letter was probably presented to President Washington), rather than in the Touro Synagogue, due to Congregation Shearith Israel in New York’s barring of the Touro Synagogue Foundation from access to the building. . . .

Categories:

Social Justice, Peace, and Liberty, 🇺🇸 United States of America

Tags:

21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, civic prayers, English vernacular prayer, George Washington, State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

Contributor(s):

Stephen Belsky

Stable Link: https://opensiddur.org/index.php?cat=782

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"Stop Separating Immigrant Familes Press Conference and Rally Chicago Illinois 6-5-18 1934" (credit: Charles Edward Miller, license: CC BY-SA) -- cropped

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17

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