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Modern Miscellany

This is an archive of exclusively modern resources preprared for use as special readings or recitations in commemoration of days in the Jewish calendar, as well as on civic days on civil calendars.

Resources filtered by CATEGORY: “🇺🇸 Independence Day Readings” (clear filter)

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💬 “A Parable Against Persecution,” a pseudepigraphal text written by Benjamin Franklin (1755)

Written by future founding father Benjamin Franklin in 1755, “A Parable Against Persecution,” also known as “the 51st Chapter [of Genesis],” is an example of what is often called ‘pseudo-biblicism,’ a trend from the 1740s to the mid-19th century of writing modern events in the already-archaic style of the King James Bible. More strictly, “A Parable Against Persecution” is an example of pseudepigrapha in that it is meant to be read as part of the book of Genesis, telling a story of Abraham facing a non-coreligionist, acting rashly, and learning a lesson about religious tolerance. Already in 1755 we can see Franklin’s radically liberal religious views.

Categories:

Tags:

18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., the Enlightenment, Hebrew translation, interfaith tolerance, liberty, pseudepigrapha, tolerance and intolerance, tolerance of difference

Contributor(s):

Benjamin Franklin and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

💬 The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America (1776) | די דעקלאראציע פון אומאָפּהענגיקײט (Yiddish translation 1954) | הצהרת העצמאות של ארצות־הברית (Hebrew translation 1945)

The text of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America and its signatories in English, with a Yiddish translation published in 1954.

Categories:

🇺🇸 National Brotherhood Week Readings, Modern Miscellany, 🇺🇸 Independence Day Readings

Tags:

18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, American War of Independence, civil declarations and charters, the Enlightenment, United States, United States Declaration of Independence

Contributor(s):

Ḥen Melekh Merkhaviyah (translation/Hebrew), Sarasohn & Son, Publishers (translation/Yiddish), Thomas Jefferson and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

💬 Preamble to the United States Constitution (1787, with translations in Hebrew and Yiddish by Judah David Eisenstein 1891)

The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America, in English with Hebrew and Yiddish translations.

Categories:

Modern Miscellany, 🇺🇸 Independence Day Readings, 🇺🇸 Constitution & Citizenship Day (September 17) Readings

Tags:

18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., civil declarations and charters, civil rights, Constitution of the United States, Hebrew translation, Yiddish translation

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Judah David Eisenstein (translation) and Gouverneur Morris

💬 The Bill of Rights: Amendments Ⅰ through Ⅹ of the Constitution of the United States (1791, with translations in Hebrew and Yiddish by Judah David Eisenstein 1891)

The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America, were first adopted in 1791. They were closely modeled on the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Declaration of Rights drafted by George Mason in May 1776. This translation, by Judah David Eisenstein was published in 1891.

Categories:

Modern Miscellany, 🇺🇸 Juneteenth (Emancipation Day) Readings, 🇺🇸 Independence Day Readings, Addenda, 🇺🇸 Constitution & Citizenship Day (September 17) Readings

Tags:

18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., civil declarations and charters, civil rights, Constitution of the United States, Hebrew translation, Yiddish translation

Contributor(s):

Judah David Eisenstein (translation), James Madison and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

💬 Amendment ⅩⅣ to the Constitution of the United States of America (1866/1868, with translations in Hebrew and Yiddish by Judah David Eisenstein 1891)

The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, initially proposed by Congress on 13 June 1866 and adopted on 9 July 1868 was the second of three Reconstruction Amendments addressing citizenship rights and equal protection under the law. It was enacted in response to issues related to emancipated slaves following the failure of the Slaveholders’ Rebellion (1861-1865).

Categories:

Modern Miscellany, 🇺🇸 Juneteenth (Emancipation Day) Readings, 🇺🇸 Independence Day Readings, Addenda, 🌐 Day of Democracy (September 15th) Readings, 🇺🇸 Constitution & Citizenship Day (September 17) Readings

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., civil declarations and charters, civil rights, Constitution of the United States, Hebrew translation, Reconstruction Amendments, Yiddish translation

Contributor(s):

Judah David Eisenstein (translation), the Congressional Record of the United States of America and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

💬 A New Declaration of Independence, by Emma Goldman (1909)

A New Declaration of Independence by Emma Goldman.

Categories:

🇺🇸 National Brotherhood Week Readings, Modern Miscellany, 🌐 International Workers' Day Readings, 🇺🇸 Independence Day Readings

Tags:

20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., political and religious anarchism, civil declarations and charters, internationalism

Contributor(s):

Emma Goldman and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "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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