Contributor(s): Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Shared on ג׳ בכסלו ה׳תשע״ט (2018-11-11) — under the following terms:
Categories:  Modern Miscellany, Thanksgiving Day Readings, Purim Sheni Readings
Tags:  Spanish-Portuguese, Revolutionary War, 56th century A.M., 18th Century C.E., Western Sepharadim, George Washington, American Jewry of the United States, Newport, State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 
In many Jewish communities around the world, there have been traditional scrolls read for “local Purims,” celebrating redemptions for a specific community. Here in America, we don’t really have an equivalent to that. But we do have Thanksgiving, a day heavily inspired by Biblical traditions of celebration, and one long associated with all that is good about America. Some Jewish communities have a tradition on Thanksgiving of reading Washington’s letter to the Jews of Newport, where he vows to support freedom of religion, famously writing that the United States “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance” – thus rephrasing words originally written in a prior letter by Moses Seixas (say-shas), the sexton of the Touro Synagogue in Newport. This text includes the original English of both Moses Seixas’ letter to Washington and Washington’s return, as well as a somewhat simplified version of the story of Washington’s visit to Newport. Inspired largely by the style of the Book of Esther, it could be read on Thanksgiving morning during the service, using Esther melodies (or going on detours as per personal choice). . . .
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Yaakov Yosef and Judah David Eisenstein (translation)
Shared on ז׳ בטבת ה׳תשע״ח (2017-12-25) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories: Government & Country, Inauguration Day (January 20th), Washington's Birthday (3rd Monday of February)
Tags: 19th century C.E., United States, Presidents Day, 57th century A.M., New York City, George Washington, American Jewry of the United States, Prayers for leaders, Benjamin Harrison, Needing Vocalization 
The proclamation and prayer of chief rabbi Yaakov Yosef, on the centennial of President George Washington’s Inauguration . . .
Contributor(s): Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Abe Katz (translation) and Ḳ.Ḳ. Beit Shalome
Shared on כ״ז בשבט ה׳תשע״ב (2012-02-19) — under the following terms: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license
Categories: Government & Country, Inauguration Day (January 20th), Washington's Birthday (3rd Monday of February)
Tags: United States, acrostic, Presidents Day, 56th century A.M., 18th Century C.E., Western Sepharadim, George Washington, American Jewry of the United States, Prayers for leaders 
The following prayer for the government was composed by Congregation Beth Shalome in Richmond, Virginia in 1789. Please note the acrostic portion of the prayer in which the initial letters of the succeeding lines form the name: Washington. . . .
The prayer for the government presented by Gershom Seixas at K.K. Shearith Israel on Thanksgiving Day 1789. . . .
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