Invocation for the 78th Annual Reading of President George Washington's letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, by Rabbi Stephen Belsky

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=63296

open_content_license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license date_src_start: 2025-08-17 date_src_end: 2025-08-17 languages_meta: [{"name":"English","code":"eng","standard":"ISO 639-3"}] scripts_meta: [{"name":"Latin","code":"Latn","standard":"ISO 15924"}]

Date: 2025-08-20

Last Updated: 2025-09-05

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

Excerpt: 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. . . .

Content:
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.
Contribute a translation Source (English)
Although the Jewish community
had shrunk
since the Revolutionary War,
when President Washington
sent his letter
to the Hebrew Congregation
in Newport, Rhode Island,
there were still Jews
worshipping
at the Touro Synagogue
who either themselves,
or their close relatives,
or friends they had known,
were refugees
who had escaped
the Inquísitory regimes
of Spain, Portugal,
and their colonies,
and who had
crossed the sea
like their Scriptural ancestors,
in search of freedom.
We find
in Sefardic prayerbooks
of this era,
a special Traveler’s Prayer
for sea journeys,
that invoked the merit and memory
of our Ancestors
and our Prophets
and כל הצדיקים…שהיו בכל דור
all the righteous of all generations,
beseeching God
to protect the ship,
its passengers and crew,
from the dangers
of the great and restless waters,
and bring them
with a fair wind
safely, to their destination.
In that spirit,
following
in their wake,
I pray,
God of our Ancestors,
Molder of Creation,
Father of Humanity,
O God
who grants success to leaders
and responsibility to citizens –
יהי רצון מלפניך
May it be Your will,
to bless the memory
of Moses Seixas
and of George Washington,
along with the founders of Rhode Island,
and the authors of the Flushing Remonstrance,
and the drafters of the Bill of Rights,
and of all those
up and down
these shores,
near and far –
Native and Newcomer,
settler and slave –
who fought and taught
and lived and died
setting the course
of our country
towards the freedoms
we hold dear;
especially
the freedom
to worship You
as we know You,
without compulsion
or fear of control.
Protect their dream
and soothe their nightmares;
let their holy vision flourish
and heal the echoes of their sins.
And when this world
rages with hate
like the wild waves
of a stormy sea,
rescue us
and our freedoms,
from the tempest
and the flood.
In the merit
of President Washington
and Moses Seixas,
and of all those
throughout the generations
who have championed civil and religious liberty,
please, God,
uproot and destroy
all cruelty and hatred
from upon us,
from among us,
from between us,
and from within us;
and spread
the sheltering tabernacle of peace
over this,
our common home,
and over our homeland across the sea,
and over all the Earth,
with all humanity
dwelling in brotherhood and tranquility.
And may the spirit
of civic unity –
of mutual respect,
of neighborly concern,
and of loving fellow-citizenship –
fill our sails
and illuminate our souls,
as we navigate
treacherous waters,
trusting
in Your loyal kindness.
May this be God’s will,
and let us say,
אמן.

For a public reading that provides the historical frame story around this letter, find the Megillat Washiŋton.

 

Contributor: Stephen Belsky

Co-authors:

Featured Image:
78th-annual-george-washington-letter-reading-17-august-2025-newport-rhode-island
Title: 78th-annual-george-washington-letter-reading-17-august-2025-newport-rhode-island
Caption: 78th Annual George Washington Letter Reading (17 August 2025, Newport, Rhode Island)