George Washington, Jews, and The Story of Religious Freedom in America
Hosted By: Jewish Study Center
The Jewish Study Center presents a class on Jewish American history, marking the 250th birthday of the United States through a close reading of President Washington’s 1790 letter to the Jews of the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island. The session explores the historical circumstances that prompted Washington to write the letter and his perspective on the tension between minority rights and majority rule in the new nation. The class considers why the letter, cited by Justice Elena Kagan in her 2014 dissent in Greece v. Galloway, remains salient to ongoing debates about national identity and religion.
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