I returned earlier this week with six colleagues from a Jewish Federation professionals’ conference with over 1,000 people from across North America. Topics ranged from how to best use AI tools in our work, the role of community relations in combatting antisemitism, best practices in financial resource development, and how to improve finance procedures and operations. It was engaging and inspiring to be with other professionals focused on the same opportunities and challenges – and, at the same time, sharing insights and ideas.

One of the last speakers was Rabbi Tarlan Rabizadeh, Vice-President for Jewish Engagement at American Jewish University. Her words stuck with me. She reminded us that Jewish Federations are not only about helping individuals, but about changing entire families through the work we do. This is done through our annual campaign. Every contribution to the Jewish Federation, no matter the amount, says “I care. I belong. I have a shared responsibility. Because inaction during these difficult days has its consequences while collective philanthropy strengthens us all.”

Our campaign now stands over $3 million. We have more to raise to meet our community’s needs. If you have yet to do so, please make your contribution here.

Monday is Presidents’ Day, an amalgamated birthday celebration for presidents George Washington (Feb. 22, 1732) and Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12, 1809). I suggest the Jewish community see the hioliday as a celebration of the very foundations that allowed Jewish life to flourish in the New World.

Washington and Lincoln were pivotal -- not just as statesmen, but as distinct friends to the Jewish people. Their careers intersected with Jewish history and shaped the trajectory of religious liberty and the treatment of minorities in ways that saved lives and created futures.

To understand the magnitude of their contributions, we have to look at the numbers. From the moment the Declaration of Independence was signed until Lincoln’s assassination, the United States was overwhelmingly, undeniably Protestant. Jews were a tiny minority. In 1776, there were perhaps 2,500 Jews in the entire country. By the Civil War, that number had grown, but we still only comprised .005% of the population -- roughly 200,000 Jews out of 31 million people.

Numerically, Jews were insignificant. Politically, we could have been easily ignored or, worse, the Protestant majority could have been hostile or indifferent. In 1787, when the U.S. Constitution was being drafted, Jews were actually prohibited from holding public office in 12 of the 13 new states.

In August of 1790, President Washington wrote his famous letter to the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island reaffirming religious liberty in America:

"The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy...For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens."

Think about that phrase: "to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance."

Washington was asserting that this new nation would fundamentally reject the religious hatred that had plagued Europe for centuries. Jews would be free to practice their faith on equal terms with other Americans. He signaled that Jews would not merely be "tolerated" by the indulgence of a ruling class, but would possess the inherent natural rights of citizenship. It was a signal to the world, setting the stage for America to become the great refuge for millions escaping the very persecution Washington promised to reject.

Fast forward to the 1860s. The nation is at war and Abraham Lincoln is at the helm. By this time, Jews had served in the U.S. House and Senate and in many state and local offices. But prejudice was common in much of the nation.

Lincoln was different. Unlike Washington, who dealt with Jews largely in the abstract, Lincoln had close personal Jewish friends.

He vigorously opposed the Know-Nothing Party, a nativist group that sought to restrict non-Protestant immigration. While their primary target was Catholics, Lincoln understood that this type of hatred brings everyone down. He knew that an anti-immigrant platform would inevitably harm the Jews.

When the Civil War broke out, federal law required military chaplains to be "ordained ministers of some Christian denomination." This discrimination created a political issue in September 1861, when a Protestant visitor to a military camp complained that a Pennsylvania regiment, under the command of Col. Max Friedman, chose a Jew as chaplain. Lincoln stepped up and spoke out. In his annual message to Congress, he urged them to change the law, and he signed the legislation allowing Jewish chaplains to serve their soldiers.

But perhaps the most dramatic moment came in December 1862. General Ulysses S. Grant, in an infamous act, issued General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from his military district in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The order was blunt: “The Jews, as a class, violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department, and also Department orders, and are hereby expelled from the Department.” This was the most significant official act of antisemitism in U.S. history.

Cesar Kaskel, a Jewish leader from Paducah, Kentucky, rushed to Washington, DC. He did not just send a letter; he went to the White House. He met with Lincoln on January 3, 1863. When Lincoln saw the order -- which he knew nothing about -- he did not hesitate. He immediately directed the order to be revoked.

Lincoln proved that George Washington’s promise was real. Sadly, that promise feels challenged every day.

On Monday, let us remember that Presidents’ Day is a commemoration of two men who ensured that the "enlarged and liberal policy" of this nation included Jews (and others). They ensured that the United States would be a home, not just a host. That is a legacy worth celebrating.

Shabbat shalom and enjoy the holiday weekend.