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The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. William Maloney, redefining the sport. Friday at 8 Eastern 7 Central on NBC and Peacock. Hello, Malcolm Glaudwell here. We're here in New York City with T-Mobile for Business recording another episode of Revisionist History about how 5G network slicing strengthens trust and connections across worldwide industries.
Slicing can be used for so many different things. We're here with our friends from CNN, from Siemens Energy. The ways that it can be used, frankly, are limitless and are really, really built to think through how can T-Mobile understand the pain points that our customers have, smash those pain points, and help you deliver very specific options. Are you looking for entertainment that lifts you up? Then check out Upt Faith and Family, the leading streaming service for inspiring, hope-filled shows and movies.
This season streams soul-stirring favorites like Southern Gospel, plus four full seasons of Jesus Calling, and the uplifting new faith series These Stones. Or settle in with 19 seasons of the beloved family series Heartland, a family favorite ranch drama fans can't get enough of. It's commercial free. Stream anywhere. To get a free trial today, go to upfaithandfamily.com slash iHeart.
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and now generated assets, which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high-free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-of-a-kind index, and lets you backtest it against the SP 500.
Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com/slash podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com/slash podcast. Paid for by Public Investing.
Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc., member FINRA and SIPC. Advisory Services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star. and the American people. And we love to tell stories about America's founding. We also love to tell stories about America's faith heritage.
And this next story combines both. Here to tell the story about Jews in America around the time of the Revolution. is Adam Jortner. He's a professor of history and religion at Auburn University. His book, A Promised Land, Jewish Patriots, the American Revolution, and the Birth of Religious Freedom.
Professor Jortner, what brought you to study this idea of Jews in the Revolution? I'm a real history buff. I had no idea, no clue that Jews had been a part of the fighting of the war effort. Yeah, it sounds fake. It sounds like a comedy routine.
I'll tell you about Jews in the Revolution. That's the shocking thing to me, and the more I read about it. the more there was to find about it. Talk about how you came to write about this subject. I wrote a book about Mormons, I've written a book about Native American prophets, and My wife was pregnant with my second kid.
I was very nervous. And I was like, well, I need a small project. I'll work on Jews and the revolution because that won't take very long. My second son's now 10 years old.
So it it it did take a while, but What I found out was: not only are there Jews in the United States during the revolution. They're really passionate patriots for the most part. A lot of Jews rush to sign up. And A lot of them end up Because of the way the Revolutionary War works out, a lot of them end up in the same city. They're all in Philadelphia.
And they form this synagogue. They reform the local synagogue, Mikveh Israel, in Philadelphia. In the 1780s, which makes them one of the very first kind of national religious groups.
So not only is there you know Jews in the revolution, not only are Jews part of the American religious history, they're there from the very beginning. of the Republic. And that really made me stop and say, I need to know About these guys, I need to really. Think about religion and the revolution just to get the basic question of, well, what. What were people doing?
What did they believe? What kind of beliefs are bouncing around there in Bunker Hill and Valley Forge and all these places. You said they came to Philadelphia. Where did the Jews come from? And when were the first Jews Here in America, when did the Jews arrive and why did they arrive?
Did they arrive for the same reason the Puritans arrived? They all end up in Philadelphia. During the Revolutionary War, because most of the cities they're living in, Savannah. Charleston, New York. By 1780, those have all been taken over by the British.
So, Philadelphia is sort of the last city standing that still has a functioning synagogue. If you want to be patriotic and you're a Jew, If you can get to Philadelphia, you gotta get there. And this is something in terms of studying Jews. Judaism requires there's stuff you need for Judaism. You need to have a Torah.
You need to have a minion. And these things are things that a Methodist or an Episcopalian doesn't necessarily need.
So the a lot of Jews end up in Philadelphia. But Jews have been in the Americas ever since Europeans got here. There were Jews coming over when Spain invaded with the Aztecs. Of course, Judaism is banned in Spain, so a number of Jews are hiding out in New Mexico in the 1500s.
So this is a a a very old tradition in North America. Jews end up in the British colonies, places like New York and Georgia. Mostly as a result of accidents. A lot of some of those Jews were living in Brazil when it was under Dutch control, and the Dutch offered some kind of religious freedom. Then Portugal takes over, so a bunch of Brazilian Jews end up heading to New York City.
And there are other cases where Various Jews from Britain or Jews who have been hiding in Spain sort of end up in British North America. They know British North America is a better place for religious freedom than Spain under the Spanish monarchy. But it's still not a place where religious freedom is. Full and celebrated. There are still state churches in the British colonies.
If you're Jewish, you're not a subject, you're a resident, and the rules are different for residents.
So, I mean, I think most of the Jews end up, I mean, there aren't a ton of them. There may be something like one-tenth of one percent of the population, a tiny, tiny number. But, They have built several synagogues by the time the Revolutionary War is underway. And people who are visitors to the colonies are sort of shocked that there's no political equality, but they're shocked that. There are Jews in the taverns along with everybody else.
They're surprised that in the day-to-day life, They don't see the kinds of distinctions between Christians and Jews that you might find in, say, Central Europe or Poland. There isn't that kind of distinction that's made. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: And it's not just the Jews who are sort of residents but not citizens. You write a bit about the Catholics and the Baptists. Talk about that as well, because it's a sort of an alliance that'll form as the revolution occurs, where a war ultimately brings a lot of these folks together, seeking a common ideal, which would be religious freedom.
But that wasn't also why they fought either.
So, talk about both of those things. The thing that I think I found out writing this book is that religious freedom was not a given in 1776. It wasn't that the British colonies were this place where everybody had religious freedom, and then the revolution just kind of codifies it. Religious freedom is something you have to work for, it's something you have to build. And you're listening to Professor Adam Jortner, and he's a professor of history and religion at Auburn University.
And his book, A Promised Land, is a must-read. I urge you to go to Amazon or the Usual Suspects, pick up the book. And you'll learn a lot about the founding of this nation and the role Jews played in it. And my goodness, we're learning something already. The fact that there were Jews in America at the time, that Jews were involved in this patriotic struggle, and that so many Jews ended up in the city of Philadelphia because it was the one place where, as the war was beginning to commence, they felt free and they felt secure to represent and fight on behalf of and for their country.
and more importantly, for religious freedom. When we come back, we're going to learn more about the state of religious freedom in the United States and so much more. when we continue with our American stories. Lee Habib here and I'm inviting you to help Al American Story celebrate this country's 250th birthday. If you want to help inspire countless others to love America like we do, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to OurAmerican Stories.
Go to OwlAmericanStories.com and click the donate button. Give a little, give a lot. Any amount helps. Go to OwlAmericanStories.com and give. Friday Kick off the Winter Olympics in style with the opening ceremony from Italy featuring a special performance by Mariah Carey.
Celebrate the greatest athletes from around the globe as they come together to go for gold. Let's get on sensational! The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. to finding the sport. Friday at 8 Eastern, 7 Central on NBC and Peacock.
Are you looking for entertainment that lifts you up? Then check out Upt Faith and Family, the leading streaming service for inspiring, hope-filled shows and movies. This season streams soul-stirring favorites like Southern Gospel, plus four full seasons of Jesus Calling, and the uplifting new faith series These Stones. Or settle in with 19 seasons of the beloved family series Heartland, a family favorite ranch drama fans can't get enough of. It's commercial free.
Stream anywhere. To get a free trial today, go to upfaithandfamily.com slash iHeart. Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and now generated assets, which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt.
From renewable energy companies with high-free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-of-a-kind index, and lets you backtest it against the SP 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com/slash podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio.
That's public.com/slash podcast. Paid for by Public Investing. Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. member FINRA and SIPC. Advisory Services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC Registered Advisor.
Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash Disclosures. This Sunday, iHeartRadio brings you live to Levi Stadium in Santa Clara for the Super Bowl 60 Tailgate Concert presented by NetApp. It's the ultimate pregame party, featuring an exclusive performance from Teddy Swims.
Oh. Set me free. Your front row experience will be on iHeartRadio stations across the country and the free iHeartRadio app is Sunday at 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific. Then, after the concert, tune in to the Super Bowl 60 pregame show on NBC. And we continue with our American stories and with the story of the Jews around the American Revolution and how Jews played a part.
in our nation's founding, and that Jews had been here, well, for a very long time before. picking up where we last left off. is Adam Jortner. He's a professor of history and religion. at Auburn University.
So what you have in the British colonies, and of course these are not These are not equal places. We know slavery is legal in every British colony. Even Massachusetts has enslaved people. And it's not a world where it's assumed that each human being has natural rights. And therefore, it's not a big problem to say, well, there's going to be a state church.
The church sort of varies place to place. Congregationalist, Puritan in Connecticut, and it's Episcopalian in Virginia, and so on. But these are all connected. To the empire. All these state churches go back to the center of power in London.
And when the church is supported by a state, then the church will back up what the state wants. Other smarter people than me have pointed this out. When do we get real abolitionist churches in the United States? It's after the state churches have gone away.
So, the state churches want stability, they want peace, and they want the social order. That's how it works.
So, if you are not a member of the state church, Depending on the colony, You just don't have the same religious rights. This is the case with Jews, with Catholics. Baptists, that's a bit of a surprise for many of my students down here in Alabama, but Baptists in Virginia. Are technically not allowed to preach without permission from the Episcopalian, the Anglican State Church. Nope.
What does that mean? My students always want to know: what does that mean? Does that mean that they go around hunting up the Baptists?
Well, no. The way it works is like this. If you're a Baptist preacher or you attend Baptist services, you gotta pay taxes. and you pay a tax to support the state church. And then, unless you want your preacher to go hungry, and if you want a meeting house to meet in, you got to also pay for your own church.
So you're paying for. Two churches, only one of which you use. Second thing is, everybody's got to, if you're a Baptist preacher, you've got to be licensed and known by the state. And of course, the state can come in any time it wants and says this is not official church, state church business. And of course, when would the officials do this?
They do it if any Baptists become. troublesome. Particularly if a Baptist starts preaching against enslavement, or if a Baptist starts preaching about freedom of conscience, that is the right to choose your own pastor. then the next Sunday, you can be sure the sheriff might show up and say, oh, this is not a legal meeting. Or someone might, as sometimes happened, throw a beehive into your services.
And then nobody investigates it, or your preacher might get arrested. This happens a couple of times where the preachers are arrested.
So, Baptists don't have that kind of, when we talk about them not having full freedom, we really do mean they're not rounded up. But they're not allowed to worship, and for the powers to be, that's okay because they're not worshiping the right way. Same thing happens with Jews in Rhode Island. There's a Jewish community in the town of Newport, Rhode Island. And again, they are allowed to be there, their residents.
But there's a couple of times where the governor comes in and tries to seize all Jewish property based on the idea that, well, this is a Christian kingdom. That means Jews don't have property rights. And they work it out. But that had to be pretty scary. And when one Jew in Rhode Island by the name of Aaron Lopez, he's trying to become a subject, he wants to become an Englishman in the colonies.
Rhode Island won't let him.
So, you know, it's the same situation, and this is true Catholics in Maryland. Catholics could practice. But not outside, and not in a S you had to be in a private house. If you wanted to worship and you were Catholic, you dared to be Catholic in Maryland. This is the situation at the beginning of the Revolution.
And here is something I sort of realized. Which is what do the revolutionaries do before they write the Declaration of Independence, before they write the Constitution, even before they fire a shot? What they are saying 1774, 1775 is The British government is no longer valid here. They have violated our rights and we break from them. And once The Patriots say that.
Then all of those rules about which church you go to, Don't apply to the Patriots. You know, again, we can argue about this, and what are the legal details, but the reality is. If you were Jewish and you wanted to be a patriot and sign up, You can. And Mordecai Sheftal in Georgia becomes leader of kind of the de facto government of Savannah. even though he's Jewish, because it's not under British control anymore.
The same thing happens with a guy named Charles Carroll in Maryland, who becomes the signer of the Declaration of Independence. He couldn't hold office in Maryland because he's Catholic. But the Patriots don't have those rules. Just come one, come all. And this is sort of how The Patriots, they have a lot of support from these minority religious groups and support from all kinds of different people.
But this is sort of how these minority groups who had been legally banned from full participation. In the Patriot movement, Their hand. How did the revolution change Judaism?
Well, first of all, It gave Jews freedom to form their own synagogues. In most European colonial places, and in Europe itself, there's one synagogue per town. But that's not going to fly with the First Amendment because you have freedom of religion. And what you get is actually multiplying synagogues.
So that really for the first time. uh in the history of uh European Jewry and American Jewry, you have more than one synagogue to choose from, which is not always great because there aren't that many Jews in a lot of these towns, but. It's a real expression of freedom, which is to say, we're going to choose to worship this way and be Jews, and y'all can choose to worship a different way and be Jews, and the state and the rabbis cannot come in and stop them.
So it leads to a proliferation of voices about Judaism. The other thing that is very interesting is that it leads to the first really the first Jewish critiques of Christianity in hundreds and hundreds of years, because freedom of the press meant that Jews could finally write about that. And of course, there are Christian groups who say this is great. this religious freedom allows us to preach to Jews. Because in Europe, it's hard to preach the gospel to Jews because they don't have full rights.
They're being oppressed, they won't be able to hear the real message of Jesus Christ. But here in the United States, there are several organizations founded specifically to. Preach to Jews.
Okay, we've gotten rid of. The Union of Church and State, so this is a great time to preach. And they start publishing books. And Jews kind of respond. And most of the stuff is actually very, very polite and very tepid, but it does sort of lay out the foundations of a new set of arguments between Jews and Christians.
based on theological issues. Uh and there are some Uh some real whoppers in there. We're you know Jewish leaders say, Well, we believe in the promises of The Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and they bring up things that they don't agree with in the New Testament. And they're able to openly talk about, you know, when. We find Christian missionaries in the doorways of our synagogues.
This is really annoying. This doesn't encourage us to convert. It is a way for Jews and Christians to speak to each other on what are very touchy issues. But they're able to speak openly. They're able to sort of speak as equals And there's even times when Jews and Christians will debate each other in public, and then nothing happens to either of them, which again is just a huge step forward.
It leads to a real flowering of. Jews thinking about Okay, now that we have religious choice. Why Judaism? What is it that makes our faith distinctive?
So it leads to a lot of self-analysis of Jews, and that in turn. is part of what makes new synagogues. And of course all this debate within and among Jews and Christians.
Well this battle of ideas was not only good for the churches and the synagogues, it was good for America. And when we come back, more from Adam Jortner on the story of the Jews in America during the Revolution here on Our American Stories. Friday. Kick off the Winter Olympics in style with the opening ceremony from Italy featuring a special performance by Mariah Carey. Celebrate the greatest athletes from around the globe as they come together to go for gold.
Let's see for sensational! The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. William Maloney, redefining the sport. Friday at 8 Eastern 7 Central on NBC and Peacock. Are you looking for entertainment that lifts you up?
Then check out Up Faith and Family, the leading streaming service for inspiring hope-filled shows and movies. This season streams soul-stirring favorites like Southern Gospel, plus four full seasons of Jesus Calling, and the uplifting new faith series These Stones. Or settle in with 19 seasons of the beloved family series Heartland, a family favorite ranch drama fans can't get enough of. It's commercial free. Stream anywhere.
To get a free trial today, go to upfaithandfamily.com slash iHeart. Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and now generated assets, which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high-free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work.
It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-of-a-kind index, and lets you backtest it against the SP 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com/slash podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com/slash podcast.
Paid for by Public Investing. Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. member FINRA and SIPC. Advisory Services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool.
Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com/slash. disclosures. This Sunday, iHeartRadio brings you live to Levi Stadium in Santa Clara for the Super Bowl 60 Tailgate Concert. Presented by NetApp, it's the ultimate pregame party, featuring an exclusive performance from Teddy Swims.
Seven free. Your front row experience will be on iHeartRadio stations across the country and the free iHeartRadio app is Sunday at 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific. Then, after the concert, tune in to the Super Bowl 60 pregame show on NBC. I'm going to use the same method for the first time. And we continue with our American stories and with the story of the Jews around the American Revolution, picking up where we last left off.
is Adam Jortner. and he teaches history and religion. at Auburn University.
And his book, A Promised Land, is a must-read. I urge you to go to Amazon or the Usual Suspects, pick up the book. You start your book in July of 1776. with a man named Jonas Phillips shipping a copy of a very dangerous document across the Atlantic. Who was he?
And what was that dangerous document? Jonas Phillips is a Jewish merchant. He's living in Philadelphia. He's a patriot, and he's sending. The Declaration of Independence to some friends back in Europe.
And he he writes the letter in Yiddish. Because again, you're not allowed. It's illegal to ship the Declaration of Independence. It's an illegal document.
So he writes the letter in Yiddish. We have a copy of it, fortunately, that it got saved because it got captured by the British. Uh and he he says this uh he says the American army is full of a hundred thousand rookum and And Rookum is Yiddish for tough guys. And the British found this letter. Could not translate the Yiddish and assumed it was written in some kind of code, and it got stuck in British archives for 150 years.
But I think it's really I love this story. And Phillips goes on to become president of the synagogue in Philadelphia, funds money for naval operations, joins the militia. He's a really serious patriot, and he's a guy who speaks both Yiddish and English, a very devoted Jew as well. and it's seventeen seventy six, and the Declaration is just hot off the presses. Jews saw this moment of revolution, this moment of becoming a separate nation.
To cleave to the idea that all people are born naturally free, this is something that resonates in the Jewish mind, and it resonates right here. in the United States. I think one of the reasons why Jews in the Revolution seems so odd is because, of course. The vast majority of American Jews are descended from later generations. Who comes at the end of the 19th century and who are inspired by, among other reasons, this idea of freedom.
But I also want to point out that it was also inspiring for Jews who were already there. and who were able to come to the aid of the cause. And Phillips is Deeply involved in the war. He's deeply involved in creating this new American synagogue. And later, he's deeply involved writing to Washington and the Constitutional Convention about: hey, let's get full rights.
Yeah. Jews and and have no uh religious restrictions. Let's talk about Jews that were loyal to the crown, too, because look, Ben Franklin had a war inside his own house. His son was the royal governor of New Jersey. And sided with the Crown, and Ben Franklin did, and his son ended up in jail.
A lot of people don't know that. And they never were to speak again. Were there Jews that were sympathetic to the Crown? And was this a minority? Was it evenly split, as many historians believe Americans were?
I think that many historians believe it was sort of a third for the Crown, a third with the Patriots, and a third hiding under their tables, wondering what would happen. Talk about what you think that mix was within the Jewish community. First of all, everybody remember if it's before 1950, numbers are squishy. Which I mean to say when we say X amount of Americans believed this, X amount of Americans did that, the numbers are always squishy because there's no. There's no polling data.
But Here is what the evidence sort of suggests. American Jews serve in the Patriot Army. In the exact proportion to their numbers in the population. Which is to say that again, about one-tenth of one percent of Americans are Jewish, about one-tenth of one percent of the American Army and militias are Jewish. that probably indicates a very high degree of alliance to the patriot cause.
Because No Jew in America would have had a military tradition. Because Jews are either banned In European armies, or they're banned from the officer class in Europe.
Okay. Virtually all the armies fight under a state church. State church, you cannot have a Jew command a Christian. Russia, for example, lets Jews into the army, and they're so open, they let Jews in at age 12.
So Everyone who saw a kid in the Russian army knows who they can be anti-Semitic to. And of course, they can't be officers.
So there's no existing tradition of Jewish military service in the United States. But you get this very high level of participation. That seems to suggest that there is a strong patriot backing. Of course. It's not always true.
There are guys who live, particularly in New York, who. Stick around. In fact, the New York synagogue itself splits. The leader of the synagogue, a guy named Gersham Satius, when the British invade, leads. People out of New York into Connecticut to establish a kind of synagogue, a Jewish community in exile.
And a few people sort of stay back in New York. And actually, there's a Hessian. One of the Germans who comes over with the British, there's a Hessian Jew who ends up leading the synagogue during the Revolutionary War, while the British occupy New York for almost the whole war. Interestingly, that guy's name is Abraham Zuntz. And when the war is over and the Jews come back to New York, the Patriot Jews come back, they actually ask Zuntz to stay on as a member of the board.
And Zuntz is like, well, this, well, I could go back to Europe, but this seems. I think this is a good thing you guys have going. I'm paraphrasing.
So there are loyalist Jews who do stick around. What I found was interesting is I didn't find as many of them, and of course, that might be because loyalists don't as often have their stuff saved. But what I do think is interesting is that, at least in the places where we can trace this, and New York's the best place. The breakdown between loyalists and patriots doesn't seem to correspond to any previous divisions within the synagogue. In other words, it's not like the people who preferred their services in the Sephardic style joined one side, and people who preferred it in the Ashkenazic style joined the other side.
Or the families who had fought between, because of course, you know, it's a religious organization, families fight. The breakdown between loyalist and patriot doesn't follow those divides. Which again, I think, suggests that American Jews are thinking about this not as a way to settle old scores or to further their pre-existing agenda, but to say, ooh, this is a new interesting problem. This is an opportunity. How do we really think about the idea that all people are created equal?
How do we really feel about the idea that we should be able to choose, have a voice in. creating our own government.
So there are Jewish loyalists. I don't think there are as many as Jewish patriots, but again, if you want hard numbers, those do not exist. And you've been listening to Professor Adam Jortner. He teaches history and religion at Auburn University. His book, A Promised Land: Jewish Patriots, the American Revolution, and the Birth of Religious Freedom is available on Amazon or wherever you get your books.
And we learned so much here about religious freedom in this country in the revolutionary period, and it's not as tidy. as we'd come to believe, From anything we've been taught, I know, at least for me, I learned a lot just listening thus far. And by the way, we hear about not just the Jews' role in the revolution, but particular people too. Jonas Phillips, for one, a serious patriot. And my goodness, we learn he even took a chance shipping a copy of the Declaration of Independence overseas in Yiddish because the king thought this document was dangerous.
And my goodness, the king was right. document like this was dangerous to kings, monarchs, tyrants. everywhere in the world. When we come back, More of the story of Jews in the Revolution Here. on our American stories.
Friday. Kick off the Winter Olympics in style with the opening ceremony from Italy, featuring a special performance by Mariah Carey. Celebrate the greatest athletes from around the globe as they come together to go for gold. Let's be on sensational! The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.
William Maloney, redefining the sport. Friday at 8 Eastern, 7 Central on NBC and Peacock. Are you looking for entertainment that lifts you up? Then check out Upt Faith and Family, the leading streaming service for inspiring, hope-filled shows and movies. This season streams soul-stirring favorites like Southern Gospel, plus four full seasons of Jesus Calling, and the uplifting new faith series These Stones.
Or settle in with 19 seasons of the beloved family series Heartland, a family favorite ranch drama fans can't get enough of. It's commercial free. Stream anywhere. Get a free trial today. Go to upfaithandfamily.com slash iHeart.
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto, and now generated assets, which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high-free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-of-a-kind index, and lets you backtest it against the SP 500.
Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com/slash podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com/slash podcast. Paid for by Public Investing.
Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc., member FINRA and SIPC. Advisory Services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com.
Yeah. This Sunday, iHeartRadio brings you live to Levi Stadium in Santa Clara for the Super Bowl XXX Tailgate Concert. Presented by NetApp, it's the ultimate pregame party, featuring an exclusive performance from Teddy Swims. Sure. Seventy.
Your front row experience will be on iHeartRadio stations across the country, and the free iHeartRadio app is Sunday at 3:30 Eastern, 12:30 Pacific. Then, after the concert, tune in to the Super Bowl 60 pregame show on NBC. And we continue with Our American Stories and with Adam Jortner. He's a professor of history and religion. At Auburn University.
And we're talking about Jews during the American Revolution, their participation, and their fight. To secure our liberties. Let's talk about George Washington. He did a major first in world history. that isn't spoken of very often.
He appointed Jews as military officers. That never happened in Europe. Talk about how this made Jewish people feel. about Washington. Yeah, Washington s appoints people to higher offices without regard for their religion.
And that in itself is a remarkable achievement. Washington doesn't write very much about this. It could just be he needed the bodies. But here's the thing.
So does everybody else. His contemporaries, white European soldiers, also need soldiers and good officers, but they allow this discrimination to take place, and Washington does not. That probably secures Washington a real place in the heart of early U.S. Jews to the extent that. The Richmond synagogue will eventually write a prayer for George Washington.
And you know it's for Washington because it's spelled, it's an acrostic. in Hebrew.
So the letters spell out Washington. Because there's no W sound in Hebrew. It's a prayer they write and it spells out the letters in Washington's name. Using the Hebrew alphabet. But he has a real place in the hearts of the Jews.
and he becomes a kind of touchstone for what he then later writes about how he doesn't see any difference between a Christian citizen and a Jewish citizen. For the record, he writes this for all kinds of different minority religions. Washington did seem quite serious about the fact that religious freedom meant religious freedom. No single sect, no single church, no single religious tradition. Was to have preeminence.
Indeed, let's talk about George Washington's visit to Rhode Island. It occurs in 1790. Why is he in Rhode Island? That's a long trip from Washington, D.C., and his home at Mount Vernon. And who's this character that he ends up exchanging these beautiful letters, which we're about to hear, the audience is about to hear?
But set up this story for us. Why is Washington? in Rhode Island to begin with.
So President Washington goes to Rhode Island in 1791 because that's when Rhode Island finally joins the Union. And Part of the reason Washington goes up there is, of course, to you know, welcome to the Union, we're so glad to have you guys, and some of it is to sort of shore up support for his own political program. What he probably wasn't expecting was that he was going to run into a guy named Moses Satius, brother of Gersham. Who is the leader of the Jewish community in Newport, Rhode Island? Moses Satius had been a loyalist at one point.
But he switches sides. And once the war is over, he sort of becomes, he's one of the most prominent Jews in Newport, functionally president of the congregation. And they write a letter to Washington because, in Rhode, remember, in Rhode Island. There had been attempts in the previous century to seize all Jewish property. It's so They don't have, and Rhode Island again doesn't at that time have many religious freedom guarantees in its laws.
So Moses and the Jews of Newport are writing a letter to Washington to ask them. Are you going to Protect our rights. We have these federal rights under the Constitution. Are you going to recognize them? Because we feel like we've earned them.
Is this really going to be a place where everyone has the same religious rights? If you wouldn't mind, could you read that letter to us? to George Washington from the Synagogue of Newport, Rhode Island. Permit the children of the stock of Abraham to approach you with the most cordial affection and esteem for your person and merits. and to join with our fellow citizens in welcoming you to Newport.
With pleasure we reflect on those days, those days of difficulty and danger. when the God of Israel, who delivered David from the peril of the sword, shielded your head, in the day of battle. And we rejoice to think that the same Spirit who rested in the bosom of the greatly beloved Daniel, enabling him to preside over the provinces of the Babylonish Empire, rests and will ever rest upon you. enabling you to discharge the arduous duties of Chief Magistrate in these States. Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free citizens, we now, with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events, Behold a government.
erected by the majesty of the people. A government which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution, no assistance. but generously offering to all liberty of conscience, and immunities of citizenship. deeming every one of whatever nation, tongue, or language, equal parts. of the great governmental machine.
This so ample and extensive Federal Union, whose basis is philanthropy, mutual confidence, and public virtue, We cannot but acknowledge to be the work of the great God, who ruleth in the armies of heaven. and among the inhabitants of the earth. doing whatever seemeth him good. for all the blessings of civil and religious liberty which we enjoy. Under an equal and benign administration, we desire to send up our thanks to the Ancient of Days, the great Preserver of men.
Beseeching him that the angel who conducted our forefathers through the wilderness into the promised land may graciously conduct you. through all the difficulties and dangers of this mortal life. and went like Joshua full of days and full of honour. You are gathered to your fathers. May you be admitted into the heavenly paradise to partake of the water of life.
and the tree of immortality. It's just beautiful. And this is Washington's reply. Gentlemen. The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves.
Having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy, A policy worthy of imitation. all possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship, It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoy the exercise of their inherent natural rights, 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 in giving it on all occasions. their effectual support. He continues. May the children of the stock of Abraham Who dwell in this land?
Continue to merit and enjoy The good will of all of the other inhabitants. while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the Father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, in our paths. and make us all in our several vocations useful here. and in his own due time and weigh everlastingly happy.
Talk about that. I get chills reading that. I think it is so... profound to me for two reasons. One is that it sets up an ideal.
And we all know that the ideals of freedom are not fully realized in the revolution. We know that. The country doesn't come close to giving everyone here citizenship. But what Satius and Washington do in these letters is they're setting up that standard. The goal is that you have a country where there is to bigotry, no sanction, to persecution, no assistance, where everyone is going to be judged.
On the kind of citizen they are, not on what kind of beliefs they have, not on who their parents are. as a standard to live up to. It's been very influential for me, and I think it's been influential for a lot of other people, both successful and unsuccessful, in trying to secure that ideal, to make that freedom a real thing. And it's nice to see that Satius actually succeeds in it. The other thing that I think is so significant is that we often There's so much talk about what the founding fathers believed, and you know, where did they go to church?
What did they think the relationship between church and state was?
Well, this is where Washington. As we Jews say, the big macha, Washington comes right out and he says it. He says, you know, this is not a place where we're going to judge you based on your. theological beliefs. All we require is that you demean yourself as good citizens and There is Satius saying we have all alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship, deeming everyone.
Whatever nation, tongue, or language equal parts of the great governmental machine. That's really remarkable to say. We're gonna put it together a functioning country here, guys. We're not going to require people to take an oath to a certain God or to a certain church or to a certain ceremony. We're gonna take the oath to the country.
And a terrific job on the production and editing by our own Monty Montgomery and Reagan Habib. And a special thanks to Professor Adam Jortner. He teaches history and religion at Auburn University. He's the author of A Promised Land: Jewish Patriots, the American Revolution, and the Birth of Religious Freedom. Go to Amazon or the usual suspects and pick up a copy of this terrific book.
And my goodness, those two letters between Washington and Satius Set a standard for the nation to live up to. and to secure an ideal worthy of a new nation anchored in liberty. The Story of the Jews in America. and how they fought and participated in. Our revolution.
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