Today we celebrate the 249th anniversary of the promulgation of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Several months ago I was in Philadelphia and took a tour of Independence Hall. One thing that struck me was the combination of reverence for the place and access for everyone that characterized the “room where it happened” and the engagement of everyone listening to the guide (including my young daughter, who was fascinated).

It is no coincidence that so many of the concepts underpinning the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights feel so familiar to those privileged to learn and know something of Jewish law and tradition. The signatories of the declaration and the framers of the constitution, among them the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel and John Adams - and their contemporaries - were often conversant in Jewish law. Many of them read and were able to understand Hebrew.

There is much to exemplify this connection, but no element more than in the idea of the judiciary in Article II of the Constitution. As in Jewish Law, there are layers of courts mandated, up to the Supreme Court and its Justices. This has its parallel in Jewish courts of 3, 23, and 70, known as the Sanhedrin. Their work is described as “in law and equity”, which echoes the Torah concept of equality before the law and not giving preference to the powerful, as explained in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers). And I see not simply the echo, but the identical language in the Constitution’s treatment of testimony for treason as depending on “unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act” derived from “Al Pi Shnayim Adim Yakum Davar” literally that testimony can only be established as evidence on the word of two witnesses.

As we celebrate the Fourth of July, we can also celebrate with pride the essential and familiar nature of America’s fundamental values. Derived from the Torah, Accessible to all like Jewish law and scripture, bringing together the mundane and the hallowed in the same place and with the same words. It is no wonder that our community has found a place and a role here like in no other part of the diaspora. In all its imperfections, this place and these values ring true and make us proud. May we celebrate with even more joy in better times, holding this truth to be self evident - that despite every bit of hate and insult thrown our way by those who despise both us and these United States, we flourish, we rise, and hold our heads high.