Rosh Chodesh Tamuz: Is There a Fourth of July In England?

Elanna Cahn — June 27, 2014 – 11:04 am | Rosh Chodesh Comments (0) Add a comment

When I was a kid, some of us used to challenge each other with trick questions.  One of them was “do they have a Fourth of July in England?”  The answer is, of course they do.  It is just after the Third of July.  But the trick of the question is that what July 4^th represents to America has identified the date with a celebration of United States independence (from England).

Sometimes a generic time or place, a name or event, takes on greater symbolic meaning.  “High Noon” has ominous overtones, “Washington” is never just a surname and “fireworks” always resonate with Independence Day.  If the association is strong enough, the symbolism even takes over the original.  The Philippines and Rwanda have both adopted July 4 as days of significance.  My great grandfather chose July 4 as his (otherwise unknown) birthday when he arrived in America, becoming Benjamin Franklin Schwartz, instead of Binyumin.

Jewish tradition has its share of such symbols as well.  Sinai means more than a mountain in the wilderness.  The shofar is more than a horn.  And Jerusalem - well, it never was just another city.

The United States is blessed to count England as an essential friend and ally, something that was probably never imagined possible by the subjects of King George.  Over the course of many years, through wars with each other and between surrogates, the two countries developed a tenuous and then genuine attachment of the common values they shared.  As America’s notions of liberty and justice for all became the gold standard of human rights, former enemies became mutual admirers.

These days when the Fourth of July rolls around, we have to remind ourselves of the idealism of our founders.  It seems like our government and our way of life have become locked into symbolic gestures that bring no progress.  A hot dog, a Sousa march and fireworks are not substitutes for the substance of which the architects of the Declaration of Independence dreamed.  Not quite 100 years later, Lincoln reminded us, in the midst of civil war, that our government of the people, by the people and for the people was the measure of our meaning.

The United States didn’t invent life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but we are major exporter.  There is a reason people clamor and even break the law to live here.  The freedoms we enjoy have become second nature, and we are astonished to find countries in which American ideals are not the default settings.

My hope for the USA on its 238^th birthday is that we recommit to acting on our values and develop an impatience with accepting them as mere symbols.  Our symbols may inspire others, but unless they see us put them into action, symbolism is where they will remain.  That’s not so different from Jewish values, not surprisingly.

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