PINCHAS JULY 4^th 5781

Gd Bless America, the Real Story

Tomorrow, for me is a sacred day—July 4^th, the 245^th anniversary of the founding of America. Today there are many people who are not so fond of America—calling it a racist country. From my perspective, while there are hateful people here as everywhere else, while we as a country still have some ways to go to get where we should be…for me I’m so proud to be an American, and one of the reasons is precisely because of how far this country has come in dealing with racism in my lifetime.  

And I’m so proud to be an American because America welcomed Jews fleeing oppression when no one else would have us. Yes, we had to struggle for our rights and to be accepted, but we have persevered. Let no one tell us that we should feel guilty because of our “white privilege.” 1^st of all, the Jewish community is really not that white, and 2^nd of all, with all the renewed anti-Semitism in America these days, are we really privileged? Jews, precisely because we appreciate the American values of freedom, liberty and equality, are always in the forefront of the struggle to bring those values to everyone.

If you spend any time watching the news these days, you mainly hear about what’s wrong with America: besides racism, people say there’s the inequity of people who have so little and people who have so much; there’s our cancel culture, where Gd forbid you said something wrong 10 years ago and it was captured on video, your life could be ruined; social isolation is pervasive; ours is a disposable culture; and most of all there is a great ignorance of world affairs because most people get their news from FaceBook and its ilk.

Despite some embarrassing realities, however, America remains the hope and promise of the world. It’s one of the only countries where, when a ruling party is voted out of office, the transition proceeds so smoothly. If America is so bad, “Why is it,” as Ronald Reagan was fond of saying, “that this is the only country in the world where everyone wants to get into, and no one wants to leave?” And so, even celebrities who threaten to leave if so and so is elected, never do!

To be sure there are many special things about America. I did some research and here’s a sampling of what I found: 

Only in America......can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.

Only in America......are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink.

Only in America......do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

Only in America......do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.

Only in America......do we leave cars worth tens of thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.

Here’s my favorite: Only in America......do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

To these I add:

But only in America could an African American raised by a poor single mother become president.

        Only in America could we go from 25,000 to 6 million Jews—becoming the largest Jewish community in the world in just a century and in the process save Jewish life from vanishing from persecutions, pogroms and the Holocaust.

I believe, as Michel Medved was fond of saying, that “this is the greatest country on Gd’s green earth.” With all its imperfections, the birthday of America, which we celebrate tomorrow, is a day that we Jews ought to celebrate with such joy and gratitude. America gave Jews a place of refuge during the worst times of our history—a place of freedom that allowed us to grow into increasing acceptance and prosperity. It is no wonder that the song that most epitomizes the blessings of America— “Gd Bless America”—was written by a Jew: Irving Berlin.

It was “Gd Bless America” that we sang after 9/11 and not the “Star Spangled Banner.” It was heard spontaneously on the steps of the Capital that day with black and white, Democrats and Republicans holding hands as they sang because that’s what America is all about.

In her book, Gd Bless America: The Surprising History of an Iconic Song, Sheryl Kaskowitz reveals its amazing story. Irving Berlin originally wrote “Gd Bless America” for a 1918 revue that included among its sundry delights a blackface number and a drag routine—all performed by a cast of WWI American soldiers. But the song was cut from the show before opening night. Berlin dug “Gd Bless America” out of the proverbial wastebasket in the fall of 1938 after radio superstar Kate Smith asked him for a patriotic song to sing on her show for Armistice Day.

Irving Berlin, a Belarusian Jewish immigrant who grew up speaking Yiddish, did not fail to notice that the premiere of “Gd Bless America” in the United States coincided with Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, in Germany—a night that for many marks the beginning of the Holocaust!

Kaskowitz writes: By 1940, “Gd Bless America” seemed to be everywhere. The Brooklyn Dodgers played it at every home game that year—soon all of baseball adopted it—and both the Democrats and the Republicans incorporated it into their conventions and campaigns…Several anti-Semitic groups predictably targeted “Gd Bless America” as evidence of an imagined Jewish conspiracy, though the pro-Nazi German American Bund embraced the tune for a time at its New Jersey retreat—that is until they called for a boycott of the song upon discovering that it was written by a Jew.”

Certainly, as Jews, the song, “Gd Bless America,” is close to our hearts. My friends, let’s celebrate the 4^th of July tomorrow as a real Yontif. Let us not say Tachanun—a prayer not said on Jewish holidays—when we pray that day. Let us be grateful for America which has saved the world through 2 world wars, taught the world about freedom and democracy, and modeled for the world that welcoming others makes you stronger, not weaker.

In our Torah reading, Gd blesses Pinchas with a Brit Shalom (a Covenant of Peace) for defending Gdly principles. May Gd bless America with a Covenant of Peace as it defends the Gdly principles of liberty, freedom and justice for all. Amen!

On this Shabbos before July 4^th let us rise and sing together “Gd Bless America”:

Gd Bless America,

Land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her 

Thru the night with a light from above. 

From the mountains, to the prairies, 

To the oceans, white with foam 

Gd bless America, My home sweet home.