Fired For Washington

A tenured Professor is being fired for quoting George Washington.

A tenured college professor is set to be fired for simply sending out an e-mail to colleagues containing George Washington’s "Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of 1789.”

Already professor Walter Kehowski at Glendale Community College in Arizona has been placed on forced administrative leave and the school’s chief has recommended his termination.

"It simply boggles the mind that a professor could find himself facing termination simply for e-mailing the Thanksgiving address of our first president,” said Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).

So what was in this Thanksgiving Address that was so incendiary? Let me quote a bit and see if you agree:

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanks giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many single favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

That seems pretty non-denominational.

Washington was familiar with the Jews in America and was well disposed to them. In fact a little less than a year after the Thanksgiving Proclomation George had this to say to the Jewish Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island. In part:

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: 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 enjoyed 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.

It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my Administration, and fervent wishes for my felicity. May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, 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 way everlastingly happy.

It is pretty obvious by the standards of those days and even these days that Washington was not religiously prejudiced.

So it seems that any reference to the Maker or Divine Providence is now out of bounds, at least in some University settings.

Pretty outrageous when you can get fired in the United States for passing out an Official Proclomation by the First President of the United States.

H/T JR at The Astute Bloggers.

The Wall Street Ghetto

Did you know there was once a Jewish ghetto in America? Me neither. The history is interesting.

350 years ago, in 1654, 23 Jews escaping from the Portuguese reconquista of Pernambuco - or eastern Brazil - from the Dutch, arrived on the French frigate St. Catherine in the New Amsterdam settlement in the colony of New Netherland. There they sought to settle. The Dutch had conquered Recife, but lost it a few years later to the Portuguese reconquista, leaving the 23 Jews adrift and stateless.

The Dutch governor of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, refused to admit the Jews and built a wall to temporarily ghettoize them, while he wrote to the Board of Investors of the Dutch West India Company to seek resolution on whether to permit the entry of Jews into America. The Dutch West India Company Board, on which several prominent Jews of Amsterdam sat, one year later ordered Stuyvesant to tear down that wall and let the Jews live with full rights to buy land, to trade, and to serve in the militia. By the way, the place where that ghetto wall stood became known as Wall Street.

From that moment in 1655, when Asher Levy won the right to serve in the militia and buy his own house, it became abundantly clear that this would be for us a new land, a new opportunity, a new home, and a radical new challenge.

We became integrated into the American religious mainstream. In 1776 Haim Solomon helped to finance the American Revolution. In 1730, Shearith Israel was established in New York City as the first synagogue in America. In 1790 president George Washington wrote his famous letter to the members of Touro Synagogue assuring them that their rights as a Jewish community in America were secure, and that their right to religious freedom was guaranteed by the United States government "which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance."

Something else I didn't know:

A couple of years ago, at the West Point Jewish Chapel, there was a display about Haim Salomon and the Revolutionary War. He died penniless, having used all his resources to aid the newly formed and poorly supplied American "army".

This is a wonderful story sent to me by a friend: A Story about: George Washington and the first Jews in America. General Washington's financial advisor and assistant was a Jewish man by the name of Haim Salomon.

During the cold winter of Valley Forge when American soldiers were freezing and running out of food, it was Hyam who marshalled all the Jews in America and Europe to provide money in relief aid to these stranded American troops and turned the course of history.

Without this help, our "Army" would have perished before they could have defeated the British.

If you take a one dollar bill out of your pocket and look at the back at the Eagle, the stars above the Eagle's head are in the six point Star of David to honor Jews. If you turn the Eagle upside down you will see a configuration in the likeness of a Menorah....both at the insistence of George Washington who said we should never forget the Jewish people and what they have done in the interest of America.

Very interesting.

H/T Atlas Shrugs

Update: 04 "Nov '06 0255z

I actually looked at a dollar bill. The eagle's tail feathers could be a Chanukah menorah. However, the stars are five pointed above the eagle. It is possible this has been changed from the original design. I'll look into it.

I have looked into it. The five pointed stars are arranged into a Star of David.