Despite Congress and President Joe Biden recently designating Juneteenth a federal holiday, the United States still struggles to commemorate a jubilant, though complicated, moment of freedom from chattel slavery. As a nation, we have yet to fully reckon with the legacy of slavery and ongoing systemic racism.
Commemoration of events both joyous and tragic is woven into the fabric of Jewish faith and tradition. Our Jewish calendar is replete with holidays marking events both joyous (the miraculous oil that lasted for eight nights remembered each Hanukkah) and tragic (the destruction of the ancient holy temples remembered on Tisha B’Av just this month).
Germany
United-states
Egypt
Americans
America
American
Egyptians
Tisha-bav
Joe-biden
Centers-for-disease
Reform-jewish-movement
Commission-to-study