July 4, America at 250, and Shabbat
This year, the Fourth of July falls on Shabbat, as America marks 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
At its core, July 4 celebrates the belief that people should have the right to shape their own future and build a society around shared values. For many of us, that freedom means the freedom to explore who we are, to choose how we engage with the world, and to build community on our own terms. Those ideals are ones we strive toward every day. Freedom has always been unfinished work and an ongoing process.
Shabbat raises some of the same questions – but differently.
Every week, Shabbat asks us to stop producing long enough to remember that we are partners in the work of building the world we want to live in and showing up for one another in community.
In his book, The Sabbath, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel writes: "Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time." Heschel argues that most of life pulls us toward work, achievement, and constant motion, and Shabbat interrupts that cycle. It's the difference between scrolling through your phone at midnight worrying about tomorrow and sitting around a table with people you care about, actually talking. For one day, we step away from productivity and make room for presence.
This Shabbat, we get to do both – to celebrate freedom and to practice the kind of presence and community that makes freedom worth having.
Discussion Questions
What does freedom mean to you right now?
What responsibilities come with living in a free society?
What is one promise America has fulfilled well, and one that still feels unfinished?
What helps you slow down enough to think about what really matters?