Rabbi's Message
President Lincoln and the Jews
It seems like ancient history, but I can remember, as a school child always being off February 12th - the actual birthday of Abraham Lincoln (as well as Feb. 22nd for George Washington's birthday.) This was long before the nebulous "President's Weekend" - a big sales extravaganza in the malls - that we have today.
Frankly, in this case, I think the "old days" were a lot better. Children might not have known a great deal of the detailed history about Lincoln, but at least on that day it caused us to think about him with respect to what we did know and to realize why we were out of school.
February is Lincoln's birthday month, and it makes me think of the great affinity that the Jewish people have for the memory of this great president. Of course, Lincoln often has been called to mind with so many motion pictures over the years; the latest iteration being Steven Spielberg’s production in 2013.
For Jews, the connection goes very deep into the far reaches of our Scriptural past. We were a slave people, led to a God-directed freedom under our leader Moses. Thus, the identification with Lincoln, who freed the African slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation, was a natural one. But there is so much more. There were several important actual historic events when Lincoln - out of his passion for individual liberty - responded to Jewish concerns for their dignity and well-being.
First, during the Civil War, Jewish soldiers in the Union Army were restricted from having chaplains of their faith; Congress had only made provisions for Christian chaplains. In March 1862, due to Lincoln's forceful initiative, Congress agreed to correct that inequality. Later that same year, one of the most egregious rulings was perpetrated against Jews by Ulysses S. Grant, then commander of the Union forces in Tennessee. Falsely accused of bribing officers to allow them to smuggle cotton, Grant ordered Jews expelled from the state. Lincoln was furious and promptly revoked the order.
Finally, in 1863, one of the earliest proponents of Zionism, which supported the creation of a Jewish state in the Holy Land, a Canadian named Henry Monk approached Lincoln about it. The president voiced public enthusiastic support that gave Jews great encouragement in an effort that eventually bore fruit.
In the Book of Exodus, in that great moment of revelation, God tells Moses: "The cry of the children of Israel is come to me ... come, Moses, I will send you to bring my people out of Egypt." (Exodus 3:9-10) Lincoln followed in the mold of Moses, infused with the ideal of freedom, with specific acts for the beleaguered. That is why Jews remember him with such respect on his birthday as should all freedom-loving people.
