Tikvah
Editor's Pick

April 25, 2025

How Jews Helped Shape Religious Freedom in America

And how America shaped Revolutionary Jewish communities.

Besides being the seventh day of Passover, last Saturday marked the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the first significant military confrontation of the Revolutionary War. To mark the occasion, Rich Tenorio speaks with Adam Jortner about the role of Revolutionary-era Jews, who made up about 0.1 percent of the colonies’ population, in forming the American tradition of religious freedom. Jortner argues that one of the many contributing factors was “Jews—and Catholics as well—showing up to the patriot cause.”

Save