Скачать или смотреть George Washington's Letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport RI

On Sunday October 28th, one day after the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, the following dramatization of a 1790 letter from George Washington to the congregants of the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, RI was performed.

PERFORMED BY
Cliff Weissman

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Thank you Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times for your "tip of the hat" regarding this piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/30/op...

FULL LETTER TEXT:

To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, 18 August 1790

Gentlemen.

While I received, with much satisfaction, your Address, replete with expressions of
affection and esteem; I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you, that I shall always
retain a grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced in my visit to
Newport.

The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more
sweet, from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity
and security. If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we
are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good Government, to
become a great and a happy people.

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. 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 everyone shall sit in safety
under his own vine and fig tree, 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.

George Washington