American by the Grace of God – Tablet Magazine
America is more special than other countries. Moreover, it has withstood greater crises than these, and each time, a divine hand has guided it onward to greatness.
But the only way this will happen is by understanding that grace, while freely given, is nevertheless contingent it is decidedly not an entitlement. It requires a fundamental transformation in accordance with the rules of the house, and so it comes with an inherent warning against precisely the sort of exploitations we re seeing these days from our fellow Americans.
We immigrants have been invited into this great house, but ungrateful guests can and should be asked to leave. Grace is an act of adoption, the incorporation into a familial bond that is not yours by birthright, not a license to demolish the very foundations on which we all stand.
As students of the Bible and of Hebrew, we are inspired by the fact that the Hebrew name for America is Artzot Ha Brit, or the lands of the covenant. Ours is a covenantal nation, which means that each generation must renew the covenant with the Almighty and be found worthy anew of the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our predecessors did so by repelling the British, ending slavery, and preserving our legacy of freedom and equality. It s now our turn to do the same. As we stand by the barbecue soon and enjoy our bounties, then, we ll do so with the three words on our lips that had inspired immigrants since the dawn of our national sojourn: God bless America.
Liel Leibovitz and Tony Badran.
A little July 4th cheer for you all. I had not heard that the Hebrew name for America means “lands of the covenant.” That’s nice.