Exhibits, marches, celebrations: How American Jewish orgs are marking 250 years of independence

This July 4, American Jews will find themselves navigating the 250th year of the nation’s independence through a highly politicized cultural and religious landscape.

There’s definitely a good mood deficit all around: 77% of Americans say the founders would be “disappointed” in the state of the union, crossing party lines.

Still, Jewish organizations across the country are marking the semiquincentennial and long history of Jewish contributions to American democracy with a variety of events, including cultural programming and civic education rooted in Jewish texts.

October 24, 2025 – August 9, 2026

Seixas congratulated Washington on his new presidency, and expressed hope and optimism at the prospect of religious freedom in their new country.

“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 -,” Washington wrote in response, adding a quotation from scripture, “while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

The exchange has become the ur-text of American Jewish belonging, surfacing in virtually every instance Jewish Americans have faced challenges about their place in the national fabric.

On June 29, the museum will hold a ticketed lecture exploring the lives of Jews in Colonial America, co-hosted with the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, Congregation Shearith Israel.

Entry to the museum is free on Saturdays.

April 23, 2026 – April 2027

Philadelphia’s Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, a Smithsonian affiliate currently under consideration to become a full member of the Smithsonian Institution, has a slate of exhibits focused on Jewish involvement during the American Revolutionary period.

Aside from the core exhibition, which spans 1654 to 1945 and focuses on themes of freedom and religion, there is also the “Only in America” Gallery - a hall of fame of American Jews such as singer-songwriter Irving Berlin, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, actor and singer Barbra Streisand, and Henrietta Szold, the founder of the Zionist Hadassah movement.

“The First Salute” exhibit explores a little-known story of a group of Sephardic merchants on the Caribbean island of Sint Eustatius, who helped supply the Continental Army with weapons. On November 16, 1776, an American ship entering the harbor and flying a precursor to the American flag was thought to be the first American cannon salute to be recognized by a foreign nation. The ship sent out a 13-gun salute, and was returned with one by the Dutch governor. “The First Salute” will be on view until April 2027.

The core exhibition is viewable online, as is the “Only in America” Gallery.

June 10, 2026 – July 10, 2026

The Jewish service movement that connects young adults to community service events around the United States has launched Serve 250, a themed campaign offering service and learning opportunities throughout the month. Repair the World is also partnering with A More Perfect Union to provide democracy and civic engagement resources.

July 21, 2026 – December 31, 2026

A new exhibit at New York City’s Center for Jewish History and the American Jewish Historical Society will explore the history of Jewish political life in the United States, and how the Jewish community has engaged with civic and political issues like citizenship, immigration, labor rights, voting access, civil rights, and religious freedom.

Through seven thematic sections, “All We Have Standing Between Us” will feature letters and artifacts from former presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Nixon, and Barack Obama, as well as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt; Picasso drawings of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the Jewish couple convicted of spying for the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War; and texts and digital media highlighting the work of Sephardic poet Emma Lazarus, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr., and feminist writer Betty Friedan.

The exhibit will be accompanied by an eight-episode podcast launching July 1.

July 26, 2026

Philadelphia’s oldest synagogue is hosting a celebration for America’s 250th Independence Day from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. with vendors, food, art, and music. This event is all-ages friendly.

Congregation Mikveh Israel is the oldest continuous synagogue in the United States founded in 1740 by Spanish and Portuguese immigrants. It was once led by Gershom Mendes Seixas, the first American-born Jewish religious leader in America and a founder of what later became Columbia University in New York and the cantor at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York. (The Seixas family was also involved in a number of other important Jewish and secular establishments, including the founding of the New York Stock Exchange, the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, and Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island.)

The synagogue is also hosting a July 4 Independence Day weekend Shabbat service, with Friday night and Saturday morning services. A “Faith and Freedom” exhibit detailing the Jewish contributions to the American Revolution and onward is currently on display at the synagogue.

The Hartman Beit Midrash for America at 250 has created a digital library of Jewish texts and ideas, and developed a series of public programs, essays, in-person events, holiday guides, podcast episodes. There will be a special America 250 edition of Hartman’s journal “Sources: A Journal of Jewish Ideas.”

In partnership with the civic education nonprofit A More Perfect Union, Hartman has also established a cohort - the American Jewish Civics Seminar (AJCS) - based on Jewish teachings to provide a framework for understanding civic and democratic issues.

Included as part of this project is a resource library with essays about how American Jewish institutions are engaging with civic learning, like the four-week voter student learning series and voter engagement project MitzVote at Hillel International.

New York’s largest synagogue is hosting a variety of events through their “Celebrate America at 250” series.

The synagogue will hold a July 3 Friday night Shabbat service, and is also hosting a lecture series with events scheduled into 2027. The free lecture series includes opportunities to learn about the Jews of Savannah, Charleston, Newport, and Philadelphia, and how Jews left a mark on American pop culture.