Many Americans from evangelical Christians Churches know the English Bible well enough to cite a considerable number of verses. But for many other Americans, the first of this week’s twin-parashiyot contains one of the very few biblical verses they know. In the King James translation: ‘Proclaim liberty throughout the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof’. It is inscribed on the ‘Liberty Bell’ in Philadelphia, bearing a message associated with political independence from the mother country across the ocean.
The views expressed in this D’var Torah do not necessarily reflect the position of Leo Baeck College.