Congregation Mikveh Israel (Photo credit: Christopher Brown)

Congregation Mikveh Israel, the longest continuously operating synagogue in the United States, is planning a Jewish America 250 celebration for July 26 at 4 p.m.

Mikveh Israel leaders hope to bring together synagogues, advocacy organizations and the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, among other groups. They also just want to attract Jews in general.

Lauren Sady, the assistant to the executive director at Mikveh Israel, said she aims to align the start time of the event with the regionwide commute home from the shore on a summer Sunday.

“Philadelphia has so many Jewish communities,” said Shayna Golda, the synagogue’s executive director.

Mikveh Israel, based in Old City, opened in 1740 and served as the Jewish home for American revolutionaries. Even today, it honors those early Americans with a large cemetery near its property. The Jewish America 250 celebration will be hosted in the courtyard at the shul.

The event will bring Jews together while honoring Jewish history in America. Jews, like Mikveh Israel member Haym Salomon, who helped finance the Continental Army, have been contributing members of American society since the beginning.

It’s a historical claim often brought to light by Jonathan Sarna, a professor at Brandeis University widely considered the preeminent Jewish-American historian, and the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History here in Philadelphia. But it is embodied by “the synagogue of the American Revolution,” as Mikveh Israel likes to refer to itself.
“What better way to start a tradition of huddling together than to restart where Jews started in Philadelphia?” asked Eli Gabay, the shul’s president.

Congregation Mikveh Israel (Photo credit: Christopher Brown)

The city of Philadelphia has also lent its support to the event as part of its larger America 250 celebration, which includes FIFA World Cup games, the Salute to Independence Semiquincentennial Parade and other gatherings.

Mayor Cherelle Parker recently visited Mikveh Israel for a ceremony to open the synagogue’s archives. The city has also been promoting Jewish America 250 on its Access Philly app, which was created to help residents and visitors navigate the semiquincentennial celebrations.

“It’s trending on the Access Philly app,” said Sady.

Visit Philadelphia, the city’s official tourism agency, has helped spread the word by tagging the event. The Weitzman, AJC Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey and Anti-Defamation League Philadelphia are co-sponsoring the celebration and helping to boost it on social media.

“There’s nothing like this that exists,” Sady said. “The fact that it’s America 250 and we’re supported by the city only makes it more important.”

Gabay said that Jewish groups used to hold an annual festival for Israeli Independence Day at Penn’s Landing with music and food, but that ended about a decade ago. Since then, Jewish organizations have remained in their geographical silos.

“Right now, there are synagogues in the Northeast, and they are not in any contact with synagogues in South Philadelphia and Montgomery County and Bucks County, and this is not healthy for the Jewish community to proceed this way,” Gabay said. “We absolutely need an event.”

An event can lead to connections, partnerships and ongoing relationships, according to the Mikveh Israel president.

“Just the physical sense of being together, in one event, meeting, singing together, dancing together, huddling together, and all this, is what we had,” Gabay said.

The Israeli American also said it’s important to do that in America, for the United States’ birthday and at Mikveh Israel.

“We are reminded that Jews chose to support Gen. George Washington and the Continental Army. Jews chose to shoulder the task, the privilege, of creating this nation,” he explained. “These United States, by way of the Declaration and Constitution, guaranteed religious freedom to all. In year 250 of the United States, we need to re-center ourselves around the idea of liberty, freedom and justice for all.”

“It is extremely important that we remember that and bring that to the forefront in these days of antisemitism,” he added.

jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com