PROCLAIM LIBERTY KIDDUSH CUP - Celebrate350!

 Rabbi Sussman's Message

Click on picture to see an enlarged copy

The arrival of a French frigate in the harbor of New Amsterdam in September, 1654 marked the beginning of Jewish settlement in North America.  Now, 350 years later, the Jewish community in the United States is the largest, most affluent, and most secure Jewish community in the history of the Jewish people.  The first Jewish settlers in this land could never have imagined the life their descendants built in this place.

Most Jews were drawn to the colonies and the United States by the "promise of America" with its combined hope of prosperity and liberty. Like all other groups who came to these shores, American Jews had to pick carefully both the material and spiritual content of their luggage and, equally, had to choose what materials they would use to build new lives for themselves and their posterity on this side of the Atlantic. 

Aware of the many blessings the American Jewish community has enjoyed for the last 350 years, the Temple Judea Museum of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel has commissioned a special Kiddush cup which brings together Judaism's most heartfelt way of expressing joy and gratitude and the American blessing of freedom.  Proclaim Liberty.... is a unique, appropriate and permanent expression of the nexus of our two beloved traditions, Jewish and American, the perfect symbol for American Jewish celebrations for today and tomorrow.

 Rabbi Lance J. Sussman

Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel

 See also the Kiddush Cup Project      Artist's Background       Reservation form