A fundamental commonality between the United States and the Jewish People
David Goldman and others have pointed to a fundamental commonality between the United Stations and the Jewish People: Both nations are founded on a covenant, not on blood and soil.
The Jewish covenant was forged at Sinai, an event that we will celebrate a few days from now on Shavuos. Just as our ancestors entered into a covenant with Hashem based on their acceptance of mitzvos, so too any person who commits to the observance of mitzvos in the same fashion is eligible to become a full-fledged member of the Jewish People today.
Similarly, citizenship in America never depended exclusively on one’s ancestry or longtime presence. America is, after all, a land of immigrants, composed of people from all corners of the earth. The one fundamental requirement for becoming a citizen is an oath of loyalty to the United States and to the Constitution.
Americans have traditionally been bound by their constitutional faith and belief in the wisdom of the Founders. They studied in school the Founders’ vision of divided and limited government, and read the best arguments in favor of the arrangement entered into in the Federalist Papers.
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