U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Jewish Americans to observe a national Shabbat from sundown May 15 to nightfall May 16 in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month and the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Rabbi Steven Burg, CEO of Aish, told JNS that he was “very moved” by the president’s message because it shifts the narrative from Jew-hatred to Jewish faith.
“One of the things people lose in all of this antisemitism is that we’re a proud religion,” he said.
Burg told JNS that the call for a national Shabbat observance is “more meaningful than anything else I could have ever seen because it celebrates our religion and it refocuses on our job to become a light unto the nations.”
“In a social media world, the overwhelming majority of the hate is coming towards the Jews,” he said. “The celebrating of Shabbos and everyone putting down their phones and putting down X, where all this hate lives, is actually really good and really healthy for society.”
In his official proclamation of the annual heritage month, Trump wrote, “In special honor of 250 glorious years of American independence and on the weekend of Rededicate 250—a national jubilee of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving—Jewish Americans are encouraged to observe a national Sabbath.”
“From sundown on May 15 to nightfall on May 16, friends, families, and communities of all backgrounds may come together in gratitude for our great nation,” he wrote. “This day will recognize the sacred Jewish tradition of setting aside time for rest, reflection and gratitude to the Almighty.”
The president also called on “all Americans to celebrate their faith and freedom throughout this year, during this month, and especially on Shabbat to celebrate our 250th year.”
Rabbi A.D. Motzen, Agudath Israel of America’s national director of government affairs, said he will be celebrating the national Shabbat, dubbing it “Shabbos 250.”
“Shabbos 250 is an opportunity to celebrate the religious liberty we enjoy in this great country and to reflect on the gratitude owed to the United States by each and every one of us,” he stated. “We thank President Trump for recognizing the important role of the Jewish people and Shabbos in the history of the United States.”
Rabbi David Katz, executive director of the Israel Heritage Foundation, thanked the president and called his proclamation “historic,” noting that there was a time in America when Jews who “left work early on Friday to light Shabbos candles, or would not come in on Saturday to honor the Sabbath, often paid dearly.”
“They were told to choose between their paycheck and their faith,” he wrote. “How beautiful, how moving, how deeply healing it is to witness the opposite today.”
