“ 1 Now the LORD said unto Abram: 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee. 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing. 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.' 4 So Abram went, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him; and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.” (From Genesis 12, JPS 1917)
This comes directly from the Bible¹ on which many throughout U.S. history have, at least to some extent, claimed that the foundational documents of the U.S. find their bases. Beginning with, for instance, George Washington in his letter to Sefardi Congregation Yeshuat Yisra’el (Jeshuat Israel) in Newport
“It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my Administration, and fervent wishes for my felicity. May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.
Go: Washington”
President Washington had a full cognizance of the fact that a nation that was one of “Nature and Nature’s God” could not and cannot prosper without acknowledging the favor that “Nature’s God” already bestowed upon Israel. Even if Washington himself was not a Christian (as what exactly his own religion was remains a matter of debate for some), he recognized what gentile pagan leaders before him recognized: i.e., that “Nature’s God” is the very God of Israel, Whom even hinges the destiny of all countries based on the destiny of Israel (as the following, among other, verses show):
“When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men, He set the borders of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. For the portion of the LORD is His people, Jacob the lot of His inheritance.” (Deuteronomy 32:8-9)
And
“ And it shall come to pass in the end of days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established as the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many peoples shall go and say: 'Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:2-3)
Professing himself to a modern-day Cyrus (despite that even the pagan Cyrus would come to recognize the God of Israel), President Harry S. Truman claimed to believe such. This means that he obviously implied professed agreement with President Washington before him, as he purported to agree with the Cyrus with whom Washington agreed:
“ 1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying: 2'Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD, the God of heaven, given me; and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whosoever there is among you of all His people--his God be with him--let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel, He is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And whosoever is left, in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill-offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.” (From Ezra 1)
Of course, we now know that (and being a relative of victims and survivors of the Holocaust in Russia, I have mentioned several times that) Truman was no Cyrus or fellow Philosemitic POTUS of Washington. In fact, he disfavored Israel by (among committing other Antisemitic acts) lauding the main perpetrator of the Soviet-named “Doctor’s Plot” as “America’s Uncle Joe”, and doing nothing to help wrest the Temple Mount out of the hands of the Arabs (in which it still remains, and into which it first fell when the Dome of the Rock was first built).
Conversely, per Ezra 4, Cyrus did not immediately tolerate or encourage that “the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin”—among whom were descendants of Edom and Ishmael—would even stop the Temple Mount from being back in Jewish hands. While “the adversaries…weakened the hands of the people of Judah…” in those days, they certainly did not have Cyrus’ tolerance or encouragement to do so. They also would not have had Washington’s tolerance or encouragement for— had Zionism as we know it occurred in his days—Anti-Zionist acts.
For such a nation of “Nature and Nature’s God” as well as a Judeo-Christian nation, the United States and its presidents from Nixon (and officially on February 1, 1980 under Carter) to Clinton (with Congress’ approval) took its Antisemitism a step even further. It bestowed onto China what belongs to Israel, and thus tried to rob even from God by giving China what has belonged to Israel since ancient days: most-favored nation status.
(Not only, then, was Carter the worst POTUS at that point: he was also the most Antisemitic. As if approving of Truman’s hypocrisy was not enough, Carter went as far as to try to steal from the people of Jesus of Nazareth what God the Father Himself gave Jesus’ people—including my mixed-blooded-Jewish self.)
By now, one should conclude that the economic and other troubles that the United States has endured due to its relationship with China may as a direct result of it. In other words, one should begin to see that the U.S.’ defiance of God and favor of China may well be its cause for being cursed economically and otherwise over the past 53 years. He or she should also see as a miracle that Israel in the U.S. continues to do what we (yes, we) did for the U.S. in Washington’s day (which Washington as a gentile took to heart, and which I as a Jew born almost 300 years later take to heart):
“ Build ye houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply ye there, and be not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto the LORD for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.” (Jeremiah 29:5-7)
In His mercy, God would fully understand if we even stopped praying for a nation that is much like the Babylon which carried us into what eventually became the first global diaspora. Nonetheless, as we did for Assyria and did for the cities to which Babylon carried us, we seek the peace (and blessing) instead of the cursing of (and judgement against) Israel’s not-so-strongest ally. If only the United States of today would reciprocate like the United States of George Washington did, and if even one president in the future would be a true American Cyrus! If only a true American Cyrus (and the U.S. Congress with him or her) would also take back from China and return to Israel what God gave Israel in the first place: most-favored nation status!
¹ Here, the JPS 1917 translation via MechonMamre.org, as with all other quotations.
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