WALL STREET JOURNAL
‘Jewish Roots of American Liberty’Review: A Hebraic Revolution
Rick Richman
December 22, 2025

…The Hebrew Bible maintained an unrivaled authority in early America, says Daniel L.Dreisbach of American University. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries the Bible was the country’s “most accessible, authoritative, and venerated book.” Mr.Dreisbach notes the powerful importance of the Exodus story of providential liberation and deliverance as the model for Americans’ rebellion against Britain’s pharaonic royalty. It was an idea reflected in Lincoln’s description, as he assumed office in 1861, of Americans as an “almost chosen people.” The Exodus wasn’t the only rebellion story that resonated with early Americans. Rabbi Halpern writes that the Book of Esther “has a special place in American history”: In the decade preceding the Revolution, newspapers and preachers cited theJewish queen’s defiance of her king as support for America’s own struggle for freedom. Samson’s self-sacrifice in defeating his Philistine enemies was used by Samuel Adams and others to illustrate the “zeal” of the Sons of Liberty. READ MORE