Today, our nation celebrates Juneteenth National Independence Day in commemoration of the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas on June 19, 1865 — freeing the last remaining slaves in the Confederacy. Lincoln first issued the final version of the proclamation on January 1, 1863, but the American Civil War prevented immediate implementation of the proclamation within territories still under Confederacy control.
Even General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, failed to dislodge slaveholders in Texas. These slaveholders did not comply with the law until the arrival of Major General Gordon Granger and his 2,000 federal soldiers in Galveston. One year later, those who were freed organized the first annual “Jubilee Day,” now known as Juneteenth. In 2021, it became a federal holiday.
The slaveholders’ stubborn resistance against the Emancipation Proclamation, even once Union victory appeared a fait accompli, should not be altogether surprising. Nearly all reforms, even those that appear self-evident given the passage of time, inspire some measure of defiance.
In this week’s Torah portion, B’ha’alot’cha, we find resistance toward one of our tradition’s most fundamental teachings – the command to welcome the stranger. “Miriam and Aaron [Moses’ siblings] spoke against Moses because of the Cushite [black] woman he married, stating, ‘He took a Cushite [black] woman [as a wife]!” (Numbers 12:1)
Though the Torah commands us 36 times to love the stranger, Miriam and Aaron – revered leaders among the Israelites – cannot relinquish their bigotry, even when the object of their bigotry is their own sister-in-law. God quickly summons the pair to the Tent of Meeting to censure them for their failure, reminding us of the importance of heeding the commandment to open our hearts to all those created in the Divine image.
Today offers us a meaningful opportunity to forsake the misplaced intolerance and intransigence demonstrated by our forebears. By acknowledging and observing this day as our Independence Day, learning more about its history, and considering how to make our communities and institutions more inclusive to Americans of color – Jewish and non-Jewish alike – we can make today a meaningful celebration of our nation and of our sacred tradition.
– Rabbi Josh Knobel