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Benjamin Netanyahu: Le ma’an Zion lo ekhesheh, u’l’ma’an Yerushalayim lo eshkot. (For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest. Isaiah 62:1)

Nehemia: Shalom, this is Nehemia Gordon with Hebrew Voices, and I am coming to you this week with Professor Michael Kochin of Tel Aviv University, the Department of Political Science. He did his undergrad at Harvard University and his PhD at the University of Chicago, and today, we’re going to be speaking about the cornerstone of American Jewish history. Shalom, Professor Kochin.

Professor Kochin: Hi, Nehemia.

Nehemia: We’ll be talking today about this letter written by a Jew named Jonas Phillips, who wrote to the Constitutional Convention as they were formulating the Constitution of the United States. So what was the issue here, Michael? Why is it that he wrote this letter? And then I’ll read a little bit of the letter.

Professor Kochin: So what bothers Jonas Phillips is something they have in Pennsylvania and the other states, except New York. They have religious tests for office that prohibit Jews from taking office under the state government.

Nehemia: Now, they don’t actually say Jews can’t participate in government, but the way they word it makes it impossible for a Jew to participate, right?

Professor Kochin: To take office you have to swear an oath that you believe in the Old and New Testament, which Phillips explains in his letter as something no Jew could swear.

Nehemia: Okay, and he’s in Pennsylvania, and the Convention is in Philadelphia, is that correct?

Professor Kochin: Yeah. He’s a Jew from Philadelphia. He’s a member of Mikva Israel, which is today, the oldest continually operating Jewish congregation in the United States.

Nehemia: Wow. And by the way, Mikva Israel, Mikveh Israel, people might think that’s the immersion bath of Israel, but the word “mikva” also means “gathering”. So it’s the gathering of the Israelites, is kind of what the name of the synagogue means.

Before we read the letter, I want to read from Article 6 Clause 3, or Section 3, of the US Constitution. And it says as follows: “The Senators and representatives aforementioned and the members of the several legislatures and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation.” And this is this the key part. “Anybody who holds public office shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution, but no religious tests shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”

And this Clause 3 of Article 6 of the US Constitution is a response to the letter written by Jonas Phillips in 1787. This whole idea that we have religious freedom, and in order to hold public office we cannot be forced through a religious test, is a response to this letter by Jonas Phillips.

Professor Kochin: It’s certainly a response to the kind of concern that he had. And he was an important guy, and it’s quite possible that he had other social opportunities and so forth, to express his views to the members of the Convention.

Nehemia: There was an article written by this Jewish scholar in 1879, who actually claims that Article 6 Section 3 of the US Constitution was a direct response to Phillips’ letter. Let me read this. This is written on August 22, 1879. It says, “In connection with this circumstance, I wish to remark that it was due to Jonas Phillips that the article on religious liberty, as contained in the New York Constitution of 1777, was made a part of the Constitution of the United States in 1789 by Congress.”

In other words, this idea of religious freedom already existed in the New York Constitution of 1777, and they copied that clause. And he says here in 1879 that it was a response to the letter. And like you say, whether it was a response specifically to the letter or that kind of concern, I guess you could never know that.

So let’s read this letter. It’s pretty amazing. He starts out, and he writes it on September 7, 1787. And the really cool thing is, I went online and I was able to find the original letter. It’s really hard to read. It’s really faded. I had to put it though Photoshop to enhance the ink. But you could actually read it! You can make out some of what it says. So here’s what he wrote in the letter of 1787.

He says, “I, the subscriber…” meaning the writer, and this is again, Jonas Phillips writing. “I, the subscriber, being one of the people called Jews of the city of Philadelphia, a people scattered and dispersed among all nations, d