Adath Jeshurun Plans Slate of Events to Celebrate 250 Years of US, American Jewry

Each year, Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park creates a theme to tie together its annual offering of adult education courses. For 5786, which spans the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026, the theme combines Jewish history, American history and the synagogue’s Philadelphia roots: “Honoring America’s 250th: The Impact of Jews in America.”

Rav Shai Cherry , the congregation’s rabbi, said that celebrating the semiquincentennial of the country is a great way to show not just the ways that the United States has benefited Jews, but also how Jews have benefited the United States.

“Once we hit on the idea, then the subject flowed very easily. We wanted to use some of the major historical moments of U.S. history — the Civil War, the Revolutionary War — in order to highlight some less