Here is a string. Please tie it on your finger. You are supposed to remember something. What? What is it that tying a string on your finger is supposed to help you remember? To pick up the milk on the way home from work? Does it work? No, this is not the Alzheimer’s sermon.

Today we read a portion that includes a passage we know well. It includes the third paragraph of the V’ahavta. “The Lord said to Moses, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, “Make for yourselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages, with a string of blue on each corner. This will be your fringe. Look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and observe them….thus you shall be remaindered to observe all My commandments and to be holy to your G-d. I, the Lord, am your G-d who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your G-d. I, the Lord am your G-d.” (Numbers 15:3-41)

It is important to remember. What is it that we are remembering? There are two ways (at least) of tying tzitzit, the original Jewish macramé. The first is designed to remind us of the letters Yud-Hay-Vuv-Hay, 10, 5, 6, 10, the numbers of each of the letters of the Name of G-d. Look upon the fringes and remember G-d. The second provides twists and turns and knots to remind us of the 613 commandments in the Torah.

So we are remembering G-d and to observe G-d’s commandments.

This weekend we are remembering something else as well. We are remembering that this is a good land. The beginning of this week’s portion is about the 12 spies who went into the land of Canaan. Twelve scouts. They scouted out the land. Ten came back and said that it couldn’t be done. That although the land flows with milk and honey, the people are like giants and the Israelites appear as grasshoppers.

Only two, Joshua and Caleb thought it was possible. The remainder of the tribes continue to rebel and Moses has to intercede on their behalf, using the words of the 13 Attributes to remind G-d to be a forgiving G-d. And G-d says, “I have forgiven you according to your word.” The very same words we hear as the answer to Kol Nidre. But that is a sermon for another year.

So the land is a good land. Flowing with milk and honey. Other natural resources. Not unlike Governor William Bradford’s report about Plimouth Plantation. Let’s review. This great land we live in is a good land too, one flowing with milk and honey and lots of natural resources. One where the Puritans wanted to serve G-d in their own way, to be a light to the nations and a light on the hill. Where Bradford himself learned to read Hebrew so that he could speak to G-d in the language the world was created in.

But the Puritans were not always so good on pluralism, or diversity. And so their own children founded the town of Duxbury and wrote a halfway covenant since they did not have the same zeal or understanding of G-d. The Puritans kicked out Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams. Jews were far less prominent although the first Jews arrived in the early 1620s in Massachusetts Bay Colony and in 1653 in New Amsterdam.

Nonetheless, by the War of Independence there were some prominent Jews. Hayyim Solomon. Aaron Lopez. Rebecca Gratz among them. There were Jewish congregations in New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, Richmond, Savanah, Boston and Newport, RI.

Jews have prayed on behalf of their secular leaders and governments since Jeremiah’s day. As an American Studies major with a concentration on colonial American History, I have loved the prayer that was written by the Jews of Richmond for George Washington, shortly after he began his presidency. It is elegant, with Washington spelled out in Hebrew acrostic. http://opensiddur.org/prayers-for/collective-welfare/government/prayer-for-george-washington-first-president-of-the-united-states-of-america-by-kahal-kadosh-beit-shalome-1789/

It is not that different than the prayer we will do for our current government in our siddur, Siddur Sim Shalom.

But today, I really want to look at two letters. One from the “sexton” of the congregation in Newport RI, http://www.tourosynagogue.org/history-learning/tsf-intro-menu/slom-scholarship/85-seixas-letter

Inviting Washington to visit when he was coming to Newport. Note the language, “to bigotry no sanction.”

George Washington did in fact visit and sent a letter of thanks and appreciation. http://www.tourosynagogue.org/history-learning/tsf-intro-menu/slom-scholarship/86-washington-letter

Again, we see the language, “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”

This exchange is the basis of the First Amendment. The guarantee that all who live in this land, this good land, freedom of religion. It is carved into the US Holocaust Museum and recently photographed by our own state representative Anna Moeller.

And while this country we live in, the United States of America, is indeed a good land. One where we are guaranteed freedom of religion, it is not something we can take for granted. It is something we need to remain vigilant about. Something we need to remember. So look at your fingers again and that string that is tied to them.

This portion begs us to remember something else. We are to remember that we were slaves in the land of Egypt. We were strangers. We are never to forget that we were marginalized and so should never marginalize others. This portion begs us to have only one set of laws—much like Washington is saying—for the citizens and for the strangers. One equal law. Period. And G-d is serious about this. Because G-d repeats it twice.

In fact, 36 times the Torah tells us that we need to take care of the widow, the orphan and the stranger. I have used this line so often, I get tired of repeating it. Apparently, however, it is difficult to do and that is why the Torah itself repeats it so many times. So repeat I will.

There is one more thing about threads. In the haftarah, the prophetic portion, two scouts, Joshua and Caleb, go spy in Jericho. They are the strangers. And they are rescued by Rahab who is described as a prostitute, an unlikely helper. Recently I reminded the people gathered at the vigil the quote from Mr. Rogers, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

Since she was a helper, Joshua and Caleb had her tie a red cord on her window so that her family would be spared and could be rescued when the Israelites stormed Jericho.

This is what we are commanded to remember. We must remember that we were strangers in the land of Egypt. That there must be one law for Israelites and strangers amongst us. That helpers come from unlikely sources. That we must remember that this is a good land, one flowing with milk and honey. That we need to protect George Washington’s mandate, “to bigotry no sanction; to persecution, no assistance.” And if, we observe the commandments and remember G-d, then we, and our children, and our children’s children, will continue to enjoy a good life on this great land. Look again at your string. Now we know what to remember.