What does the 4th of July mean for the American Jew? In this powerful reflection, Rabbi Josh Fixler draws on Frederick Douglass’s famous question — “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” — to explore religious freedom, belonging, and the promise of America. Rabbi Fixler weaves together the history of the Constitution, the First Amendment, George Washington’s letter to the Jewish community of Newport, and Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” to consider what freedom, identity, and civic hope mean today. This is a meditation on America’s founding ideals and the ongoing work of living up to them for all people.