Tonight is Shabbat 250: Trump's first-ever national Sabbath proclamation takes effect
For the first time in US history, a sitting president has called on all Americans to observe a Jewish Sabbath. The proclamation falls on the same day the world marks Nakba Day
Thanks to a proclamation from US President Donald Trump, tonight marks the start of "Shabbat 250," a national Sabbath inviting Americans of all backgrounds to observe the Jewish day of rest, through nightfall on May 16. This comes as part of a commemoration for Jewish American Heritage Month (May) and the 250th anniversary of the United States. Shabbat 250 also coincides with Armed Services Day in the US.
In the proclamation, made earlier made on May 4, Trump wrote that "friends, families, and communities of all backgrounds may come together in gratitude for our great Nation," invoking George Washington's 1790 letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport promising the US gives "to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance."
However, the date of Shabbat 250 carries additional layers of tension. May 15 is also Nakba Day, the annual commemoration of the 1948 displacement of Palestinians, marked this year by a UN Palestinian Rights Committee special session at the ECOSOC Council Chamber in New York.
Additionally, the day after Shabbat 250, there will be Rededicate 250, a nine-hour nationally organized event that Trump's senior faith advisor Paula White-Cain described as being "about the history and the foundations of our nation, which was built on Christian values," reassuring attendees it would not involve "praying to all these different Gods."