By Catherine Salgado

Written by Catherine Salgado

A blessed Easter and chag pesach sameach! This past weekend, Christians celebrated the resurrection of Christ from the dead, setting us free from sin, while Jews celebrated the end of Passover when God set the Israelites free from slavery in Egypt. Both Jews and Christians know that only God can truly free men from physical and moral slavery.

The great general and president Ulysses S. Grant, who was born in April, condemned antisemitism during his presidency, tried to promote unity and patriotism among both Jewish and Christian Americans, and observed, “The United States, knowing no distinction of her citizens on account of religion or nativity, naturally believes in a civilization the world over which will secure the same liberal views.”

Indeed, that was what Grant always worked for throughout his historic career. During the Civil War, he fought to end slavery and combat the genocidal racism of the Democrat Confederates. As president, he made civil rights his main priority, hence he earned the praise and love of many black Americans and Native American Indians. After leaving the presidency, Grant toured the world, and from Germany to England to Japan to China, ordinary citizens and monarchs and generals alike were all eager for his advice and his wisdom. He had shown the world what a liberal—that is, free—civilization could be, and the world caught the fire of his enthusiasm for liberty.

Many peoples in many ages fought for liberty against foreign or domestic oppressors in April, including at Lexington and Concord during the American Revolution, the Jews fighting the Romans at Masada, the Battle of Clontarf and the Easter Rising in Ireland, the Battle of Culloden in Scotland, the U.S. Civil War-ending victories at Bennett Place and Appomattox, and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the Nazis. These freedom fighters, though thousands of years apart in some cases, all were so dedicated to their religions and their ideals that they were willing to die for them, just as Christ died for all men, of every nation, class, race, and background.

May each of us one day say truly that we fought and sacrificed all we could to secure freedom to ourselves and others, for, as the Bible says, greater love than this no man hath, that he lay down his life for his friends (Jn.15:13).

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