George Washington’s Vine and Fig Tree: Micah 4:4 and the Religious Character of the American Republic

A virtual event presentation by Dr. Aaron Tugendhaft

The event was co-sponsored by Temple Chai and BMH-BJ

About the Event:
As anyone who has seen Hamilton knows, George Washington loved to quote the prophet Micah’s vision of humankind each sitting under their own vine and fig tree. This seminar will explore this prophetic phrase within a colonial and American revolutionary context and consider how Washington’s adept use of Micah’s image served a larger purpose of forging the religious character of the early American Republic. Special consideration will be given to Washington’s celebrated letter to the Jewish community in Newport, Rhode Island, and to that letter’s place within a broader correspondence with diverse religious communities at the moment of Washington’s first inauguration.

About the Speaker:
Aaron Tugendhaft studied history and philosophy at the University of Chicago, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Sorbonne. Since receiving his doctorate in Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies from New York University in 2012, he has taught broadly within the humanities on four continents and has become a staunch advocate of traditional liberal education as a corrective to premature professionalization, academic hyper-specialization, and political polarization. His most recent book, The Idols of ISIS: From Assyria to the Internet (University of Chicago Press, 2020), is a philosophical meditation on the political power of images and the significance of their destruction. Since 2021, he has served as History Department Chair and Director of Interdisciplinary Programs at the Ramaz School in New York City.