What Does Jerusalem Have to Do With American Freedom?

Did you know that a Bible verse is engraved right into one of America’s most enduring symbols of freedom—the Liberty Bell? I am currently standing in Jerusalem’s Liberty Bell Park, the heart of the city, where we recently celebrated America’s 250th birthday. It is a fitting location; this bell, a replica of the original, carries a story that travels far beyond Philadelphia, stretching all the way back to the Torah.

To understand the weight of that legacy, we must look to the Pennsylvania State House—what we now call Independence Hall. It was here that America’s Founders gathered to vote for independence and adopt the Declaration. When that iconic bell rang out, it summoned the people to hear the Declaration read aloud for the first time. It was a moment of profound transformation: a bell ringing, a crowd gathering, and a new nation declaring its freedom to the world.

But here is the most powerful part of the story: the inscription etched into that bronze is a direct command from Scripture—Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof.”

The call to “proclaim liberty” did not originate in the halls of the Enlightenment alone; it came straight from the Jewish Bible. God’s Word provided the moral architecture that helped shape America’s vision of what freedom could be. From Philadelphia to Jerusalem, it becomes clear that liberty is not merely an American invention—it is a biblical calling, born first in the ancient wisdom of the Torah.

That is a heritage worth celebrating. Happy 250th birthday, America—from Jerusalem!