The Head Heeb (who I had nice dinner and great conversation with yesterday; thanks, Jonathan) plans to celebrate 349th anniversary of the arrival of Jews in America this September 7 with a blogburst and an offline celebration.
Arrival Day commemorates the landing of the first Jewish settlers in New Amsterdam on September 7, 1654. This September 7 — which is six weeks away — will be the 349th anniversary of the American Jewish community.
Arrival Day is different from other Jewish holidays in that it is a purely secular occasion — a celebration of the Jewish ethnic group rather than the Jewish religion. As such, non-Jews are allowed, and indeed encouraged, to participate. Just as everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, on Arrival Day everyone is Jewish.
On each of the Sundays between now and September 7, I will continue the countdown to Arrival Day by writing about American Jewish history, the American Jewish community today or my own experience as a Jew and an American. September 7 itself will be the date of the Arrival Day Blogburst. (Yes, I realize how presumptuous it is for a C-list blogger like me to call for a blogburst, but I have to start somewhere.)
Everyone, whether Jewish or non-Jewish, is welcome to take part in the blogburst. Those who want to participate can post on any topic having to do with Jews and Judaism, and need not do so from a Jewish point of view; gentile readers are welcome to write about their encounters with Jews or Jewish culture, or any other relevant Jewish-related subject. I will link to all Arrival Day posts.
I will also host an offline celebration of Arrival Day to which my family, friends and all readers in the NYC area are invited. I will post more details on this as the date gets closer.
Those who want to participate in Arrival Day can do so in two ways:
Link to this post, in order to spread the idea to people outside my small-to-moderate readership; and
Take part in the blogburst on September 7.
Spread the meme, people and participate.
