Education and Sharing Day
Annual US presidential observance, first proclaimed in 1978 on the Hebrew birthday of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson
| Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A.
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Annual presidential proclamation or message; congressional joint resolutions |
| Start date | 19 April 1978 |
| Location | United States |
| Organisers | American Friends of Lubavitch; Abraham Shemtov |
| Other | Held on 11 Nisan, Schneerson's Hebrew birthday; originally "Education Day, U.S.A." |
Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A. (originally Education Day, U.S.A.) is a day proclaimed each year by the President of the United States on the Hebrew birthday (11 Nisan) of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe.[1] It began with a joint resolution of Congress in 1978, obtained through the lobbying of the Chabad emissary Abraham Shemtov.[2] Sue Fishkoff wrote in 2003 that it had become "an annual event, signed into effect every year by the president".[3] Chabad.org says every president since Jimmy Carter has proclaimed it.[1]
The day is one of the clearest examples of Chabad's access in Washington. Chabad delegations led by Abraham Shemtov and American Friends of Lubavitch have attended presidential signings of the proclamation in the White House.[4] The 1991 resolution's reference to the Seven Noahide Laws has made it a staple of antisemitic conspiracy theories.[5]
Origins
The 1978 resolution
Chaim Miller writes that "Through the efforts of the Chabad representative to Washington D.C., Rabbi Avraham Shemtov (b. 1937), from 1978 onwards, the Rebbe's birthday has been declared each year, by every U.S. President since Carter". He quotes the resolution passed by the 95th Congress, H.J. Res. 770, which noted that "world Jewry marked in 1977 the seventy-fifth birthday of the revered and renowned Jewish leader" and asked the President to proclaim 19 April 1978 "Education Day, U.S.A."[2] Fishkoff writes that Carter "declared the first 'Education Day USA' in Schneerson's honor" in 1978, and that the 1978 proclamation scrolls are displayed in the Rebbe's library at Chabad headquarters in Brooklyn.[3]
The Department of Education
Chabad tied the day to Carter's plan for a federal Department of Education. Fishkoff writes that Shemtov sat on an intergovernmental advisory committee on education and "spent hectic months lobbying for congressional support for a Cabinet-level department of education". He was a guest of honour when the department opened in 1980.[3] In a letter to Carter, Schneerson said the proposal had "received my fullest endorsement", according to Miller.[2] At a tribute in 1997 the Education Secretary, Richard Riley, said of Schneerson: "His voice, so respected and beloved, helped to make it happen ... So I owe my job to him."[3][2]
The 1982 National Day of Reflection
For Schneerson's 80th birthday in 1982, Congress declared a National Day of Reflection. Heilman and Friedman write that Shemtov ran "what the papers called a 'well-oiled [political] machine'". He approached lawmakers with organised Lubavitch communities in their districts, including House Speaker Tip O'Neill, and asked 60 Lubavitch centres in 30 states to get supporters to phone Congress. Within about a week he had "close to two hundred congressional co-sponsors". They add that "This too was seen by Lubavitchers in a messianic context."[6] Miller quotes Ronald Reagan's proclamation of 3 April 1982: Schneerson "has provided a vivid example of the eternal validity of the Seven Noahide Laws, a moral code for all of us regardless of religious faith".[2]
Public Law 102-14 (1991)
In March 1991 Congress passed H.J. Res. 104, designating 26 March 1991 as "Education Day, U.S.A.". President George H. W. Bush signed it on 20 March as Public Law 102-14. Its preamble says the nation's ethical values "have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization, when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws". It says the Lubavitch movement "has fostered and promoted these ethical values and principles throughout the world" and that Schneerson "is universally respected and revered". It calls his 90th year one of "education and giving", in which "we turn to education and charity to return the world to the moral and ethical values contained in the Seven Noahide Laws". The operative clause only designates the day and asks the President "to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to observe such day with appropriate ceremonies and activities".[7]
Heilman and Friedman write that from 1984 Schneerson "stepped up efforts" to focus the non-Jewish world "on the need to observe the Seven Noahide Commandments". In his view, observance by non-Jews would also "prepare the way for the Messiah".[6][8] Miller writes that what Schneerson "clearly appreciated was recognition of the Noahide Code at the governmental level". He quotes Schneerson's 1987 letter thanking Reagan for his "forceful, supportive stance" on "the so-called Seven Noahide Laws".[2]
Annual proclamations
In 1984 Shemtov brought the Minnesota emissary Moshe Feller to the Oval Office for Reagan's signing.[4] Fishkoff's book has a photograph of George W. Bush signing the proclamation in March 2002, "Flanked by Chabad shlichim from around the world".[9]
Donald Trump's proclamation of 9 April 2025 recalled his visit to the Ohel on the first anniversary of the 7 October 2023 attacks. He prayed there with relatives of the hostage Edan Alexander, and wrote that his administration was "securing peace and stability for the Jewish people in their homeland and around the world".[10] In 2026 the White House issued a presidential message rather than a proclamation, dated 28 March 2026. Trump wrote: "As President, I am proudly advancing the Rebbe's vision of intellectual achievement, righteousness, and faith." The message also promised to end "left-wing indoctrination of our students".[11] Chabad.org reported it as a proclamation and promoted a new Chabad.org tool tracking celebrations of the day at local, state and national level.[1]
Noahide conspiracy theories
Because Public Law 102-14 mentions the Seven Noahide Laws, it has been cited online as evidence of a plot to impose Jewish religious law on non-Jews, sometimes with the claim that this would involve beheading Christians. In 2023 the Georgian fact-checking site Myth Detector examined Facebook posts that showed photographs of presidents with rabbis as the signing of the "Noahide Laws". It found that the photographs showed presentations of the Education and Sharing Day proclamation, that the Noahide Laws "do not contain calls for violence against Christians", and that the posts quoted the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion.[5] The text of the law designates a single day and creates no legal obligations.[7]
See also
- Abraham Shemtov
- American Friends of Lubavitch
- Levi Shemtov
- Menachem Mendel Schneerson
- Mitzvah campaigns
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Chabad.org, President Trump Proclaims Rebbe's Birthday Education & Sharing Day, U.S.A, 2026 Chabad.org, March 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Chaim Miller, Turning Judaism Outward: A Biography of the Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Brooklyn: Kol Menachem, 2014, ch. 13.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Sue Fishkoff, The Rebbe's Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch, New York: Schocken, 2003, p. 192.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Fishkoff, The Rebbe's Army, 2003, pp. 195–196.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Giorgi Minashvili, Anti-Semitic Disinformation About "Noahide Laws" And The "Elders Of Zion" Myth Detector, 16 November 2023, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Samuel C. Heilman and Menachem M. Friedman, The Rebbe: The Life and Afterlife of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010, p. 213.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 US Congress, Public Law 102-14, 105 Stat. 44 GovInfo, approved 20 March 1991, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Heilman and Friedman, The Rebbe, 2010, p. 214.
- ↑ Fishkoff, The Rebbe's Army, 2003, photograph section.
- ↑ The White House, Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A., 2025 The White House, 9 April 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Office of the Federal Register, Message on Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A., 2026 Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents, DCPD-202600215, 28 March 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.