(Every ten to twenty years, these two commemorative days actually fall on the exact same day � the last time that happened was in 1996 and the next time will be in 2015 � but they are always within at least a few weeks of each other.)Īs we all know, Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain and the right to live in freedom in our own land.
Every summer around the beginning of July, I am always struck by the irony of the coinciding of July 4th, Independence Day, with the Jewish fast day of Shivah Asar B�Tammuz, the Seventeenth Day of the Hebrew month of Tammuz.
