Welcome to a new podcast season, Jewish Voices, American Stories. In this episode, we’ll explore pivotal moments when American presidents helped shape a nation where the Jewish people could belong—and thrive.

We begin at the founding of the United States, when George Washington answered a profound question for a small but faithful community: Would this new nation make room for the Jewish people? Through a historic letter to a Jewish congregation, Washington offered more than tolerance—he affirmed full belonging, promising a country that gives “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”

From there, we step into the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln, guided by conscience and inspired by the Bible story of Esther, wrestled with what it meant to act “for such a time as this.” America would be cast as a “land of promise,” drawing deeply from Scripture—reminding us still that freedom is a calling.

Finally, we move to the world stage in 1948, when President Harry Truman made a decision that would echo through history. In the shadow of the Holocaust, Truman recognized the State of Israel just minutes after its founding—an act of moral clarity that forged a lasting bond between two nations shaped by faith.

These stories remind us that the story of America has always been intertwined with the story of the Jewish people—woven together by shared Scripture, shared struggle, and shared hope.

To learn more about God’s people—from the days of the Bible through the present—visit The Fellowship’s Learn Center.

In this final episode of Heroes of the Holocaust, CJ Burroughs shares the true stories of three heroes who gave their lives in the face of evil. Some were Righteous Gentiles—non-Jews who chose to protect Jewish lives at terrible cost. But the first hero we’ll meet today was Jewish himself.

You’ll hear the story of Dr. Janusz Korczak, a doctor, writer, and caretaker in Warsaw who refused to abandon the children in his care, even when he was offered a chance to escape.

You’ll also meet Diet Eman, a young Christian woman in the Netherlands who joined the resistance and risked her life again and again to help Jews in hiding, even as the cost of her courage became devastating.

And finally, we’ll travel to France to remember Father Jacques, a priest who opened his school to Jewish children—and who, when the Nazis came, did not abandon them.

Their stories remind us that the Holocaust was not just a time of hatred—it was also a test of humanity. And even in history’s darkest chapter, there were those who chose compassion, courage, and love.

Thank you for listening to this season of Heroes of the Holocaust. May these stories stay with you, and may their memory be a blessing.

To learn more about God’s people—from the days of the Bible through the present day—visit The Fellowship’s Learn Center.

In this episode of Heroes of the Holocaust, CJ Burroughs shares the true stories of three heroes whose courage took place underground. The stories we’ll hear today include secret resistance networks, hidden wilderness refuges, and even a literal shelter beneath the earth.

You’ll hear the story of Jan Karski, a Righteous Gentile who served as a courier for the Polish underground and risked his life to carry the truth about the Holocaust to the world.

You’ll also meet the Bielski brothers, Jewish partisans who fled into the forests and built a hidden community that rescued more than a thousand Jews from Nazi extermination.

And finally, we’ll travel to Latvia to remember Robert Seduls, who turned a cellar into a sanctuary—hiding Jewish families underground and keeping them alive through fear, hunger, and constant danger.

These stories remind us that in the worst of times, God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary good—and that sometimes the bravest acts of courage happen where the world cannot see them.

To learn more about God’s people—from the days of the Bible through the present day—visit The Fellowship’s Learn Center.