Fireworks, processions, or perhaps an MMA showdown right on the White House lawn? Here are a few of the ways Americans will be celebrating the country’s 250th birthday. A Jerusalem-based yeshiva and an interfaith initiative launched by a rabbi are proposing something similar: a bit of Torah study. What if the Declaration of Independence were approached in the same way that Jewish tradition engages its own foundational texts — as living documents to be closely studied, vigorously debated, and placed in dialogue with ancient sources? The concept behind “Talmud of America” — a set of four essays released by the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and Faith303, the project founded by Rabbi Michael Holzman of Northern Virginia. “The Torah is a living document,” Rabbi Leon Morris, president of Pardes, told me recently. Classic Jewish sources offer surprisingly timely and pertinent insights on virtually any topic — including the Declaration of Independence. The four essays featured in “Talmud of America”—covering equality, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the right to rebel, and concepts of sacrifice and civic involvement—were written by Pardes faculty members Yiscah Smith, Leah Rosenthal, David I. Bernstein, and Rabbi Rahel Berkovits. Both were born in America and now live in Israel. “Talmud of America” brings the analytical methods of the beit midrash—the traditional Jewish study hall—to the United States’ founding document. The Talmud retains its debates, complete with minority views and unsettled disagreements, because the struggle itself is as important as any resolution. The notion of finding shared understanding in “sacred” American texts comes at a particularly tense time.