You may think Juneteenth is, at its core, a holiday intended primarily for Black Americans. But it is more than that. It is of profound significance to all Americans.

For Black Americans, of course, it might be akin to Passover, a day to celebrate freedom. June 19, 1865 was the day some of the last victims of American slavery (in Texas) learned that they were free.

But for non-Black Americans, Juneteenth represents a day that our country as a whole graduated up from a very low level of morality to a somewhat higher one. In a nutshell, as I see it, Juneteenth commemorates the day that white Americans gave up their whips and chains. And that should be meaningful for all of us.

I didn’t think deeply about the Juneteenth date until one year ago. I was in a supermarket checkout line, and I was not wearing a kippah — perhaps I was wearing a cap with an American flag on it. A man came up to me and said something like, “Hey, between you and me, buddy, don’t you think this Juneteenth business is the most ridiculous ‘woke’ thing?” He gave me an odd look that seemed to say, “Are you one of us? You know what I mean?”

I admit, I’m one of those people who never thinks of the perfect answer on the spur of the moment. What I blandly replied was, “Well, maybe you’re right … but you’ve got to admit there are a bunch of American holidays that are more ridiculous than Juneteenth.” I was about to say more, but the guy slipped away without any comment. It took me a while before I even thought that perhaps he was a white supremacist seeking common cause with me.

What truly pained me, however, was that there was a Black woman in line ahead of me, and when I answered “maybe …” she visibly stiffened in silent outrage. I wish I could find her and say, “please forgive me for not answering him more forcefully. I am just so bad at ‘thinking on my feet.’”

But the incident made me think more and more about this, the newest American holiday.

Juneteenth might be a more meaningful holiday than even July 4. It’s all well and wonderful to celebrate our nation’s birthday — I love this country deeply. But consider that for nearly a century following July 4, 1776 it was perfectly legal to buy a family and torture, murder, rape and maim them and even sell their little children who would be forever separated from their parents. Slaveowners sired children who in turn became slaves … to their other (white) children. Imagine the pathos of enslaved couples who, losing a child to the slave trade, would adopt another orphaned child to be raised as their own, hoping against hope that some other unknown enslaved family would be similarly kind to their own lost child. The pain and nightmares within our American dream were immense.

Suddenly, on Juneteenth, after a ferocious civil war, America pulled itself one rung up the ladder of civilization and all those horrors became illegal. Now, that is something worthy of commemoration. A nation, having committed unjustified wrongs, had begun to mend its ways.

I cannot think of a similarly noble celebration within our Jewish calendar. Certainly, there have been moments in our 3,400 yearlong Jewish history when we sank a notch or two in morality and later relented — one that comes to mind is the forced conversion of Edomites by the Hasmonean King John Hyrcanus about 200 B.C.E — but we certainly never instituted a holiday to mark our remorse for those wrongs.

When Presidents Lincoln and Grant promoted Thanksgiving to be a fixed national celebration 150 years ago, their purpose seems not so much to remind us about the Pilgrims and Native Americans, which is how most of us think about that holiday today. Rather, they were seeking a way to heal the rifts of the Civil War by showing how two dramatically different groups of people were able to overcome their hostilities and meet in peace.

So too, I believe that our President (and a nearly unanimous Congress), in declaring Juneteenth a national holiday, had in mind a deeper significance than simply a holiday aimed at Black Americans. It is directed at all of us to remind us that during deeply polarized times and rising distrust, our nation can and must heal its scars and mend its differences.

We Jews well understand that before there is hatred, there is often fear and outrage. Much of the antisemitism Jews have suffered these past two millennia was first triggered by inducing fear. The “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” for example, pushed the idea that Jews might be an insidious and nefarious threat. “Blood libel” charges sparked outrage. Fear and outrage came first. Hatred and persecution came later, as a consequence — often lasting for many generations.

So I consider it our duty on Juneteenth to examine our own feelings, to identify our own fears and outrage, and to consider that they may be without merit. Caravans of murderous immigrants? People with different dating desires than our own? We Jews, as well as Black Americans, understand from our own histories that once fear and outrage turn into hatred and bigotry, it may be impossible to ever reverse that process. It is up to us now, to halt the trend toward hatred before it is too late.

In this time of undeniable resurgent Jim Crow laws, rising antisemitism, anti-AAPI and anti-Hispanic sentiment, queer bashing and widespread anti-trans laws, the holiday of Juneteenth reminds us that we have not yet fulfilled the goal of so many of our Founding Fathers to create a nation that maximizes freedom and individual liberty. There are further steps we can take up the ladder of morality.

To reiterate, what I celebrate on Juneteenth is the day 150 years ago that Americans — more specifically, white Americans — gave up their whips and chains. The holiday of Juneteenth challenges us to show similar insight and courage today.

By Dan Dyckman