Letter from J. Peynada to Isaac Leeser;January 07, 1849 · Isaac Leeser Digital Repository · Legacy Projects from Judaica DH at Penn Libraries

Title

Letter from J. Peynada to Isaac Leeser;January 07, 1849

Author

J. Peynada

Contributor

Isaac Leeser

Date Created

7 January 1849

Location(s)

Philadelphia

Format

Letter. 4 page(s).

Type

Letter

Language(s)

English

Has Format

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3057d84v/manifest.json

Link to Colenda

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3057d84v

Physical Characteristics

Unlined Paper

Manuscript

Is Part Of

The Dropsie College Isaac Leeser Collection at the Penn Libraries

content

Reverend Isaac Leeser
Esteemed friend
I have your letter of January before me & am ashamed at not having acknowledged you I am afraid there was some thing infectious on it & that I have caught a fit of the Illness of which you confess yourself to suffer sometimes for the last six weeks I have really been lazy & when I returned home in the evening indulged myself with a quiet hour of reading. I thank you for your kind inquiry about my health, which I thank God is very good & were it not that in going to town in the morning I find Passengers overtake & pass me I should not be conscious of the lapse of the last 20 or 30 years at which time my usual pace kept me ahead of those who set off at the same time indeed I have reason to be & am grateful for the health I enjoy I think shortly after the dispatch of your letter you must have received one of mine written in bed last in which I inclosed a copy of some ? addressed on Dr McCourt on some lectures which he had published I do not know whether they would be of any use for your Occident I hope you do not make any compliment with me I have already? explained my feeling with respect to censhorship if what I had written can be useful I feel pleasure in its being published I wish to be treated with candour which will to me be a proof of your friendship You are no doubt aware of the great loss which our nation has suffered by the death of Mr H Belasstro the panegyrics which have been made on him in the daily &

& periodical press are justly meritted. his sudden removal from what seemed to us the middle of a career of happiness & general ?fullness whilst so many other persons linger in a state of pain & misery to themselves & useless to other shows us how little we can discern of the ways of God or the purposes for which we were created however pleasant the state from which God has called him we may reasonably hope that he has been removed to the enjoyment of bliss which could not be his lot here. this reflection will for a long time be the only consolation that can be administered to his family I believe you have the Jewish Chronicle sent you & will have read the high enromiuns? pruned on our lamented friend Mr Belastro by Mr Goldberg in the will meritted praise he awards him we all agree the peculiar stile belongs to the transcendent at school but I was astonished to find a parallel drawn with Mr D C & Nathan & Abraham the elder two sons of ? who were destroyed by fire from God in punishment for having offerd up Incense on strange fire. Mr G. represents their death as a reward instead of a punishment he speaks of their numerous meritorious deeds, of their exertions in contributing to the splendour & magnificence the Tabernacle that their efforts in contributing to its excellence surpassed the usual efforts of men, where he gained there particulars I do not know I cannot find them in the Bible it seems to me an impious interpollation & pervertion of the Holy Scripture the comparison itself is in very bad taste. I should have made some observations in Mr G's letter but I know the Editor will not insert any thing in ? of his proteges & he seems to have extended his patronage to Mr G & two other learned men My warning about Mr Hoga? was disre

garded. a pretty mess that gentleman made of his Faithful missionary I think his Prospectus was enough to underserve any one who supposed he could execute one quarter of what he proposed yet I am told he is an accomplished Hebrew Scholar. there was another gentleman who was to do wonders who called on me for Subscription to a work on Chronology which has never made its appearance he also was a very learned young man. I do not know whether it is from the apathy of the nation or from these learned gentlemen being able to apply their knowledge to any practical purpose by very little of any advantage has accrued from their abilities 30 ? on Saturday I paid a visit
to my venerable friend Mrs Dias where I saw a late
number of the Occident containing the first part of my
letter to Dr McCourt by an error of the press it is dated
April 1849 instead of 1848. My last Occident in the
number for November. I must call on Mrs Joel. I think she has neglected me I heartily hope you will be able to rouse our yankee Brothers & that they will have the good sense to place you at the head of the movement, a place you are so eminently qualified to occupy but I fear there is very little to be done with the present Generation. Our Christian Brothers talk of the signs of the time & the near approach of the period of our restoration but without for a moment doubting the full accomplishment of the glorious promises made to us I can see very little prospect of the near approach of our long deferred restoration nor do I think that it can be accelerated by any human efforts. all we can do is to improve our moral & Intellectual condition that we may be more worthy of the blessings when we receive them When you have a few minutes ? passages you will bestow them on me as your letters always afford me much pleasure Wishing you a continuance of healthy happiness I remain Sir
your's respectfully J Peynada

?
Reverend Isaac Leeser
Philadelphia
US
(hand)

The above text refers to Occident Volume 7 No. 2 pages 89 through 93. Click here to view.

Identifier

LSDCBx1FF6_2

Date

1849-01-07