Letter from Moses N. Nathan to Isaac Leeser;December 20, 1858
- Title
- Letter from Moses N. Nathan to Isaac Leeser;December 20, 1858
- Author
- Moses N. Nathan
- Contributor
- Isaac Leeser
- Date Created
- 20 December 1858
- Format
- Letter. 9 page(s) on 9 sheet(s).
- Type
- Letter
- Language(s)
- English
- Has Format
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p39p2ws4f/manifest.json
- Link to Colenda
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p39p2ws4f
- Physical Characteristics
- Unlined Paper
- Manuscript
- content
-
Kingston Jam: 20th. Decr. 1858.
Revd. Isaac Leeser
Dear Friend.
The Occidents for October have come to hand, but no letter from you. By this time you will have received my last p Abby Watson requesting you to obtain 50 copies of my catechism from the Sunday School in your city. I have not a copy, and none are to be had here. I wish you also to forward a couple dozen of Miss Peixottos Book, and about 3 dozen Henry's Class Books, of the Edition published in America. On consideration you need not send Miss P's Books for Henry's will answer my purpose as well. I require also about 1 dz copies of Cohen's Hebrew Grammar on the Ellendorff? system which you will oblige me by procuring. All these books I want without delay, and the money shall be remitted as soon as they arrive. On the inclosed tracing paper is the pattern of the binding of a book, side and back. Send one of your daily prayers (portuguese) similarly bound, color red maroon approaching to red morocco. I had sold another copy of the Festival prayers and if I get the money for them before an opportunity offers for forwarding this, the money not I have in hand ($60) with that (nearly $20) will be sent by same via. I have still on hand the 2 best bound sets, 91 Vol deft.) and part of one set common sheep (3 deft.). If your small Bibles were a dollar or $1 ½ each I could sell them readily but 2 ½ people decline to give.
Have you ever felt an Earthquake? For a quarter of a century
I have been familiar with them, and their nature is such that, totally different from other dangers to which one gets accustomed They excite and increase our fears the oftener their shock is felt. You become paralyzed, your faculties are suspended, the will ceases to act on the voluntary parts of the body, and tho' fully alive to the horrors of entombment, whether in or out of doors, which threaten your life, you are incapable of making the effort to move from the spot. To ejaculate a word or two of prayer and in prospect of an immediate and awful death which hundreds may share with you at the same moment is all that your consciousness of the alarming extent of your peril and the impossibility of escaping it, permits you to do. When the earthquake is felt in the day time, a rush from the house to the street may be effected by some one whom fear does not render incapable of moving. At night however, when enfolded in the bonds of sleep, you become suddenly awakened by the house shaking and riding on its foundation, the upheaved and undulating earth on which it rests, then can one realize in all its positive meaning the Hebrew the Psalmist speaks of. Not the bad dream not the distressing night-mare, not the terrifying images which a heated brain, a sickly fancy, or a superstitious mind conjures up—but it is the awe of an instant dissolution, a stern summons to give up life in a few seconds which stops the beating of the heart, checks the current of the blood, and “distils you to jelly with the effect of fear.”
On Thursday at ½ past 1 A M (23rd Decr.) the whole city was on the verge of destruction from one of the severest earthquakes I ever yet felt. A few seconds longer, say 3 or 4 and every
building would have fallen in and buried its inmates alive. Truly, “God is merciful” or I would now not be writing. Imagine, if you can, the house riding being lifted and down, rocking from side to side, the walls shaking, beams, joists, rafters roof, cracking, creaking as yielding to the irresistible force of the subterranean movements, one and all writhed and struggled to disjoint itself from mortise and tenon, to wrench itself from the hold of girder, screw, and nail. My wife and I were awake when it began. It must have lasted 15 seconds, some say half a minute. Neither of us could move; both were calm & collected. I never, during the agonizing interval, indulged the slightest hope of deliverance, but momentarily expected to see the walls give way and the roof fall in and crush us to death. Short as was the continuance of the horrid throes of our “mother and our grave?” they have left a never to be forgotten remembrance. Thanks be to the Almighty, no life was lost, no one injured. But I fear that every building has been so shaken that in case of a similar recur-rence there may be loss of life and destruction of property. Shortly after the occurrence, several places of worship were opened and thronged by worshippers scared and trembling with affright. My wife begged me not to leave her, and therefore I did not go. The night was beautiful, moon and stars shining brilliantly, the air cool and fresh. The occultation of Saturn took place that night. There are many mining enterprises going forward on the Island, and as the work is carried on through the whole 24 years hours fears were entertained for the safety of the miners, but no accident has been heard of, altho' the earthquake was severely felt in the mining district.
Have you seen Dr. Kalisch's translation of Genesis. From a review of it in the “Westminster Review,” whose tendencies are rationalistic I have gleaned an extract or two. He has not been more fortunate in his rendering of Hebrew than his predecessors. I do not like Hebrew “tho' many flock to Shiloh.” You may differ from me in opinion, but I prefer the translation given in the “Israelite,” and ? the more I examine and consider it with reference to history, the more am I convinced of its truth. Onkelos and the masora have led the whole Jewish and Christian world astray. Hebrew occurs 3 times in the chapter and why the first time it should be translated “sceptre or staff and the second & 3rd “tribes” I cannot understand. Again why Hebrew should not apply to the “confederated Israelites” when Judah is blessed, and understood to allude to a portion of that confederacy under the leadership of David and “Hebrew” is also an enigma to me. The passage is very simple, if the legitimate rendering of Hebrew be as “tribe” be given. Not shall depart a tribe from Judah, nor a commander from between his feet from among his followers until he come to Shiloh, and to him (Judah) should be the gathering (assembling, marshalling, in array) of the people The armed confederacy as it existed from the Exodus to the division of the land among the tribes, was dissolved at Shiloh, by Joshua. And the best proof that Judah was then divested of the leadership is the divine permission to rescue in Judges ? for a temporary purpose.
So our friend Gutheim is going to be married. I am glad to hear of it, and wish him all happiness. Your intended periodically weekly ought to succeed such an array of talent taste and industry as Jacob, Raphall & yourself is not often to be met with, and in the ranks of Israel is an anomaly considering that our utterances rarely combine to advance the General Good. I am glad the Pope still refuses to give up the child of mortara; his obstinacy will the sooner bring on the crisis in which the Papacy and its supporters (Louis Napoleon & Austria) will be crushed.
The proceedings of the Habane Bushi? at Constantinople are very mischievous. United Israel in Europe should by means of its enlightened Rabbi's abolish the power of Cherem & ? and the whole of this irresponsible power so insolently assumed by such fellows as the Turkish Rabbis. All this is the effect of the dangerous precedents set by the Rabbinism? of the dark middle ages, and its usurpation of a power which men like Akiba would never have tolerated for an instant. It will be unquestionably beneficial to the Turkish Jews Generally that their Rabbis have aimed so high as the Rothschilds and Albert Cohen, who will now keep them to break the gallery chain which ignorant zeal has bound them. What say you? Is this stupid orthodoxy less dangerous to Israel than cold rationalism? I say no.
Mrs. Nathan and her mother unite with me in kind and friendly regards and trusting that you are more cheerful and in higher spirits than when you last wrote
I am
yours sincerely
M N Nathan - Identifier
- LSTCAT_item150
- Date
- 1858-12-20
Part of Letter from Moses N. Nathan to Isaac Leeser;December 20, 1858
Moses N. Nathan, “Letter from Moses N. Nathan to Isaac Leeser;December 20, 1858”, 1858-12-20, Isaac Leeser Digital Repository, accessed September 7, 2024, https://judaicadhpenn.org/legacyprojects/s/leeser/item/69303