Literary Production. Morais, Sabato. New York, NY. January 1885 · Sabato Morais Digital Repository · Legacy Projects from Judaica DH at Penn Libraries

Title

Literary Production. Morais, Sabato. New York, NY. January 1885

Author

Morais, Sabato

Date Created

20 January 1885

Location(s)

United States -- New York -- New York

United States -- New York

Format

19 pages on 19 sheets

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?

Language(s)

English

Source

Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies

Sabato Morais Collection, Box 10, Folder 7

Has Format

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3862bt9j/manifest.json

Link to Colenda

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3862bt9j

Provenance

Transfer of Custody from the Hebrew Education Society, 10 March 1913.

Is Format Of

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx10FF7_9.xml

content

Delivered at the N. Y.
conference, January 20th/85

Brethren. As a Hebrew among a gathering of fel--low-believers, my presence in this sacred building has no significance. As the exponent of a prin--ciple before a religious body, that bears the im--press of honorable age, my ascending this pulpit conveys a deep meaning. It tells my people, that a number of the faithful, whose record oepns the first pages of Jewish history in the empire state of America, are alive to the duty which the favored ones owe the unfortunates. Far from rising upon the shoulders of the lofty in social-by lofty station, who gave origin to this congregation, and looking down from that height upon the lowly, the free and respected bend to hear the cry of brethren shackled and degraded by iniquity. To solace grief and to deliver is the wish of this "remnant of Israel" [Hebrew] They that are called "Shearith Israel" will not do wrong," wrote a man whose pen was dipped in inspiration. It is because you design to do right, that you have now set for me a

conspicuous place in your assembly. I have overcome a natural reluctance against venturing beyond the immediate sphere of my workings labors, and have accepted your invitation. The thought that through my means you would assume the lead in a cooperative under--taking of philanthropy, inspired me with confidence.
I shall not be misunderstood, when I say that we, who are Sephardic by lineal descent or by adoption, must justify our pride in the pioneers of Judaism in this Western Con--tinent. The names of the estimable dead borne with a prayer upon the lips of the officiating minister on the holiest night of our year, will best be embalmed in our memory, by our reproducing deeds which recall the in--tegrity of merchants, the culture of individuals, the fidelity of Jews. Had we even legitimate- reasons to claim superiority over the Ashkenazic branch of our people, we should not dare copy the Bordeaux Isarelites of last century.

They blackened with an ineffaceable spot the bright pages of an--otherwise--admirable book. In the polemic volume credited to "certain Jews", but emanating chiefly from the distin--guished French Abbot Guenéc, the few ini--tial letters of a series, genuinely addressed by Portuguese Israelites to Voltaire, offend our sense of Hebrew solidarity. We cannot contemplate without blushing the odious line of demarcation drawn there by the writers, between Hebrews whose ancestors shed lustre on the Iberian pe--ninsula, and those who were reviled in Teutonic lands. We do glory in our prede--cessors who laid the foundation stone of Jewish progress, religious and beneficial, wherever they took up their abode, but our boast must be supported by the rank we shall have at--tained in all which leads to human eleva--tion. To that end we must vie with sister congregations. The opportunity is offered. A society which has embodied the principle underlying our faith--a principle which has vitalized our existence--, the principle, I say, of a reciprocal striving after the common weal; the principle which our Sages have concisely taught in their ma--xim "Israelites are guarantees for one ano--ther", that society whose motto is the same Rabbinical app aphorism [Hebrew], seeks our countenances, our fraternal aid.

([)Rev. Mr. Morais' introductory remarks referred to a [?] another topic, and are therefore omitted in this reprint.(])
* * * * * * *
Gentlemen. A few explanatory words will not be taken amiss. When I first read the circular inviting me to this Conference, I deemed my presence unnecessary. Having never har--bored ill-will hatred against my fellow-man, whose views differ from mine, I thought it super--fluous to come here with no definite object, save to show signs of "brotherly feelings," by a friendly pressure of the hand. Hence, my original declination. Soon after, however, I reflected that though my presence was not in reality needed, my absence might be misconstrued. The community of our people would accept as a foregone conclusion, that per--sons of my turn of mind designedly keep aloof from others. My Philadelphia colleagues could clear me of that imputation, still, I fancied that I owed it to the cause lying near my heart to disprove the charge, by putting in an appearance. Accordingly, I resolved to come and listen.

But subsequently to my having notified your Reverend secretary of my intention, he asked that I would prepare a paper and read it in your presence. I confess, I was disconcerted. The rules which govern this body, and which were sent to me with the circular, sounded like a warning against touching upon a single point allusive, even remotely, to "Congregational autonomy," and, as I understood that clause, it forbids my discussing questions which have set synagogues widely apart. I then asked myself: "Must I deal in glittering generalities, so as not to be taxed with intrusion?" In my perplexity, I had recourse again to your Secretary, and learned that a number of practical subjects, which he kindly named, might meet with your acceptance. I considered those topics well, but despite my endeavours to avoid whatever might clash with the Constitution of the "Jewish Ministers' Association," my idiosyncracy--so to term it--would cross out. To treat upon "the Hebrew-language," or "the aspiration of the/ Hebrews" and or any of the kindred

themes as suggested, and not exhibit decided feelings relative to "Congregational Autonomy," would have been to do my nature violence. While I acknowledge myself beholden to your secretary for his courtesy, I nevertheless chose to prepared a paper not savoring in the least of theology.
The Universal Alliance Israélite Alliance Universelle, has engaged my thoughts, and to my remarks con--cerning it, I crave your attention.
If there be one central point toward which all our views converge, it is that which looks to a systematic training of Jewish youths. By an error, which cannot be too deeply lamented, a Rabbinical sentence has been made a clog in the wheel of educational progress. The sentence which awards the highest merit to the stuy of the Talmud,--a pity saying which our incomparable Rashi elucidated--, has shrouded our schools in mental darkness. Those who hear me have read the noble utterances of Hertz Wessely, the contemporary and coworker

of Moses Mendelssohn. That splendid ripe scholar complained of the unmethodical rude method course pursued then by teachers in Poland and Germany. A sensible familiarity with the Bible, which ought to lie at the basis of of all Jewish learning, was discarded, and the minds of our children were befogged with hair-splitting disputations on matters of no practical use. Imbued with the idea that to pore over the pages of the Babylonian Gemara, is most meritorious, our offspring ended in deeming every other study trifling in comparison with it. Thus a total neglect of secular knowledge, exposed us to contempt. Against a course so hurtful to our social elevation, Wessely re--monstrated, but the great Hebraist was partly mistaken, when he gave Israelites in African and Asiatic countries credit for a higher grade of culture. His misapprehension may have arisen from the circumstance that during his stay in Amsterdam, he met Oriental Jews, con--siderably versed in Holy Writ, and speaking a passably

good Spanish or Arabic. Had the whole-souled Jew of Hamburg travelled journeyed much fur-ther south beyond the Netherlands, he would have been grieved to the core on seeing the glaringly defective manner of training our youths. Thus, by way of illustration, our Hertz Wessely would have discovered how in the land where Rabbi Hushiel of the tenth century was Providentially taken, after having been cap--tured by pirates with his three famous fellow-tra--vellers; how in the land where Hannanel, still more noted than his own father Hushiel, wrote learned com--ments; in the land, I say, which gave us a Ben Karish the philologist, a Chayny the grammarian, an Alfasi the theologian, our fellow-believers, are, as a body, devoid of even a purely correct under-standing of the Scriptures. Doubtless, the crushing tyranny which unmans the Jew in the Barbary states, prevents him from detecting his own deffiecencies, but need I explain to my hearers to what extent that literary depression,

adds to a social and political oppression? "Under Edom and not under Ishmael," is a Rabbinical adage applicable to our down-trodden coreligionists in many a benighted Mohammedan region; yet, I firmly believe that the fetters which the gentle hands of a veritable philanthropist could not loosen, will be finally broken at length by the powerful agency of education.
To the Universal Alliance Israélite Universelle Alliance is due the glory is due of having bravely undertaken a herculean task. Semipolitical in seeking to redress our wrongs--the bitter injuries inflicted on our race; effectively beneficial in lessing lessening Israel's sorrows and suffering by temporary timely relief, still, the chief and ever steady aim of that all-embracing association is the elevation of the coheirs of our Divine the written and oral Law, by means of tea--chings that widen the range of thoughts, and create noble ambitions. The Alliance cannot say to our brethren, who are levelled with the earth, "rise and strike for your rights"; but it does say to a people that walk in darkness, "I set a light before you, direct your vision to it and you will finally issue forth from

Morais Alliance 2
your abject obscurity." To facilitate that happy result, men who feel and think have lent their far-reaching influence, and poured out gold without stint. It is not invidious to mention Baron De Hirsch, who, nine years ago, laid into the treasury of the Alliance one million francs to establish schools in the Orient, and who, never has never since that period has never withheld his munificent gifts, dispensed by his largewide-hearted and almost ubiquitous almoner, Chevalier Veneziani. It is not invidious to single out that benefactor, because all will agree that his liberality is indeed royally exceptionally but exceptionally royal. But were it my purpose to praise Israelites who stood by the Alliance in its refirmatory work, who defend--ed it against aspersions, who gave it a name unparalleled in the annals of Jewish Charities, I could array in your presence a galaxy of distin--guished brethren in France, in Germany, in Italy, in Asia Minor, in many climes of the old world, so that you might remember them to do them honor. My aim is, however, merely to refer,

with a brevity compatible with agreeable to compatible with the occasion, to the services which the Alliance has rendered the Jewish cause in the past, and the advantages which, under Providence, will flow therefrom it in the future.
The Association in whose the interest of which I am privileged to address men, who can bring to bear upon it a mighty influence, has opened a channel through which the cries of the afflicted reach the ears of deliverers. I do do not mean to detract from the merits worth of the Board of Deputies in England, nor nor from those of to disparage the merits the Board of Delegates in Ame--rica. Those organizations did measurably help in a measure, but I venture to assert, without fear of contradiction, that to the representative body of Jews who met in Paris for the first time when stirred by the Mortara heart-ren--volting rending Mortara outrage outrage, vast superiority is due. L'Alliance Israélite Universelle made the capital of France in 1860 two years after the horrid deed at Bologna, the [?] depository of every day's history in the political and social life of scattered Israel. Those records are not placed there as curiosities, to be consulted by coming

archeologists. No: they have a speech commanding action, immediate, and energetic. A Russo-Turkish war spreads desolation among our people,--the Alliance in Paris hears the groans and hastens to the rescue. A pestilence rages in Morocco,--the Alliance provides healing for the sick, food to stay off famine. Does a fire break out at Constan--tinople? The Alliance shelters the homeless. Does the ferocious Bear at St Petersburg thrusts its fang claws into the sides of powerless Jews? The alliance seeks protection for those affrighted creatures who can hide away from the terrific talons. The Alliance remonstrates against the tyranny which robs the descendants of heros and sages of human dignity. It sets forth their claims to the right of citizenship; it keeps the question of our emancipation in constant agitation, to the vexation of despots, but to the ultimate weal of down trodden Hebrews.
But Still, education is the mainly the spring; the motive

power of the Alliance. For in an untram--melled system of instruction, it has discovered the lever of Jewish exaltation. Very nigh ten thousand are under its fostering care. When the boy who wears out his tender years in the wearisome and profitless exercise of learning how to sing a chapter of the Scriptures, shall have gained an insight into the Spirit of the Law, when the refining influences of a general knowledge shall have drawn him out of his narrow self into a newly generated being, his manhood will assert itself and compel respect. When the girl, whose the summary of whose duties lies in entering a wedded life before she buds into womanhood--out of obedience to the unyeilding will of unwise parents--, will have acquired a taste for reading, and the capacity to become self-dependent by dint of industry, then the wives and mothers in our race, will fittingly occupy their God-appointed stations. Without overlooking closing its eyes against the misery [?] always looming high up in the Occident, the Alliance stretches its eager vision to the Orient.

It commissions its apostles, and they go forth preaching education; they plant schools for males and females in countries where the Jew is the pariah of society, where with naked feet he must tread the ground owned by Islam, where with bleeding hands he must perform the most menial and abhorrent offices. The Alliance urges the outcasts of our people to vin--dicate their characters from the charge of sloth by arming themselves with agricultural instruments, and furrowing the soil with sinewy vigour. The Alliance encourages awakens love for mechanical arts, and rewards the endeavours of the la--borer, to make him that he shall feel the truth enunciated by the Talmudists: "Great is work, for it honors him that does it".
Has any of my hearers glanced over the semi--annual Bulletins of our all-comprehensive asso--ciation? He will have observed a heading, read--ing thus: "Gifts for the encouragement of Jewish science". The pen of the Scribe is made to to flow

by the quickening impulse of the Alliance. Benamosegh in his theology, Graetz in his history, Neubauer in his researches, Berliner in his painstaking exertions--now to accurately represent the language of our Rashi, anon that of our Onkelos-; all of them, and like them many illustrious writers who strive to resuscitate our literature, find in the Alliance countenance and support. Hence, it has rallied round its banner round the banner it has unfurled, they rallied the think--ers in Israel have rallied; the the public spirited of our fellow-believers in numerous communities of the old world, uphold it high. America has stood aloof. The Only spasmodically does the quarter of a century million of her Jewish inhabit--ants show evidences of appreciation towards an organization signally grand; and whereas active cooperation in its behalf interest ought to be cease--lessly exhibited through the length and breadth of this favored land, now we look in vain outside beyond of Pennsylvania a few scattered cities very the limits of four or five cities for a branch of that asso--ciation.

From Paris a voice has spoken speaks now fraternally beseechingly yearningly. It asks us fraternally to that we will beseemingly fraternally celebrate a memorable oc--casion fraternally in fraternal accord of sentiments. The day eternized in our history by an unlooked for Divine salvation, will must see Jews gathered in near and distant different climes in the interest gathered to honor of an organization frequent with blessings to to our suffering brethren. On Purim, the twenty fifth anniversary of its existence will the Alliance shall be appro-priately remembered. The conference which has this day brought together the a choicest representation of God's people in the new world, the choicest, because it has learning and expe--rience, choice, because it can weild the might--iest influence for good, even your first conference, Reverend gentlemen, will have marked out an era in Judaism, if each clerical attendant determines to arouse the sympathies of his constituents in behalf of a glorious cause. I plead for it in all earnestness. In the name of Albert Rosen Cohn, of Salomon Munk, of Adolph Cremieux; in the name

of the illustrious dead, and of the living philanthropists whose spirits sup- sus--port -tain our all embracing organization, I commend to your wise consideration the Alliance Israé -lite Universelle.

Rev Henry S. Jacobs*

Identifier

p3862bt9j

identifier

SMBx10FF7_9