Literary Production. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. May 1889 · Sabato Morais Digital Repository · Legacy Projects from Judaica DH at Penn Libraries

Title

Literary Production. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. May 1889

Author

Morais, Sabato

Date Created

1 May 1889

Location(s)

United States -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia

United States -- Pennsylvania

Format

9 pages on 4 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 8

Has Format

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p31j97s6b/manifest.json

Link to Colenda

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p31j97s6b

Provenance

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

Is Format Of

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx10FF8_10.xml

content

69

For Kedoshim on the rescuing of the
Dannmark by Captain Murrel of the Missouri
/89

Whoever denies Moses originality, and insists that he palmed off as Divine what was a mere reproduct--ion of older legislations, ought to read with criti--cal analysis the 19th chapter of Leviticus, whichx forms part of the Pentateuchal section of this Sabbath. Let him compare the rules statutes it contains from begin--ning to end, with the record which Herodotus--the reputed father of of history--has left concerning Egypt. Aside from the account of a senseless and often lasci--vious worship paid to innumerable and ludicrous and hideous objects,--exclaimed against by our inspired lawgiver,--let the critic show what resemblance was there between a religion which calls filial dutiful--ness a soul-sanctification, and the one day of physical and mental rest holy, and the religion which according to which sons were not obliged to support their parents, and the religion which, through a fictitious division of casts, whole classes of men were doomed to incessant toil. If the pyramids, which Napoleon invoked, that, from their lofty heads, hoary with the age of forty centuries, they might tell his sol--diers the daringness they needed to conquer the famous

x is a sparkling gem of unfading lustre among the moral beauties of the Pentateuch.

x but daughters must support both their father and mother

land of antiquity, could have spoken, they would have related tales of blood--the blood which streamed from their builders. The story of the hundreds who died in the quaries, and of the thousands who perished in the transportation of the huge stones from whence they arose skyward, would have thrilled the invading French invaders. But the incredulous or skeptical critic should read in Hero--dotus of the irreconcilable antipathies of ancient peoples against foreigners, and draw a contrast with what we have re--cited this morning: "As one born in the land among you, shall be to you the stranger." And then reviewing closely all the ordinances regarding honesty of dealing and of thought, of charity bestowed upon the needy necessitous as if it were their legitimate claim, of respect to age and virtue, of compassion to the infirm and the afflicted. In fine, he should let his mind dwell upon that golden rule, which is ours, and say whether in the codes of the renowned nations of old, he finds: "love thy neighbor as thyself". And yet, I agree with an ancient writer that even this glorious principle, so broad and compre--hensive, has had precedence nad a more emphatic expres--sion in the earliest pages of our Bible.

To my mind Ben Azzaï is has discovered in the Scriptures the brightest example manifestation of hu--man brotherhood. Many are the valuable maxims enun--ciated by that young Sage, who did prematurely from too intense an application to metaphysics, or, to ex--press it in Talmudical langaue, who passed away because he entered the Pardes, in search of the unknowable. But of the many aphorisms attributed to Ben Azzaï, the following re--veals the whole depth of his religious soul, most clearly. Unfolding the book of Genesis, and pointing to the passage, which tells that God's creation of mankind in His own image, comprises male and female, whom He equally blessed, the youthful SAge regarded that, a teaching of even a superior character above superior even to that of the golden rule "love they neighbor as thyself". He argued that Holy Writ lays down by it thus great grandest of principles; that to serve our fellow-creatures is to serve their Sovereign Creature whose spiritual celestial impress this immortally bear. Noble sentiment, enhan--cing in sublimity when we remember that at the historical period it was uttered, imperial Rome mercilessly crushed the learned in Judea under the wheel of refined engines of refined torture.

National sorrows penetrating piercing the heart, could not never--less obliterate what the finger of God has ineffaceably imprinted thereon. All reasoning beings have a common origin, they are the offspring of the pair, male and female, upon whom, the Author of every thing that exists, bestowed a portion of His undying spirit and His benediction. It is because we have an identical descent and intellectual inheritance, that "one touch of nature makes the whole world kin." We feel that touch at the sight of misery, and never pause to enquire who the sufferer is, what is his the place of his birth, what language he speaks, what creed he swears by. How magnificent the illustration of this soul-ennobling truth, which Philadelphia has just given! From the hour it became known that a ship had been lost, in the midst of the sea, universally eager was the wish to learn that her passengers and crew had survived the wreck. The painful suspense did not abate when days, rolling into weeks, brought no tidings of the precious burden carried by the Dan--mark, the floating wreckage of which was seen discovered by another vessel on the trackless ocean.

The sad fate of the President, the Schiller and others vessels that ruled and staggered like a drunken man upon stormy waves and sunk into the depths, was already feared and la--mented; but how joyful that spontaneous outburst of a people's greeting as the rescuer and his recsu--ing vessel arrived at our shores! The 365 human beings whom the Missouri carried brought alive to this dear city of ours, after their soul had very nigh melted be--cause of the danger, and the 369 whom she safely landed at Lisbon, were not related to me, nor to you, I surmise. They spoke a language conversed in a manner which possibly none of us understand; most probably not a single Israelite could be found among their number, yet, that "one touch", of which the peerless interpreter of nature in the English tongue, speaks, stirred us all and made us "kin" to creatures who share us with us the heritage of the spirit of which God He breathed in the pri--meval days of the world into the parents of the human family. Thanks to that touch of nature 734 of our brothers and sisters in humanity, were delivered by the man, whose name is now a praise and a blessing and his deed an exemplar in both the Western and Eastern hemisphere.

He declares that he is not entitled to an ovations and to a rewards for having simply done his duty, but to have done it under such tremendous diffi--culties as met faced him; to have done it so tenderly, so readily in his care for mainly poor immigrants, valuing as nothing the tens of thousands of property, in com--parison with the life of the humblest among those he snatched from death; to have done it regardless of the risk of having to face stand reproof for the distinction of a rich cargo, and perhaps of losing his position, is indeed a just claim to popular acclamation and gratitude. And I confess that I read with un--feigned satisfaction of the gift of a gold watch studded with the a diamond, set in it by a Philadelphia Hebrew. To the brave captain, Hamilton Murrel of the Missouri, that time-piece will be a memorial of that which what we delight in. The book which Jews have treasured up as an inalienable heirloom, first taught the bro--therhood of man, and the descendants of Abraham, the friend of God, loyal to that principle, have been recog--nized as eminently humane [Hebrew] "merciful children of merciful parents."

But while I am glad rejoice that our city and one of our people gave luminous proofs of harboring the sen--timent inculcated by Ben Azzaï, and exquisitely ex--pressed by Shakespeare, I am glad that hte reci--pient of encomiums and of presents in America is an Englishman. The incident which does so much credit to him and to us, may be the olive branch indicative of the complete allaying of waters in Meribah, which swelled up not long ago through an episode reflecting honor upon neither side of the Atlantic. The Sackville-Murchi--son affair revealed a laxity of morals, and a breach of propriety highly reprehensible. Incident is the maxim that all is allowed in politics, as it is very foul when applied in the transaction of business. [Hebrew] "Righteousness, only righteousness shalt thou follow;" we have read to-day. He who entrapped an indiscreet re--presentative of a foreign government by subterfuge, and then made him odious by divulging what was intended as private correspondence, is contemptible in the extreme, but the prime minister who, led by na--tional dislike, jeopardized the state of amity between two great powers, might have occasioned severe injury.

That is what might have been the issue of Salis--bury's favoring or conniving at an indefensible intru--sion in upon the internal division of political parties in the United States. That mischief was averted, we may attribute to the our change of administration soon following the complicated plot, still, should any remains of the grudge exist in the minds of those over the other side of the ocean, who have with us Americans unity of language and of literature; the public acknowledgment and subst--antial recognition of the hero of humanity, will remove all disturbing elements. Perchance, it was that thought which induced Captain Murrel to emphasize the phrase, that he did what any Englishman would have done under the same circumstance. For there is no desire among true patriots "to twist the tail of the British lion," as recently thrown out by the unscrupulous. To grow stronger, and more respected by pursuing the way of equity must be the endeavour and prayer of the Republic of Washington. With Isaiah I ask for peace, peace to those that are far and those that are near [Hebrew] [Hebrew]. Amen.

Identifier

p31j97s6b

identifier

SMBx10FF8_10