Literary Production. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Dec 1890 · Sabato Morais Digital Repository · Legacy Projects from Judaica DH at Penn Libraries

Title

Literary Production. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Dec 1890

Author

Morais, Sabato

Date Created

1 December 1890

Location(s)

United States -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia

United States -- Pennsylvania

Format

10 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 9

Has Format

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3fn11b0v/manifest.json

Link to Colenda

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3fn11b0v

Provenance

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

Is Format Of

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx10FF9_9.xml

content

S. MORAIS,
546 N. Fifth St.
Philadelphia,

Dec/90
On the Kaddish

Brethren,
A paper war is being waged by three parties, orthodox reformed and radicals. The cause of the contest is such as to excite curiosity. A western institution which has assumed the title of "Union College", wishing to increase its revenue, or any large gift by members of a bereaved Jewish family, will ensure the dead a Kaddish at each anniversary of their departure from earth. A Hebrew weekly at in New York, hostile to the president of that college, condemns the plan as hypocritical, as encou--raging the false belief that the Kaddish possesses the power to blot out sin and compel the allotment of a position in the world to come. That N. Y. periodical attacks severely, but not unjustly, a leader who has taught by precept and example the abandonment of many a Jewish law, but who, for interested motives, ascribes the highest importance to a matter of small light significance, when compared with Mosaic commandments and oral precepts most venerable with age and holy.

That paper calls upon the head of the Western in--stitution to raise Rabbis who will revere the Sabbath and Festivals as prescribed by prophets and sages, to respect the dietary laws, propagate the knowledge of the language of the Bible and of our literature, and keep the synagogue unadulterated, and not lay so much stress on that which is evidently a means to selfish ends. This reasoning appeal, whichI consider sound well founded, and which I would decidedly ap--prove of were it free from caustic remarks, is opposed by Reform, mainly represented by the disciples of the Chief of the Union College. Men who have not scrupled to alter and to curtail and to totally to abolish prayers that date as far back as the days of Ezra and his illustrious synod, are tenacious about about the retention of the Kaddish, not that which the minister reads and which precedes or follows cer--tain parts of the ritual, but that which cus--tom has assigned to mourners. Preachers of the new school--and I will not deny then the virtue of sincerity--, argue in its favor, on the ground of filial dutifulness. In their minds the child who praises God at a Sanctuary in honor of his deceased parents, has a claim to the name of good Israelite.

He may break many of the Sinaic precepts ordinances; still his keeping intact the fifth injunction of the Decalogue, is a soul redeeming quality. I myself might concede a vast deal on that score, if the rehearsal of the Kaddish were in all reality indicative of a filial love and veneration, which the grave has not buried away, but which survives the dear objects entombed. For the associate the memory of those who gave us existence on earth, with the Dweller in heaven, from whom whatever ennobles our nature emanates, is a glorious thought, but I am not prepared to so interpret the reciting of the Kaddish by reformers otherwise non conformists.
Radicalism, widely at variance with Orthodoxy and Reform, is uncompromising. It frowns upon a usage which it declares anti-Judaic, asserting that it was borrowed from Spanish Catholicism; that it sa--vors therefore of the mass which pretends to deliver transgressors from purgatory; that it is a rank superstition, calculated to deform the worship. Radic--als insist upon the performance of good works, as tokens of imperishable affection to the dead.

Thus, the endowing of free beds at hospitals; for sick in reduced circumstances, of scholarships at universities for orphans, the liberal con--tributing to widows homes, is deemed the only sole efficacious method to prove one's lovely deep rooted lovely remembrance of those who were called hence to the world of spirits. The Kaddish, say our Radicals, is a cheap payment for the pains and cares and deep concerns of a fa--ther or mother. The will have none of it. The Divine service which they offered in their temples, must not be shamed by such a travesty of religion. I dis--agree with the ideas held by the adherents of a school iconoclastic; a school matchlessly successful in tearing down, but leaving the open spots bare, with--out supplying a finer or more solid stone to replace what was wantonly pulled down.
But since we are engaged on the subject, let us un-derstand it clearly. All are perfectly aware of the fact taht the Kaddish has not a Biblical origin, nor a Talmudical either, in connection with as far as it concerns regards the mourn--ers. The Sages of our people in their figurative lan--guage write that when Israelites enter Synagogues and colleges, and cry out "May the great name of God be blessed,"

the Almighty approvingly responds "Happy the King who is so extolled in His own house" [Hebrew] [Hebrew] No special reference is here made to the bereaved, but Israelites in gene--ral are mentioned. [Hebrew] Again: From some Talmudical passages, we might be justi--fied in inferring that the Kaddish was first composed in Hebrew, and that it was translated into Aramaic, to enable persons who came to listen to attended the lecture--which invariably concluded with the Kaddish--to join in it in their own vernacular. Whether it is so, or not, the formula handed down is chiefly Aramaic, to which in later ages, the Sephardim made arbitrary additions towards the end, in Hebrew. The attempt to reproduce it altogether in Hebrew, was incorrectly made--but not correctly--fity fifty years ago in London by the compiler of the liturgy, used in the Synagogue of self-styled "British Jews". America, which is the land of surprises, has found some who proposed to have a version in English. In point of fact, since the abolition of the ritual in the language transmitted by the fathers is strongly urgently advocated, and each Minister, or Rabbi, assumes

the authority to exchange Davidic hymns odes psalms for church hymns or doggerel songs--foreign altogether to the synagogue the Kaddish, if retained, might as well be read rendered in the tongue best understood. It is scarcely needful that I should express my own views. By nature and education I am conservative. I hold the our history enshrined on my heart of hearts. What gave our ancestors comfort, I strongly incline to preserve intact as a bridge connecting the eventful past with the present. But I object to a perfunctory dis--charge of sacred duties, just as I shrink from the thought of making a religious practice the me--dium for disingenuously improving the finances of congregations, or schools. The Kaddish, which, till the present century, when a change was largely adopted in Germany and America, had not the least reference whatever to the dead, is a sublime confes--sion of our recognition of God's creative powers and sovereignty. As an invocation to the Deity, and a petition for the blessing of peace, it is very comprehensive. Appropriately therefore do Israelites, who have been deprived of loved objects, recite it.

Let the origin of that usage be Rabbinical, or Kab--balistical as some contend, it becomes behooves the sorrow strick--en to publicly tacitly to acknowledge that a celestial Parent who brought all into existence and preserves all, can give them afflicted solace and consolation. No Catholic mass indeed for the spiritual relief of the departed is the Kaddish. Nay, even the Kashcabah or Mazkin Hazkareth Neshamoth, is simply a prayer to the Almighty for the happiness of our dear ones, in an ethe--real association of companionship with the pure and pious. [Hebrew] Still, how often have I not been grieved to the core by the irreverence of the living, who fancied to do the dead reverence. What a sad spectacle!, That of men re--hearsing hurriedly, unintelligently and unintelligible, the Kaddish, and then rush immediately off to the desecration of the Sabbath-day. What an egregious error!, That of children who imagine they can afford their deceased parents pleasure by a repetition of certain words, and but who dishonor their memory by a conduct unbecoming the spot, where the Shekinah dwells. In truth, were it not that my complaints might sound like egotism or undue self-appreciation, I would speak at length

of the lateness of comers, of their unnecessary converse, of their undisguised eagerness to leave the Synagogue, of their evident restlessness at being momentarily de--tained by the lecturer, and principally would I point out the inconsistency of Israelites, who attend worship during eleven months after having met with an irre--parable loss, but who at the expiration of that period keep entirely determinedly aloof, save perhaps at very distant intervals. But I forbear, because it is as distasteful to me to upbraid, as it must be disagreeable to my hearers to listen to reproaches. Instead of remonstran--ces, let friendly entreaties, induce a demeanour more in accord with our obligations as conservative Jews, more in consonance with the sanctity of this oracle of our Lord, visiting it early, and remaining therein therein devotion--ally. And to my brethren who observe the year of mourning, I am enjoined to say, in the name of our ancient teachers [Hebrew], a child can enhance his parents' joys above. Together with invocations and praises to God, actions must prove that the memorial of the de-partes -ceased lives in our hearts. Charity to the needy, sympathy with the sufferers, and forgiveness towards offenders, while ennobling our lives, are a sweet savor to the soul of the departed.

Identifier

p3fn11b0v

identifier

SMBx10FF9_9