Literary Production. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Jun 1892 · Sabato Morais Digital Repository · Legacy Projects from Judaica DH at Penn Libraries

Title

Literary Production. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Jun 1892

Author

Morais, Sabato

Date Created

1 June 1892

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 10

Has Format

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3hd7pb5m/manifest.json

Link to Colenda

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3hd7pb5m

Provenance

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

Is Format Of

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx10FF10_1.xml

content

S. MORAIS,
546 N. FIFTH STREET,
PHILADELPHIA.

On congregational matters
Jun_92

Brethren. Clearly, the scene which this sacred edifice presents each returning Sabbath is an open reproach How to roll away that shame, has become my an--xious thought, since I heard, while compulsorily absent, that the attendance at the worship grew perceptibly smaller, to a degree that forboboded a decline; even a decay which I cannot contemplate without a heart-sinking grief. With a mind centred upon the duty that a minister shepherd owes his flock; eager to hinder a dissolution, which I hope not to see and live, I bethought myself of a plan not unsual in some foreign countries. At in--tervals, the local Chief Rabbi issues a pastoral letter to the Jewish community. In it he chides his coreligionists, when lukewarmness dampens the ardor, which sacred convocations ought to enkindle. The authority wherewith that shepherd minister is clothed and which elicits public respect, he exercises to the end of stirring up parents into a wiser education of their children, depicting in such language as he can best command, the sin of neglecting the dearest

interests of young sons and daughters, in order to go in quest of what will never ensure their happiness. A sensible training in the religion which has reason at its basis and the wholesomest prescriptions as its leading rules, the Pastor earnestly recommends. Having appealed to those into whose safe-keeping nature's God has entrusted the spiritual upbuilding of a rising generation, the Rabbi conjures all to stand by the Law of Sinai, and show gentilism that consistency is a Jew's badge of honor. Pastoral letters of that description, I have read more than once in English, French and Italian. Would it become me to address in like manner Israelites under my charge, now that I painfully feel how the means of reaching them from this sacred stand are being steadily cut off? Well: if I would belief in the efficacy of my official pleading, I would commit my words to paper, and bid them god-speed with all the fervor of my souls. But neither am I invested with the authority weilded by European Rabbis, nor are American

congregations formed upon the same plan as those across the ocean. There, ordinarily, the ecclesiastical Chief has a full jurisdiction over all the Israelites of his city and not infrequently of smaller religious bodies beyond the limits of his place of residence. Among us none is possessed of a religious power, to which deference must universally be paid. Each congregation constitutes here a separate sovereignty, its Rabbi or minister controlling or being controlled at pleasure. To day the ritual is curtailed at the dictum of that a single occupant of the pulpit, or through the pressure brought to bear upon him by the Board of Managers; to morrow the vernacular supplants the Hebrew merely because so wills a single preach--er, or so orders a set of lay directors. In one instance, the attendants at the Synagogue are demanded to keep silent, while non-Jewish choristers conduct the service and no remonstrance from a superior head is heard, because none is recognized as such; in another, persons who are perhaps deficient in the very rudiments of Jewish lore, decide that the Sabbath may be

transferred to Sunday. This anomaly was actually enacted of late in a city of the West, where men whose wealth lends them influence cast their votes in favor of Christianizing Judaism by hallowing the day commemorative of the pretended bodily resurrection of a man-god.
Indeed, if an acknowledged Chief, or, at least, an advisory Rabbinical Board existed, a well deserved rebuke would put an end to the outraging of many a Synagogue, in whose pulpit not alone Jesus of Nazareth is given a place of distinct--ion with our Moses, Isaiah and Hillel, but avowed scoffers of all doctrines & creeds, and even pronounced atheists are quoted with evident zest, to display a liberality allied to profanity. Now, suppose that, si--tuated as we are in America, I ventured upon issuing a written address to my own constituents. In it I would naturally picture the dismal scene which meets the vision of a few attendants every Sabbath morning, and disclose the fears I entertain of a still greater desertion of the Divine service on the Divinely appointed day.

I would not upbraid, not denounce but be-seech members and seatholders to prevent the threatening result of their absence, by crowding these sacred courts with young children, taught in the language which is our precious heir--loom. I would urge the redeeming of the name of our venerable congregation--causing the latter to further "the hope of Israel", by a steadfast conservation, and I would promise, on my own part to study how best to interest all by a preaching drawn from legitimate sources the Bible and the traditions. Imagine that I undertook so to do in the capacity of an accept--ed servant of the Lord. Could I anticipate to rejoice over a general abandonment of Sabbath-desecration, over a hearty response evinced by the inspiring and inspiriting sight of hundreds of brethren singing the praises of the Most High before the oracle of this house? My most for--cible utterances would be drowned in the tumult which the clashing of opinions raises everywhere through-out the Philadelphia community of Jews,

--a tumult which no one can silence by dint of an authority superlative and revered.
But the lack of a general response is not the only evil that might attend my appeal. I would expose lay open expose to the derision of many who laugh conservation to scorn, the Congregation whose creditable standing is dear to me. I would supply our adversaries in and out the camp with weapons to deeply wound the hearts of some who still cherish the memory of the Communal services rendered by the first religious body of Jews in Philadelphia--the Mickve Israel. No: I must screen my congregants from obloquy. Without falling into the sin of prevarication, I must hide from the public a bleeding sore. I will not expose lay it open it to view, that free thinkers may point to us as a sorry comment on the effect of our barring "Radicalism" f out of these consecrated precincts. But here, I dare not keep remain silent. Reasonably hypocritical would be to feign satisfaction, when profoundly dissatisfied and grieved.

Here it behooves me to cry aloud, that the report of my complaint spreading, through the few within reach of my voice, to the many who persistently deny me the right to lead them in prayer and to instruct, an appreciable number may at all events be won back as worshippers and listeners, and thus consistency may raise its head triumphantly. In the name of all that which eleven decades of our communal existence, has endeared to our hearts, let me beg of the our temporal officers to take up a missionary work, so that the corpo--ration over whose interests they have been chosen to watch, may not decay; let me ask of my sisters in faith, whose influence is potent to exercise it in behalf of this historic religious body. Counselled by our women, our men will not suffer this dwelling of God to remain stand as a menace by reason of its emptiness. In the well known language of David I entreat all "Oh magnify the Lord with me, and let us extol His name alto--gether" [Hebrew] And so may it be. Amen.

Identifier

p3hd7pb5m

identifier

SMBx10FF10_1