Literary Production. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
- Title
- Literary Production. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
- Author
- Morais, Sabato
- Date Created
- 1894
- Format
- 10 pages on 4 sheets
- 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/p3gf0nf5x/manifest.json
- Link to Colenda
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3gf0nf5x
- Provenance
- Transfer of Custody from the Hebrew Education Society, 10 March 1913.
- Is Format Of
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx10FF10_5.xml
- content
-
S. MORAIS,
546 N. FIFTH STREET,
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
94
The same lecture, recast, shortened
& somewhat improved upon.
The story is old, very old; so is nature exceedingly old, but who that possesses an appreciative soul ever tires in contemplating nature's beauties?--so varied, so manifold are the glories it exhibits, that it may truly be said in the language in our ritual: God reneweth every day the wonders of His creation. Still, there exist nearer objects of a greater attraction than even the sublime handiwork of the Eternal Lord, manifested in the starry firmament. Those objects of the profound--est admiration are men and women at the portals of whose hearts vice lies in ambush to no purpose-- men and women whose hearts are steeled against the furthest approach of wickedness. May I not sin of impiety, when in the face of such incidents as have earned the founder of our people the title of "friend of God," I venture to say that if the first book of our Torah had transmitted to posterity only the narrative of the sterling virtues of one of Abra--ham's descendants, it would have deserved our homage; our everlasting gratitude. Let me show in part, for the special instruction of Jewish youths, the grandeur of that character.
This morning we are admitted into a family circle. There sits the aged father, whose brow early cares have furrowed. When young, he had become the object of the fondest love to a mother indiscreet--ly partial. His obedience to her order, involving the perversion of truth, made him an exile from the home in which his affections were centred. In manhood, avarice, which like horse leach of described in the book of Proverbs, incessantly cries [Hebrew] "give, give", stood up against him to hinder his temporal progress. When after exposure to draught in the day and frost in the night; after having been overreached ten times by the greed of an unnatural relative, he gained a competence through means not approvable but excusable under provoking circumstances, he travelled to hail again the country of his birth, he met what overwhelmed him with dread. The brother he had once offended might wreak the vengeance which he had matured in his bosom. When that danger was overcome by a Divine interposition that softened the heart of Esau, he suffered shame and peril and horror by the abduction of his only daughter and the cruel revenge taken by two of his sons.
He had almost arrived at the threshhold of the parent--al dwelling, where he hoped to meet joy, when the sorest of domestic afflictions was awaiting him. The woman whose love had sweetened his toil and made drudgery a pleasure, was prematurely torn from his arms by the messenger of death. Yet, time that heals our wounds, had become a restorative also to Jacob in his declining age. Humanly speaking, the hoary patriarch might then have enjoyed a state of serenity to the end of life, if one of the basest passions that man can harbor in his breast, had not disturbed the harmony of his household--envy [Hebrew] [Hebrew] "Rottenness to the bones is envy" writes our moralist. A passionate disposition Pride is despicable, still while in a latent state, it may gratify the silly individual who is flushed with it, and do no actual harm to his fellow-creatures. An passionate irritable disposition is very reprehensible. It may, when bursting forth into a furious temper, tear asunder the most sacred ties, nevertheless there may exist with it generous impulses and by gentle reasoning and swavity of manners the evil disposition may be brought under control.
But envy, even in a passive state, shows its pernicious effects. Have you ever observed in summer nights the feather winged moth, whirling round the flame, which will at last consume it? Even like it is envy. Aye: rotteness to the bones, as Solomon calls it. Woe to the mind poisoned with it, woe to the unfortunate being against whom envy levels its arrows. It was measurably pardonable in Jacob to show Joseph a higher degree of affection over the rest of his children. Joseph was the son anxiously looked for, prayfully asked for by his dear Rachel, and now that she lay in her grave, ti seemed as if a twofold spring of life ran through the child's veins. It seemed as if he claimed a double portion of affection. And, as it naturally happens when we love strongly, Jacob imagined that the object on bestowed the ten--derest care was so perfect, as to call forth in every one the feelings which he cherished. So did the fond parent believe, when he gave Joseph tokens of his predilection. Most sensibly have the Talmudists recommended that fathers and mothers will never openly show a preference of a child over their other children. [Hebrew]
Jacob did not know that his indiscretion sowed the seeds of his own misfortune. Joseph so obviously preferred had not been loth to show some degree of superiority. In fact, his dreams, humanly speaking, were a manifestation of the ideas which he entertained. To prove that it was so, I have the support of the Sages who hold that dreams are mostly the reflect--ion of our thoughts. For, say they, a person will not be likely to see in his sleep, a field sowed with gold golden date tree of nor an elephant going passing with through the eye of a needle. All remember the sorrowful sequel of a youth's ambitious notions. But "there's a Divinity that shapes our ends, rough hue them how we will," said the greatest of English poets. The Sovereign mind that guides earthly events, had discovered in the envied lad a man fit to rule a nation, lead chiefs by his sagacity and teach senators wisdom [Hebrew]--[Hebrew] How puny, how utterly insignificant are man's designs against the will of the Omnipotent! The lad that envy had marked out for its victim, the lad whom envy would have humbled to the earth, was he that God discovered as the fittest to wear the badge of mobility, a crown of glory that righteousness weaves for those who fol--low her directions. Joseph was the impersonation of righteousness.
How many of us, seeing ourselves the target of rank--ling ill-will, mere chattel in the hand of slave traders, falsely accused, unjustly imprisoned, compelled to exchange an existence--the sweetest in the embrace of a most loving father--for an existence of suffering and contumely, might have rebelled and denied that Providence watches over human affairs. Joseph under his woeful trials might have conceived the idea that falsehood yields delicious fruits, truth bitter adversities; that cunning is profitable, honesty calls for stripes. Terrible may have been the seductions inciting to wrong. But they lost all power when seeking to master one who had made a covenant with the fear of the Lord. [Hebrew] "How can I do this great evil and sing against God?" While under his father's indulgent care, Joseph may have exhibited failings attending one in his unripe age. But when thrown on his resources, he arose to the height of full man--hood, armed to resist temptations. It mattered nothing to him, if Potiphar owned him as a slave and could have disposed of him at pleasure. Enough that the Egyptian chief had bought him to do him service, & expected fidelity.
An outcast, poor and unprotected, he did not covet ends riches easily gotten by treachery, pleasures which impunity of--fered. The gloom of a dungeon was a refulgent light to Joseph, compared with the dazzling sun of iniquity To the chief whose approaching release he predicted, the cruelly imprisoned youth did not relate the sad past in all its brutality, did not murmur against a doom which to others must have appeared an injustice from Him, whom Abraham his ancestor proclaimed [Hebrew] "the Judge of the whole earth." The imprisoned youth simply said: "Do remember me, when it will be well with thee, show me kindness to me I pray thee and make mention of me to Pharaoh and bring me out of this house, for indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me in a dungeon." Not a complaint against God's ordination, perfect submission to the decrees of a Divinity that shapes our ends, rough hue them how we will. How magnificently shapen by an invisible but all watching God! Goodness coming forth to hail her beloved, greatness sent to reward preeminent virtues in a being, whose filial, fraternal and social qualities reached the loftiest pinnacle of sublimity.
Who wonders that Moses himself went in quest of the remains of him, who in every relation of life performed in advance the moral injunctions, which the son of Amram was destined to promulgate for the spread of human civilization? Say the Rabbis. On the night that the bondmen's fetters were loosened, and Israelites looked for the silver and gold with which the Egyptians willingly parted, Moses was searching for the dead bones of a Hebrew--the midst of virtue, the prince of goodness, the type of generosity. To Moses who would incul--cate the principles of righteousness as the soul of our existence [Hebrew] "Righteousness, righteous-ness pursue that they mayest live," to the Moses what had been left of that body which had enshrined a ground spirit was more precious than the treasures which seas and mountains hold. Children of my people, study the life of Joseph in all its vicissitudes, take the son of our patriarch Jacob, as a model, and I feel assured that you will become splendid representatives of our faith, noble men and women of the Hebrew race. - Identifier
- p3gf0nf5x
- identifier
- SMBx10FF10_5
Part of Literary Production. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
Morais, Sabato, “Literary Production. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated”, Sabato Morais Digital Repository, accessed September 19, 2024, https://judaicadhpenn.org/legacyprojects/s/morais/item/83235