Anniversaries. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1878 · Sabato Morais Digital Repository · Legacy Projects from Judaica DH at Penn Libraries

Title

Anniversaries. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1878

Author

Morais, Sabato

Date Created

1878

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 11, Folder 2

Has Format

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p31z42b8n/manifest.json

Link to Colenda

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p31z42b8n

Provenance

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

Is Format Of

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx11FF2_13.xml

content

On the 18th anniversary of
the 7th st Synagogue.

Eighteen years have almost changed the looks of our venerable Congregation. Many who constituted it earlier than at that period, in which we consecrated was consecrated this house, have gone to their lasting reward,--and we have had cause to deplore the departure--, while many whom we did not know then, form now our principal number. The descendants of the men and women who worshipped in the days of old at the Synagogue, which stood upon the same spot very nearly four scores of years, can be easily counted., and We may be thankful indeed on seeing the glowing degeneracy, that any representatives of the families who gave stability to the service of Israel's God in Philadelphia, still contribute yet to carry it on. But However, the bulk of its supporters, and--what is more to the purpose--of its attendants, does not belong to the original stock. It is a foreign element of a compa--ratively recent creation. To that new infusion we mainly owe the preserving of this sacred insti--tution from a gradual decay. I mean to the accession received from time to time of Israelites, unaccustomed to the Sephardic Minhag.

It will be remembered that just as we determined to remove to a more fitting edifice--the raising of which burdened us with a debt still unliquidated--, an uncalled for division took place, thinning our ranks. To that melancholy occurrence, was superadded soon after the civil war between two sections of this coun--try, and which, taxing the resources of the people, reduced our revenue. But we must record with gratification,--as a bright page in our history--, that through those reverses, and through the violent pres--sure brought against us by the actual unauthorized changes [?] in the ritual, and the government of the Synagogue radical and otherwise, our brethren, who joined us since we entered this building, have, with scarcely any exception worth mentioning, kept attached to our Synagogue. And we may chronicle likewise also with unfeigned satisfaction that we finally welcomed that our adherence to principles afforded us at length back to it our holy courts the great satisfaction of welcoming back again into our holy courts, some who had left the, not from any feelings of hostility, but from motives of per--sonal regard to one who had labored diligently in defence of Judaism. Let us be grateful, and express our inward sentiments before God upon this eighteenth an--niversary of our new Synagogue.

The Lord who does not forsake those who confide in Him in truth, raised deliverers to prevent our hallowed structure from becoming a solitude, for want of worship--pers in the manner of old. Therein have His praises continued to resound, and that not only at distant inter--vals, but with greater frequency than where innova--tions of various kinds have been are periodically offered to attract a multytudes. The foreign element in our midst has been mostly conservative. It has preferred the simplicity of the fathers to the extravagant no--tions of the children, ruinous in their consequences, and not at all well accompanied with any a deeper reverence for religion. Even if the service rendered here, did not accord in all its parts with the general want ideas entertained, still a sensible opposi--tion to capricious alterations, commended the retention of the entire form to the mind of the majority. In the absence of emendations carrying upon their face the impress sanction of a rightly constituted ecclesiastical authority synod, the attendants submitted to that which may not altogether have been according altogether to their liking.

But there is an emendation upon the acceptance of which my brethren,--both the last comers, and the ori--ginal worshippers should have insisted. It is in the way style of chanting our prayers. For, by the admission of all who have any sense of harmony in their nature, our system, or rather our lack of system militates against the interests of orthodoxy. How can musically trained youths join with any spiritual gratification in psalmody discordantly sung? Will they not prefer a short litur--gy, the melody of which affects pleasantly, to a long one which assumes the shape of a vocal strife, of a rivalry among some determined to be heard the loudest and the last? Understand, the question at issue is not about inviting persons by increasing outsiders our number by the allurement of operatic strains, but about retaining of our own by avoiding disagreeable impressions. I have had occasion recently to observe in another a neighboring city the recitation method. The reader alone rehearsing the psalms in a slow and measured tone; the con--gregation following inaudibly. To me it sounded monotonous I judged it also fatiguing also in the extreme, because un--relieved by lights and shades, and, I judge, wearisome to those who listen.

I confess that in some of my writings advocating uni--formity in the services at the Synagogues throughout the United States, I proposed the introduction of recitative in several portions now chaunted. Nor have I arrived at a different conclusion since as that one, about regarding the ad--visabilityeness of the plan. But I have always held that poe--tical hymns or psalms ought to call forth a large vo--lume of sounds, and that in consonance with the rules of harmony, so that the effect may be imposing and soul stir--ring. Who can should attune their voices so effectively but a whole congregation moved by devotional sentiments? To the attendants in the house of God, belongs the indisputable right of uttering praises and thanksgivings, but each attendant ought to know his capacity or his unfitness to join loudly in the worship. The President, and much less the minister, can be expected to approach such individuals as persistently continue to disturb the harmony; because they are unware of their deficiencies with a complaint. How--ever gentle the remonstrance, it might wound and offend, a result which our temporal director and myself would equally regret. But inasmuch as if all of us are inte-rested in upholding the dignity of this sacred receptacle of conservatism, we ought to study how to guard it against any cause for disparagement.

We ought to check even a pious inclination forcing out our high notes, for the sake of exalting the worship, and furthering the advantage of this house we dedicated eighteen years ago in honor to the Eternal Lord. Unfortunately, either through fondness for self gratification an [?] of self-importance shortsightedness, or through misjudgment we are not always so guided in our conduct. And I am sorry that I must, with my usual candor, express disapprobation upon this score. The last public act of my Congregation was not calculated to benefit the cause we should have at heart. We absolutely need the means to support students, who may be trained for the ministry as ministers to serve at the altar of the Unity. The Maimonides College which partly established and maintained sustained to accomplished that end was short-lived, because the East failed to appreciate its unselfish working. Only a few public-spirited Philadelphians were left to bear the expense of its maintenance. The West, has shamed us by its the formation of an admirable Union promotive of Hebrew education. An institution exists has been created which reckons a hundred con--gregations as its patrons, aside from private donors. It was proposed that we make common cause with the cooperate in extending its utility.

I took an early opportunity to present the pros and cons of the proposition. I advanced recommended caution and con--sideration, but not I did not adorn a peremptory refusal. Since my having so spoken on that topic, I received the an official assurance that no undue one-sided influence was exercised upon the minds of the students. That assurance was published in a Philadelphia Weekly. But even if no credence was is to be put in it, we learnt that the Board of Delegates, in which our body is we are represented, had agreed to take proper steps for an amalgamation, under upon terms advantageous to the East. That fact also was known to the readers of the Jewish press. Meanwhile quite a number of congregations of all shades of opi--nion had flowed into the Union. It became very evident that the organization would extend spread far and wide, and that branches of the principal college must unavoidably be established beyond the place where it was first started. All these circumstances ought to have had a weight upon the deliberations of my congre--gation. Had it been decided at the genial last-semiannual meeting that to spread for the love of religious learning, we were ready to cooperate work in concert with all Israelites irrespective of their ritual tendencies, we might have gained some controlling voice power in the general council,

and the demand upon our treasury would have been then nominal. Now, we have condemned our--selves to inactivity, for, once that the Union consti--tution of the Union is altered,--as contemplated by the Board of Delegates--, a tax would have to we could be entitled to a representation, unless a tax be imposed on each seat-holder, to entitle us to a representation, and such a measure naturally unpopular and that unpopular measure could never be enforced. Had we even the pecuniary ability to to cope with the gigantic enterprise emanating from originated [?] at Cincinnati, I could not have favored exclusiveness; but shortened are our circumstances; we may need require the help of the very body whose contact we have sunn shunned, to raise tea--chers and ministers in Israel in sympathy with our principles. I shall not discuss here the plea of unconstitution--ality advanced, a plea which has worked mischief al--ready, and which is not very tenable, because the force of time has virtually rendered many a clause rule upon on our Statute-book a dead letter. I Nor do I not express myself so freely, in order to pass my adverse structures on the conduct of my constituents; but as the eigh--teenth anniversary of our Synagogue came just on the heel

of the last public act of my congregation, I thought of discharging a duty by a word of exhortation. Let us shake off, my Brethren, the a spirit of overweening self-assertion; let us recognize merit where it dwells. That portion of the Jewish po--pulation, known by the name of "Reformers," has out-stripped us in charitable, and in scholastic under-takings. We who retain the title of Orthodox have in late years contributed but little to that which practically shows attachment to Israel and to its laws. There is something we can profitably copy from our coreligionists who have departed from the an--cient landmark. And we should not hesitate to become their coadjutors. Let us resolve at this solemn season of our Pentecost festival, which recalls an event of sin--gular importance to ourselves--the consecration of a stately edifice--that we will hence forth honor the Lord more than by outward worship; that we will bestow our thoughts, give largely of our personal activity, contribute with the utmost we can afford, so that Judaism in America may have a brodening influence, a permanence and a glory. And so may it be. Amen.

Identifier

p31z42b8n

identifier

SMBx11FF2_13