Beshallah. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1894 · Sabato Morais Digital Repository · Legacy Projects from Judaica DH at Penn Libraries

Title

Beshallah. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1894

Author

Morais, Sabato

Date Created

1894

Location(s)

United States -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia

United States -- Pennsylvania

Format

11 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 9, Folder 12

Has Format

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3w37md9x/manifest.json

Link to Colenda

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3w37md9x

Provenance

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

Is Format Of

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx9FF12_5.xml

content

S. MORAIS,
546 N. FIFTH STREET.
PHILADELPHIA,_________1894

Personal pity, national patriotism
For Beshalach

96

The columns of the Philadelphia Ledger, devoted on Saturdays to "Religious thoughts, which by the editors of that Journal gathered from various sources, offer, at times, occasion for sober reflect--ions. Among the sentiments most frequently quoted, the reader will find those expressed by the late Episcop--al Bishop of Massachussets--the Rev. Dr. Phillips Brooks. Earnestness and broad humanity won for the gifted preacher an enviable reputation, both in American where he in whose cities he regularly officiated and in England, where his voice was publicly heard. As Jews, we cannot agree with him regarding to the supremacy given to claimed for Christian--ity and its alleged founder, but we must approve of the charity taught in the pulpit and practised by a sincere teacher in the daily walks of life. The Haftorah of this morning, has recalled to my mind an idea quoted from Phillips Brooks, which I read once in the a Saturday's Ledger but disapprovingly. The lecturer, had al--luded to the concluding sentence of the impassioned song of Deborah, and had contrasted it pointedly with the saying of the man of Nazareth, who is reported to have thus prayed in his last moments: "Father,

forgive them, for they know not what they do." "Barbaric" was declared by Phillips Brooks, the triumphal cry of the Hebrew woman, brimfull of ten--der compassion, on the contrary he proclaimed the utterance of the Jewish man dying on the cross. Now: I am none of those who look far and wide to find discover extenuating causes to actions, which our hearts or our minds repel. With all the deference due to our Talmudists, I could never, by way of example, accept their their opinion of some of them, that to condemn Reuben as a sin--ner, is to commit an error; or that to attri--bute to David wilful misdeeds, is a mistake [Hebrew] The canonizing of Biblical characters as saints, simply because they figure prominently in sacred pages, will never under no circumstance, meet my approval. The views held by some Rabbis in that respect, I reject, as unscriptural and misleading. If asked, I would not hesitate to answer that the brotherly consideration of the oldest of Jacob's sons, cannot excuse his filial offence, nor the immense services of the youngest son of Jesse to Israel and mankind, can cover over

the wrongs of which he became guilty. Still, I draw a sharp line of demarcation be--tween defending the indefensible and justifying what the love of country and independence dictates. A cardinal fault in with in the Christian religion is its confounding national with personal feelings. Judaism, which goes hand in hand, as it were, with reason, marks out well the distinction between what we owe one another as individuals, and what we owe ourselves as integral parts of the people to which we belong and of the land in whose happiness ours is immediately connected directly involved. Let an unpre--judiced judge, search through the pages of Biblical and post-biblical writings, and he will discover find rules directing commanding each person to act in his relations to his fellow man with a thoughtfulness, loving kindness and forbearance unsurpassed. "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart". "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself". "Ye shall love the stran--ger" are maxims most assuredly, Mosaic. maxims "There rises unto the upright, light in the darkness,

to the gracious, the compassionate and righteous." "It is well with the man that deals mercifully, and who leads; who governs his affairs with justice." "A kind man does good to his own soul". By kind--ness and truth sin will be forgiven", are undoubted--ly sentences emanating from our psalmist and our moralist. And even more forcible than Holy Writ are the Sages, in demanding the exercise of humane qualities. Be of the disciples of Aaron &c "Who--ever shows no pity for his fellow-being dares not claim a descent from Abraham." "Whoever causes another being to suffer punishment through his instrumentality, will never enter the presence of the Most High". "To be Godlike is to copy the divine attributes of unrestricted goodness". Those are some of the innumerable sayings of equal import, scattered among the volumes of the Talmud, and there we meet also incidents illustrating the truth that to forgive man is to draw down God's infinite blessings. And all Israelites know the night prayer embodied in the Jewish liturgy. "Sovereign of the world! Behold, I fully pardon

every one who has angered or offended me, in any manner, whether personally, financially, or in whatever is mine whether the deed was done by instigation, or wilfully, or by mistake, or pre-meditately. May no Israelite be punished on my account, nor any human creature [Hebrew] Yet, I admit it without reservation, those teachings in which we Jews may justly glory, apply to each of us in our conduct towards our neighbors, as our neighbors, not towards the united oppressors of our country, the combined robbers of our national property, the allied persecutors of our belief. The failure to make that discrimination is the cause of Phillips Brooks' censure, of rather of our Deborah, or rather of the impossible theoretical Christianity which the good Bishop of Massa--chussets wished to inculcate. For practically Christ--ians and Jews are of one and the same mind in draw--ing the distinction. Now: who were the enemies that Deborah prayed against and whose destruction she desired? Her personal opponents, or the adversaries merely of her household? Not at all History tells it. For twenty years Jabin King of Canaan, who reigned in Chazor,

asked by heathen princes, bent upon the extermin--ation of our people, had held a crushing hood over Israel. The invincible general who mar-shalled a large cavalry and infantry was the invincible Sisera. He spread terror reigned abroad. Husbandry and commerce languished. Hemmed, in around and harassed on all sides, our villagers feared to venture out; the high ways of our cities remained deserted. The fate of our ancestors seemed to tremble in the balance, when patriotism fired the heart of a woman. Debo--rah could not have listened unconcerned to the lament of sufferers who came to counsel with her as her simple the female Judge bench of Mount Eph--raim sitting under beneath the shades of a her palm tree. Her ardent spirit is aroused awakened. She can will endure no longer the vile servitude under the foreigner. She must cast off the femminine garb and rise to the deliverance of her nation. Stirred up in her every fibre, the wife of Lapidoth, summons Barak quickly to master together the fearless valiant among his tribe, arouse Naftati and Zebulon ready for the fray, gather an army of ten thou-sand soldierly Hebrews, and let them bleed for their country and their God.

She also will stand at Mount Tabor, and and strengthen with her martial presence the combattants. Short and decisive was the battle. The heavens fought against Sisera. A terrific storm which arose hastened the routing and discomfitting of the dreaded enemy. We may pardon a heroine and poetess who, upon hearing that the terrible Si--sera has fallen slain under the blows of one of her sex, friendly to the cause of Israel, forgets the treachery only to remember the conquest and its completeness through Jael's hammer. We may forgive the patriotic daughter of our race, who, in a flight of her genius, pictures the alternating of feelings of in a proud mother, accustom-ed to embrace her victorious son, trembling at one moment because of his delay, leaping with joy at another the next moment, at the prospect of his return enriched with inimical the rarest spoil. We may condone in Deborah the outburst of feelings which found vent in her last utterance [Hebrew] [Hebrew]. But who were then the

foes that God might destroy, while His friends shall shine as brilliantly as the son at its meridian? They were the persecutors and plunderers of Deborah's nation and of the country of her birth. Would Christians, on a like occasion, have folded their arms and inactive--ly following falling on their knees, inactively have prayed "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do"? So long as every spark of love of her one's native hearth, is not extinct, not a we shall find people none be they of whatever religion or region who will so act. But to refuse to do as Deborah and her faithful followers instinctively did, is called by enthusiasts--I will not style them visionaries--is called, I say, "refined Christianity." I have read a French author who wrote thus: "Patriotism is a sen--timent belonging to the old Law, theoretically, it has no place in the new. The day on which the new was preached to gentiles, was, on principle virtually, the last day of nationality." And continuing in that strain, the author added: "The sentiment of nationality, as the English

understand it, is a sentiment essentially Jewish. One would believe that an English community is a community of the circumcised." Well: Be that as it may, the world at large does not blame the En-glish born, wherever dwelling, through voluntary or fortuitous circumstances, for referring to Great Britain as his "Home". Bishop Brooks, who bore the reputation of having the courage of his convictions, would have us denounce the magnificent woman of whom we are proud. He says: "we must entertain no sentiment but that of pity and a desire to help even the worst of men". I unite in share that sentiment. So does my Bible and my Talmud. "If thou canst draw out of what is vile, something precious, thou shalt be My ins mouthpiece" said the Lord to Jeremiah, and a sage advised his son so: "If a corrupt one meets thee, lead him gently where he may learn to do right." Such should be our conduct towards every human being in our walks of life, but toward the enemy of our country and the faith we cherish, we and all the world all over will imitate Deborah, until the Hebrew prophecies are fulfilled and the reign of universal peace is proclaimed on earth, that is, when the fatherhood of God, enunciated by our Lord, will be acknowledged by all mankind, through the length & breadth of the habitable globe.

Identifier

p3w37md9x

identifier

SMBx9FF12_5