Funeral orations. Morais, Sabato. New York, NY. Undated · Sabato Morais Digital Repository · Legacy Projects from Judaica DH at Penn Libraries

Title

Funeral orations. Morais, Sabato. New York, NY. Undated

Author

Morais, Sabato

Location(s)

United States -- New York -- New York

United States -- New York

Format

6 pages on 2 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 13

Has Format

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3j960v30/manifest.json

Link to Colenda

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3j960v30

Provenance

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

Is Format Of

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx11FF13_6.xml

content

Some remarks made in the 19th st Synagogue
New York, on the occasion of Mr Lyons' funeral
"Happy is he whose good name grew as he advanced in years, and who departed hence, leaving as a legacy an excellent character." This is the substance of a teaching of our Sages, my fellow-Israelites!, and I experience a melan--choly satisfaction in knowing that I can, without the hesi--tancy arising form a fear of offending Truth, point to my sainted colleague, as an exemplification of that Rabbinical axiom. J. J. Lyons lived and died in the in--creasing enjoyment of an spotless irreproachable reputation; and you have gathered here to call him happy. Some may have differed with the stanch upholder of ancestral tra--ditions; others may have deemed his adherence to the Sephardic ritual and observances--which he sincerely felt called upon to maintain--, too determinedly tenacious. But all will bear me out in this assertion: The Minister of Shearith Israel Congregation, served the God of the He--brews with sterling honesty. Never has an instance come to my knowledge of a clash between his professions and his practices. The earnestness which he evinced,

when communing with the Lord of all flesh; that de--votional ardor with which he invited the faithful to the footstool of Mercy, and held them there by the charm of his mellifluous notes, he displayed in the various walks of life. My revered colaborer did not understand how the character of a Minister may be divided into two distinct parts, one of truthfulness when at the sacred desk, and on the pulpit, and another of expediency when beyond the hallowed precincts. He may have lacked what the world calls, discretion, prudence. He may have been over zealous for the cause he had espoused. But he wore the garb of fidelity, wherever he wended his steps. In an age peculiarly restless under restraints, in a country of compromises, the shepherd who proceeded in an even course, may not always have met with universal approval. But without undervaluing a deservedly earned popularity, the servant of the Most High, loved consistency most, and what his conscience depicted as such he clung to, regardless of the opinion, which the community might have formed. And now that the soul urging on to action, has winged itself to bliss; and motionless

lies for ever the instrument through which its powers were exhibited, who will withhold the meed of praise due to sterling honest? Who will not acknowledge that the unwaverer responded to the dictates of principles; that his deeds were the manifesta--tions of an unshaken faith? Aye: ye all who sadly look upon this coffin, recognize in the being shrouded therein an honest pastor of God's flock, and discover likewise the illustration of the olden teaching: "Happy is he whose good name grew as he advanced in years, and who departed hence, leaving as a legacy an excellent reputation." To the venerable congregation, whom J. J. Lyons served, longer, I surmise, than any of his predecessors, that good name and excellent re--putation must be sweeter than precious ointment, diffusing a perfume that reaches far. For, "the remnant of Israel," for whose sake my coworker stood a suppliant for during very nigh two score of years, he rendered honorable by the pur unspotted purity of his life. The youths, under his spiritual charge, he strove to exalt in piety, by his own steadfast resignation to ills that tried faith with severity.

And who can tell what peaceful influence his pastoral visits, suggested by kindness may have exercised over desolate homes? Who can tell the number of the needy, he may have rescued from a state of abjection, as a benevolent almoner of his people's generous gifts? Preserve that good name and excellent reputation as an inalienable heirloom, Ye men and women of the Kahal Kadosh Shearith Israel, Cherish it as a paternal momento, which, holding the past ever present to the mind, awes back a threatening future. Vow in the presence of your Maker at this solemn hour, that the Judaism of Moses and the Rabbins will find in each of you a staunch supporter and defender. vow it ere the honest exponent of that belief, your revered Minister, be for ever hidden from human sight. You owe it to his memory; you owe to your sons and daughters now verging on incredulity, and thence on soul-withering Nihilism, because they see not the eyes beaming with faith uplifted to the God of Israel; because they see a petty war waged between a

blatant would be religion, and flippant irreligion, but they behold not the standard of Judaism lifted up by pure hands; they behold not that love un--quenchable and undiminished for the teaching of the great men of our race [Hebrew]
Pardon, my hearers, this outburst of feelings, perhaps inopportune. I have mingled among the mourn--ful assemblage not to sermonize to the living, or principally to eulogize the dead, but to express a word of brotherly sympathy. I have entered this sacred fane, overcast with glood, because of the absence of one, who made it echo with devotional songs, chiefly to afford some consolation.
Would that my voice reached them, whom this congregational loss, affects most seriously and deeply. To the Jewess whom J. J. Lyons had the happiness of calling "My wife", I would present this scene grand in its sadness as an expression of the esteem in which the husband man whom she so contributed in rendering honorable was held, and I would bid it breathe into her soul lasting consolation. To my sister in faith, who, physically feeble, proved herself

a tower of strength to the husband and tried Minister, I would say "Be comforted, daughter of my people, be comforted in the delightful thought that your cultured mind and your gentle nature soothed asperities, and eased the passage from the mortal to the immortal." To the offspring of my lamented friend, I would give the assurance that to wipe their tearful eyes, and let this melancholy separation incite them to active religiousness and practical piety, will be the means of their enhancing the beatitude reserved for their parent. And you bereaved congregation, children of my people, comfort each other with the hopes that sustained the honest shepherd of God's flock. Labor in concert with all the good and true in Israel, irrespective of birth or de--nomational -nominational difference for the perpetuity of the faith so dear to the departed. Work to make the appellation "Jew" honorable, as his was honored, so that when of every one of you shall be when summoned home above, be said "Happy is he whose good name grew as he advanced in years, and who departed hence leaving as a legacy an excellent reputation." (It was followed by some more remarks about instruction and unity).

Identifier

p3j960v30

identifier

SMBx11FF13_6