Ki-tissa. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1894
- Title
- Ki-tissa. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1894
- Author
- Morais, Sabato
- Date Created
- 1894
- Format
- 11 pages on 4 sheets
- Language(s)
- English
- Source
- Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies
- Sabato Morais Collection, Box 9, Folder 16
- Has Format
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3br8n14z/manifest.json
- Link to Colenda
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3br8n14z
- Provenance
- Transfer of Custody from the Hebrew Education Society, 10 March 1913.
- Is Format Of
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx9FF16_2.xml
- content
-
S. MORAIS,
546 N. FIFTH STREET.
PHILADELPHIA, 1894
On Elijah for Haftorath [Hebrew]
61
Why has the Jew suffered persecution always? Because he has dared to stand forth as a living protest against falsehood. Demanded to surrender his charter and cast it at the feet, now of paganism, anon of Christ--ianity and Islamism that it may might be trampled upon, he said: "You Thou cruel gentilism, mayest tread upon my body, but I will hold fast even unto death to the instrument of my spiritual freedom--the Torah." Our philosopher poet Judah Ho-Levy, who called the Jew the heart of the world, whose circulating blood prevented mankind from stagnating, asked the King of the Rhazars, that inclined to undervalue Israel, what he would think thought of a nation that could exchange a life of trials for one of ease by a simple utterance, and still prefersed afflict-ions to falsehood prevarications. "I bow to Jupiter, I sear by the cross, I acknowledge Mohammed God's prophet." Those simple few words, would have extinguished for ever the fire of persecution. But the cowardly confession did not come. Of that, the Jew may rightly boast. His sufferings are his glory. Aye: [Hebrew] For Thee, O Lord! we have been killed slain every day, we are reckoned
like sheep for the slaughter" [Hebrew] All that has come upon befallen us, yet, we have not forgotten Thee, neither have we hid against Thy covenant". Brethren. In the Hatorah of this Sabbath, loyal Israel is typified. Elijah the avenger of the covenant, wandering in exile with a drawn sword hanging over his head; Elijah enduring misery, is a fitting symbol of the people from where he sprung. Heathenism had triumphed, for a time, over Judaism. An ill-assorted marriage between the son of Omri and the daughter of Ethbaal, brought in its train the saddest consequences. Ambition, perhaps, led Ahab to wed a princess of Phoe-nicia, born and bred in a hotbed of debasing idolatry. The influence of such a woman was poisonous. Her royal husband drank in that soul corroding venom; his subjects caught the killing infection. The God of Abraham must feel prostrate before the brutal deities of the Sidonians. The altar built at Zion in honor of the Lawgiver of Sinai, must make room for those altars reeking with
the blood of human sacrifices. So Jezebel had vowed. But not all in the corrupt kingdom of Israel were corrupt. Jezebel had forced into silence by engines of death, every one who moaned and wept over the abroga--tion of the religion of Moses. Still, in the palace of inequity an official lived, who secretly labored to mitigate the evil which the impious queen had wrought. But how he God-fearing Obadiah trembled, lest a discovery of his fealty to Judaism, might redouble the trials of the faithful. Jezebel was the [?]-eyed monster that never sleeps. We may consider Jeze--bel, the pagan wife of Ahab the Israelite, the initiator of those series of persecution to which we are yet exposed. But whom did our heavenly Deliverer raise then to baffle the scheme of the infamous Sidonian, bent upon supplanting Monotheism by a compulsory introduction adoration of her polytheism? Like an apparition suddenly a the man arose, to who lifted up high the banner of Sinai in the face of Jezebel. Did he issue from the school of prophets, which the great Samuel had founded and fostered? We do not know. Equally uncertain we are about his nativity
and parentage. But what of that? He was the child of the hour, born to terrify unright--eousness. Weird in his appearance, trenchant in his language, he brings a hard message from the Master whom he served [Hebrew] [Hebrew] "As the Lord God of Israel, before whom I stand does him, I swear that in these coming years, no dew or rain shall come down, unless I say command it." Drought, the frequent plaque of the land of mountains and valleys, watered by showers from the sky [Hebrew] The dreaded drought of Palestine comes. The soil is parched. Man's tongue cleaves to the roof of his mouth. Sin has shut up the heavens, then precious drops refuse to fall [Hebrew] "Where is Elijah? By all the goods of Sidon, the herald of a calamity shall die. He must pay with his life for the sorrows he his pre--dicted. Where does he the hated Tishbite lie hidden? Let him be dragged into the presence of Jezebel. What prince, or what people has dared to give him shelter? The hand of Jezebel will reach all to scourge and to tear and devastate". "Check thy
wrath, thou wicked heathen, who sharest the throne of Israel. The man thou hast compelled to seek a scanty meal and a bed among strangers, has arrived. Ahab has met him." Ahab and Elijah stand face to face. The crowned head and the stern denouncer of wrong. "Is it thou indeed, thou he who hast so troubled Israel". "Not I," answers Elijah. "Not I have troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house who have have troubled my people. Thou and thy father's house, that for led man to cast behind the command of the Lord and run after debauching idols. Let thy false prophets, who fatten at the table of Ze Jezebel, prove that a spirit from on high rests upon them, and I shall kneel before thy heathen queen." The challenge is accepted. Our Haftorah describes the test thrillingly. Our mount Carmel--a promontory near the Mediterranean sea, Elijah takes his stand. His gaunt figure, his attenuated body, his dishevelled hair, his coarse garment tied round his the waist with a leather belt, contrasted sbv strikingly with the rich b gorgeous robes of the well preserved flatterers, who ministered lay increase at the shrine of Jezebel's idols.
Listen, he is addressing the people multitude who have come to see the awful trial. "How long will ye halt between two opinions? If the Lord that Abraham discovered beheld is nature and Moses proclaimed One, is the true God, follow Him, and if the idols of Jezebel is are gods, follow them. Here, are those the ministers richly rewarded for raising temples to Baal. Let them sing of his its his praises, and ask that he may send a fire to consume the offerings made in honor of its his divinity. If fire shall descend from heaven at their bidding, then go ye, children of Israel, and deny for ever the rock whence you were hewn--Abraham the Hebrew and Moses who led you on guided us with his spirit". The altar is set up, the sacrifice is laid upon it; the priests pray and cry long. "Oh Baal! Reveal thy power." Elijah mocks them. "Pray louder, cry with a stronger voice, may be Baal is not here, he has gone further, or perchance other petitioners occupy its his mind." Like the wild Arabs of the rast desert in their fantastic and fanatical worship, the priests of Baal work them--selves into a state of frenzy. With swords and lances they cut their flesh and slash at one another, until they are smeared with streaming blood.
Not fancifully did the Sages of Israel, while commenting upon the portion of the Pentateuch which we have just read, interpret the action of the worshippers adorers of the golden calf, who sang and danced, as a worship shockingly revolting [Hebrew] Now, the sun that had shone with its oriental bright--ness is now on the Eastern summit, commanding a fair view of the Mediterranean sea, was bending towards the West. Elijah rises in the calmness of prophetic majesty. "Draw nigh to me ye progeny of Jacob and see if the living God whom you have forsaken liveth" So the austere, but staunch--est believer of in Adonaï, speaks. Israel has gone astray. The nationality which David knit together by military genius, his unwise successors have split asunder. Elijah the patriot, Elijah the herald of the One God, will not recognize a denationalizing division. Twelve stones he raises to set up his altar, and prays. Not wildly but with intensity of fervor, convinced that the Lord who commands lightnings and thunders and they go forth, can bid fire to come and con-sume the sacrifice offered in honor to His name. "Oh Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel; this day
shall it be known, that Thou art God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant....Answer me, O Lord! Answer me, and let this people know, that thou art the only God and that Thou hast turned their heart back again." You know my brethren, the precious confession sevenfold repeated by the Jew, everywhere when the sun of the holiest day in the year departs. "The Lord He is God. The Lord He is God." That confession, from an erring by a penitent people rent the air, as Elijah from the top of Carmel saluted the welcomed fire that showed proved him God's ever constant servant. Malachi, the last of our prophets, saw that typical avenger of the Unity arrive in advance in spirit before of the great and tremendous day, when God will redeem His word to faithful Israel. The Rabbis make room for the Tishbite, that he may preside in spirit over assemblages initiating those born in Israel into Abraham's covenant, and they greet him it adhere his entrance in spirit to in the honored the evening repast of the Passover holiday is held. They Our Sages look for the venerable Seer to hastening to preach union [Hebrew], when fathers shall not dispute
with their children, nor children with their fathers on the religion that has made us one and indivisible; all when all with will declare that God gave unto Moses in Koreb for all Israel statutes and ordinances. Oh! may Elijah arise, [Hebrew] "to cleanse what is impure, to bring near those who have gone far and establish peace in the our world" - Identifier
- p3br8n14z
- identifier
- SMBx9FF16_2
Part of Ki-tissa. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1894
Morais, Sabato, “Ki-tissa. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1894”, Sabato Morais Digital Repository, accessed September 19, 2024, https://judaicadhpenn.org/legacyprojects/s/morais/item/84245