Lekh Lekhah. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1897 · Sabato Morais Digital Repository · Legacy Projects from Judaica DH at Penn Libraries

Title

Lekh Lekhah. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1897

Author

Morais, Sabato

Date Created

1897

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 9, Folder 3

Has Format

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p35m62s05/manifest.json

Link to Colenda

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p35m62s05

Provenance

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

Is Format Of

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx9FF3_1.xml

content

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

97
For [Hebrew]

If I were asked in what the highest honor of our father Abraham consisted, I would unhesitatingly answer, that it consist--ed in his having taken intellectually an eagle like flight to rise immesearably superior beyond measure to all his surroundings. Neat unique mental effort, earned for the founder of the He--brew people the title appellation by which Isaiah bringing a message from above in to day's Hap--torah designated him in the name of Y [?] inspiration "the friend of God." [Hebrew] When all the world all paid homage bent the knee before to the servants of the Omnipotent mas--ter, our patriarch beheld recognized in the servants only a re--flection of the Master's Almightiness. Sabeans, or Sabians were his contemporaries. They believed in Astrology, or in the influence exercised over our fate by of the host of heaven, which a Supreme Power created for the service of the world, in which we move, and perhaps of countless unknown worlds. To the sun and moon and planets they bowed, and the image of objects, that whirl round the illimitable space above us, they fashioned for their senseless worship. Super--stition was the creed by which those ancient heathens swore, and in that falsity Abraham was reared.

But the voice that which spoke within the mind of that searcher of after truth, exorcised, as it were, the false belief, when it did bid Abraham go forth and and look heavenward upward. So has the Midrash partly taught in its comment on a sentence in our Parashah [Hebrew] "He brought him forth abroad 'viz; [Hebrew] "Lave behind thy astrological notions" the voice said A Credibility in the influence of objects that people the firmament, has been always condemned by the prophets, and by none more forcibly than by Jeremiah, who thus cautioned admonished Israel of yore his country: "Learn not the way of gentiles, and yea; be not dismayed at the signs of the heavens, though nations may be afraid of them. For the rules customs practices of those peoples are vanity....Be stand not in dread of them, for they can do no harm, nor is there any power in them to do good." But say brethren, are all Jews in this supposed enlightened age above the absurdities of false beliefs? It must I will not be denyd that many are free from superstitions; but how large the number of those, whose mind, like a ship in a stormy sea, is tossed continually upon the waves of idle fancies! It might excite laughter, if the subject were not serious, to hear one relate that he could have foretold

disasters, for from his having seen shooting stars in the sky! More sur--passingly ridiculous than that is the a prevalent notion, that the casual circumstance of thirteen persons sitting together, predicts portends some evil misfortune. If Why, if brother Israelites were I inclined to put forth in prognostics, I would on the contrary call that circumstance a good omen, inasmuch as at 13th a Hebrew lad is initiated in the performance of the com--mandments, and 13 are the Divine attributes taught imported to Moses in the cleft of the rock at Sinai, and 13 are the Jewish creeds as formulated by Maimonides, and in Rabbinical literature 13 are the rules for interpreting the Law. [Hebrew] But even more humiliating to the human understanding are some of the still existing the superstitions surely are still in vogue. Not long ago a family, sadly bereaved, said to me that the loss sustained, had been foreshadowed by the un--accountable falling of a looking glass, reduced to frag--ments. without any human agency. And I remember how the pranks of a mischievous servant girl, occa--sioned in Philadelphia the belief that a certain house was haunted by ghosts--if such have ever appeared.

Now, if those only who have cast aside the be--lief in an ever-present and all sustaining protecting God, were affected by follies of that nature, I might venture to assign a reason for it. I would argue, that the absence of a reverential awe for a Supreme Being, has made room for a dread of imaginary things, which a heated fancy created begot. For begun For I hold that he who scoffs at religion, is apt to substitute for it conjure up in its stead errors of his own invention. But it happens that the false ideas, which I deprecate, are entertained also by men, who, seemingly at least, honor the Lord God. I cannot conceive how an Israelite, who has read his Bible intelligently can reconcile with it a belief in omens and prognostics. Where is the absolutely unapproachable foreknowledge of the Eternal, in the destiny of nations and individuals, if perish--able beings can read their fate in fortuitous events? Where is the mercy of the Eternal, if His creatures are to be harrowed by a foreknowledge of approaching evils? That it is folly, nay, wickedness in mortals to pre--tend that they can unfold what is concealed in the bosom benat beneath the impenetrable veil of the future; and that the Lord has given us a stand--ard by which to regulate our actions and had and avow not heeding superstition; that our individual conduct and not chance calls down upon us a blessing, or a curse,

all that, I might prove by exhaustless quotations. For, the books of br Moses, the writings of the prophets, the inspired effusions of our psalmists, moralists and poets, abound teem with them [?] rules and maxims to that effect, but this morning, I prefer to let an inimitable orator speak that truth rehearse teach us a lesson. You have heard Isaiah son of Amoz preach: speak: "Why wilt thou so say so O Jacob, and thus speak thus O Israel! My way is hidden from the Lord, and my cause is passed over from by the cognizance of my God". A long association with Sabeans, or worshippers of heavenly bodies, had given rise to a bane--ful thought. Our ancestors were led to believe that God had peopled the sky with spirits under in the semblance of stars to into whose power He had consigned the creatures of the earth. If the star, under which a man person was born was proved happened to be an auspicious one his live would--independently of his own exertions--be prove happy. If, on the con--trary, an unpropitious star ruled at the hour of his birth, he was doomed to suffer. God would not deign to direct human concerns. Glad at having completed His handiwork, He rest--ed on His throne, surrounded by angels and archangels, who paid Him homage. This false doctrine, which obtained too many followers, even among some of the brightest intellects, is fought against in the Haptorah of this sabbath.

He Isaiah tells that the Creator of the universe is not a human sovereign, entrusting to subordinate officers the government of his Kingdom. Hast thou not heard, the prophet asks, that the everlasting God, the Lord, who created the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is He ever weary; that those only who trust only in Him will reach a tower--ing height as an eagle in its upward flight, but those who rely on vanity shall stumble and fall? Then, directing the his inspired word to nations that stood in fear of imaginary gods, he the great Seer sets before their vision a pattern worthy of imitation--our father Abraham. Who hath raised up one from the East, whom right-eousness met at his every steps? [Hebrew] For, he our patriarch also had been trained to believe that the fate of man is unalterably ordained by the planets. But with the strength force of his intellect he repelled that baneful doctrine, and laid hold of the soul elevating belief in One God, whose providence extends to the whole human race. Such is the purport of Isaiah's sermon, when he calls upon distant isles to listen to him in silence

[Hebrew] But to the seed of Abraham--the witnesses of the truth, which their immortal father discovered--Isaiah appeals in persuasive language, to remain the chosen servants of a humanising cause [Hebrew] [Hebrew]
Comforting, as and courage inspiring are the closing sentences of the section set apart for the Haptorah of this sabbath. "Fear not O Israel, for I am with thee, be not dismayed, for, I am thy God, I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." How consoling to a people that has woefully suffered and does yet suffers still not to betray a Divine trust; how consoling, to be prophetically assured that it will come forth un--scathed from the flames which a prejudiced world has kindled all around it to consume it. A Happy the Yes, most noble if [Hebrew] people, the people of the God of Abraham, that immoveable in its adherence to the idea given by Abraham left received as an eternal inheritance, defies prejudice and persecution. Have you noticed, my Brethren, a quaint expression, near the end of our Haftorah? It reads thus: [Hebrew] "Fear not, thou worm Jacob." Wherefore did the Seer chose a word in his metaphorical language, a word significative of abjection, while he surely knew how to find select one of exaltation?

The Midrash answers replies so to that question [Hebrew] [Hebrew]. In the same manner as the worm, though, among the very lowest among of creatures, can pierce with its gnawing teeth the lofty cedars of Lebanon, so can Israel, when levelled with the ground, pierce the vaults of heavens with the utterance of their lips, Let us then open our lips in prayer and draw down strength and salvation continuous vigor resisting power. Let us then yet be firm, while praying that the trials, to which the progeny of the friend of God are exposed everywhere through inveterate ill-will, may soon cease. Let us pray for the dawning of that glorious era when one Shepherd and one Lord shall be universally recognized acknowledged. Let us pray that the prediction twice foretold with firm conviction, be speedily realized; when many peoples shall come and say: "Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us some of His ways, and we will walk in His paths. Then the promise, as in the ceasing [?] of our Haftorah, will be fulfilled: We shall rejoice in the [Hebrew] Lord, and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

Identifier

p35m62s05

identifier

SMBx9FF3_1