Letter from Voorsanger, Jacob to Morais, Sabato. Houston, TX; Mar 1883
- Title
- Letter from Voorsanger, Jacob to Morais, Sabato. Houston, TX; Mar 1883
- Date Created
- 20 March 1883
- Format
- 5 pages on 5 sheets
- Language(s)
- English
- Source
- Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies
- Sabato Morais Collection, Box 3, Folder 4
- Has Format
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3hh6cr7w/manifest.json
- Link to Colenda
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3hh6cr7w
- Provenance
- Transfer of Custody from the Hebrew Education Society, 10 March 1913.
- Is Format Of
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx3FF4_17.xml
- content
-
JACOB VOORSANGER,
Box 319.
Houston, Texas, March 20 1883
Rev. S. Morais, Philadelphia
Rev & Dear sir
Your esteemed favor of the 13th is at hand ,and I gladly take a few moments from my day's work to reply. I am very thankful for your kind words, concerning the prof expression of opinion, that may be probably asked of you. I learn that Dr. E. Schreiber of Mobile has been elected to the Denver pulpit, and this should set all rumors concerning my candidature at rest. I thoroughly agree with you that constant changes do not benefit a minister's reputation, and as long as I see not any way a head to a tangible improve,ment in my condition I propose to stay right where I am, for my people are as ever kind, liberal, and not disposed to fault,finding. I am known here, and have many friends, and it is hardly possible, that, unless the contingency, hinted at in your letter, pres,ents itself next year, that Houston will be my home for at least the next five years.
JACOB VOORSANGER,
Box 319.
Houston, Texas,---188
I am obliged to you for the quotation from Moses Dessau's [Hebrew] to his [Hebrew]. But permit me to re,mark, merely as a matter of argument, that that paragraph merely proves, what is corro,borated by Mendelssohn's Jewish historians, Gratz, Kayserling and others, that Solomon Dubno came to Berlin after Mendelssohn's German translation had already been published. The [Hebrew] was to explain to the orthodox world his position concerning the scriptures, and in this he was materially aided by this self-same Dubno, who, by the way only taught his young,est son Alexander ([Hebrew]), and another Polish Talmudist, named Herz Hamburg. As I stated I have never doubted his purity, but the cause of his son Abraham and of his daughters is a riddle to me. Alex,ander, the one taught by Dubno, never left the religion of his father, and his descendants are to-day public-spirited Jews in Berlin, at least this I infer from Mr. Hensel's wonderful silence on this branch of the family. Hensel's "Mendelssohn family"
JACOB VOORSANGER,
Box 319.
Houston, Texas,___188
(3
is merely a glorification of such descendants, of M's, who broke with Judaism.
I am much interested in your gallant fight ag,ainst the attempt to make of Spinoza a martyr. That there are elements in Spinoza's philosophy that challenge admiration is incontestible[sic!], espec,ially his accounting for the good and evil pro,pensities in man's nature. He reasons, that as God pervades every atom of the universe, hence also the aggregate atoms called man, who, according to Spinoza, does possess a soul, the evil passions of man are the effervescence of his human nature, just as the angry ebullitions of nature proper, and he therefore concludes, that since evil can be so accounted for, it can be readily forgiven. (Ethics). But what a world of difference between Spinoza's math can [?] reduction of the essence and the living God of Israel! I was raised in the very act atmosphere of Spinoza, sat in the same [Hebrew] where he sat, at least often, for the German [Hebrew] has, as you know, a
JACOB VOORSANGER,
Box 319.
Houston, Texas,___188
(4
college of its own, and I, knowing how uncom,promising is the spirit of sephardic and Ashkenaz both in the city of Amster,dam can account and explain, but not excuse the terrible [Hebrew] they put upon Baruch Dr. Espinoza, as his father wrote the name, Dr. Sonneschein is trying to find a handle wherewith to push the pantheist into the Jewish camp, and if it cannot be of any use to you, I would like to give you this extract from Lessing's letter to Professor Michaelis, written October 16, 1754, and which explains, I think, the poets relative opinion of Mendelssohn and Spinoza. Speaking of me, the poet says:
"He is really a Jew, a youth of some twenty years, who, without instruction has acquired great proficiency in languages, in mathematics, in philosophy, and poetry. I anticipate his becoming an honor to his nation, provided his co-religionists
JACOB VOORSANGER,
Box 319.
Houston, Texas,___188
(5
will suffer him to mature, for they have ever bestowed an unfortunate spirit of persecution against men of his kind. His powers of reasoning and philosophical Genius cause me to anticipate his becom,ing a second Spinoza, whom, to be fully the equal of the first, will lack nothing but the latter's errors." (Lessing's Schriften XIII. 27).
Of course, Both L & M were young then, and I give you the quotation for what it may be worth to you in presenting your controversy.
Excuse this lengthy letter, and in the hope of hearing soon again of you I remain truly yours Jacob Voorsanger - Identifier
- p3hh6cr7w
- identifier
- SMBx3FF4_17
Part of Letter from Voorsanger, Jacob to Morais, Sabato. Houston, TX; Mar 1883
Voorsanger, Jacob and Morais, Sabato, “Letter from Voorsanger, Jacob to Morais, Sabato. Houston, TX; Mar 1883”, Sabato Morais Digital Repository, accessed September 19, 2024, https://judaicadhpenn.org/legacyprojects/s/morais/item/90732