Letter from Voorsanger, Jacob to Morais, Sabato. San Francisco, CA; Nov 1886
- Title
- Letter from Voorsanger, Jacob to Morais, Sabato. San Francisco, CA; Nov 1886
- Date Created
- 12 November 1886
- Format
- 3 pages on 2 sheets
- Language(s)
- English
- Source
- Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies
- Sabato Morais Collection, Box 4, Folder 3
- Has Format
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3fn11c09/manifest.json
- Link to Colenda
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3fn11c09
- Provenance
- Transfer of Custody from the Hebrew Education Society, 10 March 1913.
- Is Format Of
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx4FF3_29.xml
- content
-
2316 California St, San Francisco, Nov 12. 1886
Rev S Morais
My dear Sir
Time has passed rapidly since I received your valued postal before my departure from Houston, now nearly 4 months ago. In all these weeks I have meant to write you but I need not tell you how quickly time flies in the endeavor to invest one's career with the character of permanency. I found so much to do that my correspondence has greatly suffered, and I am just now engaged in making my peace with my old friends, some of whom seem to think that my changed circumstances and advancement have rendered me oblivious to past ties. You, I know, are too liberal minded to harbor such a suspicion, and I will therefore only say, that circumstances absolutely prevented my writing letters of any character what-ever. But now that I am ready to write I hardly know where to begin. I have questioned many experiences during the past 3 months, and I have found so much to do in this new field that more than ever already I complained [Hebrew]. I have found an open field, with fences ruined. It will please you to learn that "radical reform" has very few sympathizers on this coast. In my own congregation a large and respectable conservative element sustains its objections to continued innovation, and this Temple Emanuel, which bears the reputation of a radically reformed congregation stands, in point of fact, upon the safe basis of conservativism, occupied by Jastrow, Szold and other advocates of that conciliatory policy. In this connection let me explain to you that the American Hebrew made an unreasonable fuss over what it was pleased to call my Sunday movement, You doubtlessly read my rejoinder, and since the matter is now definitively settled I am in a position to state autho-ritatively that my congregation favors Sunday morning
lectures once a month as an experiment to ascertain whether there is an honest popular demand for such lectures. The Board of directors who initiated this movement have to thoroughly circum-scribed the proceedings on these mornings that no one, unless he is prejudiced and biased will accuse us of Sunday Sabbatarian tendencies. I will send you my first Sunday lecture, to be delivered Dec. 5, which will explain my own position in the premises. It will please you to learn that after 3 months labors my original salary of $3000 has already been raised to $3600 as a mark of approval of my initial labors. I find that the young people require my utmost care and in the enclosed slip you can see that I am not idle in this direction but are am making an effort to unite them in a movement for intellectual culture. I would be greatly obliged to you to send me a copy of the present constitution of the Y. M. H. A. of your city, which will assist me in making the draft more complete. Next Sunday we organize.
My dear and venerated friend, tomorrow I will be 34 years of age and it is just a decade since I left Philadelphia to struggle and battle and--conquer, God has been merciful to me. The cares of a growing family, the competitions and jealousies of the profession, the fluctuations of popular favor, have not stood in my way, and I am now nearly at the topmost round of the ladder where I hope to reach if God spares me and will still be merciful to me. And after ten years, with a ripened intellect and mature experiences I still turn to you with the affection of my young days, and ask you to bless my future career, for I assure you there will be nothing in it unworthy of you, or myself or the honored name of Israel. I am building up, I have no ambition to destroy, let me soon have the pleasure of seeing your familiar lines and with best regards to your family believe me as ever, faithfully yours Jacob Voorsanger.
A DRAFT FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF A TEMPLE EMANUEL ASSOCIATION.
I. OBJECTS.
The objects of this organization are to be:
1. To bring the Jewish youth of Temple Emanuel, and all other Hebrews who may join them, together for the purposes hereinafter described.
2. To stimulate religious interest in its members, by the aid of measures to be mentioned hereafter.
3. To develop titerary tastes amongst the young people.
4. To assist in the dissemination of useful knowledge, calculated to refine the heart and improve the mind.
5. To promote sociability amongst its members, such as necessarily should ex-ist amongst those who unite for the furtherance of great ideas and the per-petuation of sacred principles.
6. To [?] the work generally expected of an organization of pronounced literary tendencies.
7. Generally, to foster religion, science and art, thereby aiming at a happy com-bination of the good, the true and the beautiful.
II. HEADQUARTERS.
Provided that the Board of Trustees of Temple Emanuel consents, the head-quarters of the "Emanuel Association" shall be in the basement of Temple Emanuel, where rooms shall be suitably fitted up for the management of the As-sociation.
III. HOW TO ACCOMPLISH OBJECTS
1. RELIGION:
By the organization of classes--for the instruction of Hebrew, religion, history and Jewish literatur; by the institution of all measures promoting religious ac-tivity that may afterwards be agreed upon.
2. Literature:
By the organization of a literary and reading room, such as are generally found in literary organizations.
3. Scienc:
By the organization of lecture courses, in general science, or its departments.
4. Intellectual entertainment:
a. Magazines and periodicals of the highest order.
b. Informal meetings of the Associa-tion for the conduct of debates, reading [?]
c. Classes for the instruction of sub-jects agreed upon by any twenty mem-bers of the Assocation.
d. Monthly public lectures under the auspices of the Association.
5. Amusement:
Musical receptions, entertainments of a general character, recitations, declama-tions, etc.
IV. MANAGEMENT.
1. The Association is to be managed by a Board of Directors, from amongst whom the Association shall select a Pres-ident, a Vice-President, a Secretary and Treasurer. Said Board of Directors to consist of no less than 15 members, who shall be subdivided into committees for the proper conduct of the Association's business. In order to cement proper relations between the Emanuel Associa-tion and its parent Temple Emanuel, it is suggested that the President, Vice-President and Rabbi of Temple Emanuel shall be ex-officio members of the Board, leaving the Association to select 12 mem-bers, to serve for a period of years as per the following roster:
3 for 4 years.
3 " 3 "
3 " 2 "
3 " 1 year.
This Board shall conduct the business of the Association, whilst the same is not in session.
The Association shall meet annually, and in special session under the rules governing such sessions.
V. MEMBERSHIP.
The Association shall be composed of two classes of members:
1. ACTIVE MEMBERS, composed of ladies and gentlemen of Hebrew faith and parentage above 21 years of age, who shall pay the advance sum of 5 dol-lars per annum to the Association. Every member in this class is entitled to all the rights and privileges usually belonging to membership.
2. ASSOCIATE MEMBERS, composed of young Hebrews between the ages of 15 and 21, who shall have no vote, nor at-tend the business meetings of the Asso-ciation, but shall otherwise participate in all the rights and privileges of member-ship.
Provided, that the Associate Member-ship shall be represented in the business meetings of the Association by sending a delegate for each 10 Associate Members to the same.
Associate members pay the sum of 3 dollars per annum dues in advance, and can become active members upon application to the Board of Directors.
The Association demands no initiation fee, simply the annual dues in advance.
Details to this plan are left to the organization itself.
JACOB VOORSANGER,
HOUSTON, TEXAS.
San Francisco, Cal.
Rev. S. Morais
546 North Fifth Street
Philadelphia
Pa. - Identifier
- p3fn11c09
- identifier
- SMBx4FF3_29
Part of Letter from Voorsanger, Jacob to Morais, Sabato. San Francisco, CA; Nov 1886
Voorsanger, Jacob and Morais, Sabato, “Letter from Voorsanger, Jacob to Morais, Sabato. San Francisco, CA; Nov 1886”, Sabato Morais Digital Repository, accessed September 19, 2024, https://judaicadhpenn.org/legacyprojects/s/morais/item/90789