Penitential Sabbath (Shabat shubah). Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
- Title
- Penitential Sabbath (Shabat shubah). Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
- Author
- Morais, Sabato
- Format
- 17 pages on 5 sheets
- Language(s)
- English
- Source
- Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies
- Sabato Morais Collection, Box 10, Folder 2
- Has Format
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p34j0bh4j/manifest.json
- Link to Colenda
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p34j0bh4j
- Provenance
- Transfer of Custody from the Hebrew Education Society, 10 March 1913.
- Is Format Of
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx10FF2_16.xml
- content
-
The fear of God
for the
Penitential Sabbath
[Hebrew]
[Hebrew] "Read with your mother, plead, for she is not my wife nor am I her husband. [Hebrew] [Hebrew] "And she shall follow her after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them, and she shall seek them, but shall not find them, then she shall say, I will go up and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now." My Brethren! The prophet Hosea, repre--senting Israel under the figure of a faithless wife, de--serting Israel under the figure of a faithless wife, de-scribes in forcible language man's besetting sin. It is, as you must have already understood from his words, a spirit of discontent; a forgetfulness of the blessings we enjoy, and a longing after acquisitions, which we magnify as being infinitely superior to those we already possess. These feelings which scarcely any of us endeavours to conquer, breed the impiety of which we are guilty and the heartburnings we frequently suffer. Imagining that man's joyous state on earth is proportionate to his wealth and preferments, we forsake religion to go in quest of that which our perverted minds suggest as wanting to our happiness.
We anticipate reaching the end of our desires, by disregarding the Divine commands, which act as a restraint upon them, but the inspired writer, thus me-taphorically addresses each of us. Man! why wilt thou suffer a deceptive light to guide thy steps? See! Thy way leads to sin and disappointments. Thou wilt exhaust thy strength in the attempt to overcome the impediments which surround the path thou hast chosen, for none can gain happiness by a departure from God. Return then to Him who alone can bestow both the temporal and the spiritual goods that gladden human existence. Acknowledge that a lowly condition with His love, is incomparably more joyous than a towering station with His displeasure, and give thy Creator thanks.
Beloved hearers! On this Sabbath, devoted to penitence, let us ponder on and heeds the words which the Lord has spoken through his righteous messenger. Surely not one of us will consider them inapplicable to his case. I may venture to assert, without being guilty of personal offence, that there will not be found in our midst a second Job who can
swear [Hebrew] that he has made a covenant with his eyes never to be lured away from rectitude, never to covet a neighbor's possessions, nor touch aught with his hand that is not legitimately his own. No, we all, in a small or in a high degree, have postponed the instincts of the soul to the cravings of the flesh. It may be that sensuality was our instigator. Per--haps the glittering of gold, inveigled us away, or a despicable ambition to shine in fashionable society, may have impelled us to abandon religion, and run headlong after the vanities of the world. Many, a great many may have been the enticements which our eyes and our hearts held forth to make us swerve from the rules of probity, for, as our Rabbins declare, those two organs of the human frame, are the principal instruments of sin [Hebrew] But the time is now opportune, when we should seek out the root of our backslidings, and pluck it off. Our actions are being tried at the bar from whence there is no appeal. The universal Judge seated on a high and exalted throne, holds
in his right hand the balance of justice. Brethren! Let us cast penitence therein, and the weight of our sins shall be lightened. For He who is inexorable with the obdurate, yearns with compassion towards those who approach him with a contrite and subdued spirit. We need not fear a repulse, if we will only fear Him. We shall be relieved of all uneasiness touching our fate, if we will but cleave unto the word of God as to the anchor of salvation; for from its observance flows a life of contentment here below, and unutterable bliss above. I have said it my beloved hearers, let us only fear the Lord, be--cause if we could penetrate the inmost recesses of the human heart, we would discover that a strong incentive to irreligion, is the entertaining of some imaginary fear. I will be more explicit. The miser who is deaf to the cry of the needy, while intent upon watching over the pelf he has garnered; the avaricious who will allow no day of rest to intervene between themselves and their grasping disposition, the dissolute who cast side every restraint to indulge their appetites,
the hypocrite and the flatterer, if all of them are actuated by the same groundless apprehension. That is the feeling, which, lurking in their breasts, renders the one pitiless, lest by acts of generosity he be brought to poverty; makes the other trample on religion, lest cessation from labor may lessen his wealth. Encourages the third to follow immorality, lest he should lose agreeable associates; and the same feeling it is, that which caused many to disguise the truth, that they may not endanger a lucrative position, or some high office. And yet, oh stupendous contradiction! we that are so easily swayed by a fear which is the offspring of our vitiated minds, remain undisturbed at the thought of an Almighty Being, who can suddenly cut off all the means of human enjoyment, aye, our own life. No fear of Him seizes our hearts when we violate his law, and deride his or--dinances. But what renders this inconsistency still more glaring is the fact, that the ills we so greatly fear and to avoid which, we disregard the dictates of religion,
are under the absolute control of God [Hebrew] [Hebrew]. "Of whom art thou in dread, and what dost thou fear, that thou liest? Me, thou hast not remembered, nor placed upon they heart". so exclaims Isaiah in the name of the Most High. Whereas by bearing in mind that whatsoever exists is subject to the will of the Supreme, we could calm any apprehension as to the future, and exercise righteousness as a sign of gratitude, for bless-sings already obtained. Whereas by having the fear of the Lord constantly before our eyes, we would remain tranquil even amidst reverses, we create evils and intensify them, because we exclude from our bosom a sentiment so soothing and so comforting.
But mark, my friends! Mark the difference between the man, to whose mind God is ever present, and him who is chained to the world and its fleeting joys. Mark it especially in the hour of adversity. Contrast the serenity of one, with the perturbation, with the violent agitation of the other.
A soul that fears the Lord ascribes his injustice unto Him, whose attributes are mercy and compassion. Like the righteous Job, a believer in Providence will ask himself when afflicted [Hebrew] [Hebrew] "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive also evil?" Nay, he will acknowledge no actual evil, save that which follows our disobedience of the Law, that is, the forfeiting of God's our Fathers love. As the rod of Abram, when God, in converted into a serpent the hand of Aaron, swelled all the rods of the Egyptian soothsayers, so will the fear of the Most High erase every human fear from the mind of the religious. Not so with the man of little faith. He chafes and rages under inflictions. He reproa-ches himself, because his foresight on which he trusted, did not avert what has befallen him un-awares. He often attributes to [inserted above: charges] the innocent, even to those with whom he is bound with most sacred ties--the origin of his suffering, and to use the language employed by the son of Amoz [Hebrew] [Hebrew]
"And it shall come to pass that when he shall be hungry, he shall fret himself, and curse his King and God, looking upward." He does not recognize a wise Providence, that makes every sublunary event to work out his plan in the government of the world. He will not admit that as a tender father studies of the welfare of his children, so does the Lord seek the real happiness of those who fear him. He denies that though they may be tried as gold is tried, yet those who revere his name shall shine as stars in the firmament; that the Sun of righteousness with healing in its wings will arise and cast a flood of light upon them. Can he be comforted? Will philosophy impress him with those consoling truths? No, it may tell him that to complain of evils which are beyond human control is unwise, but it will never impart to his soul the contentment which they experience who believe in a good and beneficent Creator.
Oh! my beloved hearers! if we could read on man's countenance what passes within his breast,
many whom we envy, might excite our commiseration, while certain occurrences which we deprecated as un--mitigated evils, would appear to us as blessings in disguise. If we could unravel the threads of many a circumstances we would stand aghast which we cannot reconcile at the with Divine justice, we would stand aghast at the wisdom they reveal it displays. Would that man were deeply impressed with the fear of God, for then all misgivings, all doubts would dissipate. We would not dismiss religion as our earthly guide and companion, because its association curbs our desires. We would not forsake the path of righteousness, which seems narrow, to pursue that of impiety, because apparently wide. With God ever present to our minds, we would not tremble, though the lowering clouds of misfortune encompass us around. We would, as it were, suck honey from even the bitter poison of asps. Are we threatened with the loss of wealth? There is a greater calamity than indigence: the loss of our reputation. Are we stricken down with disease? There is no sick--ness that can equal in virulence the leprosy of the soul.
Have we sustained bereavements? It is better to bemoan the dead than grieve over the infamy of the living. Such and similar considerations would uphold sustain us under the most trying circumstances. The storms of adversity might rage against us, the surging billows of misfortune might upheave their heads, but we would be safe on the mountain of the Lord, had in the cliff of his impregnable rock. Wou We would then say. [Hebrew] "We do not fear, though the earth be removed" [Hebrew] [Hebrew]. "The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge." My dear Brethren! The history of our predecessors is not desti--tute of examples illustrative of this great truth. The checkered life of David, whose words I have just quoted, that of the upright Job, the privations of an Elijah, and the suffering of a Jeremiah, confirm it beyond contradiction. But I am now reminded of an incident of later date, exhibiting the effects of re-ligion in a confiding soul.
When Rabby Eliezer lay on the bed of sickness, his disciples came to visit him. As he saw them, he exclaimed [Hebrew] "A great wrath has been poured on the world through me". At this, they burst into tears. Rabbi Akibah alone appeared unmoved. With surprise, his colleagues inquired, how he could remain cheerful, when the light of the Law was about to be extinguished. He replied: "Has I seen our teacher enjoying uninterrupted prosperity, I might have feared that his merits had already been fully remunerated in this life, but now I witness his trials and feel that much happiness yet awaits him. His expla--nation grieved the venerable preceptor; and he asked "Dost thou know which command of our holy law I have neglected"? "I cannot tell" rejoined th his scholar, but I have been taught to believe that [Hebrew] there is not a man, however just, who doeth good, and sinneth not." Friends! Let us take this lesson to heart. Have we suffered losses and tribulations during the year that has closed upon us? It was the hand of God that chastened us, for our ultimate good. Let us not forget our provocations, and we shall feel
that not according to our inequities hath He dealt with us, for, we also, moved by groundless fear, have often cast aside the fear of the Lord. If we are true to ourselves, we must acknowledge that many among has us have set at nought his blessed injunctions, to grasp shadows, which receded as we in proportion as we fancied to have approached them.
He may strive to soothe the pangs of a guilty conscience [inserted above: blast the edge of cutting remorse] by specious arguments. Have we as Israelites, violated the covenant which the Lord made with our fathers in Horeb, not to be laughed at by the exposed to the ridicule of scoffers? Times have changed, we will say, the character of our association is such that we cannot be tied down to restrictive rules. Have we endeavoured to heighten our position, by spurning [inserted above, in pencil: lowering] the word of God? Have we, with that object in view, [inserted above, in pencil: the standard of our faith in the eyes of the world?] profaned the Sabbath, desecrated the festivals, fed to satiety on the flesh which the book of books declares impure? We will say, that we must run after the current, to use a vulgar phrase, not to be left behind unheeded and uncared for. Have we scouted the idea of wearing upon our hand
the mark of our redemption from bondage, and of bearing it as frontlets between our eyes? Have we left our dwellings void of the most important ornament the word of God affixed to our door-posts? we will not be at a loss to find a palliation to our irreligious demeanour. But as we are Jews, and wish to remain such and as the days of our infancy are brought back to our mind, and we remember when our faltering lips learnt to declare that the Law of Moses is the perpetual in--heritance of the Congregation of Jacob, we can[n]ot but feel that our actions are an insult to God, and a lie to our professions. It would be necessary, in order to stifle every sense of remorse, to deny the revelation of Sinai, do believe that our prophets and Sages saw false vi--sions, that the teachings of thirty five generations, whence upon which the fabric of human society is built, are futile inventions and mendacious vanities. But...begone impious thought. Thou art cast out as pollution itself , from this assembly. No mind is so corrupted to harbor thee. Our hearts have been tainted with sin, but we shall wash them it
the water fountain of purification, not in the miry pools of stagnant water. Ah! my dear Brethren! Let me hope that beings so wretched who have rejected the fear of the Lord, cannot be found among my hearers, let me pray that there may never exist in Israel one who has defied the command of God. But if you know of any such, Oh implore of them for the sake of their future peace, for the sake of their child--ren, on whom their guilt would naturally be entailed, and visited; and as they value the blessing of a serene death, and of joy beyond the grave beseech them to cast off the garments of impunity, and put on a vesture of unspotted whiteness. To let neither the buoyancy of youth, nor the vigour of manhood allure them for, those days and those years will pass off as a shadow, and a night without dawn envelop them. They will then repent, but in vain, of a life mispent in disobeying the kindest parent and Friend. Confusion and horror will seize them, when remembering
that they have forsaken a heavenly guide, to follow the lead of the worldly and the impious. Fain would they then return to Him they have deserted. Like the faithless wife figuratively spoken of by Hosea, each of them may long after a reunion with their first Lord, but they will have raised a b abyss to of eternal separation. them from their love. But not alone they who have ar--rogantly raised a standard of rebellion against their King, must hasten their return, if they desire a reconciliation, but those also that have disobeyed his behests, through the promptings of the flesh. Their crime is not so grievous as that of the former, because human frailty and not human depravity has occasioned it, yet, who stood in secret communion with the Eternal Most High, to know how far He will suffer the creatures, whom He has endowed with intellect and free will, to be governed by the passions? Let not the mortals temper with the salvation of their souls, for in the heavenly volumes, it has been written [Hebrew]. "Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God.
Let those therefore who by what cause soever have been guilty of dereliction, speedily retrace their steps; and come with contrition and sincerity to the footstool of the merciful judge. Let everyone of us, my dear Brethren! accurately examine his past career, and if he discovers then in its various walks he has faltered in the discharge of his duty, if he finds that he has opposed the will of God as expressed in the pages of truth, let him, the like the righteous Job acknow--ledge that he abhors himself, and repents in dust and ashes. Let him promise with unfeigned lips, that during the year we have just entered, he will strive to gather a treasure of imperishable value, of piety as a Jew, and of charity as a man. Then He who is full of mercy, will afford him the consoling assurance, that He "has caused his transgressions to vanish as a thick cloud, and his sins as mist." That his "He has redeemed his soul from perdition, and his life from sorrow." [Hebrew] - Identifier
- p34j0bh4j
- identifier
- SMBx10FF2_16
Part of Penitential Sabbath (Shabat shubah). Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
Morais, Sabato, “Penitential Sabbath (Shabat shubah). Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated”, Sabato Morais Digital Repository, accessed September 19, 2024, https://judaicadhpenn.org/legacyprojects/s/morais/item/91099