Penitential Sabbath (Shabat shubah). Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
- Title
- Penitential Sabbath (Shabat shubah). Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
- Author
- Morais, Sabato
- Format
- 14 pages on 4 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/p3c24r72t/manifest.json
- Link to Colenda
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3c24r72t
- Provenance
- Transfer of Custody from the Hebrew Education Society, 10 March 1913.
- Is Format Of
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx10FF2_6.xml
- content
-
On penitence
Brethren! The section of the Sabbath, preceding Rosh hashaná, was suggestive of momentous thoughts. I felt prompted therefore to offer to view, those which I deemed best calculated to spiritually benefit my congregation. But the lesson imparted, reached only a few. The attendance happened on that day to be unusually sparse. This circumstance, elicited a request that I would repeat my sermon, on the present occasion. After due consideration, I respect--fully declined to comply with the wish expressed by some of my appreciative audiences. Nevertheless, I judge that a cursory mere exposition of the remarks ideas then set forth, will not be inopportune. My brevity will prevent I will thus guard against a trespassing on the patience of those who heard the entire discourse, while a mere stricture thereto, will I acquaintance others that who were absent, suffice the intelligent. with the purport thereof. Lend me then your kind attention. A perusal of the inspired admonitions given towards the end of his career, by the man who had educated a whole generation, had impressed me deeply. I behold the besetting sin of this age, mirrored it were in his parting words, and sought the aid of the latter, in my eagerness to correct the former. That sin, my friends! is the denial of three cardinal points
in the religion of Israel, namely: divine providence bestowed alike on individuals as on nations; the return of the chosen people to absolute independence in the patriarchal land, and the permanence of the ceremonial as well as the moral laws of the Mosaic code.
The arguments which I advanced to strengthen my fellow- Israelites in the belief of special Providence, were drawn from a single expression of the heaven-directed legislator. He had previously asserted, that the estrangement from the law by any one appertaining to the Hebrew race, would bring down a curse upon the head of the delinqunet minor; but lest a wicked soul be found that said [Hebrew] [Hebrew] "I shall have peace, though I walk after the dictates of my imagination". My happiness is blended with that of the Community in which I life; I shall enjoy it, though I trespass against my religious obligations; lest, a man might be so perverted to defy the Omniscient God, therefore the Biblical sentence concludes thus, [Hebrew] "The Lord shall separate him, to his own hurt, from all the tribes of Israel". The storm that he has raised by his iniquities, shall sweep him away, the guiltless will be sheltered beneath the wings of the Almighty Protector. He shall be a branch cut off from the parental tree.
The dew shall continue to irrigate the main stock, and its healthful ramifications; the sun shall still foster its produce, but their benign influence will not be felt by the impure bough struck down by the hand of Divine justice; In other words: The rod of chastisement shall go unscathed [Hebrew]. And this fundamental principle of Judaism, my beloved hearers! set upon the immoveable rock of the Sinaic revelation, is amplified, commented on and illustrated in every page written by all the great prophets of Israel. Study the volume that has taught mankind civilization, and this verity will be deepened into your minds; viz, None can divert from him the searching eye that measures man's steps to the end that he may be requited according to after his ways, and he may reap the fruit of his own doings [Hebrew] [Hebrew] [Hebrew]. Let not the seeming prosperity of the wicked, and the apparent misery of the righteous, deceive the believer in special Providence. For, abundant2 in mercy, and slow1 to anger is3 our heavenly Maker; but "though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with
them that fear God" [Hebrew] [Hebrew]; so exclaimed the inspired preacher; and the royal shepherd, grown wise by experience, said "I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green bay-tree, yet he passed away, and lo! he was not; yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. Yet Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace" [Hebrew] [Hebrew] Now, my friends! with regard to the second point, which I discussed in my last address, I will freely candidly acknowledge that notwithstanding it is irrefutably established, yet, I conceive that I might have better succeeded to bring conviction home to the mind of my hearers, had they been the subjects of the Roman Pontiff, or of an Arabian Sheik. Their hearts would then have joyfully open to my imparting, touching the declarations of the Most High that foretell our glorious future destiny. The testimony adduced from Jewish annals, to prove that the fulfilment of the predictions registered in the thirtieth chapter of Deuteronomy, is still reserved for a regenerated Israel, would have been a soothing balm to our unfortunate brethren, who
bleed under the scourge of persecution. They who despite the sublime deeds of the self-denying Moses of our age, are still exposed to refined cruelty, would have fixed an eager look on the picture of our independence in the heritage of Abraham, which as I delineated it. They, who in the name of a pseudo religion of peace, are inhumanly robbed of their tender offspring, and compelled to see them bend the knee to gods which our fathers feared not, would, in earnest conviction, have breathed a prayer for the speedy accomplishment of God's unfailing promise. But I spoke to American Israelites, to men, long accustomed to regard religious liberty as an inalienable birth-right; for, whatever may be said to the contrary, this is, and will, I trust, eternally remain, the country where proscription by reason of one's avowed faith, will never be instituted. My audience may have found it impossible to rebut my arguments, but I imagine that the reasoning I employed, did not impress the free-men of this generous republic, as it would have penetrated the minds of the Hebrews, scattered in benighted regions. But does that invalidate the truth I set forth? Is God's word to be measured by the mete-yard of a finite understand--ing? Or shall we doubt it its veracity, because we have been mercifully spared the untold sorrows which its long
deferred fulfilment, has brough on the outcasts of Judea? Far be from us the impious thought! As well might our ancestors who had attained the high--est honors in the Persian court, have rejected the prediction of Jeremiah, that at the completion of seventy years the Lord would grant them rest & peace within the walls of Jerusalem. Or, the Israelites, who under the dominion of the Moors in Spain, weilded an almost boundless power, have regarded Moses a false prophet, because he wrote [Hebrew] [Hebrew] "The Lord thy God will bring back thy captivity, and have pity on thee", No, they cast their vision beyond their narrow sphere. They beheld millions of their fellow-beings carried dragged to the slaughter, because they acknowledged a belief identical with theirs, and they felt drawn towards those unhappy ones with intensity of religious love, they felt that they were the sheep of one flock, guided by one Almighty shepherd; they felt that the same final destiny had been decried for all the seed of Jacob, and, amidst the grandeur of their station, they prayed in common with their brethren [Hebrew] "oh! may our eyes view again2 Zion1". My beloved hearers! It must be so even with us. Grateful to the Supreme for the enlargement of our condition, we will ne-
vertheless deem consider ourselves indissolubly connected with our coreligionists who moan in streets secluded lanes and in ghettos. Like them we will petition the Throne of mercy for the end of all the tribulations endured by the residue of Israel, and like them credit the prediction vaticination that "those of Judah who are scattered abroad, shall be gathered intogetherspot, from the four corners of the earth" [Hebrew] The third part of the sermon I recently delivered, was designed as a timely caution to the unwary. I would sought to arraign at the bar of Jewish public opinion, those, who, professing Judaism, as derived from the Scrip--tures, preach the abrogation of many of its behests. Shall I, my friends! direct now your eyes to the spot where they are now standing, who divide Israel into two hostile camps?....Thanks be to God! I search, but find none within these holy precincts. Men stained with sin, can doubtless be pointed at in the midst of this assemblage. Alas! my own image is reflected on the ark, where the testimony of our Lord is enshrined; but the heinous crime of seducing the simple and the untutored from their allegiance to the Almighty, does not pollute our souls. We may have violated biblical commands, to gratify our appetites. Bedimmed by the passions, our mind could may perhaps have no longer
perhaps distinguished between the pure and the impure; but the arrogant thought that to disregard the injunctions of our legislator, is to rise above prejudice and bigotry, was not harbored by any of us. In fact, how could we pronounce such a heresy and remain within the fold of Judaism? If Who cannot perceive that if the code of Moses may be abrogated in some of its parts, who will warrant us against there will exist no security from the violation of the remaining portion? If--by way of illustration,--the change wrought in our political condition, exonerates us from abiding by the dietary laws, why may we not be also exempt from the observance of the Sabbath? Will not the same process of reasoning lead us directly to the conclusion, that to hallow the day set apart by the majority of our fellow-citizens, would best suit our present state and social relations? Brethren! Verily, the effect of the theory now propounded from some of our pulpits, is too mournful to contemplate. It would, if successful, reduce our ancestral faith creed to an indefinable myth, which every one could construe as most consonant with his own wild crotchets and strange vagaries. Let those who have cast off the fear of the Lord, follow that path which is surrounded by thorns and snares [Hebrew], but you who
believe that a positive religion has been vouchsafed unto us for our guidance here below, I will earnestly recommend to ponder well on the words of the arch-prophet, of our nation. even of Moses son of Amram. To him whose countenance shone with a heavenly irradiation the future of his people was unfolded as the volumes of the past. He portrayed their backsliding in distant generations and the evil results accruing from it. But he would not abandon them the sinners to their fate. Amidst their aberrations When verging on their spiritual destruction a messenger from above venerable with age, and of godly appearance, would resort to exhort to repentance & reclaim them to virtue. That divine messenger, my friends! is even now with us, as it has been and it will ever be with all Israel. [Hebrew] [Hebrew] "This song shall stand as a witness before him, for it shall not be obliterated from the mind of his posterity". From the distance of thirty five centuries, the sound of that celestial voice has, this morning reverbe--rated in our ears. It bids us return to God. Will you heed it? my beloved Brethren?...You say, yes; Listen then. "When Moses had made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel, he said unto them; set your hearts unto all the word which I testify among you this day, so that ye may command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law" [Hebrew] [Hebrew] [Hebrew]
Are the ceremonial laws now-adays set at nought and inveighed against, excluded from that general rule? I appeal to your understanding. Reflect on the question, and act up to its solution. As for myself, I hold it as my deeply-set conviction, that whosoever denies the binding authority of external observances, sins of infidelity [Hebrew] It will not suffice that we answer: outward practices are, so to day, the body of our religion; the eternal principles of justice and humanity, it has enunciated are the soul thereof. No, I have2 also1 been taught, that [Hebrew] "the precepts were given, only to purify our mens minds", but just as the promptings of the immortal spirit within us, are reflected in our daily walks, so are the sublime teachings of our faith, are brought to light through its votaries, where they curb their appetites, check suppress their desires, and control their passions, for the sake of principles. Brethren! If I have succeeded by the arguments advanced in this and in a former discourse, to establish upon the basis of the Sinaic revelation, the three fundamental points at issue, I may consider to have completed my task. Still, this is not an ordinary occasion, and I would be guilty of dereliction from duty, were I to let it pass away unimproved.
I will therefore venture upon a friendly counsel. You are all aware that oftentimes we oppose in practice, a truth, to which in theory we fully assented. This contra--diction, which can be detected in almost every man in the offspring of in proceeds from want of caution. Impressed by the lesson obtained we may at one time have resolved to follow it to the letter. He who possesses a valuable object, will encase it in a well-secured chest. He who desires to guard his choice vineyard against intrusion will raise a high fence around it; but we after having sought to cleanse our hearts, exposes them to the touch of pollution. Impressed by the lesson obtained, we may at one time have resolved to follow it to the letter. We would aspire to the glory of having reformed our irreligious habits we would of experienceing the joy of being at peace with our heavenly law-giver, but we neglected to forego the occasions which had heretofore led us astray from Him. We placed undue trust on our power of resistance, and fell unwilling victims to the delusions of our eyes. But if we sincerely wish to remain steadfastl in our righteous determinations, we must pursue the course pointed out by Solomon in the fifth chapter of his proverbs. In beautiful language, he personifies human wantonness. She attracts the unwary by her seductive mien. Her coral lips drop words which are sweeter than honey, softer than the most fragrant ointment, but if we bend our ears to them, they will turn into a poison bitter than gall, into arrows sharper than two-edged sword. How shall we escape the enticement, you ask.
[Hebrew] "Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house". Approach not, my friends! the places where sin impiety abides; avoid the conversation of those who lay snares to your souls. Cast away the volumes on which heretical doctrines are inscribed. And whereas you found delight in sin in the gratification of the senses indulging the animal passions, go now in quest of spiritual pleasures. Watch at the portals of the dwelling of prayer. Lend serious attention to the word therein ex--pounded. Consult, about your religious obligations, those you regard as learned and pious. Court the association of men, whose life is a constant exemplification of the precepts of our holy Torah. Acknowledge to the world, without reserve, the principles which will henceforth guide your steps on earth. In fine, be Israelites theoretically and practically; you will then draw towards yourselves the respect of the community among whom you live, the love and praise of your faithful brethren, and the favor of the Lord God, who says "if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful lawf and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. [Hebrew] All his transgressions which he hath committed, shall not be mentioned unto him, in his righteousness which he hath done, he shall live" [Hebrew]
Oh! may this merciful decree of the universal judge, be the portion of my penitent hearers. May life and joy be allotted to this congregation in Israel, to its rulers and its functionaries, to its young and its old, to its maidens and its matrons. May unity and peace ever grace this hallowed edifice, the voice of discord find no echo in our midst, from now to evermore. Amen. - Identifier
- p3c24r72t
- identifier
- SMBx10FF2_6
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/91145