Shemot. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1893
- Title
- Shemot. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1893
- Author
- Morais, Sabato
- Date Created
- 1893
- Format
- 9 pages on 4 sheets
- Language(s)
- English
- Source
- Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies
- Sabato Morais Collection, Box 9, Folder 10
- Has Format
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3vx06p3z/manifest.json
- Link to Colenda
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3vx06p3z
- Provenance
- Transfer of Custody from the Hebrew Education Society, 10 March 1913.
- Is Format Of
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx9FF10_1.xml
- content
-
An admonitory lecture
predicated in from Parashat Shemot
[Hebrew] "Moses grew up and went out to his brethren". My hearers. Without searching into legends and tales, excellent in their own way to teach a moral, I find that the scriptural text itself unvarnished as we have received it; very plainly but touchingly as it is even always set forth in historical narrative points to the distinguishing quality which made Moses in from his earliest youth, a representative Hebrew. That quality is, a sympathetic nature. Not a sentimentality, which becomes at times becomes a morbid sen-sibility, powerless and inoperative, but an active, intelligent fellowship with the lowly, a perfect thorough identification with the humblest of mankind, aiming at their elevation. I see this trait more broadly unfolded in the character of the arch-pro--phet than in that of any historical prominent men in our Bible Holy Writ; more developped than even among the disciples of the schools which taught inspired ingenius to speak. I gratefully admit it. All who were imbued with a divine spirit loved their people and worked disinterestedly for its welfare. Thus, Samuel tried his utmost to benefit Israel by gathering around him devoted followers whom he trained as preachers of the word of God at Najoth in Rainah, but still the sturdy republican could ill disguise a sense of passing resent--ment, of momentary estrangement, when another was asked
to take the lead of the naturi. Elijah, clothed in a course garment satisfied with a the scantiest meal was fearless; he faced a tyrant again and again in the vindication of the ill used maltreated of right and for the sake of right he faced a tyrant again and again. Yet a degree of leaven mixed in the nature of him the Tishbite who declared that he alone had been lefts to serve the Lord zealously. Isaiah, to reform his fallen brethren pleaded for righteousness with impassioned eloquence, but his soul which revolted at sin, drew from his lips a scathing denunciation against those a community whom he likened to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. Nor did the successors of the son of Amoz remain entirely free from a sense of their supe--riority above the masses. The bard seer of the florid style by the river Chibar, and the [?] of my illusive vision he who beheld an all relieving humanizing vision Maresha of Judah; Jere--miah in his plaintive language and Malachi in the his warmth of his glowing enthusiasm for the Law; all exhibited the some human weakness of the bibles of the great men's foibles, all evince a measure, however small light, of self-assertion. Moses alone, Moses the greatest, because the best, of Scriptural characters, placed himself on a par with the lowly, on a perfect level with the humblest, and seeking their progress, early showed and became himself a truly representative Hebrew. You have read it: [Hebrew]. "When Moses grew up, he went out to his brethren". The son He was a youth
He was A youth who breathed a royal atmosphere he was. Who can doubt but that Flattery was must have been the daily seasoning of his food who can doubt that around him stood courtiers with approving winning, radiant smiles, ready to obey at a nod, at a look of the princess' adopted son? But I see! that he has quitted the com--pany of parasites; those surroundings of lackings, to ward his steps where sufferings were are endured. Mark the words narrative as they it stands in the original. "When Moses grew up he went out to his brethren [Hebrew]". It is not written [Hebrew] for it was an no act act of mere idle curiosity which had led him to the spot in which a distinct race rigorously works was bent down, while with with work of rigour; but [Hebrew] He would look into effects the system of a grinding oppression. He intently looked then, was his sym--pathetic nature was stirred from its depths; in contemplating injustice then his and revolted at compassionate heart revolted at wrong. Then the persecuted became his near allies, the persecutors his personal enemies. Now my hearers: To imagine that those who worked at labored in the brick kiln were the equals in knowledge and social standing of to the favorite of a king's daughter would be folly. Few Scarcely any could have had the opportunity to learn so extensively, and fewer none, of any perhaps, could have moved in-so called-high circles. But all were unjustly proscribed, and all had were held up by one traditional belief which held them up sufficiently to prevented the total debasement,
as sought after by a crushing tyranny. All remembered their Let us reflect a moment upon descent from one a righteous lineage, all awaited for the the alternative. To obey nature's generous impulse fulfilment of a divine promise and follow spare the destiny of the unhappy, or abandon the latter to their fate and enjoy a princely station. Say: can any of us claim that he or she has been placed in offered the same soul-trying alternative? Can any of us contend to have occu--pied a rank so eminent as that of Moses, and that it became necessary on his or her part to make a great insofar immense sacrifice in so as to and comeing down and mingling with a people of very inferior in condi--tion in life? Most Assuredly not, and yet a sense of self-importance, of overweening self-esteem is robbing Israel of some, who might have worthily acted as our representative men and women. Some of us I, among many had once fondly hoped looked for the growth of a genera- youths -tion that who reaching maturity would have cast their lot with the lowly, and endeavoured to uplift them, but little by little my expectations in that direction are being cut off. I will not not call it cowardly, but it is certainly it is not far from courageous in the sons and daughters of Hebrew observant parents, to be ashamed of confessing their identity with the unpopular minor--ity, and to deserting it because it does not weild the social influence, which the majority, by reason of their its numerical strength, commands.
What would have become of us; what would have become of civilization; if Moses had deemed it too great a con--denscension to be drawn into contact with less instructed, less refined persons individuals, if you wish so to term it, than he himself was? But you have been shown it. [Hebrew] When the youth grew up, he left behind the blandishments of the worldly; the adulation of sordid mortals;he tore tore himself from the allurements of outward splendour, to follow the inward prompting of his sympathetic nature. Sublime model of fraternal affection! Matchless pattern of a yearning soul! In early life Moses resolved to cling to his suffering proscribed brethren, his last days found him still devoted to their cause, and when the hour to depart from them struck, he bid the tribes he had lifted up from lowliness an eternal farewell with a blessing, [Hebrew] "Happy thou O Israel! who is like unto thee, a people saved delivered by the Lord, who is thy shield of thy help, helping saving shield, and the thy victorious sword!" of thy excellency". Oh that a spark of that ardent intensity of love would kindle the hearts of all American Hebrews? Our community at large, and this congregation specially would cease to lament suffer losses which are irretrievable. For if parents are summoned hence to heaven, we may hope that their children will fill up the vacancy gap, but when the offspring
sever their connection with the Synagogue, then the void stares us in the face, and draws from us all laments. But idle would be your the complaints of the faithful, and useless my speaking utterances, were I solely to point out defections. You parents who believingly love the One God you must prevent backslidings and I I must improve every opportunity for in the discharge performance of a sacred duty solemn duties must improve every opportunity to admonish. I must entreat parents fathers and mothers to keep double watch for the sake of the faith--a watch over their tongues, lest they inadvertently drop words poisoning the minds of their young ones against our ancestral belief; a watch at their doors, lest these remain wide open for the reception of non-Israelites and tight shut against the coheirs of the Sinaic covenant. And I must exhort my youthful brothers and sisters, whom my voice can reach, to study, when it is yet time, the woful consequences of rash acts. The unhappy results personally as well as religiously, of exchanging the simplicity of a Jewish home, for the fashionableness of gentile residences. To study the subject most seriously, so that ultimately they may not ultimately have occasion to cry in the language of the old moralist "How could I have hated instruction, and how could my heart have despised correction?"
The sound of these plaintive words would ring in our ears, as they proceed from sad experience, if shame did not withhold them from the stranger. Oh! May they never issue from those the Israelites I now address. Too many that might have reflected lustre on Judaism have enriched with their talents the domains of its adver--saries. In some instances ambition goaded our the people waverers on. Thus in Germany, when the avenues to social and political preferments were inaccessible to any who wl could not swear by the cross, whole families tried to reach their goal by the road that leads to the Church. And thus likewise alliances which proved most inauspicious to our interests were contracted. At times vulgar pride thinned our ranks. They who by a stroke of fortune had been made to bask in the sun-shine of aristocracy, would not move allow that their sons and daughters to any more to acknowledge their identity with a race looked upon with disfavor. A thirst after earthly honors, and unmanliness conspired in to deprive us of men and women who, we had reasonably hoped, might have become representative He--brews.
But America is not inimical to our race people, if we ourselves are not its enemies. America will learn to appre--ciate the excellencies of our religion and the homely virtues of our people race, when those who can enhance their prestige thereof shall cleave to both. Are you ready, my aged brethren, to assume the control of your household and by precept and example hold your children in the faith? Are you willing, my young brethren, to rule your feelings and seek happiness in the ancestral fold? Holy Writ has placed before you this day a most matchless perfect model. Moses reared in a palace, seeking the association companionship of the proscribed. Moses preferring the iron chains of the persecuted to the golden sceptre of the persecutors. You are not raised quite so eminently, but neither are you asked to make too great a sacrifice. What is demanded of you can be performed with ease, if that which is earthly is eliminated from your nature in early life, and the genius of spirituality is infused breathed into it. Remember that "better it is to be modest among the humble ones, than to share spoil with the proud;" [Hebrew] and it is also written, that "he who reflects upon the matter will find good, and whosoever trusts in the Lord, is shall finally be happy." - Identifier
- p3vx06p3z
- identifier
- SMBx9FF10_1
Part of Shemot. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1893
Morais, Sabato, “Shemot. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1893”, Sabato Morais Digital Repository, accessed September 19, 2024, https://judaicadhpenn.org/legacyprojects/s/morais/item/91212