Vayehi. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated · Sabato Morais Digital Repository · Legacy Projects from Judaica DH at Penn Libraries

Title

Vayehi. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated

Author

Morais, Sabato

Location(s)

United States -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia

United States -- Pennsylvania

Format

9 pages on 4 sheets

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?

Language(s)

English

Source

Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies

Sabato Morais Collection, Box 9, Folder 9

Has Format

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3804z50t/manifest.json

Link to Colenda

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3804z50t

Provenance

Transfer of Custody from the Hebrew Education Society, 10 March 1913.

Is Format Of

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx9FF9_2.xml

content

An explanatory lecture on Vayechi [Hebrew]

Brethren! This Sabbath we have completed the reading of the first book of Moses. I say it emphatically if Moses, whatever critics of modern or ancient schools may teach to the contrary. The name of the greatest of prophets does not--it could not, of course--figure in its pages, but his inspired genius pervades them; his hand and that of none other could have traced the narrative of events treasured up in that venerable volume. For, disconnect the latter from the writings which follow it, and the whole Pentateuch becomes a chaotic mass, a confused account without sequence and coherence, incomprehensible and perplexing. Aye: Moses born of the seed of the first believer, had learnt the history of Abraham and of the patriarchs, and set it down as a link in the chain of successive incidents, in which he played the most important part, and which have eternized his name. Moses born and reared in Egypt, knew its laws, its practices and man--ners so thoroughly as unerringly to allude to them, when describing the checkered life of Joseph and the settlement

of Jacob's family in the country of the Pharaohs. Moses walking in a light sent from above gathered the records of circumstances preceding the departure of the founder of our nation from Ur of the Chaldeans, and what he transmitted, the discoveries of scientists, and of travellers now corroborate with an almost li--teral exactness.
But I am addressing an audience, who stands not in need, I trust, of being confirmed in the belief of the au--thenticity of any of the five volumes which our fa--thers preserved at the cost of their lives' blood for the enlightenment and spiritual solace of all mankind. It might be a reflection on the religious sentiments of my hearers, to declare in their presence, that doubts cast of on the veracity of the writing which has weekly engaged our attention since the close of our fall holidays, is tantamount to the impugning of the truthfulness of the Sinaic revelation. But when men whose calling and duty it is to strengthen the olden faith, preach heresy; when to display erudition Jewish leaders echo forth the theories which ultramontane Neologists have advanced with great

great assurance, it may not be deemed out of time, nor out of place to caution the youths of my people and say to them "Friends! Put credence in o no one blindly Examine Exercise the faculties wherewith God has endowed you. Search for yourselves, that you may arrive at a conscientious conclusion." I have no fear of the ultimate result, provided that insidious influences are not set at work to warp the minds. The natural intelligence of our sons and daughters will suggest that the further we remove the book of Genesis from the Biblical period to which it rightly belongs, the less can it be made to correspond with the following annals and ordinances of Judaism, and the more inexplicable some of its contents will necessarily appear. Thus, to cite a single example; if the prophetic blessing of Jacob to his twelve sons is an invention of later ages--supposing the patriarch incapable of shaping his utter--ances in a poetic form, and of peering into the future-- if that is a fiction, then the benediction of Moses agreeing therewith on some fronts to the tribes tribes is must be also a myth, & then the allotted division

of Palestine in the days of Joshua must have been an act of arbitrariness, and then we may fittingly ask by what claims the descendants of Joseph re--ceived a double inheritance, and Levy had only some cities located in various sections of the holy land? But it is not my purpose to animadvert on the schools of critics, and show on which side reason, lo--qual and sound preponderates in the struggle which has been carried between the skeptics and the conservatives Still, I feel it binding on me to caution warn my brothers and sisters, whose age renders their hearts most im--pressible, against accepting without deep consider--ation what is calculated to rob them of their dearest wealth, of the belief in the five volumes, forming the cornerstone of Israel's religion, and the ground upon which men have built up the constitutions of mighty empire and republics. I repeat it, the five volumes, because the first is an integral part of a connected lever; it is the [?] history of the Monotheistic idea, of which the other four are the development and amplification. Genesis is, if I may be allowed the simile, the Chrysalis, whence

the winged creatures gradually issues forth in all perfection. A sentence in to-day's lesson bears out my meaning and to it I will, for a few moments, direct your attention. Joseph's brothers returned from the burial of their father with heavier feelings than those pervading the heart of the viceroy of Egypt. Dread mig mingled with sadness. They could not forget that he who, during seventeen years, had exhibited a generosity almost superhuman, had been at one time the target of their poisonous arrows; that through their ill-will the steps whence he arose to power had been spread over with wasps stinging to the core. Had Rachel's son forgotten the wrongs? Or, was it filial reverence which held him back from wreaking vengeance upon their heads, while the fondly cherished parent lived? To calm their agitated spirits they had re--course to a stratagem, which the distress suffered at that hour can alone exculpate in a measure. They charged some friends to carry a message to Joseph, and lead him to think that Jacob's last thought had been a request for a full, unconditional pardon of his child--ren who had once most grievously offended.

Mark the incident well. They who conveyed the communication, having repeated the suppositious words of the patriarch, added "Now, do forgive the trespass of the servants of thy father's God." Here we see unfolded before our mind's eyes the bond which already united indissolubly together the progeny of the man who had preached Monotheism amidst a polytheistic world. Long ere we became a nation was formed that sacred tie, which grew stronger with our numerical growth till it created a solida--rity that time can never dissolve. The idea of one Omniscient and Omnipresent God inspired senti--ments of mutual forbearance and kindliness. If the excellent Joseph had felt disposed to slight the peti--tition, which he may have suspected not to emana--te from his father, he dared not resist the appeal associated with the name of his father's God. Listen as the noble man speaks "Fear not, for, am I in the place of God"! It signifies. "Have I not been taught by our common belief that we are all

the agents of the Supreme; that our intentions, however wicked, cannot frustrate the will of the Almighty, but that in His hand they are made to subserve His wise ends? It is for the Creator to punish thoughts. As to myself, I recognize in your action, the workings of a beneficent Providence, and as such will I reward it." And when the time drew night for Rachel's elder son also to be gathered to his people, the idea of a union derived from a community of religious sen--timents, not less than from consaguinity, manifested it--self palpably in the sentence which concludes the his--tory of the first stage of Monotheism. Joseph ad--jured the children of Israel thus: "God will surely visit you, then ye shall carry my bones away from this place." United have we been in faith while on earth, and conjointly must we our dust mingle in the spot destined by our fathers God as our heritage....Yes, Brethren! Abraham stands at the basis of the grand edifice into which all mankind will one day seek shelter. His offspring in the third generation were became the materials with which its construction was begun. The law of Moses set up its massive pillars, the preaching

of the prophets vaulted and roofed it, the enact-ments of our Rabbins have walled it around. We are its sworn custodians. Woe unto us if a spirit of Kepticism, now prevailing, incites us to desert our post. Woe unto us, if the fear of bantering makes us fainted hearted; if to escape the derision of those who call a denial of belief and en--lightenment, and reverence to religion, ignorance, we suffer our powers to grow weary in watching the fabric of human civilization, "the Law testimony which He established in Jacob, and the Law He set in Israel, which He commanded co our fathers, that they may cause them to be known by their children, so that the latter generation, the childrens generation yet to be born may be acquainted therewith, and they may rise and relate then to their own children." Let us vow allegiance thereto in the presence of our Lord, and in this oracle consecrated to His name; that we may deserve the tittle of witnesses of the One, eternal and all-saving God. So may it be Amen.

Identifier

p3804z50t

identifier

SMBx9FF9_2