Vayera. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
- Title
- Vayera. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
- Author
- Morais, Sabato
- Format
- 8 pages on 4 sheets
- Language(s)
- English
- Source
- Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies
- Sabato Morais Collection, Box 9, Folder 4
- Has Format
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p33776f47/manifest.json
- Link to Colenda
- https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p33776f47
- Provenance
- Transfer of Custody from the Hebrew Education Society, 10 March 1913.
- Is Format Of
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx9FF4_1.xml
- content
-
Some remarks suggested by Haftorah Vayerá [Hebrew]
The first verse and the last of this day's Haftorah, call to mind a period of Jewish history which ought to revive. I mean that epoch in our annals, when a great reformer effected a change radical and inestimable most important. Rise Samuel, and tell thy people again that obedience to duty is better than sacrifices! Samuel the inflexible judge, Samuel who loved the tribes, but was unyeildingly opposed to their corrupt or weak minded rulers, Samuel would, if he were in our midst, reproach our ignorance and our heedlessness; that lack of knowledge which blights the growth of piety, that indifference which fosters infidelity. In his days, the altar reeked with the blood of burnt-offerings: God's anger favor was not appeased propitiated. Men and women assembled around it in crowds: the Deity was not honored. Why? Because the ministering officiating priests were cormorants, intent solely upon gain; because the worshippers brought fat rams to the Temple sanctuary, but not their hearts. into the temple Unhappy Eli! He feared sin, but more than it he dreaded his children's public exposure, and their dispossession of sacerdotal perquisites. And the deluded Hebrews! They held in the right hand a gift for the sanctuary holy Tabernacle; with their
left they pressed idols to their bosoms. At that juncture the son of Hannah, the poetess and ardent believer, arose. In him sparkled the glowing fire of her soul, the brilliant gems of her intellect. That noble illustrious descendant and follower of Moses the Levite, plucked up weeds, but he planted roses. He destroyed ministerial pretensions, but constructed a service truly Divine. To him tradition attributes the establishing of a worship, in which daily oblations were presented at the sound of voices harmonising with sacred instruments. But the sagacious republican understood well that outward external devotions & void destitute of knowledge are leaves without the stem, when the mind worshipper is destitute of knowledge. And he opened the a field of produ- righteousness -cing choice and deeply rooted plants; such as in whose possession a nation may justly glory. He opened a school of learning. This was not, as vulgarly considered a resort exclusively for men of an ascetic disposition, where they lived apart from the outward world, and studied cultivated hidden sciences. It was an academy, in which poetry and music moulded the feelings; the study of nature, history and jurisprudence disciplined the mind. Its attendants were called "prophets," in the sense that Abraham, the first preacher of truth, and Miriam the first songstress to a redeeming God, were styled.
Samuel presided and taught. On him a twofold position of heavenly spirit had rested. A Seer, peering with a broad look into foreshadowed events, and impassioned orator carrying conviction, he ca challenged the admiration and affection of his disciples. And these became in turn the enthusiastic messengers of his patriotic will. Riches they spurned, to political preferments they did not aspire. Like their master, one thought nerved them to the arduous task; to rescue their coreligionists from brutalising heathenism, and inspire them, through knowledge, with love for their laws and institutions. Our Haftorah introduces us into the humble dwelling of the widow of one of Samuel's disciples raised in the stern school of Samuel. The man's legacy to his wife was poverty, and the support of two children. He may have striven, during his life-time to promote virtue. She who knew him most intimately declared that he did fear the Lord. But now that his lips were sealed in the grave death people forgot the merits of the apostle of truth. Heartless creditors increased the burden of affliction weighing down his [?], by demanding her son's servitude in payment of a debt. In her dis--tress she cried to a personage, who would not turn away listlessly.
Elisha represented at that time the class of individuals of whom I have spoken. More than in any other we discover in him a close intercourse with the disciples of the prophets whom designated in the Bible terms by the name of "Bené Launebeem;" and more than of any other has the history of his life been handed down under the veil of the miraculous. Fondly attached The mantle of Elijah falling upon his shoulders, appeared to have uplifted him above the terrestrials. His appear looks spread reverential awe; yet, he moved with a gentle spirit among the tribes, and identified himself with their interests and their wants. Austere to--wards the wicked, he nevertheless embraced in his humanity, the gentile as well as his brother the Hebrew. Singularly attached he was the all-souled religious chief to those, who worked with him in the national cause, and the lament of the widow of a deceased colaborer, struck on his breast a sympathetic chord. "What shall I do for thee?" full, of [?] he inquired at her wailings.......You know my hearers! how by a celestial interposition he became the means of delivering her from destitution, and her dearest from the rigour of bondage. For by drawing your attention to the first verse of our Haftorah, I did not purpose repeating what each of you all can read, but to explain incidents in our annals, which are fraught with lessons, we should take to heart.
If I have shown that by knowledge, Samuel and his successors endeavored thu by knowledge to elevate the standing of our people, how discre--ditable must be would they have considered the conduct of such Jews who are envelopped in a thick cloud in ignorance, and care not that it should scatter away! The great universal cry is for reform, but that which a mighty reformer introduced, they Israelites reject. [?] Shame upon us: For it is just from this motive cause that have sprung the unscrupulous changes that which made Judaism in America a patch-work. We are Incapable of judging for ourselves, we let others do our thinking. We are literally a flock of sheep under the shepherd's crook. Men like the sons of Eli, pretending to lead us to a rich pasture ground, may cause ingood us on to tread under foot precious plants in the garden of the Lord. We know it not. But worse than the sin of ignororf wilful ignorance is that of wilful indifference, a shrugging of the shoulders at our dearest interests, a belief that religion is an empty name, learning a useless acquisition, money is all. Can such pertinacity be corrected? Not while the place in which it might be softened, is shunned. I feel convinced that, in many instances, calm reasoning emanating from the pulpit may convert hearts which seem callous. I shall never prostitute my calling by saying that provided you attend this Synagogue, and listen to my speaking, you may spend the balance of the Sabbath-
day in the counting-house or in the shop. But this I will say, without without a particle of self conceit, or egotism, that if you, who nominally constitute a conservative congregation body of Hebrews, took heeded of the direction of Samuel, as told in the last verse of our Haftorah, we might not have occasion to complain of a prevailing ignorance or chilling apathy in our immedaite congregation. When the Shunam-mite requested her husband to let her go as far as the pro--phet's house, he spoke so. "Wherefore art thou going to him to day? It is neither new moon, nor Sabbath." Mark the effect of a wise reform! Sabbath and festivals The days of the Lord had been sanctified to the noblest purpose. To public instruction. Men and women were then to listened then to the instr imparting of religion. It is So that did the immortal son of Hannah sharpened the weapon with which to slay the hydra of apostacy. What is the duty, he would now demand of you O Jews of this century & of this land to perform? To come and draw along after you with by example, a crowd to the remaining spot where the word of God is rehearsed and expounded. In the absence of that academy of learning he instituted, he would that the pious be confirmed in their belief, the waverers be argued with, and the reckless be gently re[?] against at the only place of public
assemblage: this minor sanctuary. Believe experience, my Brethren! if you will discredit my assertion. The longer will parents keep aloof from this dwelling of prayer and preaching, the greater will be the estrangement of their families from the fold, & the surer will be the disaffection of their posterity. To represent this evil, which I--being no prophet can [?] predict, to rekindle in Jewish breasts a sense of religious obligations I have alluded to a lesson derived form the section read this day. We owe it to the great and good men, who endeavoured to uphold our faith by knowledge, we owe it to our national character ,we owe it to our immortal souls to gain an insight into the history, tenets, and traditional rules of Judaism. And here an effort is made to force us give it to all attendants. Should you henceforth feel incited to honor God by an early and constant attendance at His hallowed courts, I shall rejoice. Should you determine otherwise, I shall, at all events, have rolled away from me the reproach of inertness or unfaithfulness in promo--ting your interest. - Identifier
- p33776f47
- identifier
- SMBx9FF4_1
Part of Vayera. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated
Morais, Sabato, “Vayera. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. Undated”, Sabato Morais Digital Repository, accessed September 18, 2024, https://judaicadhpenn.org/legacyprojects/s/morais/item/91329