Vayishlach. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1896 · Sabato Morais Digital Repository · Legacy Projects from Judaica DH at Penn Libraries

Title

Vayishlach. Morais, Sabato. Philadelphia, PA. 1896

Author

Morais, Sabato

Date Created

1896

Location(s)

United States -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia

United States -- Pennsylvania

Format

10 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 6

Has Format

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3j960w2z/manifest.json

Link to Colenda

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3j960w2z

Provenance

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

Is Format Of

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/judaicadh/morais/main/TEI/SMBx9FF6_1.xml

content

S. MORAIS,
546 N. FIFTH STREET,
PHILADELPHIA, PA.

96
On the Haftorah of Vayishlach
on Idumea.

Your distinguished personages, bearing the same name are mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures concerning the first in historical order, we read some--thing in the book of Kings [Hebrew] chapter Eighteenth. All that are familiar with the Bible, will re--member how Jezebel, the Phenician idolatress, who had become the wife of the easily to be corrupted Ahab, determined to make the debauching worship of her non native land, set aside every law of Sinai. She could not think of a quicker me--thod by which by which to gain her point, than by forcing into silence men, who in the school of the prophets had learned to go about preaching the Torah. In her wickedness, she ordered some of those true ministers of the Lord, to be killed, others she compelled to hide away from the public notice community. But within the walls of the palace at Samariah, from whence Jezebel tyrranized over the Kingdom of Israel, there was a a servant of God, unknown as such to the idolatry steeped queen queen, steeped in idolatry.

Obadiah was he called. Entrusted with the stewardship of the royal house unsuspected by the inmates thereof he secretly endeavoured to thwart defeat the plans of the iniquitous Jezebel. He delivered a number of those whom she would have consigned to the grave slaughter thus personally facing dreadful dangers in his love obedience to the of dictates of religion and humanity.
The second bearing the name of Obadiah, we meet in the days of Jehoshaphat, the righteous Jew who ruled over the kingdom of Judah. In Chronicles iz chapter seventeenth, it is recorded taht the good king sovereign, bent upon awakening again a senti-ment of devotion to the national belief, brought close to himself a number of faithful subjects. He supplied them with a written copy of the five holy books, and bade them travel through the country to teach the whole people the ordi-nances of Horeb the Pentateuch. Among those subjects an Oba--diah ranked high, and he, together with his associates, carried out the royal injunc--tion with fidelity.

The third known by the same appellation, was a Levite, whom the pious Josiah, King of Judah, appointed to officiate as a chorister among others of his tribe--the tribe which alone was entitled to sing and make instrumental music resound within the courts of the Temple. But none of those three just mentioned, appears to have been d endowed with the gift of prophecy. The Haftorah of this Sabbath, has special re-ference to the inspiration vouchsafed to Oba--diah, for, it opens with the words [Hebrew] "The vision of Obadiah." It may now fittingly be asked: do we possess any reliable information touching that personage? Well: from the Talmudical treatise of Sanhedrin, we might infer that he was identical with Obadiah of the days of Ahab. I notice moreover that a certain Ephraim, a scholar of Rabbi Meir, tries to give us, in the name of his teacher, some intimation regarding the birth place and nationality of the author of our Haftorah.

But in reality what the Talmud tells us is a mere surmise, entirely too vague. Neither the subject treated, nor the stage of Jewish history supports that surmise conjecture. The select--ion of the chapter which we have read, to cor--respond, in a measure, with the contents of the Parashah is acceptable, for because Esau spoken of there, was the founder of the Edomite or Idu--mean people, reproached with deserved severity in our Haftorah. On one point my mind wavers respecting as to the topic under discussion. It is whether Obadaiah could not be credited with having left us more than a single chapter. I do not entertain any suspicion about the ho--nesty of the redactors or compilers of the Hebrew Scriptures. I firmly believe that they would neither add to nor diminish from what they actually found. But we positively know that not a few of the writings of our scribes and and seers are now [?] missing. Thus, the chronicles of events which transpired in the two divided king--doms, and which are often alluded to in our Bible, exist no more.

The prophecies of Jehu son of Hanani, a contemporary of Jehoshaphat, we do not pos-sess. The Midrash of Iddo failed to reach posterity. So likewise the instructions of Shemujah, of Adhijah the Shilomite, of Nathan and of others in various ages of our annals, are sought after for in vain. Conse--quently, the supposition that Obadiah may originally have contained more than one chapter, should not be considered a sheer invention the offspring of the imagination. But let that be as it may, we will, at all events, devote a thought to the subject dwelt upon in our Haftorah. The burden of complaint by the writer, is the cruelty which the descendants of Esau practiced towards the progeny of Jacob. The cup of national sorrow seemed to have over- runflowed over, when Nebuchadnezzar transported the remain--ing tribes of Judah and Benjamin to Babylon. We have several psalms testifying to that fact. While it is very venturesome to decide which of those stirring outpourings issued at that period, we can scarcely doubt that the 102nd, the 137th and possibly the 126th, had their

origin, when nationality and country were brought to the verge of ruin by the our banishment into Chaldea. The author of our Haftorah, must have lived at that time. I hear in his words, the sound the sound of a righteous indignation, because of inhumanity. The people of Edom, forgetful of the ties of relationship; oblivious of the cir--cumstance that Moses had ordered not to wage war against Edom; forgetful of the sought availed itself of every oc--casion to vex and distress our people. Obadiah, who probably saw that the same potent army which humbled Judah, lowered down beyond recovery [?] sought with similar blows the pride of Edom, points out the cause of that Divine punish--ment. Edom felt secure in the rocky mountains of its dwelling place. Who would will attempt to cast me down from here? triumphantly exclaimed, the boast--ful descendant of Esau [Hebrew]. "If thou couldst fly aloft, like an eagle, or make thy home in the starry sky, the hand of the heavenly avenger of wrong, would drag thee down," cries the prophet Obadiah.

We learn from him that Edom had rejoiced, when the inimical sword decimated the progeny of Jacob; that Edom helped strangers to cut into pieces the the fugitives who looked for safety, beyond the borders of unhappy Judea; that Edom had linked in ambush to seize them and with brutal pleasure should hand them over to the foe. But Nebuchadnezzar whom Edom aided in the hope of escaping our fate, or of being given the ownership of Jerusalem and of our depopulated country, turned the unsparing weapon also against the children of Esau. Obadiah, raised above his surroundings by the vision vouchsafed to him, predicts the restoration of our exiles and the final overthrow of Edom. Soaring high on the wings of prophecy, he may also have seen the conquest of the Idumeans by John Hyreanns of the Asmonean race. That Obadiah must have lived at the stage of history when the destruction of the first Temple occurred, I argue from the circumstances that Jeremiah in the book of lamentations, speaks in bitter irony of Edom's inhumanity [Hebrew]

"Rejoice & be glad thou daughter of Edom, who dwellest in the land of [?]. To thee also the intoxicating cup will be reached, drunk and denuded thou shall thou remain."
Had I the time, and my hearers the patience, I would set forth the opinion of some of our accredited commentators, who believe that in the sentence pre--ceding the closing of our Haftorah, events that hap-pened in later ages to Jews of France and Spain are foretold. To be brief, this day, I may reserve to say another occasion my views upon that subject.

Identifier

p3j960w2z

identifier

SMBx9FF6_1