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I had left New York deeply awakened to the growing
influences of our religion; for I had witnessed with pride and
gratification the peculiar solemnities which had characterized the
recent anniversaries of our festivals, and had marked with hope, the
brightness which had just begun to break in diffusive joy over Israel,
tinging with light and gladness, the valley of apathy and indifference
in which we had so long abided. I was, therefore, not prepared to
observe with charity and approval the progress of innovation even with
results most brilliant, and it was with such powerful effect that the
observation of a day in the Hazel Street Synagogue in Charleston
impressed me, that I have loosely thrown together the contrasted views
of Crosby Street [Sephardic
Shearith Israel] Synagogue in New York under its respected reader,
and Mr. Poznanski’s place of worship in Charleston. and it is with no
unkind feelings to the latter gentleman that I shall present this
picture of the result of his movements; for one, I am not inclined to
believe him otherwise than honest in the improvements which he
advocates, and candidly opine that his intelligence should command for
his views the attention of our people. I entertain too much respect for
him to believe that he is so extremely zealous as to contend for the
triumph of his doctrines at their apparent extravagant cost, except his
convictions were so deep in their correctness, as to reconcile his mind
to the full force of the disastrous result of the experiment. It may be
that he is “yet only before the age.” Our service may be susceptible
of beneficial alterations; yet it is more than questionable if the
reader of a congregation would under any circumstances be considered as
sufficiently empowered with authority, to add to or expunge from, the
service of the entire nation. It is not strange that with a litany
descending to us, hallowed in its antiquity, we should be wedded to it,
not only by all those influences of a blessed nature which teach us to
cherish a religious creed, sacred by veneration, but also from a holy
prejudice implanted in our nature for some inscrutable, but doubtless
wise purpose. We look upon innovation and reform with fear and
trembling. It thus follows that no man however gifted, however honest in
his views, can hope by individual opposition to change this grand
national characteristic; whilst on the contrary in seeking to do so,
dissension and discord will be promoted, friends and foes created, and
birth given to violent personal differences.
With these remarks let me present a brief sketch of
the Crosby Street Synagogue on שמיני
עצרת (eighth day of Tabernacles.)
The Amidah commences for the Musaph, and the voice
of the reader is heard in fulness and force:
משיב הרוח
ומוריד הגשם
לברכה “Cause the wind to blow and the
rain to descend for a blessing,” and this is succeeded by a solemn
stillness which pervades the assembly. You case your eyes towards the
galleries: they are filled to overflowing with the bright
representatives of the beauty of the daughters of Judah, and now
upstanding with their forms turned to the East; they turn over the pages
of their books, whilst you may see by their moving lips, that it is no
mock-devotion which marks with serenity and peace those countenances of
love. You look around the spot where you are standing, and see manly
forms with their white Talith occupying every vacancy, the hoary head of
age, and the strength of autumnal manhood, the vigour of the prime of
life and the activity of spring-time existence, whilst the buoyant forms
and bright countenances of the youths of Israel are interspersed
throughout.
The repetition begins, and as the reader’s voice
closes the opening aspiration, in tones of power comes forth the
response from the assembled hundreds. And as he continues and the name
of the Deity passes his lips, with one accord the multitude ask that
name to be ever blessed, and when the first petition is concluded, with
stirring energy the responsive Amen is heard from every lip. And so
through that prayer for rain until its last words are recited, the
congregation continue to sing forth those strains of praise, and thus
devotionally proceed with the residue of the Amidah until its
conclusion. Now upstanding the Kadish
is repeated, and whilst they re-seat themselves, the reader declares the
portion of Israel in futurity. Then comes אין
כאלהינו and whilst every voice
blends in that assembled choir, sweetly is heard the rich notes from the
galleries joining in the strain, for who so literally the “sweet singers of Israel” as the fair daughters of his race. Bowed
down in supplication, acknowledging the peculiar duty reserved for
Israel to worship the God of truth, and the hymn of majestic praise
which concludes the service rises upon our ears. Now from every part of
that vast building ascends the chaunt, from youth and age, strength and
feebleness, and every voice sends forth its shout. With sweet softness
is heard the rich tones of the reader as he repeats the concluding line,
and then the massive doors of the ark are closed, and the congregation
is dismissed in joy and peace.
Now let us turn to the Hazel Street Synagogue on
שבת בראשית (first
Sabbath after Tabernacles.)
The building itself is very similar in its
construction to the Crosby Street Synagogue, save that the gallery
opposite the ark contains the organ and choir. I entered whilst they
were reading the Law, and looking around me was chilled at the sight
presented. There were some twenty-five or thirty individuals seated
below, about one-half of whom wear the Talith. The galleries may have
contained about fifty, including the choir. The reading of the Law
proceeded as usual, and after it had closed, the chapter and the verse
of the Haphtorah was announced in English and read in Hebrew. No
responsive blessing was heard when the name of God was mentioned, nor
did the Amen even rise into audible distinctness. The prayer for
Government was read in English, and then followed the usual service
until the laws were carried back to the ark. Instead of the mighty
sounds which rise in such majesty in Crosby Street when this hymn is
sung, a few feeble female voices are heard accompanied by the organ,
whose swelling notes form but a poor accompaniment to the slenderness of
those female tones. The reader having returned to the desk, an English
prayer of some ten minutes is then recited by him, and I did not
perceive that it excited any peculiar solemnity in the congregation.
Then an English hymn was chaunted by the choir, which being finished,
the Musaph commenced. It was read distinctly and plainly, without any
marked emphasis, and on the countenances of some appeared distinct signs
that it was regarded as an interpolation which it was expedient speedily
to expunge, as not possessing the interest of those English prayers. The
choir were again in requisition to sing אין
כאלהינו and
אדון עולם which was no
more effective than מזמר
לדוד. The translation of the blessings of the
priests was then read in English, and with this invocation the
congregation dismissed. Every thing was cold and dull, no animation
sparkled forth in the countenances of reader or congregation, and the
few who were assembled seemed in the performance of an irksome duty,
which did not claim the service of their heart. It would be uncharitable
to suppose its inward influences thus deteriorating, and we should
remember that decorum and systematic
devotion are the principal ends for which these alterations are offered.
I shall not hold myself responsible for any
inferences that may be drawn from the facts I have presented; I have
certainly no interested motives urging me to misrepresentation, neither
have I set down “aught in malice.” On the contrary, personal
friendship and esteem for the gentleman who is at the head of the
Charleston congregation, would induce any thing but an attack either on
himself or the peculiar views of which he is the great advocate; but yet
the remarkable contrast which his system and its effects presented were
so very striking, that whilst I strove to forget them, memory retained
the impressions with unyielding tenacity. I hope that in what I have
written, neither he nor his friends, many of whom I claim to be placed
in the same category, will imagine that I have intended to cast any
disrespectful allusions on their undertaking.—“By your works ye shall be known.”
D. S.
Mobile, Ala. Kislev, 5605. |
