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In
The Henry Street Synagogue.
New
York, Dec. 8, 1845.
Dear
Sir:--Thinking that any occurrence of a religious nature in our midst is a
fit subject for the pages of your magazine, take the liberty of
transmitting to you the following communication.
On
the 29th ult., Sabbath Toledoth, a sermon in the German language was
delivered by the Rev. Dr. M. Lilienthal, (whose arrival to our shores has
been noticed in the last Occident,) in the Henry Street Synagogue, in
pursuance of an invitation tendered to him by the authorities of that
congregation. Coming from so eminent a scholar, and so experienced and
tried a labourer in the vineyard of the Lord as Dr. L. is known to be, the
Synagogue was crowded to its fullest capacity. After the Torah had been
replaced in the ark, the Rev. Dr. ascended the desk, and opened his sermon
by an appropriate prayer, in which he expressed the feelings of gratitude
to the Almighty Being, by whose providence he was permitted to address,
for the first time, his Jewish brethren in this country, and to expound to
them the blissful doctrines of our holy faith. In the course of his
introductory remarks, the Dr. observed, that, being yet a stranger in our
midst, he could not select a fitter subject for his discourse than that
religion which has proved a source of comfort to our nation, and filled
their bosoms with hope and courage even during the darkest days of
Israel's sufferings. Religion is the cement which keeps together the
scattered remnants of Israel, and unites those in harmony and love who, in
every other respect, are most distant from each other. He chose his text
from Malachi, "Remember ye the law of Moses," &c., and
proposed the following three questions:
1.
Is there any religion?
2. Which is the true religion?
3. How ought we to act end feel as the professors of that true religion?
Religion,
he said, is the acknowledgment of a Supreme Being, who created and
sustains every thing, who governs alike the individual affairs of man as
the destinies of whole nations, and whose existence reveals itself to
every heart in the still but powerful voice of conscience, and in the
innate hope of a future existence. The regularity and undeviating order
which pervade all nature, the unmistakable rule of a higher power than
those on earth, recognisable in the rise and progress of nations in
general, and the providential protection of Israel in particular,
undeniably prove the existence of a God. And if every man reverts to the
history of his own heart, and sees how, in adversity and affliction a hope
of better days animates his soul, and sustains his being; how in the
bereavement one beloved by him, he instinctively directs his eye on high,
fondly hoping there, in the presence of the Almighty Father, once again to
meet those who were dear to him on earth, submissively exclaiming,
"The Lord gave, the Lord has taken; blessed be the name of the
Lord:" he must come to the consoling conclusion that there is a
supreme and all-kind Being that shapes our destinies.
This
truth being established, the question arises, "Which is the true
religion?" After expatiating on the absurd systems of Paganism, which
in a great degree have vanished, and reviewing the incongruous and
incomprehensible dogmas of the Christian religion, the Rev. Dr. showed the
truthfulness of our glorious faith, teaching, as it does, in the most
emphatic manner, the great principle of a pure monotheism. The Rev. Dr.
here cited the most important of the thirteen articles of Maimonides in
illustration of his proposition. "We believe, with a perfect faith,
that the Creator, blessed be his name, is not corporeal, nor has he any
corporeal qualities; he was, is, and unchangeably will be to all
eternity." The words, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is
One!" as addressed by Moses to our ancestors in the wilderness
thousands of years ago, have ever since been our firm belief, and the
basis of our unfaltering faith; they have been inscribed on Israel's
banner through ages, have been their comfort in prosperity, their shield
in adversity, and, in defiance of cruelty and persecution, boldly
confessed on the rack, and at the stake. "The Lord our God is
One!" is the confession which still lives in the mouth and heart of
every true Israelite, with which he rises in the morning and goes to rest
at night; it is his companion through his mundane career, and with it his
spirit takes its flight when spirit and matter became disconnected by
death.
If
such is the power of our religion, how ought we to act and feel? The
reverend preacher here very impressively exhorted his audience to remain
true and faithful to this blessed creed, the inheritance of Jacob; to act
up to its spirit and precepts. Let not, he said, the words of our great
teacher apply to us, that וישמן
ישרון ויבעט,
in prosperity Israel becomes unmindful of its duty; and that יפה
עניותא
לישראל, but in adversity we
cling to our law. We have remained faithful through ages of oppression and
destitution; let us not desert the standard of our God now, when we are at
liberty to worship Him unmolestedly, according to the dictates of our
conscience, and when our rights as men are recognised and respected. But,
above all, let us live in peace and harmony, and let us endeavour to
uphold that unity and concert of action and feeling which always
characterized our nation. A people that prays in the morning שים
שלום, "Bestow peace on us," and
supplicates in the evening, שלום
רב על ישראל
עמך תשים
לעולם, "A glorious peace give to
thy people, Israel, for evermore," ought to act in the sense of these
words, in order to deserve that great benediction of the Lord, which
concludes, "And he will give thee peace."
Thus,
you have, dear sir, a meagre outline of the discourse to which, as I write
from memory, it is impossible for me to do full justice. It was delivered
with an eloquence and fervour that did not fail to make a deep impression
on the minds of the audience, and the effects of which were reflected in
many a tearful eye. I could but wish that frequent opportunity to preach
would be given to Dr. L., and that his services would be permanently
engaged by our community. There is, indeed, a wide field open to his
talents, a field which, to a great extent, lies fallow, and requires
cultivation. It was always a matter of astonishment to me, how little the
necessity of religions instruction is felt by some of our seemingly most
prosperous and enlightened congregations. If a Meturgeman (interpreter)
was appointed in days of old, when, it may naturally be supposed, the
knowledge of our institutions and language was more generally diffused
than it is now, I should think that an interpreter of the word of God is
much more necessary in our days, in order that the law be not only read,
but that its spirit also be explained, and thus its knowledge diffused.
The time has gone by when the ancient sage could say: "Let Israel
alone, if they are not prophets themselves, they are at least sons of
prophets." The law is our inheritance; but its knowledge must be
acquired by study, and imparted by instruction.
Yours
truly,
J.
K. G.
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