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No. I.
Whilst other nations have preserved scarcely for the space of a few
years their festivals and their mysteries, we celebrate with inflexible
purpose our religious observances from century to
century."--Josephus.
The present age is distinguished in a peculiar manner, by the interest
which is awakened to the social and moral condition of our people. It is
felt that the creation of the most unlimited wealth does not compensate
for national debasement, and its consequence, worldly scorn; but that the
true course to preserve the prosperity of the Hebrew, and maintain the
integrity of his faith, is to promote the diffusion of religious
intelligence, and to labour for the elevation of the moral character of
the people. Hence we find that every number of the Anglo-Jewish Journal,
"The voice of Jacob," teems with paragraphs exhibiting the
strenuous efforts making in the metropolis of Britain, to disseminate a
true knowledge of the riches entombed in the literature of the ancient
people, and that the advent of the reverend new Chief to his office, has
given an impetus to the good work, which, it is not assuming too much to
infer, will most materially operate on the habits and opinions of all our
coreligionists who may come within its sphere; for the inevitable effect
of the many years, spent in dispersion and under oppression, has been the
undermining of the general knowledge of sacred lore, and the creation of a
lax mode of observance of the ceremonial code, most fatal to the
preservation of our religious unity.
Holding that the course of the Hebrew has been one of religious
retrogression, we are constrained to notice, (but in doing so, write more
in sorrow than in anger,) that the tendency to change exhibited in the
desire to simplify religion, as it is termed, is a step towards
infidelity; and, the crude and, thoughtless efforts at alteration, the
contracted endeavours of the petty few, to adapt to native customs the
forms of a ritual, which has stood the test of so many centuries and the
chimera, of expunging from the service of a congregation calling
themselves Hebrews, the language which Abraham spoke, the characters in
which is recorded the only unquestioned history of mankind--a language
which stands wholly without a parallel in the philology of the
world,--these are bubbles blown up by philosophic vanity-- motes floating
in the beams that will dissipate and perish ere sundown. Every age, every
century, has produced men who have laboured in an unwise path, forgetting
that "to innovate, is not to reform"--and whose labours
for change, if successful, would have been the flux amalgamating the
Hebrew with the idolater, to the annihilation of the former's identity. If
there be any who sigh for a service more glittering than our chaste and
solemn ritual, we fell them that it is not left to us to begin each a
voyage of discovery for himself, to create forms, compile or compress
services, or arrange symphonies. That the Hebrew's faith has a foundation
decreed imperishable by the Great Omnipotent's fiat--that, however
speculative rationalism may seek to overlay or enfeeble it--it is a
mystery, which oppressed, yet flourishes--of a consistency unperishable
and unchangeable, founding us a separate nation, the depository of a
supreme code of ethics, the heart of which centres in Judaism, whilst the
spirit is spread through all civilization; and this estimable felicity of
position ought to render us more fully alive to the imperative obligation
of defending it, and more solicitous of culling the blessings we enjoy,
than vainly to labour to identify ourselves with the religions around us.
It is argued by the advocates of change, by the men who claim to
represent the spirit of the times, that their reform has no
other object than to increase public reverence for the pure light and
words of the law, as contained in the חמישה
חומשי תורה
and in order to effect this, it is necessary to shear the formula of
service of a great portion of a liturgy of great beauty, antiquity, and
authority, alleging that the precepts of our institution are too strict
and too rigid to be practised it the present day, and that with the
orthodox ritualism is carried to extravagance; and although there is much
energy and apparent fervour in the Synagogue, that there is little
reverence and less real piety--that our leaders or teachers of old--the
men--those august men who stood forward in the day of Israel's distress,
and incontestably proved their belief in the truths of the faith they
taught, by the mist powerful, because the most costly testimony which men
can offer, the devotion of their lives, were bigots, and their precepts,
of institution and instruction, bigotry amounting to idolatry. It was not
our intention to enter on the discussion of doctrinal points; we freely
admit our inability, from education or habits of thought, to do justice to
so important a subject; but we could not resist recording our humble
belief that the theories of these sectarians are inconsistent with
Judaism; that we hold their course to be like the lightning, striking only
to destroy, and feel assured that if it were successful it would
annihilate
"That mental calm,
The self-applause--whose strength sustains the soul,
When o'er the sun of life the clouds of sorrow roll,"
that peace and blessing, without which life has no dignity, and death
no solace, and for which mankind stands in nowise indebted to the world,
that with all its proud appliances
"The pomp of wealth, the pride of state,
Pages around, and slaves within the gate,
With all the vain, magnificent parade
Which floats in grandeur's showy cavalcade,"
can neither give nor take away, but which in affluence or direct
poverty, is granted to and blesses him who daily bends the willing knee
before the shrine of "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth
eternity," to whom it is said, "every knee shall bow and
every tongue shall swear."
Who that knows, and knowing bases his devotion upon his knowledge of
the preciousness of the principles of the creed which the Deity in his
all-merciful wisdom graciously granted to Israel in the wilderness, and
which it is the duty of every man, professing to be a child of Israel, for
ever to transmit unaltered, will not, with us, lament that the religion
should by some be reduced to a mere matter of speculation? It has hitherto
been held that no man was qualified to excel in any human art, profession,
or science, without constant discipline and unremitting efforts; but we
have found men immersed in cares and worldly pursuits, venturing to bring
their finite knowledge and experience to bear upon the truth of divine
inspiration, and holding themselves qualified to alter the religion
conformably with their circumscribed views and opinions; those religious
observances of which Josephus twenty centuries since boasted of being
celebrated with "inflexible purpose from century to century,"
are subjected to the same disengaged spirit of criticism; and the result
fully corroborates the truth of the axiom, that there is no certainty in
things upon which the thoughts and imaginations of men can exert a
controlling influence. Yet, we think, that if there is aught connected
with humanity which should be held immutable, "fixed at the beginning
and fixed unto the end," it is man's faith; and that the witty and
eccentric Sheridan was oracular when he held "that a deliberate
disposition to make proselytes in infidelity, is an unaccountable
depravity--whoever attempts to pluck the belief or the prejudice on this
subject, style it which he will, from the bosom of one man, woman, or
child, commits a brutal outrage, the motive for which I have never been
able to trace or conceive." Holding fixed religious opinions
ourselves, we cannot contemplate a continual movement in advance of
religion, in the course of which, all its peculiar doctrines shall be
gradually absorbed, and lost in the light and splendour of what is
termed increasing knowledge; for the main object and advantage of a
creed is, to prevent this perpetual fluctuation, and to fix religious
opinions, by bringing them continually to a definite test.
It is pleasing to reflect on the facilities now afforded for
instructing the people in the great truths of religion; and we hail with
intense satisfaction the commencement of a course of lectures in the
various Synagogues of Great Britain; and it is a matter of pride, that
America holds equally as prominent a position in this salutary movement;
for we have admired, and we hope profited, by many very excellent lectures
we have heard and read on this continent, and esteem the publication of
all such as a valuable adjunct; for it is by these means the hearts of the
people will be improved, nor is it difficult to perceive by the
establishment and perfecting of these lectures, that the commentaries and
doctrines of the great masters of our ancient theological councils and
schools, will become widely disseminated, understood, and appreciated,
forming a conservative power within the minds of our people, which will
prove a valuable aid in preserving the faith from the assaults of
infidelity, and the insidious decay and ruin of apathy and ignorance.
It has been stated by a valuable labourer in the good cause, an
esteemed lecturer of New York city, "That it is from the pulpit the
people must learn the true nature, ends, and uses, of all the divine
dispensations towards us." This was a truth enunciated in a happy
moment of fidelity to a most important charge, as it is in the sanctuary
and from its stated ministers alone, those purifying principles are to be
learnt, which are infinitely more efficient than any human laws in
restraining vicious propensities, and in creating, and cherishing a spirit
of piety and devotion; but it is the living expression of these principles
that captivates the hearer, not the principles themselves, for devoid of
this expression they are more objects of dissent or approval; and then
what care, what precision, ought to be used in placing these principles
before a congregation composed of the youthful and the aged, the active
and the indolent, the reflective and the heedless, the happy and the
sorrowing; and every audience indiscriminately drawn together will be
composed of these classes. Are the character and the talents of those to
whom this important task is assigned investigated with the care which the
inquiry demands? are they invariably נקי
כפים ובר לבב
"clean of hands and pure of heart?" or are not the possession of
a good voice, and an ability to read Hebrew fluently, sufficient
qualifications to entitle the holder to an election to the office of
Hazan?
This is a subject which must in future come more forcibly before our
people; for notwithstanding our inflexible resolution, to preserve our
ritual in that incomparable language which has been the channel of the
nation's prayers and praises for so many ages, the knowledge of its
comprehensive power is too limited, the mode of instruction adopted by our
modern Hebrew teachers too defective, or the time devoted to its
acquirement too short, to preserve the solemnity and effect due to the
recital of the prayers; and therefore it becomes imperative to make some
alteration; for with the talented and immortal Burke, "I would not
exclude alteration, but even when 1 changed, it should be to
preserve." "In what I did I would follow the example of my
ancestors, and make the repairs as nearly as possible in the style of the
building;" therefore we support an addition to the service in the
form of lectures in the language of the land, as the most valuable aid
which in the present defective state of education can be adopted for
disseminating a correct understanding of that divine revelation, on which
all our hopes of the future depend, and which enables us to say that we
are a "remnant of a mighty and a holy nation," which, under the
word "covenanted to a thousand generations," stands
indestructible; for when, as now, they were wanderers, and went from one
kingdom to another people,לא
הִנִיחַ
לְאִיש
לְעָשְקָם
"He suffered no man to do them wrong."
The praise which we hear lavished on what is termed a beautiful or an
eloquent lecture, are ofttimes much out of place; for men are seldom at
the trouble to analyze what they hear, or possess the requisite industry
or ability to discover the particular features constituting its
excellence; hence it is seen, that many lecturers, extremely popular and
rated as men of ability by their followers, fall below mediocrity when
their labours are investigated with impartial judgment. It must be
admitted, however, that this is a task in the performance of which there
exists great liability to give offence; the populace will not permit their
idol to be displaced from its pedestal without manifesting their
indignation, although it may be shown that for any felicity of oratorical
power, for any burning words, or striking originality of thought, you
might look in vain, the speaker being lamentably deficient in all the
attributes of good oratory, and in the style itself. Now much there is
which good taste can seldom approve; the manifest superficial acquaintance
with the subject discussed, the affectation of superior knowledge, the
tart rebuke instead of the mild reproof, the overstrained fervour, and the
repetition of thoughts, imposes but indifferently upon the unreflecting
and the indolent, therefore fails entirely when practised before the
thoughtful and the studious. How few men there are, who, taking a view of
any subject, can place their conceptions clearly before an audience, or,
being blessed with fertility of thought, are endowed with facility of
expression. Some there are, who possess the singular faculty of rapidly
mastering books and systems, while others, no less indefatigable, lose
themselves in coming the details. the pulpit-lecturer exercises an
influence without parallel for importance, and his opportunities for
benefiting or injuring his fellow-men are incalculably great, as his very
errors are multiplied indefinitely by means of those he instructs, for--
"True it should seem, that the fabric of thought,
Is like a web, by cunning master wrought,
Where one stroke moves a thousand threads."
Lecturing at present excites attention, it excited curiosity, it does
even more, it awakens inquiry--inquiry leads to reflection,--reflection
produces enlightenment, and according to the talent and ability employed,
will the movement spread, acquiring importance and prosperity by the
fructification of seed deeply sown, or languish and die from the
inefficiency of the lecturer to inculcate these imperishable truths, that
a belief in God, a faith in true prophecies, and a sense of moral duty,
are the mainsprings wherewith to sustain the fortunes of a nation.
R.L.
New York, 5606
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