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Philadelphia.—On the 4th of June the
adjourned meeting for the promotion of education was duly held, when the
difficulties of which we spoke in our last, were happily overcome, and
the principle of having pay as well as free scholars was adopted, on a
somewhat different plan from that reported by the committee, which
consisted of Isaac Leeser, as chairman, Z. A. Davis, J. M. Asch, Hyman
Polock, Simon Elfelt, Julius Stern, A. S. Wolf, Louis Bomeisler, and
Simon M. Klasser. In brief, the constitution and by-laws as reported,
were adopted with some few amendments, and ordered to be printed for
general circulation. The society has not yet been organized, but the
chairman of the meeting, Mr. Z. A. Davis, was authorized, before
adjournment, to call a meeting for organization and the election of
officers, when he may think it suitable to do so. It is probable that it
may be held before we issue our next number; and as the subject is one
of interest not alone to Philadelphia, but other congregations, we shall
report duly how the cause of education may prosper or otherwise, under
the auspices of the new “Hebrew Education Society of Philadelphia.” We
shall probably present a synopsis of the constitution after the society
has gone into operation, in order to induce persons elsewhere to imitate
the example, and if need be, to improve on it.
Albany.—In the congregation Beth-El, the
ladies have organized an association for the promotion of education,
charity, and the aiding of progress in worship, and have assumed the
name of “The Ladies Progression Society.” They have elected as their
officers Mrs. Freund, Mrs. Shloss, Mrs. Wise, and Mrs. Simon. Mr. Beckel
was chosen secretary, In the congregation Beth Jaacob likewise, a Ladies
Benevolent Society has been organized, but we have not received the
particulars. On the first day of last festival of Shebuoth, the Rev. Dr.
Wise held a confirmation in his Synagogue; the number of the confirmed
was only eight, five girls and three boys, and the occasion is
represented to have been one of deep solemnity, and many an eye was
suffused with tears.—Large numbers of Jewish immigrants lately passed
through Albany, on their way westward, and many are bound for Wisconsin,
where, by the by, we lately learned that there are several agricultural
settlements of Israelites, but their religious state is repre<<214>>sented as
deplorable. But this is often the case when Jews first settle in this
country; it is only after the first trials are over that they generally
bethink themselves of their God and his law. Some efforts ought to be
made to benefit them; but the “how?” is the question.
New York.—Consecration of the Synagogue
Imanu-El.—This event, which took place on Friday the 14th of April,
we expected to notice in our last number at the latest; but we never
received the official report till the 27th of May, of course after all
the matter for the June number was printed off. We mention this as a
reason for our giving news from New York nearly three months old, when
we often publish accounts from Europe less than a month after they have
transpired. But it is not our fault; there is a great remissness
occasionally on the part of those who ought to report proceedings, in
not furnishing us with what concerns them personally in time, when the
news are news, and consequently too late to be of any use to us. But we
still will now give a brief synopsis, though not the whole of the report
sent us. The ceremony commenced at 2 o’clock, p. m., of the eve of
Sabbath Haggadole, and consisted of 1, an opening chorus, Psalm 42; 2,
opening the doors by the President director of the congregation; chorus,
Psalm. 24:7-10; 3, Entrance of the ministers bearing the Law; chorus,
“How beautiful are thy tents, oh Jacob,” &c.; 4, Benediction
שהחיינו pronounced by the minister of
the congregation, the Rev. L. Merzbacher; 5. Recitation by the choir and
congregation of “Hear O Israel,” and “One is our God;” 6. Circuits of
the procession three times; a. Chorus, the verse, “Thine O Lord,
is the goodness;” b. Recitation, Psalm 100., by the Rev. J. J.
Lyons; c. Chorus, Psalm 29. 7, The Law being deposited in the
ark, recitation, the verse “And when it rested he said,” &c., by the
Rev. J. Hecht; 8. Ode of Consecration, three verses; Prayer and Sermon
by the minister of the congregation; 4th and 5th verses of the ode;
intermission to receive donations; 9. Ode of Consecration resumed and
concluded. Closing address and benediction, by Rev. Dr. M. Lilienthal;
10. Final chorus, Psalm 110., Hallelujah. The sermons of the Rev. Mr.
Merzbacher, and Dr. Lilienthal, are represented as having been truly
affecting; and when the latter concluded, it is said that the whole
assembly which filled the large structure was deeply moved.
The Synagogue was formerly a Methodist church, and
was purchased last year by Messrs. J. Dithhöfer and S. Schäfer for the
congregation, for the sum of $12,000, and the necessary sure to secure
the purchase was immediately contributed by the members by way of loan,
of which <<215>>Mr. D. contributed one thousand dollars without interest for a
number of years. The premium obtained for sale of seats amounted to
$1300, and notwithstanding so many outlays already cheerfully borne by
the members, the collection at the consecration amounted to $900, of
which Mr. C. Würshing contributed one hundred dollars. The Board
consists of nine persons, to wit: Messrs. I. Dithöfer, L. Goldstein, I.
Rosenburg, I. Stettheimer, H. Kling, B. Lindheim, J. Ochs, W. Renau, and
A. Michelbacher.—The music was under the direction of Mr. S. Kling,
jun., and consisted of the best pieces of the Synagogue melodies of
Vienna and Munich; the leader was ably seconded by Messrs. W. Kling,
sen., I. Seligman, J. Ochs, and A. Hirschman.
England.—Much
against the expectation of the English Jews, the Bill for their
emancipation from the trammels of the Middle Ages, was thrown out by a
decisive majority in the “House of Orphans,” as their Lordships,
temporal and spiritual, have been wittily called, on the evening of the
25th of May. The vote stood, Contents, present 96, proxies 32, 128 for
the Bill; Not-Contents, present 125, proxies 36, 163 against the Bill,
majority 35. The Most Rev. Father, his Grace of Canterbury, opposed the
Bill, and so the Rt. Rev. Lord Bishop of Oxford, the son of Wm.
Wilberforce; and so did his royal highness, the Jew friend, the Duke of
Cambridge; The Marquis of Lansdowne, Lord Brougham, Viscount Canning,
the Bishop of St. David’s, and others supported the Bill; but no
reasoning could outweigh the bigotry and ignorance of the enemies of
human rights, which we consider as violated in the rejection of any
class of virtuous men from their rights as freemen and citizens. If we
lived in England we would speak out what we think the occasion does
demand; but it is useless at this great distance to do more than to lay
the bare facts before our readers; and this is enough to arouse their
indignation against royalty, nobility, and church power; and we hope
that our English brothers will in future have independence enough not to
offer any more incense and fulsome flattery, as they have done hitherto
to the Royal Duke, as patrons of Jewish charities upon each and
every occasion. They ought to discard all such creeping, and rely for
success upon the God of their fathers, and the strength of their own
cause. For one, we hope that this defiance of the popular will as
expressed by the Commons, may be the means of purifying the Constitution
of England of hereditary legislators, and of the right of overfed
priests to tyrannise over the people in virtue of their election by the
king or queen and council.
Europe.—The nations of Sclavonic origin
continued at the latest <<216>>account to maltreat our brothers, as in Hungary,
Posen, and elsewhere. But in Germany matters appear to take by degrees a
more cheering aspect. In Prussia, Baden, Hesse Darmstadt, and Homburgh,
the equalization of the Jews has been decreed, and even in Hungary it
was the emancipation by the Diet of the Jews which induced the priests,
as it is alleged in a German paper before us, to excite the populace
against them. The accounts which we have received are too meagre for
detail; but this much is certain, that in proportion as the government
endeavoured to lighten the burden of our people, the rude and ignorant
masses attempted violence against them. This was the case in the above
countries. At Pressburg, in Hungary, the cruelties committed were so
great that the large congregation there quitted the city in fear for
their lives; at Ofen (Buda) the same scenes would have been enacted had
it not been for the active interference of the young men of Pesth, who
took the Jews under their protection; the same occurred at
Stuhlweissenburg, where the Jews, to the amount of sixty families, were
driven out of town, and called back afterwards by the interference of a
commissary of the Diet, Count Pulski; in Baden, Westphalia, Posen, and
even in Alsace, excesses have been committed against our people, and in
Trzemeszno, in Posen, four Jews were murdered, and according to reports,
at Buk, Wreschen, Grätz, Kempen, Kosten, were other cruelties committed,
and in the first-named place the Synagogue was burned down. In this
portion of Prussia the priests are accused of exciting the fanatical
mob; and our only hope is in God, thatHe may stay the fury of the
assassins against the weak and defenceless.
Progress.—Four Jews have been elected to the
German parliament, now in session at Frankfort; Dr. Julius Fürst, editor
of the Orient, of Leipzig, for Posen; Dr. Gabriel Riesser, late editor
of the Jew, of Hamburgh; Dr. Johann Jacoby, of Königsberg, and Mr.
Kuranda, of the University of Vienna. Mr. Leone Pincherle has been
appointed minister of commerce, provisionally, for the republic of
Venice; Mr. Luzzati, of Undine, is also member of the provisional
government; per contra, the Governor of Mantua has imposed a forced loan
on the rich Jews to the amount of a million of liras.
P. S.—Brunswick.—Two important laws were
promulgated on the 18th of May. The first abolishes all disqualification
on account of religion, and therefore de facto emancipates the
Jews; the second repeals the prohibition of intermarriage between Jews
and Christians. (The latter is not a desirable permission, it
would be better for all could the state prohibit such marriages, though
even here the evil, bad as it is, is better than state interference.) |
