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Reverend Sir,
I am instructed to furnish you a sketch of our
proceedings in order that it may be published, so that others of our
coreligionaries may be induced to benefit by our example, and raise
structures to the living God of Israel, wheresoever they may be located.
When we undertook <<142>>the task of building, our number consisted of but
eighteen members, and these but hard working men, having to live by the
“sweat of our brow.” Still relying on our increase by the many that
immigrate to our shores, and on other causes, we commenced the noble
work; our number at present being forty members, and possessing as neat
a building, with all suitable appurtenances, as can be desired by any
Jewish congregation. The building is neat and commodious, centrally
situated, and, with its ground, cost about $5000.
Too much credit cannot be given to our worthy
President, S. Munster, Secretary J. Newburg, and other gentlemen, for
the unremitting attention they paid to the whole management, although I
feel assured they were amply repaid for all their toil, at the
appearance of the Synagogue on the 26th day of Nissan, the period
appointed for the consecration service. For some weeks prior to the
above date, the committee of arrangement was much embarrassed for the
want of some suitable gentleman to conduct the ceremonies, and to
deliver a consecration lecture in the English language, having, from our
limited means, not yet the power to engage a minister possessing these
qualifications, so essential to the prosperity of an American
congregation. A meeting was held, and it was resolved to solicit the
valuable services of the Rev. S. M. Isaacs, of the Wooster Street
Synagogue, New York. That gentleman, with the unanimous concurrence of
his board of trustees, at once accepted the invitation and from that
period all our difficulties were at an end.
The moment it became known that the Rev. Mr. Isaacs
would officiate, the request for tickets of admission from our most
wealthy citizens was so great, that it was found totally impossible to
gratify a fifth part of the applicants. As it was, the building was
crowded in every part; numbers had to leave the vestibule from the
impossibility of obtaining further ingress. Among those present,
exclusive of our own and members of the other congregation, were the
Mayor, Judge Parker, of the Supreme Court, a great number of clergymen,
members of the bar, and the most respectable of our citizens. The
ceremonies were conducted on true Jewish principles; there was no
departure from the landmarks of our faith; and if we failed in charming
the ear by melodious songs from a well-trained choir, we succeeded in
arousing the soul to action, by listening to the eloquent and chaste
discourse of Mr. Isaacs. He took his text from Exodus,
ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם, and for full
an hour did he rivet the attention of his crowded auditory. The lecture
has been requested for publication, hence I should regret, even were I
able, to give you the substance. I cannot, however, omit to notice his
ardent <<143>>declaration against the innovating spirit of the age, and his
strong reproof against the neglect of religious culture. At the
conclusion of the lecture, the ceremonies were continued; and when the
service was finished, manifest evidence of delight was depicted on every
countenance at the mental treat they had experienced. It having come to
the knowledge of the congregation that the reverend guest intended
returning to his official duties on Sunday evening, they resolved that
the trustees should wait on him at the Delevan House on Sunday morning
to present him with a gold watch, engraven with the name of the
congregation, as a memento of the esteem in which his worth and services
are held by the members of the congregation
Beth Jaacob |
