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We
propose speaking on a topic somewhat undefined, as
the title we assume leaves us a pretty wide range
without exposing us to the charge of being unduly
discursive; and we thus mean to throw out some
general remarks, which we deem of interest to our
readers at large, no less than to those who are
nominally placed at the head of congregations. We
think ourself perfectly justified in commencing such
a discussion, since we have been a considerable time
an active participant in all that was attempted to
be done, although, as yet, but extremely little has
been accomplished; and it is this very minuteness
of the good results hitherto achieved which now
emboldens us to speak. We may be told, at the very
mention of this fact, that we are yet new in this
country; that all our congregations, with about half
a dozen exceptions, were formed as it were but
yesterday; and that, moreover, but exceedingly
little is now accomplished in Europe even towards
the improvement of our religious interests.
But we say at once, that the total absence of
anything like an organization is not justifiable on
the score of the newness of our communities; and
that the alleged want of a wholesome activity
abroad, even were it actually so; is no excuse for
us in America to stand still, advance or retrograde,
as extraneous circumstances might favour one or the
other condition of change. In casting, however, our
eyes abroad, we shall find, in the countries where
Jews are mostly settled, a great desire at least to
acquire infor‑<<206>>mation in our religion; and
turn where you will, you see in town and village, in
city and hamlet, the schoolmaster hard at work to
impart religions and Hebrew education to the masses
of the people; and though in some self-styled
enlightened towns the wealthy classes are
indifferent to the science which peculiarly
distinguishes our people—we mean the science of
Scripture, Hebrew, and Hebrew literature—the masses
of the people, the middle classes and the poor, and
also those rich families who have not yet acquired a
distaste for Jews and Judaism, are carefully
trained in what no son of Israel ought to be
unacquainted with.
Hence you see a general knowledge of the Hebrew
characterize the immigrants from abroad, and many
display a proficiency with religion and the
branches necessary for its elucidation, which would
be creditable in a teacher, not to mention an
ordinary person. This is the case with the masses,
with those educated for the private walks of life,
who are never intended for a public station in the
Synagogue; and they are taught to fit them to be
pious and intelligent Israelites, in whatever
situation they may be found; and there are in Europe
medical men, lawyers, merchants, and tradespeople
of every sort, whose proficiency and erudition in
religious matter are truly astonishing, if we did
not consider that to the Jew his faith is the
essence of his life, and he is only then fitted to
enter fully on its observances when he has made its
precepts and ideas entirely his own.
We
do not, however, mean to indite a panegyric on
European Israelites; there is evil enough existing
there just now; the same energy in upholding and
teaching religion, formerly witnessed there, has in
a great degree disappeared; and again and again
complaints reach us from those who have the interest
of our people at heart, that former simplicity and
devotion have in many places almost disappeared, and
that Jews are becoming fast the wordlings which
their religion says they should not be.
We
are perfectly cognizant that all the heresies which
we deplore among us, have come from abroad, and are
advocated by men to whom the atmosphere of freedom,
which pervades in this country, is something new and
untried. But in saying this, we should not disguise
the fact from ourselves, that in religious
<<207>>education we, in America, are far,
immeasurably far, behind the Israelites in Europe,
Asia, and even Africa; since everywhere the
religious school is a necessary element of religious
organization, whilst here an occasional and
imperfect system, if system it can be called, is all
that apparently satisfies the people.
It
was in olden days the custom that no congregation
should exist without its religious school, and every
man was compelled to contribute towards the support
of a teacher (see Yoreh Deah, ch. 245, §4 and
7), and this duty was considered so sacred that
entire communities subjected themselves to
excommunication if they pertinaciously refused to
appoint instructers for their children. Twenty-five
scholars were considered the number which one man
could teach, and when the children amounted to
forty, two teachers had to be engaged. This proves
that our predecessors thought education the highest
good, and they rested not till all their families
were familiar with the Scriptures, and at least to a
tolerable extent with the expositions necessary to a
proper elucidation of the holy text.
Was it a wonder then that Israelites of former
centuries were so staunch in the adherence to their
faith? that all were ready to make every sacrifice
in upholding it, and to perish sooner than
transgress its commands? For it was knowledge that
animated them, it was a full understanding of the
beauties and superior advantages of Judaism which
enabled them to reject all earthly allurements which
threatened their spiritual peace. Now put in
opposition to this universal religious training,
once prevalent, its almost entire absence in this
country, and then tell us what would be the
consequence should we be suddenly called upon to
make some great sacrifice for our faith; should a
spirit of persecution suddenly seize on the masses
of the gentiles and induce them to demand of the
Jews a surrender of their religion to popular
prejudice? Where would be the capacity to endure
suffering? to forego fine houses and elegant
equipages? to submit to poverty and imprisonment
even for the mere privilege of being Jews?
We
fear, we fear, that many would consider this right
purchased too dearly, if they were to lose one meal
a day, not to mention any greater deprivation; and
that with many the first dawning of persecution
would be <<208>>the last day of their adherence to
Judaism. But, perhaps, the very reverse might be the
result. That which is now deemed of so little value
might, by a change of circumstances, rise into
immense importance; and with the danger attending a
strict observance of the duties incident to our
belief, a perfect adherence to all its precepts
might be universally witnessed. For such is human
nature; we pass by unheeded the blessings which are
ours in abundance, but let them be endangered by the
malevolence of others or our own neglect, and a
total change takes place within us, and we would
then grasp with the eagerness of desperation, what
but a short time before we had willingly parted with
as a thing of no value.
We
say it is possible enough, that persecution might
induce many of us to return to a practice of
religion when its observance should expose us to
danger; but in the meanwhile how many would be ready
to fall off from our people at the first alarm? how
many, who are now perhaps somewhat proud of their
descent from Abraham, might be induced to join,
perchance, our persecutors, to show how lightly they
value their birthright, how meanly they esteem their
former associates? It is fearful to contemplate how
little is done to make our people love their
religion, and to understand its principles; how much
nominal Judaism there is without one spark of high
principle which its observance involves; and all
this, because we lack organization, which will bring
into harmonious contact the elements of extensive
usefulness which we have among us, and call into
active life the talents which we have in common with
Israelites elsewhere.
It
is folly to suppose that we have not the same
natural capacity which distinguishes the Jews in
other countries. We furnish respectable physicians;
men not below the average at the bar, to say the
least; the army and navy have enlisted among them
several Jews, who have won an honourable name; in
commercial pursuits we have fully equalled others in
the race of acquiring wealth and position. But in
religion alone we have as yet produced no name
distinguished for an equality of learning and
eloquence with other sects. And why? again we ask.
Is it because we have no talent among us? Far from
it; the same application which would have made a
<<209>>man distinguished as a physician or
barrister, would, if turned to account in the
spiritual service of his people, have enabled him to
rise to an equal distinction as a popular teacher,
would have elevated him to a rank inferior to none
possessed by those of other persuasions, and placed
him in a position at once elevated and respectable.
But why do we not see, then, men of decided ability
devote themselves to the ministry, with very few
honourable exceptions, both here and in England? why
have we to depend, when any vacancy occurs, chiefly
upon immigrants from Germany and Poland? Simply,
because, we have no schools wherein to train those
who are to teach others; and secondly, and we fear
chiefly, because the position of the minister is not
honourable enough to satisfy the ordinary ambition
of human nature. As regards the first point, it is
evident enough, that without competent schools we
never can expect to see good scholars reared among
ourselves. It is folly to expect that young men will
go to countries beyond the sea to qualify themselves
for the responsible situation of ministers of
religion, when one of the very elements so necessary
to success, pulpit eloquence, cannot be
acquired in Germany, Holland, Poland, France, or
Italy, even under the distinguished Luzzato, because
the vernacular of England and America is not spoken
there; and hence the candidates for the ministry
reared abroad, though shining in all the brilliancy
of intellectual acquirements, will necessarily lack
the main element of usefulness, the power of speech.
People may say what they please about the little
good preachers can accomplish; no one feels more
than the writer of this, that the effect the best
intended orations can apparently produce is hardly
perceptible; but with all this, they do tell
upon an audience; men will listen; women will pay
attention when eloquent phrases reach their ears.
Let the subject be as trite as you please; let it be
a thricetold tale; never mind—it will be heard with
respect, so the speaker but knows how to handle his
matter to gain for it attention, and the
congregation, when dismissed, will have been
interested at all events, if not at once improved;
and who knows, how soon one or the other’s heart may
be touched, and he be awakened to the danger of
sin-<<210>>fulness, and the importance of a godly
life.
One thing is also certain, that if pulpit discourses
fail of remedying irreligious conduct, we have no
other means of effecting it in adults; hence we say,
encourage by all means the constant delivery of
sermons by competent persons, in the hope that
something may be done, that our state may not
proceed from bad to worse without an effort to
arrest the evil. There is, we acknowledge, a
deplorable apathy existing among us towards
instruction of any kind; in a few congregations,
indeed, sermons are demanded; but in the vast
majority of our communities nothing has as yet been
done to instruct the people by public discourses;
this is partly owing to the absence of competent
persons to officiate as preachers; but even where
this is not the case, where men every way capable to
render good service, are ready to enter the field as instructers, they are not encouraged to proceed,
but they are either rudely checked in various ways,
or are not called upon; but their talents are
permitted to rust idly away, until some great
occasion impresses upon the congregation the
necessity of having a religious or moral discourse
delivered in their place of worship.
It
is needless to prove how discouraging all this must
be to those who feel deeply for their religion, to
be compelled to remain silent without being called
upon to rebuke sin and to denounce transgression.
You will say, that those who have the power should
go abroad like the prophets of old, and preach in
the streets, at the meetings of people, or wherever
an audience can be obtained; but alas! the
opportunities for such bold teaching are not now
offered, and the man who would obtrude his opinions
and admonition upon a business meeting of Jews,
would find himself unceremoniously expelled, and the
door locked behind him, if he dared to force an
entrance the second time.
But to encourage preachers, we require more of them;
it may be a paradox, but to us it seems true,
nevertheless, that the very rarity of eloquence
among the English speaking Jew renders the talents
of those possessing it of no value in the general
estimation. In most congregations men assemble week
after week, and hear nothing but the ritual
performed, we will admit often in the most edifying
and touching manner. We are, therefore,
<<211>>habituated to a service without a sermon; the
children grow up without ever feeling that its
absence is any deprivation. When now an address is
delivered, it is done at the end of the service,
so that all who do not wish to listen may go out
without disturbing too greatly the public devotion.
We
speak from sad experience; and we say it without any
wish of offending any one, that so great is the
prejudice of the ignorant in this matter, so
deep is the folly of those who are wise in their own
eyes, that the governors of the congregation have
not thought it of sufficient importance to check
this exhibition of rudeness and improper behaviour
by any public regulation, for fear, we presume, of
giving offence. We have ourself witnessed this
running out in several congregations, when an
address was expected, or had been commenced, and we
saw persons quitting the Synagogue from whom better
behaviour might have been expected, as they were not
always foreigners, occasionally natives of the
country, perfectly well able to comprehend the
preacher, and knowing, to say the least, that in any
other assembly than that of Jews, such conduct would
have been viewed as an unpardonable breach of
politeness.
The reason, however, of this strange and anomalous
reception of sermons is evidently to be found in the
idea, that they are a burdensome addition to the
service, that they unduly prolong it; or they are
are of no use whatever, and, therefore, that the
preacher has no right to inflict them upon his
unwilling audience. We may freely leave it to the
unbiassed judgment of our readers to decide upon the
chilling effect such a reception must have upon the
preacher when he is plainly told that some of his
congregation either do not think him worthy to
address them, (for leaving the place of worship may
say in effect that the man is not worthy of his
station,) or that they conceive his teaching of no
practical service to them and others. A man must
have a great deal, nay, an overweening amount of
self-love and vanity, if he would in the face of
such a reception inflict his lucubrations upon the
public; if he would not come to the conclusion that
the thin audience of the few who think it worthwhile
to listen, was admonition enough for him for
ever after to hold his peace.
No
public servant, our friends may honestly
<<212>>believe us, will be forced to judge so humbly
of himself, without the most direct proof, enough at
least to satisfy himself. You may say, that he ought
to have a higher aim than merely pleasing an
audience; but how is he to be useful, how is he to labour in producing a reformation in sinners, if he
cannot obtain a patient hearing? and again a man
will naturally learn to mistrust himself and his
motives, when when he sees that others do not think
favourably of him. No man is proof against
indifference; no one can stand unmoved when he sees
his motives misjudged, and his conduct unjustly
condemned. Even so is it with a preacher: he must at
length commence to think himself unfitted for his
position, by the absence of eloquence, learning,
moral worth, and a high religious character, when he
sees that his speaking empties the seats of even a
small portion of his legitimate audience; for he has
every reason to conclude that those who remain do so
from a feeling of mere politeness, or else they
would insist that all others should be
compelled not to violate the decencies of the place
of worship by quitting it before the congregation is
regularly dismissed.
We
insist upon it then, that the small number of our
preachers renders their labours often irksome to
themselves and very unacceptable to their flocks.
And still, as we have said, and as every intelligent
man will tell himself without our instructing him,
public addresses are the only legitimate means to
produce a greater degree of religiousness in the
masses of grown persons. School education will do a
great deal for children; but their fathers and
mothers likewise require improvement; for the want
of religious conformity is too glaring to escape the
attention of the most careless observers.
The question then arises, “How shall we make sermons
generally acceptable?” Simply by making them
general, by instituting them as a part of the
regular services, at least twice a month, if not
every Sabbath and festival.—Let the people be once
accustomed to expect a religious discourse at the
end of, or during some convenient pause in the
service, and they
will at length not think their exercises complete
without having listened to an exposition of some
part of God’s holy word, by which the untaught may
learn, and the learned be fortified in
<<213>>faith.
The best proof of this may be given by those who are
themselves preachers, when they can freely allege
that they have been mutually edified by listening to
each others’ discourses, where neither expressed his
opinion to the others, and even thought that the
expression of simple satisfaction might be viewed as
a piece of gross flattery. If now those who teach
require often to be admonished, it is surely no
discredit to the layman, who is daily and hourly
merged in his worldly gains, to say of him, that he
would be probably a better man and a purer Israelite
if he heard occasionally the doctrines of his faith
expounded by an accepted minister of his people. But
to do this effectually, we must first multiply our
preachers, so that not even a small congregation
should be without its lectures on religious topics.
This is effected in Europe where, if there be no
regular preacher in a congregation, the schoolmaster
reads and explains a lecture from some ancient book
to the assembled people on a Sabbath afternoon
before the Minchah
service; at least this used to be the case
when we were a little boy in our father’s house, and
we remember yet many of these very lectures, the
chief import of which has not faded from our memory
after the lapse of thirty years. And we may say
here, that people are mistaken in undervaluing the
effect of such instruction on the minds of children
and youth; they do listen when few imagine that they
could feel interested, and ideas are mixed up with
their very being, which can never be
banished thence as long as they live.
But let the service be read ever so devoutly and
impressively, and but little permanent effect can
legitimately be produced, nor do we believe that any
is, without the aid of education obtained at home or
at school,—We therefore say, multiply the teachers
of the word of God, increase the number of those who
are able to impart, and with this addition to our
force, you both elevate the character of the people
and render the calling of the minister more
agreeable to himself and beneficial to others.
“But how shall we get the persons who are thus to
act for us?” will be the general inquiry. The
answer, however, is simple enough, by establishing a
general seminary for the education of teachers and
ministers, not in Germany or France, but in America,
<<214>>in
some central position, that all may be enabled to
watch over its progress and correct any error in the
management which may be discovered. We know that to
do this we require union and concert among
the various congregations already existing and which
may hereafter spring up. But what prevents this
union? Why should not God-fearing men all over the
country agitate the question, and rest not till at
least for such a noble purpose delegates shall have
been elected, to establish this blissful object by a
united and therefore successful effort? The amount
of money it would require ought to be no bar to its
consummation; there are at least full sixty
congregations of various sizes now in the country,
and a small annual contribution from all the
males belonging to them, and such other
Israelites as are gathered in small settlements over
the whole breadth of the land, would amount to more
than is really required to make a commencement. No
one, except the very poor, would feel the
contribution of one or two dollars every year; the
wealthy might contribute more; and thus a general
fund could readily be raised; provided always there
be a thorough union, to endow a good college,
whence, in the course of six to seven years, learned
and eloquent men might issue to supply the
constantly increasing demand for well-trained and
pious ministers.
Let our readers look back for about twenty years,
and reflect that there was then not a single regular
preacher in all America, England, Canada, Australia,
and the West Indies, and then compare that state
with the present, and they will at once acknowledge
that a great change has taken place. Small as the
number is, there are at least a few in every
direction who regularly exhort the people in the
English language; and that more congregations are
not supplies is only due to the absence of competent
persons. It is true that those who are engaged in
the cause are not sufficiently appreciated; but make preaching more general,
increase the number of those who, if not endowed
with eloquence, are at least able to lecture on
religious topics from works treating on the subject,
as is done in the small towns and settlements of
Europe, and you at once place all who are engaged in
the public service in a higher station, you inspire
them with an esprit du corps, with a
fellow‑<<215>>feeling for those of their own
calling, by making the profession more numerous and
more energetic; and you at the same time render it
more desirable in a worldly point of view, since you
hold out the prospect to a young man, that after he
has been engaged by a village congregation for some
time, at a mere nominal salary even, he will, if he
has proved himself faithful and capable, be elevated
to another station, which will place him above want
and the cares of procuring a bare livelihood, a
cause of corrosion on the mind of a sensitive
person, which will not alone embitter the best years
of his life, but greatly retard and impair his
usefulness in the discharge of his official duties.
We
are the last to recommend or encourage any one in
the idea of making the teaching of religion a means
of self-aggrandizement, of living at ease and the
enjoyment of an unduly large income, by which the
congregation would of necessity be heavily taxed;
but whilst saying this, we maintain, on the other
hand, that it is derogatory to congregations that
their ministers often receive not more or but little
more than the wages allowed to a mercantile clerk or
handicraftsman.
No
one, let us be understood, respects labour and the
labourers more than we do; but those who are capable
to work with their hands are entirely
disproportionate to those whose minds are of the
order to enable them to become eminent in the
pursuit of literature and science; hence we say,
give some worldly encouragement to pre-eminent
talent to devote itself to spiritual labours, and
incite it by some tangible reward to withdraw itself
from medecine or law, where the advantages to be
gained are too evident to escape the attention of
all the world.
Let the youth of high spirit and risible ambition be
told that when he devotes himself to the service of
his brothers, they will take care of him; that when
he boldly defies public opinion, and advocates the
cause of truth as it is in Israel, he shall not
suffer any damage thereby; that whilst he is true to
his calling he need not flatter the gentiles by
suppressing a single word or thought which rises up
within his soul, for fear of thus injuring his
prospects in life. Tell him that you are his whilst
he is entirely yours; and our word for it, you will
find many of the noblest endowments who will be
ready to devote <<216>>themselves to your ministry, and be as distinguished
for an entire yielding themselves to the business of
their calling as is the case with the best of the
clergy among our Christian neighbours. We know that
we shall be charged with putting the question too
much in a worldly light, that true religion should
enable its followers to submit to all labours,
deprivation, poverty, the contempt of the world, and
even persecution, to discharge their duty.
It
is so indeed; but the minister, if he is not kindly
treated, loses his influence; he cannot reprove you
whilst in your own soul you feel that you have
treated him wrong, for then you are the least
willing to listen to him; the oppressed moreover and
the persecuted has not the spirit to rebuke you; his
mind is necessarily too much occupied with self,
with the bitter prospects of wife and children, with
the dreary future of his own old age, when it is but
too likely he may find himself unprovided for, to do
justice to his noble calling, the noblest to which
man can devote himself. Therefore, we say, make it
noble in every
sense of the word, not alone in theory, but in
practice also; let every one understand that
entering the precincts of the Synagogue as a public
servant, he does not bid farewell to all earthly
endearments; that he is not to be an alien to
the delights of domestic life the moment he is
hailed by his brothers as their representative to
the throne of God, that he need not fear to find
enemies where before he knew but friends.
You say perhaps, kind reader, that we present to you
a sketch of a very gloomy picture; that our hints
call up before your mind a phantom endowed with
undefined terrors. We regret
that it is but simple truth which guides our pen,
and that we have not added a single dark trait which
the character of the case does not fully offer to
all at the merest glance; but we also ask you to
answer honestly for yourself, whether you have
endeavoured to apply any remedy to an evil of which
you must have been long since as fully cognizant so
we ourself? Let every honest Israelite be our
witness, and we hesitate little in saying that he
shall be sustained in the assertion, that next to
nothing has been done toward establishing an
institution for the training of ministers on the one
side, and for inducing those capable to
<<217>>devote themselves to the profession on the
other.
We
are precisely where chance, to use the word in its
most extensive sense, has insensibly led us; and it
is surely no merit of ours if things are not worse
than they are. It is always in the providence of God
to raise up men in every emergency to do good
service in behalf of truth. So is it also with this
generation; and thus a few have appeared to labour
in the suffering cause of Israel. But they are few
indeed, far too few for the demands of the time; and
it is everybody’s business to apply a remedy, a
remedy moreover so self-evident that it requires no
philosopher to point it out. If we could but succeed
to induce those who feel with us to enter into an
active correspondence all over the country, and to
appoint committees of vigilance in every
congregation, as politicians do to forward the
object of their organization, all would well, and
the reform so much needed in our domestic affairs of
the Synagogue would go on prospering, and we should
not have the reproach resting on our people that we
had Synagogues without ministers, or often ministers
without adequate preparation for their profession.
It
is high time that something were done; and we trust
that we shall not always appeal in vain, and that at
length some men of might will combine their efforts
to make this land of freedom in good earnest a home
for religious Israel, and a place of refuge where
our law may find a permanent abode in schools and
colleges all over the face of the land. |
