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A
Sermon Delivered at the Synagogue* Mikve Israel of
Philadelphia, on Sabbath Teshuba, October 4th
(Tishry 8th), 5612.
By
the Rev. S. Morais,
Hazan of the Congregation
The Lord sits on his throne of justice “to requite
every one according to his ways, and according to
the fruit of his doings.”
Dear Sir:—
I
send you herewith a copy of a sermon delivered by
Mr. Morais on Saturday a week, at the synagogue; the
insertion of which in your “Occident” would oblige
myself, as well as several other subscribers to your
periodical.
Yours, very respectfully,
A. HART.
Rev. Isaac Leeser,
Editor and Proprietor of the Occident.
<<444>>
Children of the earth! bow reverently before your
God. Oh that I might a moment cast off this mortal
coil which encompasses my soul! Like the Archangel
described by the inspired son of Amoz I would, from
the altar of the Omnipotent, take a live coal and
purify myself, ere my voice be heard among the
beloved of God. But when I consider the solemnity of
the occasion which brings us together, and the
obligations devolving on me, can I, though as sinful
as any mortal, can I forbear from
calling your attention to the reflections which are
crowding into my mind?
Dear brethren: It is שבת
תשובה the penitential Sabbath—the herald of a
new period in our life. One year has sunk into
eternity with all we have enjoyed with all we have
experienced and schemed, and another has just opened
upon us; but who, save the All-seeing eye of the
Eternal can penetrate through the darkness in which
it is enveloped? It may prove to us abundant in joy
and pleasure, but it may also weigh on us with
sorrow and misfortunes. To beseech the Disposer of
all events, that happiness may attend all Israel
wherever then sojourn, we have already convened in
the house of prayer on Rosh-Hashana last and now we
have again repaired to this sacred spot in order to
celebrate the first Sabbath of this new season. But
ought we not to ask ourselves, how have employed the
life which has hitherto been granted to me? What
progress have I made in the path of righteousness?
Have I garnered a treasure of virtues, or am I this
day as I was three hundred and sixty-five days ago?
Can I, if the Almighty calls me to Himself, produce
a soul free from the dark spots which stained it, or
am I still the same man with the same propensities,
with the same defects and vices? Answer me, beloved
hearers, would not such inquiries into ourselves
befit the sanctity of the occasion?
If
you think so, bear with me a while, that we may
examine together our past conduct, and by ensuring
that which we deem reprehensible, we may learn to
eschew evil and do good in future.
ידע שור קנהו וחמור אבוס
בעליו ישראל לא ידע עמי לא התבונן
<<445>>
When I first read this verse of Isaiah, it certainly
surprised me, that, to portray the ingratitude of
his people towards the Deity, the prophet should
have contrasted with their conduct that of
irrational beings and yet (I confess it with sorrow)
after mature consideration, I was forced to admit
that his comparison is but truly correct.
History has recorded incidents, when ferocious
animals, led by an instinct of gratitude, became
constant slaves to their benefactors and often
mighty deliverers in time of peril. We read of a
lion, who as a token of thankfulness to a man that
had freed him from pain, tamed his natural ferocity
and with child-like affection clung to him—of a
panther, tending and protecting a man because he had
rescued from imminent danger her young whelps—of a
leopard saving his nourisher from the hands of his
assailants, and even daily experience shows the
faithfulness of animals which we have subjected for
our own use or for our comforts. How is it
therefore, dolefully exclaims the prophet, that of
all creatures man, though endowed with reason, is
the most ungrateful?
Will you have a proof that it is so? Let us suppose
that a plenteous harvest falls to our lot, do we not
esteem ourselves happy? we surely long the whole
year to see our fields fast yielding their fruit,
our vines laden with grapes, our plants smiling with
sweet flowers, well let me ask you: Do we, when we
have obtained our wishes, become more zealous in
serving God? Do we then hasten to his holy courts to
render thanks before his altar? Do we then, offer a
sacrifice of a grateful heart to our Creator and
Benefactor? No, this is what we do. We devise the
means how best to enjoy the good we have shared, we
then watch more closely over the gold we have
amassed. Again: we for example, in our commercial
pursuits commit to the waves a portion of our
wealth—the winds are prosperous—a few days, and the
happy news that success has crowned our enterprise
reaches us. Do we, then to prove our acknowledgment
to Him who rules over the earth and over the sea,
open our treasury to our necessitous brother? Do we
then like our pious father Jacob promise to God the
tithe of that which He has <<446>> graciously
bestowed on us? No; our prosperity then elates us,
we say, “by the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I am prudent.” And if we
aspire to a higher station in society, and use all
means within our reach to encompass our end—employ
physical and mental powers to struggle against
obstacles and finally come out victorious; do we
attribute our elevation to the First Cause, the
Creator and Author of all events? No, we ascribe it
to mere chance, we forget “that promotion cometh
neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from
the south, but from God who pulleth down, and
setteth up.”
Oh
human ingratitude! “The ox knoweth his owner and the
ass his master’s crib, but Israel dot h not know, my
people doth not consider.” Say, does not the Lord
use any means to win our hearts? With a paternal eye
He watches over us by day and by night. He orders
the rain and it descends to fertilize the ground; He
bids the earth and she discloses to us her hidden
treasures. The seas he renders subservient to our
desires—fire and winds become our ministers, all the
elements He has made tributaries to man: And why
does man so ungratefully repay his benefits? Why?
Listen to the words of Hosea: “Israel is an empty
vine, he bringeth forth fruit into himself,
according to the multitude of his fruit he has
increased the altars; according to the goodness of
his land they have made godly images.”
Yes, it is when we enjoy the bounteous goodness of
heaven that we become unmindful of the rock whence
we were hewn—it is when the Almighty reiterates his
gifts that we do not recognize the work of his
hands. It is there, where Israel shares the
blessings of plenty, of freedom and of honours, that
the behests of our holy law are mostly disregarded.
Our fathers, who under the scourge of Egyptian
thraldom, believed in God and worshipped him at the
first call of Moses. No sooner had they seen the
waters of the Red Sea recede before them, and the
clouds rain down their daily subsistence, than they
rebelled against their heavenly Protector: “they
provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with
abominations provoked they him to anger.” Saul, who
when keeper of his father’s flock, was the meekest
among his people, grew, when a King most violent and
pitiless. Joash King of <<447>> Judah cruelly
ordered the death of his best friend Zachariah, when
the honours he had received swelled his heart with
pride. Uzziah turned sacrilegious when he beheld
foreign monarchs bowed to his sceptre and their
people tributaries to his crown.
“They were filled, and their heart was exalted,
therefore have they forgotten me!” cries the
prophet, and the same charge can be brought against
us. Satiety alone has seduced us away from the
service of God. Those laws which we observed at the
risk of our lives in the holes of the rocks and in
the caves of the earth, now that we may discharge
them before the face of the Sun, we slight and scoff
at. When poor, homeless and persecuted we kept the
seventh day holy, and celebrated the festivals —is
it because we now, thanks to an over-ruling
Providence, enjoy ease, that we infringe the former
and desecrate the latter?
But alas! that the evil is still greater: the holy
seed of Jacob, who were set apart to their Lord,
enter into a covenant with the gentiles, they deny
their faith; they forswear their Maker.
What would we think of a man who at the moment we
grant him a gift, should return us an imprecation,
or when we rescue him from death, should fill us
with reproaches? even were such an insult practised,
I do not say, towards ourselves, a relative or a
friend of ours, but towards any stranger, would we
not feel indignant, aye, most ireful? And yet such
is our deportment towards our benignant Father.
Every day we hear his blessed name profanely
mentioned; continually we postpone his sacred
directions to our caprices. “He brought us through
fire and water into a wealthy place” and how do we
repay so much good. Tell me, do we evince our
gratitude for his manifold wonders on our behalf, by
implicit obedience to his ordinances? We, who
would not sacrifice the least of our earthly
enjoyments to do that which is right in his sight?
We, who to gratify our animal appetites
indulge in forbidden viands; we who under the
specious plea of engrossing business refuse to array
ourselves with the Tephilin; which are the means of
daily signifying the submission of our heart and
mind to the One only God; we, who would not
fasten the scroll of the law (Mezuza) to the door
post—posts of our houses, lest the strangers
perceive that we are not of them, we
<<448>>who neglect the commandment of the Tzitzit or
the טלית קטן, to
the performance of which thousands of national
reminiscences are attached, we who would sit
at a luxurious table and yet seldom, if ever,
address a word of thanks to the heavenly Donor?
But I hear some men devoid of reflection observe,
that these are mere forms; that the Almighty desires
the heart. True, the Almighty wants the heart
רחמנא לבא בעי; but
it is not him who needs these outward signs, it is
we that require them.
They are not indeed the ends, but they are the
means. They are meet to rouse our thoughts, to
occupy our minds, to link our souls with the tender
cords of love to our Father and God. Neglect them
and the spirit of religion will sink into a shadow.
It is thus, say our Rabbis, that man’s evil
inclination carries him headlong into the way of
sin. He commences by foregoing that which he reputes
of secondary importance, till he abandons what is
most essential. And yet I know, that were we to
receive from a man, one of the innumerable favours
the Almighty incessantly showers on us, we would
eagerly strive to prove our acknowledgment. How
would we faithfully serve our neighbour who gave us
a house or a field? And if he would grant us the
health we enjoy; the air we breathe; the light which
illumines us, what would be our demeanour towards
him? What an affection, what an attachment would
link us to that beneficent being? And why shall we
not act alike with God? Is it because the gifts are
so frequently bestowed, that we must appreciate them
less? Do we abhor the light of the glorious luminary
of the day, because it irradiates the earth every
morning? No, for we rejoice at his appearance, and
admire his powerful and salutary influence. Or is it
perhaps easier for us to evince gratitude to man
than to God?
Well, were it really so, I would cease to complain.
But, no, we can show acknowledgment to man whose aid
is fleeting and who can bestow but transient
favours, and we are ungrateful to God whose boons
are everlasting. And yet our sin is still heavier.
We know that our conduct cannot affect Him, who is
the essence of purity; we are made to believe that
fulfillment of his precepts, our felicity depends,
and nevertheless we heed them not.
<<449>>
“And now Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require
of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in
all his ways, and to love him and to serve the Lord
thy God with all thy heart aid with all thy soul. To
keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes;
which I command thee this day, for thy good.”
It is for our good, beloved hearers, that He
wishes us to walk in all his ways, that is, to
imitate his merciful deeds. It is for our
good, that He desires us to serve him with all our
heart and with all our soul, that is, to recognize
him as the bestower of life, the dispenser of every
human happiness, the fountain of all good: the
benignant Father of all his creatures. It is for
our temporal and eternal good, that He requires
us to keep his commandments and his statutes;
namely, those external forms of our religion, which
we sometimes hold as almost unnecessary, but on
which the spiritual maintenance of our nation
entirely depends. It being thus, my brethren, shall
we persist in our forward career? Oh! let us say, we
must become better men—more pious Israelites, and we
shall become.
Let me believe, that we all stand here in the house
dedicated to our God, with the unwavering
determination to cast off the impure garments with
which we have hitherto been habited, and attire
ourselves in new apparel. Let me believe that we all
will sanctify ourselves to day and the morrow, to be
ready against the third day, when the Omnipotent
will declare who are his. “Come and let us return
unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal
us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.”
It
is him solely who is רופא
נפשות that can heal the diseases of our
souls; and bind up the plagues of our hearts. “After
two days will He revive us; in the third day he will
raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.” But if
we wish to be entirely cured from the diseases of
our souls, we must follow the directions of our
heavenly physician—in other terms, our repentance
must be sincere. He who acknowledges his sin and yet
has not firmly resolved to relinquish it, is
wicked, “he shall die in his iniquity.” He who
willfully pursues a sinful course, trusting for
forgiveness to the day of atonement, is wicked, “he
shall die in his iniquity.”
האומר אחטא ויום הכפורים
מכפר אין מספיקין בידו לעשות תשובה
He
who <<450>> designedly trespasses on the law and
relying on the mercy of God defers his repentance to
the time when the object of his sin will be removed,
is wicked, “he shall die in his iniquity”
האמר אחטא ואשוב אין
מספיקין בידו לעשות תשובה A true repentent,
says one of our teachers, is he, who when placed
under the same circumstances which had formerly
caused him to err, can master his passion and
conquer sin and to so worthy an individual must our
Sages undoubtedly have alluded, when they promised
the repentent a higher degree of beatitude than that
which the perfect righteous shall enjoy.
Let us not forget however, that the mercy of God
towards the sinner is limited to the crimes
committed against Him alone. If we have injured our
fellow-man in his property or in his reputation,
and a false pride deters us from seeking his pardon,
or if we have hardened our heart and refused our
brother the forgiveness we ask of God for
ourselves; we may fast and weep, chastise our flesh
and implore remission, the Lord will turn away from
our supplications. Again, let us not lose sight of
another impediment which debars repentance from
being accepted. If we see our offspring bent to sin,
and we, through mistaken affection, do not try all
our efforts to eradicate the destructive seeds which
contaminate their hearts; if we, through
recklessness of habit, do not use our authority to
reclaim our children from the way of perdition, we
forfeit the grace of our Celestial Father.
O
ye parents, who have the happiness of your dear ones
at heart, let me entreat you for the sake of theirs
and of your souls, think not lightly on the
responsibility you have in the face of God and of
our nation at large. Look, the eyes of Israel are
towards you. From you they expect a generation of
men, who shall become the pillars of our faith, and
it is in your power so to do.
Between a maternal kiss and a paternal embrace,
whisper in their tender ears words of pure religion,
let the spirit of love for all mankind which
breathes in the heavenly volumes, grow with them,
let it be entwined in their innermost soul. It will
become to them a second nature, of which no worldly
allurements will rob them. Endeavour by your
example, that the performance <<451>> of religious
observances, so necessary to assist and strengthen
inward piety, be to them an easy and agreeable task.
Reason with them on the statutes of God and on his
laws; teach them diligently to your children
ושננתם לבניך, is
the Hebrew text, meaning, from the root
שנן to sharpen—that
you must, by continually expounding to them the word
of God, quicken your children’s mind, make it as it
were, sharp and bright like a steel-weapon, that
they may learn to look up to heaven not with servile
fear, but with heart-felt love. Love, says
Maimonides, is the highest degree we can attain in
serving the Lord our God. And happy you and happy
your children, if you can early teach them to love
the Almighty will all their heart, with all their
soul, and with all their might.
And you my young brothers and sisters, whom the
Almighty has allowed to enter into a new year let me
exhort you also to penitence. You always offend God,
whenever you disobey your parents, or cause them the
least displeasure. They are the guardians whom the
Omnipotent has placed over you, to lead you on high.
Cling therefore to them with confidence, with
reverence and love. It may sometimes occur that
their directions lack in your estimation a peculiar
aim, because you cannot see an immediate result,
they even may appear to you whimsical, because
opposed to your youthful gratifications, but rest
assured, that if you steadfastly adhere to them you
will ultimately reap vast benefits. Let me then,
beloved children of our people, strenuously
recommend you to honour and cherish the authors of
your days. Cheer, by unabated tenderness, the winter
of their life, be to them a prop, an asylum, an
inexhaustible source of comfort. Oh! never, never
allow yourselves to embitter their old age by a
wayward behaviour, remember that “the eye which
mocketh at his father, and despised to obey his
mother, the ravens of the valley shall pluck it
out, and the young eagles shall eat it,” but on the
contrary he who honours his father and his mother
shall live happy in this world and contented in the
world to come.
And you all beloved souls created for eternal glory,
join me in acknowledging our transgressions to the
Lord—in imploring <<452>> mercy and grace from Him
who is ever ready to pardon; for “he who hideth his
sins shall not prosper, but he who confesseth and
forsaketh them shall obtain mercy.”
Almighty God! Greatly have we sinned to thee. It was
to secure our everlasting happiness that Thou didst
graciously grant us thy law, and we transgressed it.
Thou didst endue us with reason to discern between
good and evil, that we might walk uprightly before
thee, and we perverted our ways. Long time indeed we
have gone astray from tee, but we now return to the;
penitently. Turn us not away with anger, for whom
have we in heaven or in earth but Thee? Father! we
sincerely repent of our evil-doings, and promise to
cast them away from us as an abomination. In the day
when all our actions are brought before thy
righteous tribunal, suffer thy mercy to overcome thy
just wrath. Pardon us O Lord, as we pardon our
brother who has willfully or unwittingly given us
offence. Oh God! dispel sorrow, dissipate jealousy,
banish dissension from among thy people. Grant that
this year may be a year of plenty, a year of joy, a
year in which the heart of the Father shall turn to
their children, and the heart of the children to
their Father; a year when all those who are sealed
with thy covenant may acknowledge thee.
And to our distant brethren, who groan under a cruel
yoke, grant them release from suffering. Inspire
their rulers with benevolence towards them, that
they may not perish in the land of their captivity.
Inscribe all Israel in the book of life, in the book
of salvation and speedy redemption. Amen. |
