The New York herald., 1871-02-12
The Conflicting syEagosucs.


publish to-day of Judaism, that the dissensions
which disturb the various sects which branched
off from the parent tree at the Reformation,
and which the New YORK HERALD strives to
soothe, seem also to disturb the harmony Of
the Hebrew congregations in this country and
to call for our mediation. II will be remsm-
bered that differences of opinion prevailed in
Judea itself from the days Of Moses and
Joshua but in that infantile period Of
humanity no New YORK HERALD existed to
heal the wounds Of conflicting theories, and
Moses and Joshua were obliged to appeal to
the prophets to escape from their belligerent
dilemmas. AT this early period of history
the prophets were the only recognized organs
of public opinion. In point Of fact they were
the journalists of that day. Any one nova
days who has grievance to redress or con-
viction to express or controversy to settle
appeals here to the New YORK HERALD, or in
England to the Times; but Jerusalem, not
withstanding all the innumerable blessings of
the Holy City, was by the inscrutable DEGREES
of Providence doomed to struggle with des-
tiny without the assistance of any analogous
organ of public opinion; and if she eventually
succumbed to the Romans and afterwards to
the Moslem the catastrophe obviously befell her
because when they took to stoning the pro-
phets-who were the only organs of public
opinion-there was no mediator to step in and
save the Holy City from destruction. Thanks
to the genius Of progress, all this is changed
in the present day. The Hebrews. scattered
all over the globe, have become identified, like
the Celts and Teutons, with all the various
nationalities of Christendom, to such an extent
that it has become as obsolete and invidious to
descent as Jew as one of Irish or German
origin as Celt or Teuton. In France espe-
cialy, with the delicacy and gentle tact inhe-
rent to that nation, the practice of calling
French citizens of Hebrew faith Jews has
disappeared since the emancipation of that
ancient race from all civil and religious disa-
bilities. There are some countries of Europe,
it is true, where the prejudice against their
superior genius for money making and their
traditional opposition to the divine claims of
the Saviour slightly isolate them and prevent
their being classified, like other great historic
races, with the nationality amid which they
have been born; but in this country the desire
is to designate them simply as Americans and
to make them in every sense forget the disa-
bilities Of their forefathers. In point of fact
some of the highest and most important posi-
tions in this city are held by members of the
Hebrew faith without any one especially
regarding them as Jews, no more than they
would regard German as Hun or Goth
because in remote days his ancestors may have
descended from the Vandals.
Holding, as we do, these liberal views, and
having in our time contributed in no small
degree to the extirpation Of every shred of
invidiousness as against the HebreW or any
other faith, our fellow citizens who feel pride
in claiming descent from that historic race
will be, we trust, the more inclined to accept
the NEW YORK HERALD as mediator in the
discord which has sprung up in their midst,
and Of which we give detailed account in
another column. 1t is manifest, from a
perusal Of the special organs of the Hebrew
frantic passion about small points. that sec-
tarianism is making as much havoc among the
congregations Of the rabbies of synagogues as
among those of the pastors Of Protestant
churches. The orthodox rabbies, who worship
the social and culinary practices of their
remote forefathers as cardinal tenets of faith,
regard the violation of the Sabbath, the inter-
marriage with nom Israelites and the indul-
gence in pork as irreconcilable with sincere
allegiance to the Hebrew religion. The
heterodox rabbies and congregations, on the
other hand, take as the only test Of their
religion the recognition of Jehovah as the
only God, and as long as they remain faithful
to that worship they may eat what
they please, marry whom they choose
aud join in every respect in the social,
culinary and general practices of
non-Hebrews. The orthodox Hebrews fear
that this, as they deem, heterodox corruption
will prove the beginning Of the end of the
Mosaic faith and gradually tend to disintegrate
the synagogue and pave the way for the Chris
! tianization Of their focks, or at least for
identifying them with that large and powerful
| sect Of Unitarianism which regards Christ
| only as moral reformer and not as the Son
| of God. There are other minor trifes of
difference detailed elsewhere, but these are
the cardinal points of controversy, and the
NEW YORK HERALD deems it its duty to confer
the same evangelical services on the synagogues
which it does week after week on the churches,
by stepping into the place of the prophets of
cid and throwing soothing balm on the
troubled waters of religious strife.
We ask, then, the conflicting synagogues to
reflect that the differences of opinion which
have split Protestant Christendom into such
variety Of creeds are in many respects more