Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-03-28

|ers, who said: "In every age. every
Israelite ought to consider himself as
il he himself had been redeemed from
the bondage Of Egypt; for it is written !:
And thou shalt say unto thy son, l
celebrate this festival on account OF
what God hath done unto me when l
went out of Egypt. For God has de-
livered not only our fathers, but also
ourselves. He hath led US from servi
itude to liberty, from sorrow to Joy,
and from darkness to light, from op-
preston to liberty.
And indeed, not only from the fact
and that sin every age enemies
arose and arise against Israel, and
God has saved them from their
hand" we ought gladly to comment
crate the exodus out, but from other
reasons, nearer home.
For many a father can say to his
beloved son toosvas at one time or
another a slave Of passions, q servant
of the Pharoah's Of selfishness, q TO u
!of evil desires, sighing under the
heavy woke Of stn ana guilt. But,
thank God, my better nature awak-
ened within me, / broke asunder the
chains and shackles of despotism,
which nv own heart has forged for
me, and became again free man.
Another father can proudly look
into the face of his promising son and
speak to MIN; Heavy cares OF liveli-
hood have depressed my mind, deep
sorrow and trouble have threatened
to darken my soul and obscure my
heart when thinking OF the future of
my family, when seeing how the re-
sources OF their support were drying
up, and the pillars OF their subsistence
were breaking down. Then often
dependency and despair whispered
into my ears: Leave the thorny way
of straightforwardness and commerce
ial honesty, listen to the siren voice
of the tempter, grow rich at the ex-
pc Sc of Others, build your house on
the ruins and debris of those you have
destroyed. Money will cover all sins,
and people will never ask whether
your fine garments and costly jewelry
are stolen or not. Such terrible
thoughts have entered my mind, but
thank God, in whom l trusted, l re-
a'ned true to my duty, an honest
man. l found nay way clear again,
without deviating from the narrow
path of rectitude and righteousness.
God has redeemed my soul from des-
truction; have delivered my name
from being stained and tarnished !;
yes, I myself have been freed from
the bondage of Egypt, my misery has
been changed into gladness, my Bit
terness into sweetness. and my dark
hours into bright holiday of joy.
And, my son, while / cannot leave
you when | die, great earthly treas
ures, will leave you an untarnished
reputation and good name, which, af-
ter all, is more than gold and jewels,
as the prophet Jeremiah said: Gas q
cuckoo that sitteth on eggs, which he
hath not laid, so is he that getteth
riches and not by right; in the midst
of his days shall he leave them, and
at his end shall he be called un-
worthy"
And there is many mother who
can lift up her eyes to her son OF
daughter aud say: "When it has
pleased God to take away from my
sidA .my dear husband, your beloved
father, then it seemed as if the sun OF
our life had set at midday, and as il
we were doomed to sigh away the rest
of our days in mourning and affiiction. y
A heavy veil OF melancholy enwrapped
the heaven of our souls; but when the
night is at its darkest the suns plow-
ing light is nearest. In those trying
days we have learned to see in oul
own life's history the fulfllment oI
the Psalmist's words: "God is the
father Of the orphans and pleads the
cause of the widow" His friendly
sunshine frightened the dearth shades
of pain and His parental love and
mercy dripped the balm of comfort
into our wounded hearts. Then we
felt the redeeming power of His love
on account of all He had dons for us
when We went out of our Egypt.
And Israel in this countryl Very
many of us can say to their children :
"We have crossed the great ocean
that separated us from our old home.
In poverty, like the Patriarch Jacob
when crossing the Jordan, We had
nothing but our staff in our hand
that is, confidence in God and in our
selves. We had to fight our way
through deserts and impossible
mountains; and, thank God,
after years of hard labor and
struggle, of industry, economy
and thrift, we have built up
great monuments of commercial abii-
|ity, OF financial genius, aud unques-
toned integrity, and that we have
made Judaism honoIed and res pected.
Truly, each # them has right to
exclaim, II praise God for what he
hath done unto us when went out of
Egypt" And last but not least, has
this passage special reference to the
spiritual state of Judaism in this land
Of the free. We have, thank God,
left the darkness Of the Ghetto, and
the Egypt of superstition behind us.
we have commenced to appreciate the
light OF reason and knowledge. True,
the opponents Of reform accuse us OF
destroying the old landmarks. But.
this reform Judaism in this coun-
try, hardly more than one quarter of
q million Jews, has built more orphan
asylums, hospitals, homes for the
aged, temples and schools than the
six or seven million so-called orthodox
Jews of Europe, Asia, Africa and
Australia combined. It is not SO
much the quantity of the so-called
bread of misery you eat but the
breaking Of bread to the poor and
needy, which constitutes true Juda.
ism. In this connection 1 point with
pride to the generous gift Of five
thousand dollars by cne Of our fore
most citizens and member o. our con-
gregation to the Jewish orphan asylulfs
in San Francisco. An while not
everybody has the means and the