The record-union., 1891-10-05
THE JEWISH IDEA.
1t Is EloquentIy Explained by Rabbi
J. Levy.
"A New Year Sermon Delivered Before
His Congregation-Good VIII
Toward All Men.

0FSHluS, WAS continued rJnrOuRuOuU IhO
following day, as previously outlined.
AT the opening services Rabbi j. Levy
preached the following sermon:
Brethren: Once again we meet here to
greet new year. / congratulate you
that you have been spared to witness It's
return and that the blessings of God have
2blded with you. | welcome you all here
tonight, and pray for peace ''for him who
IS near and him who is far''; for him who
as constant in his public devotions, and
Sor him who comes hither but once or
twice year. Everyone whose heart has
moved him to come into this assembly
and tbs to loudly proclaim, Il am still
one of you; thy people is my people and
thy God, my God''; everyone OF you
greet in the name of our holy faith, and
bid you welcome. And if there be among
us children of God whose worship of the
one Father may differ from ours, to them,
too, extend the ancient Jewish saluta-
tion, "Peace be with you" May God
bless you all, you and all who are near
and dear to you, now and every day of
your lives, all of which l pray
may be happy and sweet. May
you all feel the presence Of
God in His holy place; may this feeling
fill your hearts with golden hopes and
purest joy; and may the King of Glory
enter into you, into your life through the
opening door of this new year. May the
and happiness be fuller and brighter.this
year; may God grant you and those you
love life and peace; may He protect you
and guide you now and forever more,
amen. 1t may appear strange that we eel
citrate at this season of the year our New
Years Day. In doing SO, however, we fol-
low plan existing in Nature. Darkness
preceded light, night preceded day. Our
Scripture tells us, ''the evening and the
morning were one day." The natural
arrangement of the period constituting
one day was not from midnight to mid
night, but from sunset to sunset, from
evening to evening. What is true of
zone day. is true of the arrangement OF
the year" If the natural plan is fol-
lowed the evening of the year, the
autumn, is to be appointed the beginning
thereof. And the special day for the first
of the year is the new moon nearest the
autumnal equinox.
This day is famous in Jewish traditions
as that on which the great act of creation
began. Our ancient rabbiS pointed out
that the universe and its contents had
beginning, which was not the result of
blind chance. They We're created. God
was their creator. These teachers of the
Halmud intended US to understand that
God alone was eternal, that He existed
before creation, that He will prevail after
the crack of doom. They meant us to
proclaim, on this occasion, our firm be-
1iefin the pure Monotheism on which Ju-
daiSm is based and our disayowal of
the baser ideas of other religions of an
tiquity. Hence its importance even for
us. Hence its claim upon our heart and
mind. On this day, above all days, the
keynote of Judaism is sounded. Men
may scoff at us for our beliefs, they may
victimiZe and scorn us, whole nations
may rise against our brethren chiefly
because of their peculiar creed, but above
all the din and strife and discord, by OBJ
serving to-day the Jews proclaim: Hear,
o ye nations, the Eternal is our God, and
he is the One, the Absolute
New Years Day is celebrated differ
emily by different people. Most indulge
IN merry-makings and festivities, in car
nivals and frivolous gayeties. From us, it
claims prayer, reflection, rigid self-eX-
animation. Not that the modern Jew is
one whit better than his Christian neigh
bOr. Not unto US, not unto US, but unto
our fathers, who gave the world whatever
1T has of religion, are to be ascribed the
praises and the gratitude, ii in our OBJ
Servance there Is anything useful, beauti-
ful, elevating or instructive. That there
Is much to be gained from the occasion,
that our New Year has its message. we
shall presently see.
A mountain is an elevation in space
that permits US to gaze around, before
and aft What n mountain is in space,
New Years Day is in time-an occasion
for scanning the past and peering wist-
fully into the future.
Well, another year has passed; sunk
into the yearning grave of time, which,
full, yet Graves for more The short span
of life is shorter. Winter with its daz-
zling drapery of snow and fertilizing
rains, spring with its gay flowers, sum-
mer with its wealth of luxuriant growth
and another autumn with plentiful and
hountiful harvests tell US of the flight Of
time that is past.
And how has it passed? In its passage
we have seen loss OF health and recovery
3rom sickness; tears as countless as sands
on the seashore, and smiles as innumer-
able and as bright as the stars of the
ornament.
We have seen those who were with us
when the old year was young, hurried off
by the cruel hand of death, and who now
lie in the cold and silent grave, their
voices hushed forever, the memory Of
them all that is lett. The desolate orphan
wondered why God left him with no IA
theirs hand TO lead, or no mothers voice
TO cheer. The bereaved parent has
mourned for the little darling, snatched
away-the tender tie that bound them
snapped asunder; and companions in life
have been separated, never again to meet
on earth, the survivor mournfully re-
peating: Why, 0 God, hast Thou smit-
Ien'us ?" There is no healing us. And
there have been happy unions and joyous
births, marking the progress of time, that
has left no one and no thing as ii found
them. We have seen battlenelds, where
friends and brothers fought as foes We
have seen multitude suffering in silence
evils wrought by others. We have seen
attacks made on religion, in religions
name-the work of ignorance set loose
and arrogance set adrift. The year has
passed over bud and blossom, orchard
and vineyard; over children and maid
ems. Stalwart men and fair woman ba
robust and feeble, the youthful and aged,
with its clean-cutting scythe. The glow
ing cheek may have been blanched, the
golden hair turned prematurely gray; the
clear brow pressed with deep burrows of
care. Nothing is untouched; change
everywhere. Nothing enduring, nothing
constant, nothing lasting. The fashion
of the world passeth away
Tonight we turn to Him who is eternal
and abiding; from the changing we turn
TO the unchanging, from the movable to
the immovable. Now we recognize how
frail we are, how erring, how prone to
sin. Now we are hidden think of God,
duty, eternity.
Do you doubt the value of such coun-
sci? How seldom will man pluck out
his soul, and, looking at it as though he
were gazing on himself in mirror, say
10 himself, "What a proud man am ~
How seldom Will anyone, except in an
ger, come to us and say that we are fall
ing into the mud of immortality, into the
mire of irreligion, except when he is mad
F., at us? And in anger the truth is de-
stroyed and the criticism powerlesS. Our
friends will not tell us. They will only
praise US when present and caVil at us
when absent. Except our mother be
with us-the one brave soul who dared
zen us the plain, unvarnished truth-no
= one viii come to us and tell us of our
faults. Who will tell US that as we grow