The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-04-04
live to be 100 years old, and it is not at all
unlikely that she will.
JEWISH sUNDAY-sAmArH.
Reform Battling Against Orthodoxy Tor
Advancement in Judaism.

Reform BATTLING Asainst Orthodoxy for
Advancement in Judaism.
The Jews of Seattle, in common with
their brethren all over the country, are
watching with the deepest interest the
discussion now pending among the vari-
Gus representatives of the pulpit and press
regarding the question of the Sunday-Sab-
bath.
The Jewish religious army of the United
States is divided into two distinct camps
of orthodoxy and reform. The battle in
the pulpit and press is the same that has
characterized the history of every religi-
Gus denomination since the mind of man
had sufficiently advanced to comprehend
the idea of systematic theology.
The orthodox Jew, mainly represented
by the foreign element, believes in cling
ing to the traditions of the past; in the
literal Interpretation of the Mosaic law; in
the dietary laws; in the final restoration
of the Jewish race through a Messiah to
the land of Palestine, and in the Sew
enth day Sabbath. But while in
theory believing in these doctrines,
the environments of American life, the
stern competition of business, and the
convenience of the social relations make it
matter of mere impossibility to carry
out what they deem to be the divine law
in relation to these several matters. Stores
are kept open on Saturday, business is
transacted on that day and the synagogue
is neglected and loses its influence.
The reformers come out boldly and de-
mand the conforming of the Jewish reli-
gion to the needs of the hour without the
sacrifice of any essential principle of the
faith, They desire and practice an English
ritual in the synagogue service; they dis
card the dietary law; they accept what
they deem good and useful in the Scrip
lures and reject all that seems false and in
contradiction to the researches of modern
science, and above all they plead for the
change of the day of rest from Saturday
to Sunday. They urge that because the
Jew can not or will not attend church on
Saturday is no good argument why a
change should not be made that will enable
him to receive spiritual instruction on any
other day, and they hurl back at the ortho-
dox the fact that the temple of Jerusalem
was open to the worshiper every day in
year. and that there is therefore no wrong
in having regular Sunday service.
The Sunday service has been tried in
New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Balti-
more, Chicago and in San Francisco and
has met, wherever tried, with the most
hattering success and encouragement.
The Sunday movement has had the ablest
champions in the Jewish pulpit of this
country. The orthodox ministers many
of them men of ability. have had
a hard fight. The reformers
seem to be more in accord
with the spirit of the times. DR.. Mesdes,
who was recently shot by an impairment
beggar in New York, is an orthodox and
against the Sunday service. DR.. Morals,
of Philadelphia, recently lowered with
the degree of LII. d. by the University of
Pennsylvania, is also one of the greatest
and most scholarly Jews, but he, too, will
not yield one iota of the old faith or its
forms or ceremonies.
The reform leaders are DIR. Wise, of Gin
cinnati, who is at the head of the Hebrew
Union College; Dr. Gottheil, well-known
to the Rev. w. ?. George, of the First NJ.
Z. church here, and DR.. Joseph krauskopf,
of Philadelphia. The latter is one of the
younger preachers, but a man of rare elo-
quence He delivered course of lectures
shortly before the death of Henry Ward
Beecher that so attracted that great man
that he had 10000 copies of them printed
and distributed among the members of his
congregation. The subject was: Judaism
and Evolution"
The situation seems to be summed up in
word: orthodoxy does not seem TO be
able to hold the intelligent rising genera
ton, and it is the opinion of many thinkers
that the Sunday Sabbath for the American
Jew is the only thing that can preserve
the Jews noble faith from decay on
American soil. NJ. G. w.