The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1892-02-11
What I Believe }
Baltimore Sun, Feb. 2.

Baltimore Sun, Feb. 2.
Rev. Tobias Schanfarber, rabbi of Har
Sinai Temple, lectured Sunday morning
on "What Believe His discourse was
a reply to some criticisms recently made
upon his pulpit utterances, particularly
upon his lecture of two weeks ago on
Childish Belief OF the Past
when look over the pages of his
tory and development of religions" he
said, 'and note how of all the tribes and
nations, from the lowest savage to the
most cultured sage of our day, has within
him yearning to know the source of
being, the unknown force that has
called into existence the universe, the
unspeakable majesty Of the Heavens;
when ! see the design and the purpose
implanted in every created thing, when
note the moral sentiment inherent 10
man. instinctively knowing the right
from the wrong. l feel justified in put
ting down as my first principle, my first
statement of belief, that I believe in one
God. Our conception as to what that
God is may differ, whether through mi>
raculous intervention He can break in
upon His laws or whether the laws have
been implanted throughout the universe
from the beginning, and are changeless
and unalterable. AT this point some of
us may separate, and this will always be
SO as long as men are possessed of minds
and the power to use them as they list.
But that God is, and that He is the
source in whom we live, move and have
our being, serves as the most important
principle of our belief.
"When once we have laid down this
principle it is but a step further to say
that man, feeling his dependency upon
the Supreme Power, desires to stand in
some relation to Him. Wonder, awe
and reverence for Him must permeate
mans heart and soul. He feels within
him the impulse that lifts him up in
worship and thankfulness. We feel that
it is our duty to worship in spirit and in
truth, to obey His words, to yearn for His
love, hope for His kindness and trust in
His bountiful goodness. We firmly be-
lieve, secondly, that man should worship
his Maker, and in that worship feel him
self elevated, refined and purified; feels
ing that it is not God whom he is thus
doing good, but himself and himself
alone.
'sIn our day there is materialistic
school of thought which teaches that
man can know nothing OF the unseen
world; which positively asserts that the
grave ends ALL and that with the lowers
ing of the body into the tomb is the sad
or the glad finale. Such hopeless,
heartless doctrine cannot be ours. We
hope for future existence. We believe
that it is a natural and rational infer
ence from the problem of life. We be-
lieve that it in a measure explains away
the seeming injustice of Gods acts. But
however strong our hope in Immortality
about. In fact, dnring the six years of
my ministry have never yet taken the
subject of immortality as the main
theme of my discourse. I know too well
that all our dogmatizing will be but
speculative and bring no positive re-
suits. hope for Immortality but be-
lieve in calling mans attention to the
here and now. | believe that there are
so many wrongs here that ought to be
righted that we cannot too often arouse
man out of the narrow groove in which
he is moving iuto the broader relations
ship to the great and urgent life ques
tions which demand immediate solution
at his hands. I believe that too much
time has been and is being uselessly
spent in picturing the beatitudes of the
future or the CALLING torments that are
to come in punishment for our sins. It
would be far better were the torments
that beset us here described and efforts
made for their removal, so that the gen
erations which follow us may enjoy their
beatitudes on this mundane sphere.
81 have a rational hope for life to
come after we have spent our few bright
hours here, but never fail to lay the
stress upon the present. Ny tongue
never grows weak in urging the beauty
of Lessing's fruitful words, never to de-
sist in searching for that most priced of all
treasures. the truth That light burns
within me, urging upon me the duty,
the sacred duty of making others feel
the necessity of perfecting this existence,
of making it as full of usefulness, noble
ness and happiness as lies within our
human power to do. | believe that a
good moral handbook to take along
with us in our endeavors to reach this
end is not SO much book of recent
framing AS that good old book that has
always been the source of inspiration,
the Bible.
II feel that the Bible is the grandest
of all religious literature, but do not
therefore feel constrained to adopt every
word thereof as final truth or as coming
direct from God. 1 further believe in
the moral progression of the world. |
must here introduce do not believe
and that is that the world commenced
at the top and fell from grace. To such
dogma l cannot give assent The
golden age is not in the past, it lies in
the dim future, and are constantly com
ing nearer and nearer to it. Man is
agent that must serve as the fermenting
power, and he who is to figure most
prominently in the leevening process is
the Jew. For believe that that the
Israelite has still a mission. He must
lead on before and show the world by
the purity of his life and the nobility OF
his character that he holds the magic
key that unlocks some of the mysteries
that surrounds us in Gods infinite and
intricate universe. 1 believe that it is
our sacred duty to bring the world to a
purer conception of the deity, to make
man feel that he needs no mediator to
bring him into communion with his
Father. The prophets ideal, that OF
making God one and His name one, has
not yet been fully realized, and it is for
this purpose that the Jew has been com
missioned into the world.
stHow aho,,t ritua1s cara,noniaS holy