The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-10-10
ELOQUENT Sermons Delivered to
Vast Audiences.
CLASSICAL MUSIC PERFORMED.
There Will Be a General Observance
To-Day Throughout the
World.

or reformed in his ideas on matters relig- |
ious. fails TO set apart this one day as holy, |
to attend synagogue and TO fast for twenty
four hours, passing the day in meditation |
and prayer
kol Nidre services, as they are called. |
were held in the Temple Emanuel on !
Suffer street, the Sheriff Israel Syna-
gogue, corner of Post and Taylor streets, |
the Temple Beth-Israel, on Geary street, !
and at the Golden Gate Ball, where the |
Ohabai Shalome congregation has located |
itself temporarily. Appropriate sermons
were also delivered in all Hebrew places |
of worship.
Rabbi Voorsanger, addressing large
assemblage of people of both sexes. took
for his subject, "How Can Society Re-
deem Itself 2" Ia the course of his ser
mon he said:
The principal duty of this holy season is
moral analysis. 1t is difficult task, yet
no more difficult than physical anatomy.
Y GU have no doubt seen Rembrandts ia
nous picture representing DIR. Van Hoom
of Leyden discOursing to his disciples
about che then new science. Between
them lies corpse, ana the preceptor
holds the muscles OF the human arm sus-
| pended by a forceps. Moral anatomy
needs neither forceps nor scalpel, but a
|
ception OF the dignity Of man and his
proper position In society.
THE ancient rabbis gave it as their
opinion that the stability and permanence
| of society depend upon three conditions.
| tirSt-Ihe unconditional recognition of
God as the supreme ruling power and the
| inspiration of mans morality. Secondly
! The purity of personal conduct In all
the relations affecting the moral nature
OF man or the civic conditions of society.
| Body and mind must both be chaste.
| Ihlrdly-The conservation OF mutual rela-
| tons TO prevent the most dangerous cause
of social disrup ion and anarchy. With
out God. righteous personal conduct and
! social order, the commonwealth must be-
come wrecked. Any one OF them without
the other is insufficient; in fact. one can
not be conceived without the other. There
is more atheism in evil conduct than in
mere profession, and the believer whose
conduct contradicts his profession is
more dangerous enemy OF morals than the
| loud-mouthad ranter who, In forum OF on
rostrum, rails at the providence Of God"
The rabbi concluded: Heed the advice
Of the ancient rabbis. Cleanse Yourself;
remove the evil from yourself first. The
| process may lead TO regeneration and Sc
Getty itself may be redeemed from the
| evils now threatening 10 disrurt it,"
The rendition of the musical portion of
the services went through without a hitch.
classic ''Kol Nidre" was sung by the
choir. accompanied by the Organist. Louis
Schmidt. and a trained band of perform
ers on various instruments. both wind and
! string.
The Taylor-street synagogue was filed
to OVERLOOKING last evening. The services
commenced at 10 with the chanting of
the "Kol Nidre" by the quintet choir,
accompanied on the organ by Mrs. H. }.
Stewart, and led by the cantor Rev. ID.
Davis.
Rabbi NetO's sermon was entitled The
Divine Forgiveness; What is ftp" He
said: "'Tis strange that even in these
enlightened times we should tinge our
ideas of divine forgiveness with so much
OF human cOlorlng, that We should i'm bue
the god-head with so many absolutely
human attributes, bringing our ideas of
the deity down to onr own level That
God should be considered glowering and
aveDgeful one. condemDing man to slaugh-
ter, famine, pestilence and death. Is in no
manner an advance on ancient supersti-
tiOn-inspired beliefs, and is 10 the purely
religious mind of to-day sheer blaspnemy.
1.-The stand in dread and tremble'
dogma can no more force men TO lead good
and true lives than the preaching OF per-
sistentlY intermeddling Divine Providence
with the frivolous minute of an every
day existence can breathe plely into mans
soul. That which tends to elevate aud en-
noble, to raise from the depths and deliver
from the base, must be noble, pure, ele-
waited, sublime. The incentive TO moral
and religious progress must be the ideal
iZatlOn of perfection far removed from
that which Is human, and wthal, posi-
bly, attaipable by man. The coercion of
fear and trepidation which has so long
kept mankind in doubt must give way to
the grand conception of to-day-a God of
mercy, love and patience. VINO does not
waninnly chastise his children, and whose
wise and beneficent direction has made the
earth the glorious garden that IL is-a God
by whose ordainment the sinful soul is cast
back 10 agony upon itself. till. remorseful
and repentant, IL lifts itself once more 10
Him and becomes purified by His holy
light"
Rabbi Levy addressed a crowded congre-
CATION at the Geary street Temple. He
said:
at would be exceedingly gratifying if
there existed no need for repentance-if
our daily actions could challenge the
scrutiny of heaven. But humankind is
not fortunate enough to possess such per-
lection of conduct. We do sin. We are
imperfect, and being so. no act is more
no BILE in us than our acknn wledgment OF
our shortcomings as an evidence of our
spiritual con vaIescence and restoration to
healthy manliness.
"ODce in sin the way back to purity ia
closed, unless repentance, deep and slu-
cere, open the gate. He is not pardonet
who wropged another until he fully recon
must yield. The repentance must be lust
as deep aud humblng as the wrong and
the error demands. No middle way will
answer"
The rabbi concluded: Repentance is
necessary in order TO obtain forgiveness.
sin once committed remains an eternal
fact; it cannot be recalled, though it may
be atoned for. The alienation from in
finite truth and goodness which sin car.
RES remains. unless the sinner take arms
against it. God, law and conscience
change not. The only possible restora-
ton to harmony must be in the change of
the heart of the sinner. When sincere
confession begins alienation ceases"
A gOOdly audience was assembled last
evening at the Golden Gate Hall. The
music was under the direction of the
| organist, f. Dsllepiane. RABBI Some
scbein's sermon YVES based on the subject
of "Atonement" and was a clear and pro-
found exposition of the meaning OF the
word.
All the services, which had been char
acterized throughout by great sclemnity,
closed with the singing of the Adon Olom.