The record-union., 1897-07-18
RABBI LEWIS PREACHIhGS.
HE'S AGAINST THE ORTHODOX
JEWISH TENETS.
The Former Sacramentan is just
Now Very Prominent in the
Public Eye.


Leonard Levy of Philadelphia, late of
mis- citv. who IS attracting wide at
tention to himself by his unorthodox
teachings. 1t says:
Philadelphia has a reformed rapol
who. like DR.. Hirsch of Cahicago, is
setting the orthodox Jews by the ears
through the advanced ideas ne
breaches. Like DR.. Lyman Abbott in
the Congregational Church, he is ere
ating comment even among the more
liberal. The fact that he is eloquent
as well as daring has given unusual
weight to his remarks:
The most ignorant orthodox Jew
may have the friendliest feelings Tor
non-Jew, but the fires of hades burn
not more fiercely than does his re-
sentiment toward the cO-rellgionlst, VINO
deprecates ceremonialism. Take away
the hallowed ceremoies and customs of
the church from the orthodox Jew, and,
although he may retain the essentials
OF his religion, he viii feel that he is
little better than a heather. 1t is be-
cause the Rev. DR.. j. Leonard Levy
deprecates the ceremonies and customs
that the orthodox condemn him, and
this even though he has labored earn
estly among the poor, living among
them to learn better their wants, and
has established a number of excellent
charities.
1t is safe to assert that if DR.. Levy
were living in an orthodox community
in which the material power was con-
trolled by the orthodox, his days would
be brief. Many of the sentiments he
has expressed from the pulpit would
be sufficient to convict him of the worst
H. bod cta
and some seem daring for even ad-
vanced Judaism.
Orthodox Judaism is a religion full of
picturesque ceremonialism; reformed
Judaism, especially such as D. Levy
breaches, hardly differs from Univer-
salism. 1t recognizes all that Chris
tians believe of Christ except his di-
vinity Between the two branches of
the church there can never be any
thing but estrangement The reform
ers include in. this country most of the
educated az we'll as the wealthy Of
the race.
The reforrners expect to swallow up
the orthodox as soon as the enlighten-
ing influences of the country make
themselves felt, and to hasten that re-
suit they have established such insti-
tutiOns as the Hebrew Institute on
East Broadway, where the Russian and
Polish immigrants are instructed in the
history and traditions of the country,
and the children are made to memorize
the Declaration of Independence and to
sing the Star Spangled Banner" With
the exception of the descendants of the
Spanish and Portuguese Jews, who are
conservative because they believe that
they form the aristocracy of the race,
there are practically no American-born
adult Jews in the orthodox camp.
Possibly DR.. Levy's youth is respon-
sible for much of his daring. He was
born in London in 1865, and obtained
his education at the University of Lon
don and the Jewish Theological Col
lege. From the former he obtained the
degree of Bachelor of Arts. His theo-
logical education was directed by the
Rev. DR.. H. Adler. now chief rabbi of
Great Britain, and other leading jew
ish theologicians.
Before he was twenty years old he
was acting as rabbi at Bristol, Eng
land, being then the youngest ordained
rabbi in the world. From Bristol he
went to Sacramento Cal. He is one Of
the few rabbs who have preached in
Christian churches, to the scandaliza-
tion of the orthodox Jews.
Some Of his remarks in the pulpit are
interesting as showing how far the
Jewish rabbi of to-day has departed
from the narrow paths of his predeces-
sOrs. Here, for instance, are some of
them on the future state:
Personally, I believe neither in
heaven nor hell, in the sense that the
Mohammdan uses the one and the
Christian employs the other.
L had rather have no God than one
who is a cruel ogre. had rather have
no hope of a hereafter than one that
brings with it a message of deadly hate
and CHASTITY vengeance.
My own opinion is that there is no
heaven and no hell, in the sense that
they are places. They are rather being
something than going somewhere. They
are state of being rather than places
of existence. They are rather in our
heart than in space, we know not
where. They are rather here on earth
than in the skies above or beneath us
in the depths.
Heaven is to do right; heaven is to
be pure, honest, upright, truthful holy.
Hell is falseness. He'll is to be gross,
sensual. self-seeking, double-faced, un-
charitable. Heaven means peace of
mind, content of heart. He'll means
greed and avarice. Heaven means vir-
tue, not the reward for being virtuous,
for he that practices virtue in hope of
reward has not acted virtuously. Hell
means vice. There is a retributive prin-
ciple which tells US that whose plows
and sows wheat shall reap wheat, but
whose 'sows wind shall reap a whirl-
wind. We cannot escape the influence
of our own acts. We make our own
heaven and hell. Heaven means to do
all for love, without hope of return
Hell means to receive the proofs of
love, though we are unworthy"
Considering the history of the Jew
ish Church the following observation is
remarkable:
Everywhere YOU find the thoughtful
turning their attentions TO a religion
that shall insist more on actions than
on creed, less on dogma than on deed;
that we shall look more to universalism
than to localisIn, more TO humanity
than to sects The religious world is
to-day brought face to face with the
problem of discovery of a religion that
shall administer in the full degree to
the spiritual side of a mans character,
but not at the expense of his reason,
and that he shall provide a simpler rule
of life, heightened by the greatest op
timism and broadened by the purest
love of the whole human family
As has been said, DR.. Levy's radical
sermons and ways have aroused un
ysuaI comment That he is well aware