The evening times., 1898-09-10

desolation, is each, in the broad sweep OF
| the universe always found to be but one
element in the long train of forces work.
| ing to beneficent ends
1T has taken ages.,fer reason to teach
us this. and in our days as never before
| reasoning beings have come to learn that
morality is unconditioned. Its principles
apply alike in all surroundings and to all
| intelligent self-conscious beings, to men
in the aggregate asl nations and govern
n~an ments - as well ell as to1fdiyiduals' to God
THE free thought of this age has vindi-
Gated religion from thousand fallacies
born of the darkness of stupidity. 1t is
therefore an act Of the highest intelligence
and the triumph of a reasoned faith by
which men recognize their dependence on
| the power and beneficence of the ruling
God, and with due humility dedicate their
temples in His name.
There is also more wisdom today than
ever before in such an act as that which
we here perform OF old 1t was said.
The mysteries belong to the Lord our
God, but the things revealed belong to
us and to our children forever Deut.
xxx. 2S) By some strange perversity
the world in all the past turned away
from the things revealed and brooded in
mournful Self-surrender over the things
concealed. For ages the veil of mystery
hung utterly impenetrable over the face
OF nature. Shadows fitted around mems
souls and filled them with weird super
sutions, maddening them with gross
idolatories. Ignorance held the key to
the temple of worship; credulity was con-
secrated as its priest; mysticism preached
dark and absurd doctrines at its shrine
1T is nobler act today than ever
hitherto to dedicate a temple of religion
Or old Ii was necessary to drive the re-
calcitrant TO God. The curse of excom-
munication was hurled at the dissenter
The foul disease of lleresy-hunting mot
yet eXterminated) spread it's contagion
everywhere. Bulls and bans, ostracism
and persecution were the lashes with
which men were driven to prayer.
''Today worship is nobler because It is
free. He who cherishes the highest in
lie gladly comes to the sources of in
spiration which well forth from the foun-
tains of prayer.
we are facing a new era as Israelites
we share in the changes which have
come over the religious world at large,
although i believe that we may truth
fully claim the foundations of our reiig-
lon are less shaken by them than those
of any other denomination. Indeed we
ind revealed most clearly the essential
unity of the new truth of today with
the old truth of our sires.
None the less these days have brought
us TO new conditions and new problems
which are distinctively our own as Israel
ties. Twenty-Five years ago American
Jewry was hotly engaged in the contest
which sprang up in this soil between the
advocates of the various 'Minhagim
usageS and customs of the Jews of the
various European lands.
THE marvellous transformations of life
through the discoveries of steam and
electricity which revoluuonized the social,
industrial and political conditions of Eu-
rope affected the Jews most. II broke up
the Ghettos and gave them emancipati ton.
The struggle which necessarily followed
between those who chung to the old and
those who entered into the new life was
most pathetic. often a bitter one. 1t
was transplanted to america and in these
favored surroundings found its swiftest
solution.
we have learned 10 adapt ourselves
to the new conditions We are no long
er children of the Ghetto dreaming
dreams of larger life: in a freer world, :,
while walking mechanically and phantom
like through the protratIed and minute
formuiaries and ceremonials that circum-
scribed the religious, social and intel
lectual horizon of our fathers
Nevertheless, as we look back now
fathers entered into the new and free
life of America, we cannot help confess
ing that there was a vast degrees of de-
moralfZation before the adjustment could
be made. The synagogue is the only true
conservator of the unity of Israel In the
synagogue every man. woman and child
of the community must have a recog-
nized place of privilege and response
bility. In the haste and scramble which
characterized the past era we have set
other institutions higher than the syna-
gogue Our charitable institutions, than
which no people can boast any more COM
plete and effective, have absorbed the
highest interests. They are worthy OF
all that can be done for them but IL
is a grievous mistake to let them absorb
Us at the expense of the synagogue
we cannot pay all our moral and re-
ligious debts In aims. Some have set
the lodges or fraternal orders highest
They have their place and l should be
the last to decry the glorious services
they render But You cannot absolve all
your religious obligations by sick benefits
and widows endowments. Social clubs.
no doubt, have a useful function to per-
form, but when they displace the congre-
cation they become not the friend but
the foe of the best interests of the COM
munity.
II,
reared in this land have problem of our
own to solve-it is that of the reconstruc-
tion of Jewish life under the free condi-
tions of America. We cannot do this
through any agency except the syna-
gogue. We must build up the Jewish
American congregation. Yeoman's service
| has already been done in this direction.
| yet we are perhaps the leaSt organized
| of all religious denominations
| cations exists. Unfortunately it is not yet
a union of all congregations. and has
| hardly entered upon the work of har-
monfzing, unifying, and Strengthening the
| United Congregation of Israel The He
brew Union College for the training of
| rabbis has commanded the favor of the
| community by its nestimable service in
supplying the pulpits of the land. Yet
neither the college nor its weaker sister,
| the seminary, in New York, receive that
! measure of support which they must re-
ceive if we are to fulfill our duty in the
new era
Our task is pre-eminently an educa-
| tional one. Our generation is largely ig-
| norant of the great past which, with a
| matchlesS heroiSm of endurance preserv-
| ed the great precepts and principles over
which we stand as the guardians How
shall we extend inspiration to others un-
less We have 1t within ourselves? You
cannot draw life7givipg water from
empty cisterns. The. world is full of i'll
will, bred of ignorance, and the Jew is
! it's chief victim. %
| Every agency must be earnestly and
zealously employed to enlighten our own
! and to spread abroad the truth Knowl-
| edge first. With that weapon we shall
vanquish, the apathy, the cynicism, the
skepticism. the shailowness of a genera
| ton already sadly pampered by mate