The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-02
SERVICES AT TEMPLE
DAY OF AToNEMENT CELE-
 BRATED BY JEWS.
Congregation Assembled in Fasting anc Prayer and was Address ed by Rabbi Messing
 Tributes to Dead.

The solemn fast of Tom Kippur was generally celebrated by the Jewish citi- zens of Montgomery yesterday. Business was suspended and all the faithful re- paired to Temple Beth-Or. where they re- mained in fasting and observing the cere- monials with appropriate rites.
 The service was divided into fcur parts matin. noon, memorial and vesper.
 Rabbi Messing was assisted in these services by MT. A. Heilpern, who recited the traditional chants; MT. c. F. Moritz, who read the words of the sages, and MT Jacques Loeb who read from Scripture The music, under the direction of Prof. E. L. Merriam. was touching and impres- sive. The congregation appeared through out the long services, interested and de- vout.
 Rabbi Messing delivered two sermons, one in the morning and one in. the after noon The subject of the morning discourse was the Message of Atonement," and the text from the ritual of the day was, Repentance, charity ard prayer avert the evil decree"
 The Rabbi said, in part:
 Repentance is a word that is seldom heard in these days from ths pulpit Min isters ofttimes are expected to palliate the prejudices of their congregations and may not speak of sin with impunity In the old days an evangelist held meetings on three successive nights and delivered three sermons. The subject of the first was Original Sin;'' the second, Hell Fire;" the third Eternal Damnation." !" Today such sermons would not be consid- cred in good taste, and yet the world contains sins and mistakes enough. Each man has had his temptations, his fierce battles and defeats, each bears grievous tscars from the battlefield, but reflection upon past sins is good only so long as it produces revulsion from sin, and. like a bow, shoots the soul toward God and righteousness. Gid is like a mother who forgives the child's sin into everlasting forgetfulness."
 After the Rabbi had ended his discus sion of sin and repentance, referring to the text. he asked. What Is charity?'
 When the steamship Mohegan went down off Menacle Rock, the life guard of the English coast reported to his Gov ernment that there had been a lamentable shipwreck. He said in his dispatch Notwithstanding that lent the crew on board the ship every assistance possible by means of my speaking trumpet, I re- gret to say that a number of dead bodies were washed ashore next morning. Here Is charity expressed through a speaking trumpet, and not through the heart and hand. It Is easy to be philanthropic in speech, to weep\in books, over the sor- rows of humanity. to be generous and sympathetic on paper-but real love of hu. manity that has not works is dead.
 The last in the triad of great elevating influences of the text was Prayer.
 The greatest of human kins,' said the speaker, have not been ashamed to pray. Ignorance that sees only the hori- zon may refuse to bend the knee in wor- ship, but to him who is conscious of the immensity and mystery of the universe, prayer is as natural as breathing. The testimony of the ages abounds that nor nal man Is a religious man. Whatever other distinctions there may be between animal and man, none is so deep and none so striking as Is the fact that anil nal builds no altar, while man builds temples; that animal does not consciously sing to the Power that makes the awe. while man halls in one form or another that Power as his support, his guide and light of his life.''
 The sermon in the afternoon was deliv- cred directly after the impressive memo rial service and was in the nature of tribute to the ten members of the con- gregation who had died during the past year.