Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-25
SERMON TO HEBREWS
RABBI STERN BREACHES AT THE
TEMPLE.
Thanks for Privileges and blessings of
American CHARACTERISTIC
Of the Occasion.

Services were held in the Hebrew Temple.
on 9Th street. yesterday afternoon, and
were largely attended A sermon appro-
pirate to the occasion was delivered by
Rabbi Stern, in which he said:
I'VE have assembled in the house of God
to give thanks fop the blessings and privi-
leges which as American citizens we SO
richly enjoy. believing that this is the proper
place and this the right manner of worth
lily celebrating Thanksgivin day. True. the
average American. proud Of his birthright
and grateful for his citizenship and all that is
implied therein, might repair to other than
sacred places, or remain within the confines
OF his home to rehearse the story of our ma
tfon's marvellous growth and glorious his
tory and to rejoice In Its happiness and
prosperity. Yet 1t is equally true that ma
tional pride is of little value if it resolves
itself in idle boast. The consciousness of
our national strength is worthless without
a strengthening of the national conscience.
And our gratitude for the good things we
have and enjoy is vague and colorless and
of little influence upon heart ana char-
acter unless directed. humbly and sincerely.
to the beneficent Giver of all good.
And so 1T is we'll that today we enter
these sacred precincts with praises and
thanksgiving, and heartily and sincerely
join in words of the royal psalmst: 1 will
give thanks unto Thee, for Thou hast an.
swered me, and art become my salvation.
psalm, 118:21.) God has answered us: God
has become our salvation! Our history
bears unmistakable- testimony to the eternal
verify that divinity shapes our ends In
wisdom and beneficence. Let the cyn1c
smile and the skeptic sneer. Let the apostle
of gross materialism boastfully say: My
strength and the power of my arm has got
ten me this wealth. We Of the house OF
Israel, witnesses of God, because marvel
ously preserved, despite the ill-will of man,
through ages of darkness and persecution;
we, citizens Of republic, almost every
page of whose brief history bears the Inn
prints Of the guiding, saving hand of Provi-
dence; we, thoughtfully reviewing the past
and humbly acknowledging the boundless
blessing, material and spiritual, which, not
withstanding our faults, mistakes and hui
man limitations, we are permitted to enjoy
We from our heart Of hearts, this day would
say with the psalmist: I will give thanks
unto Thee, for Thou hast answered me, and
art become my salvation
An Additional Thought.
Let me remark that the original He
brew of the phrase Of our text: For thou
hast answered me- admits of another rem
dering, For Thou hast afflicted me- This
additional thought at once deepens the
meaning and enlarges the scope of Thanks
giving. 1t repudates the assumption that
only hearts baskng in the sunshine OF
SereneSt happiness, with every prayer
granted every wish gratified, need offer
the sacrifice of thanksgiving. 1t invites to
the festive altar around which grateful
people gather this day, hearts that are sad
and souls that are weary. 1t emphasizes
the old truth of the educational value and
benefits of suffering that has formed the
favorite theme of prophet and priest
philosopher and poet. The grandest Bible
Oh, pf thn y,nh 1ncf Nrna
of humanity of all ages had to pass
through the crucible of afflicton and sor-
row. means chosen by Providence to lead
them to a higher, purer and better life.
The same truth applies to nations as well
individuals. Our own republic. though
young in years, has had ample cause to
say: thank Thee that Thou hast afflicted
me and Thou art become my salvation
Had 1t not beer for the cruel wrongs and
indgnities visited upon the colonies there
would have been no revolution, no Declara-
ton of Independence, and no occasion to-
day for generous an outburSt of rejOic-
ing and thanksgiving on the part of a
happy, free and sovereign nation.
Again. the Affections incident to the late
civil war, rather than leading to the dis
ruption of the Union, as 1t was feared,
reconcile conflicting interests, and with the
precious blood of hundreds of thousands
cement the Union into one great brother
hood closer than ever before.
Millions Of Foreign Birth.
'And then think of the millions of Amer
lean citizens whose cradle stood on for
eign soil. Long they may have painted
under the yoke of persecution and oppres-
sion in the lands of their birth. Today they
join in the general acclaim: I thank Thee
that Thou has answered me; yea, that
Thou hast afflicted me- For these very
Affections proved to be blessings in dis
n
tant western shores, still, as of old, the
haven of the oppressed, the land of free
dom and of unlimited opportunities!
Friends, we rejoice today. and justly
so in the peace and prosperity we enjoy,
in our rapid forward strides in the field
of education and culture, commerce and
industry, in the strength and stability of
our government and the blessings of civil
and religious liberty guaranteed to every
law-abiding citizen. But what appears to
me a special cause for thanksgiving is the
wave of heartfelt optimism, of confidence,
faith and mutual good will sweeping over
the length and breadth of our land today.
A heart thankful to God is sound and SYM
pathetic. A trustful heart can be trusted
A people that can say, and say sincerely.
L thank Thee, o God, for Thou hast an
swered me and art become my salvation
is safe. For true thankfulness to God is
more than empty phrase, more than lip
worship. 1t is nothing, if not identified
with pure thinking and right doing, with
sibility to the family, the community and
the state.
IF we but succeed in upholding and
strengthening this healthful optimism, this
sentiment of true righteousness, this sense
of responsibility in our homes and in our
hearts, more especially in the hearts of our
children, we have found the key to the So
luton of the problems confronting us at
any time. They will never be solved by the
grumbler and growler, or the self-consti-
tuted political and economic iconoclast.
No change of law, in and by itself, can
cure social evils, or satisfactorily adjust
economic difficulties, as long as people are
swayed by passion, vice and greed. The
cure is necessarily slow; it must begin at
the root. The culture of the heart, as
much at least as that of the mind, the
molding of conscience and character are
the true remedies. To this end home, church
and school must work hand in hand and
an enlightened press WELD it's potent in
fuence. Every other public interest how
ever essential, is of but secondary import
ance. For every public interest is safe
guar ded by good citizenship and good citi-
Zenship spells conscience, conduct, char
aster.
The Simple Life.
LET us them amidst the eXactng cares
of our modern strenuous life, heed the call
for the simple life-that is, the life of integ-
rity, frugality and honest industry; a life
of purity and broadcast charity, life DOM