The Denver Jewish news., 1919-06-04
ELI ELI LoMo AsoyroNIs

these and the opening. by the rivers
\ The immemorial melancholy of an ell !,
slaved race, when heard Sophie |
Braslau intone with her luscious CON
tralto touching Hebrew lament
..Eili Eli Lorno Asovtoni?" mt u con-
cert last winter. Naturally ! believed |
the melody to be the echo OF come |
tribal chant sung in the days of the
4 Babylonian captivity. and perhaps he
fore that in the dark Gays OF the pre- !
historic Sumerans. aud the epic Of
Cilgamesll. Others have made the
same error. Judge of my surprise
I when in IL copy of The American Jew
ish News i read that the composer of
"EiIi Eili'' is living, that his name is
Jacob KOpel Sander: that he wrote
the music for a historical drama, die
B'ne Moishe" (''The Sons of Moses"l,
which deals with the Chinese Jews.
Mr.. Sander had written the song for
Sophie Carp, Yiddish actress and
singer. The "Sons of Moses" was
failure, and a new piece. "Brocha, the
Jewish King of Poland" was prepared.
(Not alluding to Pan Dmowski.) 1t
WAS produced at the Windsor Theater
in the Bowery. The song. not the play,
was success. Then the music drift
I'd into queer company, for music Is
living organism and wanders when
it is not controlled. Finally Sophie
PrnSlau got hold of it, and the COM
poser, who was directing choir in
I;ronx synagog. was astounded to hear
Of the acclamations of Metropolitan
Opera House Sunday night audience.
| His daughter had listened 10 Ell!
Eili'' and brought home the good news.
After troublesome prcliminaries '-Mey-
tr Beer" the pen name OF the musical
editor of The American Jewish News.
was able to prove beyond per,idventure
of doubt the artistic parentage OF
the song, and Jacob Sander Is in q
lair way of being idolized in his com
nunity, as he should be.
"Eili Eli. LOmo .isovtoni:" may be
found in Psalm 22. the first line Of the
second verse in Hebrew. In the Eng
lish version the words of David are i'll
the first verse: My God. my God
why hast thou forsakcn me?' And in
st. Marks gospel we read: And at
the ninth hour Jesus cried with loud
voice, saying, .l:ioi Eloi. lama sabach-
tIaniy' which is. being interpreted:
My God, my God. why hast thOu for
s;ken me?'" tChaptcr II. verse III u
The exegetists aud upOlogists, us well
as sciolists, have made of this inn
mortal phrase bone of theological
I contention. Schmiedel. who with Har-
rack believes the words 10 have been
uttered by our Savior. nevertheless
figure the same things in the cr,lcifix
the Just man hanging on the stake
the perforated hands and feet, the
n,ocking crowd, the soldiers gnmblins |
for the clothes. everything takes place I
as described in the Psalm. l.ublins.i
| lin Dogma" p. ?1) and Arthur Drews I
/ lin 1.-The HistOric.ty of Jesus" p. 11O) |
tiemur ut the orthodox Christian con-
ciusions of Harnack and Schmiedel.
\. beloved master. tlie late Solomon
/ Schechter, disposed of the question in |
his usual open style. THE world is
big enough he has said to me, for
hoth Jehovah and Jesus, for twp /
such grand faiths as the Hebrew and
l the Christian But he saw Chris
tanity only in its historical sequence.
and not as continuator OF Judaism;
( rather, u branching away from the
/ main trunk If it had not been for
! Constantine, the world might be wOr
shipping Mithra today, was the erudite
pnd worthy mans belief. Envelopc,l (
\ in the mists of the first two centuries
{ Christianity seems to have had II mar
( row escape for the doctrines of Mith-
( raism That Solomon Reinacli prac
| (ically admits in his "Orpheus," most
/ significant study of comparative re-
4 ligions from the pen of this French
savant.
Once upon time I played the organ
in II .shool,'' reformed. not an ortho-
dox synagog; played indiffcrently
well. But my acquaintances with tie
Jewish liturgy dates back to my boy
! hood in Philadelphia, where ! studied
Hebrew. in company with Latin. The
reason? My mother fondly hoped that
I might become priest-the very
thought OF which makes me shudder