The Jewish advance., June 14, 1878, Page 3, Image 3

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(Confessionslofe Schulen)
Durchlaucht
Fürst
(Zur Gesch. d. Jüd. \n\n JR.EV; Dr, Kleeherg, formerly of Louisr
Ky., has been elected minister of
Mishkan Israel congregation of New
Havent Conn. The congregation JMish
^ Vlean Israel could not do better than elect
itthis Rabbi, who is well knpwn for
'plk*'\l»is .efficiency and for honesty of purpose.
tmM XT OH oil o ivtnn in Am* a»a
Why such a man is‘elected for only one
^1^‘,year, we cannot, comprehend. Congre
gations should be pleased when they
*'«an secure the services of a good minis
ter and elect him for a term of years to
make him feel at home in their midst.
- A njinister who is elected fora short
term, does not feel secure in his position
and cannot devote himself to his duties
so assiduously while he has the prospect
before him to lose the credit for his
labor in a short time.
Yoreign News.
The Jewish colony in China has dwin
dled to a few hundred members, none o.f
whom can read Hebrew.- They have no,
clear idea of future life, and are in all re
spects like Confucianists. Until their
synagogue was destroyed they had an
« Autumn festival, when tljey walked in
procession around the hall, taking the
rolls of the law with them. They had
till recently 12 copios of the Pentateuch,
but they parted with some of these, which
were brought to England some years
# ago. According to the opinion of some,
it was in the Han dynasty, 13. C. 200 to
.220, that they first entered China, but
thpy.had new accessions from Persia at
a much later period. The Mohamnje
dans in China regard the Jews as almost
a sect of their own religion.
The Manchester Guardian's London
correspondent writes that University
College, London, and University College
hospital gain between them £50,000 by
the will of the late Sir Francis Goldsmid,
V- » who was -thu.. treasurer oLeach of,’
these institute deceased baro
net left £10,000 to the West London
synagogue of British Jews. His en
tailed estates, valued at about £100,000
a year, pass to bis nepbew, Sir Julian
Goldsmid, M. r. The Brighton estate
alone, which was bought for £60,000, is
r now, havipg been covered with valuable
houses, worth in capital value not less
than £1,000,000. The bulk of the per
sonal property of Sir Francis, about
£500,000, is . left to his sister, Mrs. Na
thaniel Montefiore Coldeast, with re
mainder to her two sons. The Countess
•d’Avigdor and other sisters take smaller
legacies, and Lady Goldsmid, the relict,
an annuity of £8,000.
Frankfort.—Abraham Tendlau, the
venerable author of Jewish legends,
narratives and adages, died in Frankfort
on May 16th, from a severe and. pro
tracted illness. He was a native of
Wiesbaden, but a resident of this city for
many years. Several of his woiks have
■conquered for the author a wide-knpwn
* reputation; among others the iall
■meyer Abende" have become popular
with a large class of readers, even out
ride of the Jewish circle.
The archbishop of Paris has ordered
n, lustration to expiate the Voltaire cel
ebration. The old churchman seems to
think the city needs to be disinfected
after such an intellectual orgie.
The municipal corporation of I aris
has decided to adopt the electric light
for several of the prominent avenues,
.and the gas man is shaking in his boots.
A report just made by a royal com
mission in England, recommends that
copyright in books, dramatic and musi
cal compositions, and works of art, ex
cept photographs, shall endure for the
life of the author, and thirty years there
after, and that photographs be copy
righted for thirty years.
.: • •
Leipnik.-—On May 14th, a destruc
tive fire broke out in the Judengasse of
Leipnik, and reduced the synagogue and
about thirty dwellings to ashes. On
that day a fair was held in the neighbor
ing! village of Leipnik, and all the un
fortunate residents of the Judengasse
were at the fair while their houses be
came a prey of the flames. Twenty
families have become homeless and
penniless.
Munich, May 15.—The first work of
art sold at the Paris Exposition, was a
painting by the genre-artist W. Loibl,
of Munich. The legend of the picture
was “Peasants talking politics” (Politi
sirende-IBauer'n.) It attracted the no
tice of large crowds of visitors by the
beauty of design, truthfulness of con
ception and elegance of execution, and
brought a very high price on the first
day the Exposition was opened.
Stuttgart.— The Jewish Associa
tion for tending to the sick, has pur
chased a large house with a garden in
Necktar Street, for the purpose of con
verting it into a hospital after the model
of the Diakonisen house.
Oppeln. — Mme. Julia Friedlander
died at Oppeln on May 15th, at the age
of 75. She has been a Dame of Honor,
and decorated with the Louisen order.
The funeral procession was very impos
ing? Notwithstanding the deceased
having been a Jewess, ministers and
sympathizers of all denominations have
turned out in large masses to honor her
remains.
Gengendach. —The merchant, Jo”
seph Isenmann, was elected Mayor
(Burgermeister) of Geogendach, by a
very large majority. He belongs to the
party of National Liberals.
Hungary and Transilvania. — A
correspondent of Szektso, Transilvania
(Siebenbcrgen) reasons about the Jews
of his district in the following manner:
It is ten years since Transilvania has
been annexed to Hungary. During this
time the Jews of that country have‘not
improved in their spiritual condition ;.
they have not learned from their Hun
garian brethren to advance the cause of
enlightenment. In Hungary almost
every small community-., has schools for
the religious and secular education of
their children, and in some places they
have even normal and high schools.
Thus there are Jewish normal schools in
Kaposvar, Trentschim, Vaghpiel and
high schools in Beddschow and Kubin.
But while the Hungarian Jews of the
small places work so zealously for the
elevation of their religion, their brethren
of the large cities go into the other ex
treme. They have no Jewish schools,
and with the means at their command,
they establish schools for secular in
struction only,
for Jewish and Christian children alike.
It is their ambition to attract uu-Jewish
children to their schools ; but they do
not succeed. Very few Christian child
ren attend their schools. Thus they
deprive their own children of all religious
instruction, while on the other hand,
they gain no popularity with their Chris
tian neighbors.
Paris.—A highly esteemed corrqs
pondent from Paris, (France) writes :
, There has been a sensation here in the
papers about a Polish Jew. A very
learned and law-abiding young man,
Manish’of Suvalk, (Poland), has been
inveigled to marry a woman twice as old
as he was. She proved to be his senior
not only in years, but also in. malice,
quarrelsomeness and evil disposition.
Having found it impossible to get along
with her, he left her and applied for a
divorce according to the Jewish custom.
A great halloo and cry was raised by the
papers at this outrage. The Polish Jew,
and all his country-men with him, were
declared villains, although his dealings
were quite in accordance with the Jew
ish law, and not in the least against the
laws of honor and of purity.
Thus the popular prejudice will take
up a straw and make a forest of it, in
order to justify its injustice in beratiifg
a certain class of people. The Polish
Jew, Manish, is a living evidence of the
dishonor of his people. In the meantime
there are hundreds of good, charitable,
industrious, religious and law-abiding
Polish Jews in this city, and nobody
speaks of them in public, no one pub
lishes the good they are*doing.
They have here a society to maintain
a synagogue of their own, in which Jew
ish learning is kept up. This society
contributes towards the assistance of
their newly arriving owifftrymen; it
also sends out five-hundred francs every
year, as a contribution to a Jewish
school in their native land, and another
five-hundred francs a year, for their im
poverished co-religionists in Jerusalem.
The members of this society are poor
laborers, who work hard to earn their
daily bread. Nobody hears a word about
these Polish Jews. But Manish is re
presented as their type.
Minsk, (Russia.) —As a curious in
stance how the Israelites .of.JVIj^u rv^fr
7Ji»ftn~Tvxpr rfiMrcw literature, a corres
pondent writes:
There is not an author, either of
the progressive or of the old school,
whom the Jews of Minsk turn away
from their doors without a liberal sup
port. But it often happens that they
are imposed upon by such authors, who
canvass a sort of scribbling in the shape
of volums, that are moth-eaten on one
side, gnawed by mice on the other, and
full of worthless casuistry in the remain
ing part. We have been visited of late
by two authors, representing the two
extremes. The one was II. Margolias,
who has composed a hook
full of learning and oi historical research
couched in the most elegant Hebrew
language. The other one was Moses
Charkes, canvassing his work
which, in justice to the title, is
indeed like a needle stinging the healthy
mind; it is full of contradictory and
casuistic notions, spun out in a sort of
rabbinical jargon. Both of these works
have been purchased largely in our city,
and Mr. Charkes’ work has received
even more patronage, than that of Mr.
Margolias.
Vilna, (Russia.)—The community of
Vilna has suffered a great loss in the
demise of Rabbi Bezalel. He died on
Saturday, the 13th ult., at the age of
fifty eight years. The deceased was one
of the pillars of Rabbinical learning of
Vilna. Since his twentieth year of age
he has officiated as More horooh in that
large community, and was considered as
one of the highest authority. His illness
was very severe for the last few months,
but he suffered with patience and resig
nation. He would hot be persuaded to
leave his study room, the air of which
was not pure enough for his state of
health. Only a few.,days before his
death, he was prevailed upon to take
rooms in the Hotel de Paris, which is
tenanted by his friend and colleague
Mr. Sttashun. His great friendship for
Mr.|M. Strashun, who is of outspoken
liberal tendencies, shows how fair-minded
he was toward those who maintained
' other views than his own. At the sad
news of his demise, crowds of Jews
blocked the streets ,around the hotel
with tears in their eyes. On the day of
his interment, all the Jewish business
places of the city were closed. His bier
was born ty the burial ground by the
people on their shoulders (a distance of
about six miles) all the way. Puneral
orations were delivered, not only in
Vilna, but also in all suburban towns,
whither the reports of his demise had
reached. • . .
She Student's' Golumn;
CHIPS
The word
(Ps. LXIIX, 32)
is generally translated Princes. "he
root of tins word is
cwn,
which means
brightness. Ihis may correspond with
the (xerman
and the Ilus
sian oiatelstvo (from
title conferred upon
Siat- to shine) a
princes of royal
descent.
gives to the word
the same derivation (from
as the
and the
often change places with an
other. The custom of oriental princes
to wear high-colored garments may have
suggested
for the favorite color of
princes garments in the same manner as
we have thp “Cardinal-red.”
means “cold” and also “baldness’'' ‘
.! barrenness
“winter*
and also reproach . me barrenness or
the winter appears like a reproach to
the productiveness of the earth. The
ancient belief in a good and an crvil
divinity constantly at war with one
another may have suggested the double
application of these words, especially
the religion of Zoroaster.
Here is a somewhat curious etymology
by Pr. I. II. Weisa
I. p. 21, note 3.) The name
by which an uppartment or Solomon 8
temple was called (the Holy of Holies ?)
was derived from
‘ia word” because
“The word of God w.as there deposited.
In the same wise we read (Josh. XV, 15)
J he name
of Dehr was formerly the city oj the
book", because the earlier inhabitants of
that city had their religious code there.
The Targum renders the word
with
which according to Dr. \\ eias is a
“depository of books”. >\ e would be
more inclined to think that the Aramaic
corresponds with the Greek arche
or archi. “a principal place”. In his ety
rnology of
however, Dr. Weiss is
supported by a passago winch he quotes
from Abodah Zarah. The note referred
to is worthy of a student’s notice.
Our Christian friends who are so anx
ious to consider Is. IX as a messianic
chapter, and the phrase
which
occurs in the 5th verse as a direct ref
erence to a messianic divinity, may per
tinently be reminded that Isaiah lias
prophesied the advent of Hczekiah and
that
ia nothing but a synonym
01