The Jewish advance., September 06, 1878, Page 4, Image 4

About The Jewish advance. (Chicago, Ill.) 1878-1881

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The Jewish Advance.
84 & 86 FIFTH AVENUE.
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HENRY GERSONI, - - Editor.
MAX STERN, Publisher.
Chicago, September 6th, 1878.
NOTES AND COMMENTS
The cry of distress is still heard from
the stricken South, and with ever in
creasing force, The hearts of the char
itable have been touched, and help is
coming forward, but by far not in a
measure corresponding to the demand.
There are, perhaps some persons who
do not know to what extent the yellow
fever scourge produces its effects. A
brief statement of it may not be out of
place. Physicians, nurses and medicines
are required for the sick. Burial ex
penses and persons to occupy themselves
with the interment of the deceased for
the dead. There are cases reported in
which some corpses have been left at
their houses until decomposition broke
in, because there were not the means
nor the hands for interrment. In some
instances where a case of yellow fever
occurs in a house, all the bedding and a
great part of the furniture have to be
burned in order to prevent a spreading
of the fearful disease. Importation of
eatables and all business activity is
lamed or suspended in the stricken dis
tricts ; thus the living suffer for the
want of the necessaries of life, aye even
of their daily meals. Such are the im
mediate causes of suffering—the conse
quences thereof God alone knows. Let
every one help with the best he can.
Israelites belonging to lodges, congrega
tions, societies, etc., are reached through
the respective organization to enlist in
the sacred cause. But there are a great
many, and especially young men and
ladies, who do not belong to any such
organizations, and who can well afford
to spend a few dollars for the sufferers.
Let them come forward as true sons and
daughters of Israel. The furnishing
goods merchants, the milliners, the glove
manufacturers and the jewelers will ex
cuse you for a few days. They will be
pleased to see you again after the calam
ity will be over. Come to the ranks in
behalf of suffering humanity, in behalf
of whole cities and districts which need
all the dollars you can spare for the
maintenance of the life.
The articles, "Die Lage des Sinai” by
* * and “Znr Droseliten-Frage” by Rev.
L. Adler will be published in the Ger
man department of next issue. We
must beg the indulgence of our readers
for having suspended for the last two
weeks the publication of Max Mueller’s
article. The pressure of important mat
ter on our limited space has necessitated
this suspension. We shall resume the
continuation of this article in our next
week’s issue.
“ The Pride of Chicago No. 41 of the
Improved Order of F. S. of I.” is the
modest name of a new lodge which has
been installed last Sunday by M. K.
Cohen, Esq.,.of Philadelphia, the Grand
Treasurer of that Order. This is the
first lodge of this order in Chicago. The
second one will be installed next Sun
day. Wo are not yet informed of the
name and number of the second lodge.
We hope not to be too late with a sug
gestion. As the order is an "improved”
one, and the lodges must necessarily im
prove in every respect as they increase
in number, we would suggest “The Glory
of the Star-Spangled Banner of Spread
eagledom ” as a proper name for the new
lodge. The brethren may excuse the
joke, as we wish the new order a sincere
—Says our contemporary of Cincin
nati : /
‘In future the men of all trades
will return to the cultivation ot the soil
(Jebamoth 63.) We can not see why
the sage of old in the Talmud made that
prophecy, although we (vin tell with a
degree of certainty that all mechanical
trades will be absorbed by machines and
factories, and the last resort of all labor
ing men is the cultivation of the soil.
The faster people realize this idea in re
lation to their children growing up, the
better it will be for them.
—Great, truly great, this must be ad
mitted, are our co-religionists in charity.
They are never called upon without re
sponding generously and quickly. The
list of donations for the poor of New
Orleans published in this and last week’s
American Israelite, show the readiness
and willingness of our brethren to help
wherever and whenever their assistance
is asked. It is an inheritance of the
Hebrew, or rather a birthright, to be
charitable, to feel the woes of others,
and t.o be ready to alleviate them.
Xeav Orlenns, August 23, 1878.
S. Barnett, Esq., Chicago, Til.:
Dear Sir: Painful as it may appear,
yet I consider it my imperative duty to
inform you (as a member ot the board
of officers of the Touro infirmary and
Hebrew Benevolent Association) of the
state of affairs existing now in our
midst. The plague of yellow fever is
increasing with rapidity; it seeks its
victims amongst the rich and the poor)
the old and the young, male and female,
and God only knows who will be spared
from the malady. The Touro Infirmary
is fast filling up with patients, and I am
sorry to say that many have returned
from whence they came—to dust. The
fever is spreading all over the city; hun
dreds of families are down with it; the
calls for help and relief has no parallel:
and the wails, sorrows and afflictions I.
am not able to describe. Not hourly, but
minutely, we are called upon to send
nurses and money to the down-stricken
sufferers. Coffin and hearse to the de
parted ones, and something to eat for the
children who are not sick, and many
other demands too numerous to men
tion. Rev. J. K? Gutheim, myself, and
others are constantly out visiting the
sick, and offering assistance to those
who need it. There are so many who
oome under this heading that our treas
uvy, although since a few days liberally
supplied, will, by constant strain, soon
show empty corners. Besides, who
knows how many more will be in need
of our assistance, and bow long this will
last. We have to provide, also, for shel
ter and support for the children who
have lost their parents by yellow fever,
as we cannot bring them in the Home
(which, thank God, lias thus far been
spared), fearing they may bring the
sickness among the inmates of the insti
tution.
Considering all this, I must earnestly
request you to call upon our co-religion
ists of Chicago, and every friend of hu
manity. to help us in this our good work
by sending us liberal donations; wo need
it, and must raise it. Truly yours, etc.
Charles Stmon,
Acting Pres, of T. I. & II. B. A.
AMEND HONORABLE.
By an oversight of the type-setter, the
following item has been left out in our
last issue :
The Johannah Lodge of the I. 0. of
T. 8. has forwarded $300 to Rev. James
R. Gutheim, of New Orleans, for the
benefit of the southern sufferers. Of
this amount $200 dollars is to be handed
over to the Howard Association, of
Memphis, Vicksburg and Grenada, and
the remaining $100 to the Touro Infir
mary, of New Orleans. The officers of
this lodge are : Mrs. Abe Weiss, Pres.,
Mrs. K. Kohler, Sec’y, and Mrs. S. Cole,
Treas. This lodge is doing good work
for the poor of our city. Last Chanu
cah they provided outfits of clothing for
about seventy poor children.
Retrospect on the Year 5638.
Go thou toward the end, or remain in
active—thou shalt stand by thy lot at
the end of the days. (Daniel, xii, 13,)
The religious year of 5638 draws to an
end. In the truly Jewish sense of the
term, “ the religious year ” means a
period of spiritual activity in every de
partment of life. Judaism does not
consider a life truly religious if spent
only in prayer and devotion, without
practical benefit to the world, or at least
to the immediate circle of its surround
ing. It may therefore be proper now,
at the closing of the year 5638 of our
religious calendar, to review what we
have accomplished in this year, and how
the ensuing 5639 will find us. Let us
“ begin at home.”
1.
Our Jewish community of this city
seems to be not in ;i position to act
unitedly and in harmony in any general
movement which concerns our race and
religion. Since the great lire has dis
persed the members of various congre
gations into different parts of the city,
there seems to be a general disability in
congregational matters. There are mem
bers, for instance, living miles oway in
the northern and western parts of the
city, who belong to a congregation in the
southern part. They had joined that
congregation many years before the
great fire; they have relatives and friends
in the burial ground of their congrega
tion, and stand in friendly connection
with the other members. They cannot
therefore resign their membership there,
and join another congregation which is
nearer to their dwelling-place. They
continue their membership by paying
their dues, but cannot take any active
part in the management of their con
gregation. The synagogue is too far
from their houses that they should be
able to attend service. They seldom
even can attend the business meetings
of the members. Hence no energetic^
united action can be accomplished. The
few members living near the synagogue
are those who take the most active part
in congregational labors, and cliques and
clans are a natural consequence, dam
aging the religious principles for which
a congregation should work. If a quo.
rum of members are “drummed” together
for a meeting, they invariably vote ac
cording to the biased opinion of the few
leaders.
Again, the Sabbath is the best busi
ness day in the week. The gentlemen
have therefore no time to attend ser
vice. But the Sabbath is also the best
day for shopping, and the ladies who
must attend to that important affair are
compelled to have their housework done
in the forenoon, and thus they have not
time to attend the services at the syna
gogue. Thus the minister officiates be
fore a fewold ladies, who are the judges
of his work, and whose judgment influ
ences the actions of their husbands and
sons at the congregational meetings.
There is not a respectable man but he
belongs to two or three lodges of our
secret orders. The meetings of lodges
are considered of greater importance
than those of the congregation. They
are certainly of immediate practical sig
nificance, inasmuch as the sick-benefit
and the endowment funds are connected
with them. There is a great deal of
charity and benevolence shown by our
orders. But those orders hove no spe
cific religious tharacter. If they have,
it lies only in the theory of their consti
tutions. Charity and benevolence, how
ever, are only a small portion of reli
gious teachings. The ore-occupation
with lodge affairs absorb a great deal of
the interest due to specifically religious
to congregational matters.
The year 5638, reporting to his breth
ren in eternity of our religious affairs,
will probably say: "They have greeted
me warmly on my arrival as a religious
year, but they soon turned to their
worldly affairs, and, with the exception
of a few small items, my record is—a
blank.” The Sabbaths?—“ Blanks.” The
religious feasts?—“ Small items.” Reli
gious instruction?—“ Of no practical or
lasting value.” Piety and religious ele
vation?— Pooh! don’t ask so many
questions.”
Our Jewish educational matters have
fared none the better during this year.
Positively nothing has been done for the
instruction of the children of poor
parents nothing by the community,
although, perhaps, something by a few
isolated individuals.
Our charitable institutions? We have
no hospital, no orphan asylum, no home
for the aged and infirm of our poor
brethren. We have a relief society and
a few ladies’ societies partly co-operating
with it, partly working for themselves. A
few occasional applicants have been
assisted, a few poor families have been
helped to food, fuel, clothing, and in
cases ot sickness. We have done what
our means allowed us to do—the means
of the charitable societies, namely.
Our young men’s culture and social
affairs have been thriving much better.
The young men’s societies have done