The Jewish advance., September 13, 1878, Page 5, Image 5

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

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standing of the Jewish minister will be
defined and secured, well-to-do parents
will not be loth to sec their children
study for the ministry.
It cannot be expected that the posi
tion of a Jewish minister should be well
defined in America yet. Orthodox -Ju
daism lias no representative men to keep
up (or to introduce) the old standing of
a Rabbin. Reform has hitherto been
working on the negative side; to destroy
superstition, to conquer ground for free
inquiry and the exercise of reason, to
open a way for uniting religion with the
demands of practical life, to reconcile.
Judaism with the new phases of life
and activity—it was necessary to break
down the barriers with which the rab
‘ bins of previous generations have hedged
around the law of (rod, and which have
become in time to be considered as holy
as the law itself. Those barriers have
kept Judaism apart from the practical
demands of social life, because the Jews
have been excluded from the enjoyments
and privileges of that life. They were
the effects of historical causes. The
causes being out of existence now, there
is no more use for the effects. To de
monstrate this has hitherto been the
work of Reform, and it had no time to
work for the positive principles of J u
daism as it might, as it will, as it has al
ready begun to do in the year 5638. On
account of this divergence of opinions
and the new demands of the time, the
.position of American Rabbins has be
come undefined.
Persons who arc not fit for the minis
try have found their way into the pulpit,
unsound scholarship and flagrant princi
ples have been passed oft' in the good
name of religion. And because our con
gregations rule supreme and there is no
recognized authority which they should
acknowledge, the position of the minis
ters has become insecure. The congre
gations raise to the ministry whom they
like, and they treat him as they please.
There is no standard by which to judge,
no rules by which to be guided. Such a
standard and such rules will become de
veloped in time according to the devel
opment of our institutions of rabbinical
learning.
The most important event of Ameri
can Judaism in the year 5638, was the
council of the Union of American He
brew Congregations which has met at
Milwaukee in the month of July. Per
sons Avho had been present at the coun
cil with the ambition to be heard, and
who have found themselves ignored on
account of their worthlessness—have en
deavored to belittle the significance of
the council. Every great work finds its
enemies among the selfish and self-suffi
cient worthies who are worth nothing
and desire to pass off for a great deal.
When the moon is brightest the dogs
bark at it. But the council was indeed
an event which will be memorable in the
history of American Judaism. The
principal work of the council consisted
in remodeling the Constitution of the
U. of A. H. C. in a manner to answer
the demands and claims of . every fair
minded congregation. The dividing lines
between the Eastern and the Western
Congregations have been erased. The
plan of the work of the Union has been
laid out in such a manner; that every
active power should find its proper work
—every significant influence, its proper
mode of exercise. All misunderstand
ings between our leading men and organ
izations have been done away with in a
spirit of unanimous good will. Ameri
can Judaism has indeed become united
in the Union of American Hebrew (Con
gregations by the work of the council at
Milwaukee. If the effects of this work
cannot be seen at once, the development
of affairs will surely show it in a very
short time, The united efforts in behalf
of educating an American Jewish minis
try has already begun in the East and
iu the West alike. The nucleus of a
Rabbinical council has already been
formed, which will regulate the educa
tion of the young students on a sound
basis at first, and will extend its influ
ence towards bringing order in the chaos
of rabbinical affairs at .a later period.
The small Jewish communities
throughout the land, will be provided
with religious instruction for their chil
dren, with religious consolation and
guidance for the grown people and with
the protection of a united Jewish brother
hood for ther social affairs. Plans and
ways to do all this has been devised by
the council at Milwaukee, and as soon
as the means for this great work will be
raised, the operation will begin. Indeed,
shape and form has been created for
the development of American Judaism.
Expression has been given to the de
mands of our communities, means and
ways have been devised for the satisfac
tion of those demands, and a glorious
prospect has been opened for the future.
Good Advice to Ministers.
There is no doubt that one of the
prime sources of strength for a preacher
is found in speaking his latest thought.
Behind all strong expression is the life
of the speaker. This life, through exer
cise of mind and soul, is continually
getting a larger and larger development.
A man who thinks, grows fast, and his
latest growth is always the best. It is the
best, because it is the freshest, and be
cause it represents the ripest experience.
The character of the thought decides
the quality of the expression, also, in
public speaking. Stale thought never
can be eloquently expressed. The sym
pathies of heart and tones of the voice
will not respond to it. Lhe best part ot
public speaking is born of new ideas.
Vivid conception gives illumination to
oratory, and causes it to brighten and
; glow as it moves on its puisant course.
Now, many preachers keep their latest
'thought to themselves, through fear of
saying something heretical, or strange,
or sensational. Many preachers are
timid by nature and conservatives from
habit. Hence they hold back from say
ing what they feel in their hearts to be
true. Their reason is ahead of their
utterance. In thought they are old
fogyish and repetitious. They dread
nothing so much as a charge ot unsound
ness. They know that if they only re
peat what has been said a thousand
| times before, they are perfectly safe
I from all attack and suspicion ; so they
keep saying it over and over week after
week. Drowsy orthodoxy sleeps undis
turbed in its napping, and the pews keep
getting more and more empty. The
young people desert the sanctuary, and
the old folks cry out against the religi
ous indifference of the rising generation.
The true way to preach, as we conceive,
is to preach your latest thought. Each
successive sermon should give indisput
able evidence that the pastor's mind is
growing. Scholarship is discovery.
Preaching is but the announcement of
the new discoveries that the preacher
has made of divine truth. A true ser
mon is not deduction, is not inference, is
not conclusion. It is, above everything
else, suggestion. It should start lethargy
into thoughtfulness. It should act as a
spur to quicken the pace of the lazy
intellectual life of the people. Be sure
you know what you think, and then
speak it out.—London Fountain.
LGNATZ DEUTSCH.
Our European coreligionists are fond
of celebrating jubilees in honor of promi
nent officials and representative men; it
is natural, then, that the seventieth
birthday of Ignatz Deutsch, the court
banker of Vienna, should not be allowed
to pass without some festive recognition
of the worth and character of the man
whose name is to be enrolled with Cre
mieux, Baron Hirsch, and Montefiore, in
the list of Jewish philanthropists.
Born in 1808, at Pressburg, of a family
thoroughly wedded to the ancient cus
toms of Judaism, Deutsch became early
attached to the Judaism of his house
hold and country, and with such warmth
did lid cling to the old-fashioned faith,
that radicalism seemed almost blasphe
my to him. -ill efforts, then, which
aimed to disturb the Jew in his belief,
and substituee an easy-going Deism in
stead of the practical religion of Sinai,
awoke his intense opposition.
During his residence of nearly half a
century at Vienna, Deutsch won the
high regard, of the Court, and far from
utilizing* his popularity for personal
ends, he strove to act on every occasion
as the champion of his coreligionists.
In 1850, Prince Schwarzenberg asked
him whether he desired the title of no
bility for his family. “ I am a descend
ant,’’ Deutsch quickly replied, "of an
old and honorable Jewish family. As
suredly, 1 am not better than my ances
tors, and would not like to raise myself
above their graves.” This remark pro
duced an exceedingly favorable impres
sion at the Court, and gained him high
favor, so much so in fact that the Court
agreed to accept every petition for his
coreligionists which he presented. He
thus became spokesman for a large ma
jority of his brethren in the Austrian
dominions, at a time when Austrian
Judaism suffered under painful exact
ions, and—let the truth be written—at a
time when Jewish brotherhood was torn
apart by dissensions in the Jewish
camp.
Deutscli lias proved an effective
pleader, a powerful interpreter for his
brethren at the Austrian Court, and his
services have been often demanded by
the needy and the oppressed. So numer
ous were the calls on his attention, that
for thirty-five years, with the exception
of Sabbaths and holidays, he has rarely
retired before two or three o’clock in the
morning. Such was his activity, in spite
1 of the reverses of fortune and the in
roads of disease. Even now, Herr
Deutsch is stretched on a bed of illness,
and rumors of his death have reached
us. It is recorded of him that he estab
lished twenty-eight synagogues in Yien
na, and a Talmud Thorali School, be
sides which, he has trained many a rab
bi for the Austrian Empire.
Let our young people ponder well on
one feature in Ignatz Deutsch’s life.
Like Jonah of old, he was not ashamed
to say : 'lI am a Hebrew”—even in re
fined and courtly circles. He was proud
of his ancestral faith, nor would he sell
simplicity, the birthright of the Jew, for
the empty title of nobility. He was
identified with his brethren, like Monto
fiore, Cremieux, and Baron de Hirsch,
and although, owing largely to early
training and circumstances, he has
fought many a heated conflict with radi
calism, he deserves none the less the
title of a philanthropist.—J. M.
Benevolence and Forethought.
The lodges of this district, I. O. B. B.
have expressed their willingness to add
to the sums they have donated, even to
double and to treble the amounts if nec
essary, if more money should be required
for the stricken South. Many of them
whose names are not reported in the list
in the other column, have sent their con
tributions directly before the call of the
Grand Lodge had been issued. When
the calamity will be over, the distress of
the bereaved families and the prostrated
cities will be felt harder than at present,
and the I. O. B. B. gather resources and
devise means to be on hand with their
assistance in a truly noble manner. The
principles of that Order work well
among the brethren.
OHIO PIETY.
It cannot be said, perhaps, that Gov
ernor Bishop, of Ohio, made a fool of
himself ny issuing a call that all “ Chris
tian Communities” should unite in
prayer on the 13th inst.,in behalf of the
sufferers of the South; but he certainly
made a jackass of himself by declaring
that he had included the Jewish com
munities in that call. However this
may be, prayers sent up to heaven will
never do as much good as assistance
given on earth. If the Ohio piety will
conduct to material good, it will prove
efficacious indeed : if it will result in a
flow of invocation to the Power above
without any effort of the strength which
is given us here below (excepting the
strength of our lungs), it may then be
justly called Christian piety, but the
Jews will never lay claim to it,
It may be of interest to some of our
J readers to learn that the name of
| Cyprus is derived from "cypress,” the
| tree which invited the approaching ship
from afar and whose wood was ex
ported from that island. The linguistic
root of ’cypress is the Hebrew word
! "gopher
Conner beintr found
iii Cyprus in large quantities, it was for
that reason called "aes cyprium” cu
prum.'' See Alois Vanicek, Fremd
woerterbuch.
Prof. Kai tzcii. of* the University of
Basle, will deliver during the coming
winter lectures on Kimchi’s Michlol. It
seems that the study of post biblical
Jewish literature is reviving amidst the
Christian scholars.
> — Pitiful! that a man should so care
for riches, as if they were his own; yet
so use them, as if they were another’s;
that when he might be happy in spend
ing them, he will be miserable in keep
ing them, and had rather, dying, leave
wealth with his enemies, than, beim*
alive, relieve his friends.