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A PDBLICATION OF THE ANGLO-JEWISH PERIODICAL PRESS.
FOR THB PBOMOTION OF THE SPIRITUAL AND GENERAL WELFARE OF THE JEWS, BT THE DISSEMINATION OF INTELLIGENCE ON 8UBJECT8 AFFECTING THEIR INTERESTS, AND BY THE ADVOCACY AND DEFENCE OF THEIR RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS.
C|«« striatt Is tie lest, ant to tfc mot, ant to t|e sorts, ant to tie aoutS : ant f« t|e* ant in tip Mat stall all t|e
families of t|c aartt to SltMat.”— Vocation of the Jem. Gbx. zxriii. U
You IV. No. 104.] LONDON, 1st OF SIYAN, A.M. 5605.— 6th JUNE, 1845. [Price 3d.
. CONT
gjnlitaml Aothorttj ; 8 jh»*o*ub Discipline and the Press—Extracts.
A Moral Echo to Hebrew queries.
Poetry ; The Fesot of Weeks; Annivenary of Sinai.
Interesting Work by College Students.
Religious Meditatioos suggested by the Uaftoroha. No. IS. *0*103 *D fUt?.
On Msrriaaes among the Seceden.
MlKShuanoos IxTlLLlolxct.—Installation of Dr. Adler.—Boris Marks Synagogue.—Miserllanes.—The Fine Arts.—Jews’ Hospital Anniversary.—The late Duke of Sussex, and the Freemasons’ Quarterly.— Heathenism, at home and
ENTS.
abroad.—Lirerpool; Masonic testimouisL—Brighton.—The Jewish Disabilities Relief Bill.
Pouion XXd Colonial iKTtLLlaxxci. — Jamaica, JTiagrlon; Free School; Montego Bag Synagogue Consecration.—Judaism at our Antipodes.—Liberality in Wdrtemburgh.—Secession Movements.—Prussian Freemasons.—The Extraordinary Misrepresentations of the Voice oj Jacob. —Synagogue discipline and State ordinances.—Bavarian Intolerance.—Hebrew Library.
Reviews—Casual Dialogue between a Christian and an Israelite.—Outlines of the Jewish religion.
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SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY.
Under this appropriate title, our reverend contemporary of the Occident has some very pertinent remarks on the election of Dr. Adler, and on the example suggested thereby to the congregations of America. We select a few passages, which will explain themselves. The editor gives a transcript of our report of the propositions to the Hungarian Synod, and recals attention to a project of his own, for a meeting of American Synagogue representatives.
Synagogue Discipline and the Press .—“ There are some things which have given cause for animadversion in the mode in which our public worship is conducted: the chaunting of the prayers, the sale of the honours of the synagogue, the compulsory voluntary offerings, the inharmonious singing witnessed in many places, ana similar anomalies, which have become obnoxious to many a thinking Israelite. Their existence hitherto has been owing to the state of separation in which we have lived, and the impossibility which existed of bringing public opinion to act on any subject. There were before our days no public journals to give voice to the thoughts of the people; and though we do not approve of, nay, sincerely deplore, the tone which some of our periodicals have assumed, still the partial evil must ultimately lead to the good result of exciting the attention of Israelites to their spiritual concerns, and to arouse them to a sense of what is due to themselves, «s well as their religion. Good or evil, however the so-called Jewish religious and literary journals may be, is nothing to the Gtiestion as regards the present; were it.to be determined whether they should be commenced, there might be a discussion of their •** and abuse; but since they do exist already, and are in all probability sufficiently strongly fixed in the affections of the people, that they are more likely to increase than to diminish, though no °°* of them all enjoys much public patronage, if we are allowed to judge from circumstances; they mnst be regarded as an element m our religions government, and, let us add, one which cannot be left unheeded without great danger, for they who come every week or month into the remotest district of the diocese of even the great- eat man, with or without his knowledge, mnst be endowed with a Power for good or evil, which will be felt in despite of opposition *od denunciation, should these even be resorted to.”
Dr. Adler and his difficulties .—“ The newly elected Rabbi of brtat Britain has a difficult task before him, which, if he executes •• becomes a shepherd of a large portion of the flock of the Lord, “* will earn onto himself an enviable and imperishable repotation. •A* the one ride, he will be appealed to by those who demand amir changes, who wish to assimilate Judaism to what is termed the •PWt of the age, who want to geetilixe our worship, and bring us
within the circle which approaches nearer the ‘ Christian state ’ of certain politicians, than our system will permit us. On the other side, however, he will be assailed by those who are fond of every thing stationary, with whom the very cobwebs on the walls of the synagogue are something too sacred to be brushed away by
the sacrilegious hand. It will, therefore, be no post of ease for
the Chief Rabbi to know how to act amidst such opposite ideas urged upon him, as no doubt they will be, upon his first arrival; he will nave to ward off all importune advice, and not decide hastily until he has become thoroughly acquainted with the wants and wishes of the people who have voluntarily placed themselves under his charge. And we trust that they will nave the good sense not to expect a sudden change for the better by the ministration of Dr. Adler; since they ought to be convinced that improvement, to be permanent, must be of slow and gradual growth, for any thing which springs up in a night as uniformly perishes in n night. But when they see, as we hope they will, that their Rabbi is the leader in all useful reforms; that he aims by his own personal exertions to diffuse light in every town of his diocese; that he preaches fervently, eloquently, and fearlessly the word of God; that he rebukes vice, whether it he seated in high places, or found in the hovels of poverty; that he urges on the friends of religion to establish schools for all classes, whence they may draw the wholesome instruction of science, combined with and based upon the principles of our i faith ; that he endeavours to heal the breaches which a state of interregnum has produced; we trust, when all this is seen, that they will unite heart and hand to aid the pious efforts of their religious chief, and do all that lies in their power to forward the blessed cause for which we have been ordained a nation.”
IVant of Spiritual Guidance in America .—“ It is with just cause that we feel a deep interest in the progress of our religion in England, and this is intimately connected with the acts and opinions of the man whom the people have just raised- to the chair of authority. If the impulse thus imparted will be for good, we have the best founded hopes that the same impulse will be felt here; hut if the reverse, w the case, we fear that we shall suffer here also. Moreover, we confidently trust that, if Dr. Adler can jhow by his acts the usefulness of a spiritual chiet it will not be long before the American Israelites will also demand the election of a chief, with several'associates to preside over our worship and education; and hence the course of the English Rabbi will be watched Vith a doable anxiety by many who deeply feel how important a thing their religion is to them, and to the world at large. We indeed candidly think that we require in this country some ecclesiastical authority, over and above the independent ministers who are elected without any examination, and act irrespective of each other's wishes, being, as they are, only bound by the will of their respective congregations.”