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A PUBLICATION OF THE ANGLO-JEWISH PERIODICAL PRESS.
for the promotion of the spiritual and general welfare op the jews, by the dissemination of intelligence on subjects affecting their interests, and by the advocacy and defence of their religious institutions.
Cl« »l*l* *o <4* tow*, art ta tie east, art to fit nortl, art to tie ooutl: and fn t|ee anb in tip irrb *1*11 all He
families of tie eartl be blfSSrG." —Vocation of the Jews. Gen. xxviii. 14.
Yol. IV. No. 107.] LONDON, 13th OF TAMMUZ, A.M. 5605.—18th JULY, 1845. [Price 3rf.
CONTENTS.
Account of the Installation of tlie Rer. Dr. Adler, an Chief Rnbbi.
Account of the Jewi in Bokhan.
Kriigiow Mediutionn noggested by the Hnftorobn. No. 22. p}3 MricatlAsaoos IitTSLLlaSNCS. —Jewish Disabilities Relief Bill.—Account of Dr. Adler’s srrimL—Duke Street Synagogue.—Fenchurch Street Synagogue.— Crosby Square Synagogue.—Jewish Masons.—The Sussex Memorial.—Claims of Pslestine. —Address of the Board of Deputies to the Chief Rabbi.—Miscellanea. Foesion ana Co Low I At. Intiluobncb. —JVese Fork ; Congregational discussions.
-—Morweto; Temperance of the Jews .—Swiss Intolerasict .—Monaco ; statistics. —The SM-dssoat French Sanhedrin, and the German Reformers,—A Talmudic Legend in Don Quixote.—Miscellanea.
Hebrew Verses on Dr. Adler's Installation.
Oca Lama-Box.—Sephardim Congregation.—The want of Union.
Rarlsws.—“Jewish Emancipation."—“ Controrersy of Zion.”—“ Barclay on the Jews.”
Appositeneas of the title “ Apostates.”
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We have much pleasure in presenting our readers
with
a nrniREn gratis,
in honour of the Installation of the Rev. The Chief Rabbi. We have also to express our acknowledgments to the various gentlemen officially connected with the ceremony, for the opportunity of furnishing so exact a record of its interesting details.
INSTALLATION OF DR. NATHAN MARCUS ADLER, as Chief Rabbi of the United Synagogues of Great Britain.
This important ceremony, on which the public mind has been fixed for so long a period, was solemnized on the afternoon of Wednesday, 4th of Tammuz, 560.1, 9th July, 1815. It was felt in all quarters, that 'this important step, which was to range the uniting synagogues of the British dominions, for the first time in their history, under the same spiritual direction, would constitute an event pregnant with consequences to the religious welfare of Israel at large, and therefore also, an object of no inconsiderable interest to our Christian neighbours. There are many proofs of this to which we may revert herc- after; our immediate duty is to record the worthy manner in which the solemnity of this installation was provided for and carried out, and for this a few preliminary mementos are necessary.
It will be remembered, that our late revered pastor, Rabbi Solomon Hirschel, after filling the office for forty
years, was gathered to his fathers with honor, in a ripe old age. (ride his biography, &c., Voice of Jacob , vol. ii. p. 58.) The lait offices baa scarcely yet been paid to his remains, when we felt it our duty to appeal, far and wide, for the immediate appointment of a successor to the rabbinical chair; one who should be an eminent, pions, and energetic Chief, equal to the requirements of the times. The laxity and the misrule which had unhappily characterized the latter years of an administration devolving upon an old man verging on 80; and the awful Went to which indifference had supplanted religious feeling ■n onr various communities, had rendered men not merely indisposed to another appointment, but even, up to that period, avowedly hostile to it There were therefore many difficulties ■®°r*rcome, much of unfounded jealousy to reason away, in or< Ier to combine not merely metropolitan, but provincial, and
even colonial synagogues in the constitution of a common guidance for the Jews of the British empire. All previous Chief Rabbis in this country, have been appointed and supported by a single congregation exclusively ; the occasional fees for service beyond those limits were merely incidental, and always precarious. So far as authority was concerned, there existed no compact nor any obligation to recognize it, whether by reference for guidance, or by submission to what might be enjoined ; and although religious consistency obliged many communities to appeal to the only Chief Rabbi within reach, yet the course prescribed was too often halting and vacillating from the consciousness of weakness; and the purpose in view was too frequently defeated ; sometimes, by a factious spirit, which could only brook interference ns the step to victory ; at others, by misdirected piety, which could contemplate the eradication of real evils only in the uncontrolled right “ to reform ” ad libitum .- and often, by a mistrust of party influences operating from behind the seat of judgment. Our newly elected Chief Rabbi assumes the reins under circumstances widely different; he has no merely local or special interest to engross his attentions, or to divert his sympathies; he is constituted by all the uniting congregations, equally; first, by direct election, and now, by solemn installation ; and it depends only upon himself to consolidate his power, to maintain/nis due independence, and to lead not only the commuuitifbs immediately entrusted to him, but many others for whose spiritual welfare it behoves true Jews to be solicitous, in the knowledge of God, and in devotion to His service, with sincerity and truth. May grace be vouchsafed him for a trust so sacred, strength for a trust so arduous, wisdom and understanding to render Israel once again an ensign among the nations ! •
The Synagogue.
From an early hour iti the morning of Wednesday, 9th July, the neighbourhood of the Great Synagogue presented the usual indications of an impending solemnity; the city authorities had during the preceding evening put up barriers to its ap- proaches, excluding all vehicles but those which contained parties privileged to be present; and immediately after noon, an efficient body of police were marshalled to the spot to keep off the crowd, and otherwise to preserve order; a duty which they most efficiently performed. Some enterprising inhabitants of the square had erected scaffolds, commanding a view of