2005-03
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/28/2005
SABATO MORAIS (1823-1897) famous rabbi of congregation Mickveh Israel of Philadelphia and one of the founders of Conservative Judaism in the U.S. Although undated and unsigned this is clearly a Thanksgiving Day sermon and from the reading of it would seem to be in the mid-1860's during the latter days of the Civil War. There is no mistaking Morais' very neat, tiny handwriting all easily read. These six lengthy, large (8 x 12½) pages on three full sheets (accompanied by photostatic copies of specimens of his handwriting in other letters and signature as well). There is a fourth, matching blank sheet (used as a cover for the others, neatly penned in the same handwriting with the title "A DISCOURSE FOR THE THANKSGIVING DAY." Entirely in English with but a few places where he has inserted a Hebrew word. Almost the entire sermon devoted to its blessings of America and the citizens' "…ample cause for Thanksgiving." He does refer to the words "American Union" and a few specific instances and statements like "where more than in this flourishing region of the North is the present a source of gladness"…with many other similar references. The sermon throughout is specific to America and the blessings of liberty and freedom enjoyed by its citizens including references to liberty won by the American Revolution and the importance of the bible in sustaining and strengthening "…the wise legislators of this republic…that when the ruin of their country appeared inevitable, they committed its righteous cause to his hand and it was saved…" Compares many of the freedoms that the citizens of the U.S. enjoy and to "…thank that true God who has thus graciously favored us" alludes distinctly to what is apparent as the then ongoing Civil War: "…Most unpropitious has been the past season to our fellow citizens of sundry parts of the Union. A direful pestilence has with fierceness made havoc amid them. We have heard of the desolation it has produced. The wailing of the sufferers, the penury of the operatives, the moaning of the relicts [widows] and fatherless have wrung our hearts' core…" He talks of all the blessings the citizens of the country have enjoyed and writes: "I know not at what conclusion you will arrive, as for myself, I opine that virtue founded upon religion will elevate America to the apex of that grandeur to which heaven has surely destined her. America is great, but she will be greater still. Her ensign waves its folds in the light of all nations, and to [it] outraged humanity flocks, as to an impregnable rock…" and much more in that same ardent, genuinely patriotic manner. Although there are those few short and brief allusions to Judaism and that minor short Hebrew lettered phrase, the sermon is for all practicable purposes NON-DENOMINATIONAL in nature. Easily read. Some pages a bit fragile mostly along the extreme edges (chipped), the blank margins showing its considerable aging, but fading negligible and generally about exc. Accompanied with two bio sketches of Morais, who played a major role in American Judaism. During the Civil War he was an ardent abolitionist and a passionate admirer of Lincoln; he had several disagreements with his congregation over the partisan, strongly pro-union, nature of his sermons.
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