A Book of Jewish Thoughts. Various

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СКАЧАТЬ of Fire, that would sweep over the earth. In anticipation of it, the children of men were bidden to write the story of man on tables of clay, as such tables would not only escape destruction, but would become the more enduring. We to-day are the eyewitnesses of such a fire-deluge dreamt of by the ancients. Let us not, however, fear that civilization and religion will perish from the earth. Quite other will be its far-reaching results for mankind. Right and humanity will emerge stronger than ever from this world-conflagration. Before this war we saw that the laws of God and man were written as it were on mere tables of clay, breakable and effaceable at will. This very world-conflagration, however, will yet render the Law of Nations indestructible and for ever unassailable by insolence or power. The behests of humanity, which so far have been but pious wishes, will be converted into regulative principles in international dealings.

      J. H. HERTZ, to a congregation of Jewish soldiers at the Front, France, 1915.

THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS

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      THE sun and the moon are become black,

      And the stars withdraw their shining …

      And the heavens and the earth shall shake;

      But the Lord will be a refuge unto His people.

      JOEL 4. 15, 16.

      AND the loftiness of man shall be bowed down,

      And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low;

      And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

      And the idols shall utterly pass away.

      ISAIAH 2. 17, 18.

      AND, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

      1 KINGS 19. 11, 12.

      HEAL us, O Lord, and we shall be healed; save us, and we shall be saved; for Thou art our praise. Vouchsafe a perfect healing unto all our wounds; for Thou, almighty King, art a faithful and merciful Physician.

      DAILY PRAYER BOOK.

THE MESSIANIC HOPE

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      WHEN the harp of Judah sounded, thrilled with the touch of inspiration Divine, among the echoes it waked in the human heart were those sweet sounds whose witcheries transport the soul into the realms of happiness. That melody has been our source of courage, our solace and our strength, and in all our wanderings we have sung it. It is the music of the Messianic age, the triumph-hymn to be one day thundered by all humanity, the real psalm of life as mankind shall sing it when Israel’s world-task of teaching it shall have been accomplished. Its harmony is the harmony of the families of the earth, at last at peace, at last united in brotherhood, at last happy in their return to the One Great Father.

      H. PEREIRA MENDES, 1887.

      HAVE we not all one father?

      Hath not one God created us?

      Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother,

      Profaning the covenant of our fathers?

      MALACHI 2. 10.

THE VISION OF A UNITED HUMANITY

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      AND it shall come to pass in the end of days,

      That the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the top of the mountains,

      And shall be exalted above the hills;

      And all nations shall flow unto it,

      And many peoples shall go and say:

      ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

      To the house of the God of Jacob;

      And He will teach us of His ways;

      And we will walk in His paths.’

      For out of Zion shall go forth the law,

      And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

      And He shall judge between the nations,

      And shall decide for many peoples;

      And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,

      And their spears into pruning-hooks;

      Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

      Neither shall they learn war any more.

      ISAIAH 2. 2–4.

      THE Jew who is true to himself will labour with especial energy in the cause of peace. His religion, his history, his mission, all pledge him to a policy of peace, as a citizen as well as an individual. The war-loving Jew is a contradiction in terms. The ‘Man of Sorrows’ must beware of helping, however remotely, to heap sorrow upon others.

      MORRIS JOSEPH, 1903.

TRUST YE IN THE LORD FOR EVER

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      THOU wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee; because he trusted in Thee.

      Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for the Lord is God, an everlasting Rock.

      The way of the just is straight: Thou, Most Upright, makest plain the path of the just.

      Yea, in the way of Thy judgements, O Lord, have we waited for Thee; to Thy name and to Thy memorial is the desire of our soul.

      With my soul have I desired Thee in the night;

      Yea, with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early: for when Thy judgements are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

      Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal wrongfully and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.

      Lord, СКАЧАТЬ