The Object of Judaism.

A Sermon, Pronounced in the Henry Street Synagogue, New York, On Sabbath Vayishlach, by the Rev. Dr. W. Schlesinger.

Father on high! Creator and Governor of the universe with all its hosts! thy power, thy greatness, thy goodness, and thy wisdom are infinite, as the number of thy years is also innumerable. Yet Thou refusest not to let thy providence rule over us weak and perishing mortals, and not less in the fate of nations than the fortune of individuals the traces of thy wise dispensations are unmistakable. May it be then thy will, O Eternal One, our God! to grant me this day deeply impressive, inspired and inspiring words, that the thoughts which flow like a stream out of my soul, over the narrow bridge of the tongue, into the outer world, may find an echoing chord in the hearts of my hearers, not for the sake of my own honour, but for thy glory and the exaltation of thy holy name. Amen.

Beloved Hearers:—

It is remarked in an old Midrash, which is also quoted by the celebrated expounder of Scripture, Rashi, that the history of our father Jacob has many points of similarity with that of his son Joseph. “The first was hated, so was the other; the first was threatened with danger of life by his brother, and the other was also near being slain by his brothers,” &c. With yet greater right does it appear to us that we shall be able to show that the history of this, our progenitor, is a prefiguration for the greater portion of his descendants, and that it contains, so to say, already <<530>>the germ of the remarkable sufferings and afflictions of the Jewish people. We may say of Israel, in contradistinction to other nations of the earth, that whereas these employed themselves in hunting, in the trade of war, in the founding of great states, and in the conquest of celebrated kingdoms, the others enjoyed but a brief state of prosperity in the promised land of their heritage; whereas those distinguished themselves in the erection of magnificent works of art, and displayed their inventive genius in all that contributes to the heightening of the enjoyments of life, these, who deserve to be called the exclusively religious nation, employed as a people their time mostly in astute investigations concerning the word of God, and their greatest enjoyment of life consisted in a constant reflecting on the scriptural monuments of the prophets and sages of antiquity.

Jacob was hated by Esau, because he would not, like him, waste his time in the whirl of sensual intoxication, because he lived more for heaven than for earth, and the descendants of Jacob have had the same fate. We read in the holy Scriptures how Jacob, in order to escape the wrath of his brother, had to quit his father’s house, and wander away into a distant land; and the descendants of Jacob have been compelled, not once only to quit the paternal soil, to escape the wrath of their brothers;—nowhere on the earth could they find a resting‑place for any length of time, and they had again and again to resort to the wandering staff, accompanied often with the relinquishment of their goods and possessions. In our refined and over-civilized time, the character of which is so different from the beautiful, natural, and patriarchal manners of antiquity, no one is ever comforted through a wonderful and divine vision in a dream, as it happened to our father Jacob in his wandering; but the man whose spiritual eye is in any small degree capable of appreciating the luminous rays from above, can also now, even in our present situation, perceive the ladder, the foot of which is on earth, the top of which reaches heaven, and on which divine messengers are ascending and descending.

Let us place ourselves a moment in the situation of our ancestor. With empty pockets, supplied only with a wandering staff, he commenced his journey; and how painful must have been to him the sudden parting from his blind father, from the tenderly loving and dearly loved mother. His first night’s lodging is not in a com<<531>>fortable inn, but in an open place, and the hard stone served him instead of a soft pillow. What thoughts may not have agitated the poor forsaken one at his lying down!—to stand alone in God’s wide world, without protection against robbers and wild beasts, and without means or prospects to earn a living in future, is a position in no way calculated to excite pleasant and cheerful thoughts and courageous resolves.

But the man whom the Scriptures themselves describe as איש תם, a simple, straightforward, upright, and pious man,—whom no outward circumstances could bow down; and the invisible God, who occupies the highest point in the ladder of the chain of beings, communicated to him in a dream the assurance that a numerous progeny should descend from him, and should be the lords of the soil on which he was then lying, that they should spread over the greatest distance, to all the regions of the world, and that he and his posterity should become a blessing to all the families of the earth. “I myself,” said God, “will be with thee, and preserve thee whithersoever thou goest, and I will bring thee back to this land; for I will not forsake thee till I have fulfilled all that I have spoken to thee.”

Who has the capacity to portray the joyful and happy feelings which overpowered Jacob when he awoke from this glorious dream? What new courage, what bold hopes, what firm reliance must it not have breathed into him! At the same time, however, was he overwhelmed with reverence for the most Exalted and Omnipresent, and he attained to the clear perception that his God is not like the gods of the heathens, bound to one or to several fixed places.

“And he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How fearful is this place! This is no other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And when Jacob arose early in the morning, he took the stone, which he had placed for his pillow, and set it up as a monument, and poured wine and also oil upon it, add he called the name of that place בית אל, the house of God.”

The descendants of Jacob have also stood often, in their pilgrimage, solitary and by the world forsaken, not knowing where they could lay down their weary heads; but their Father in heaven, the Protector of the unfortunate, gave them always and everywhere clear proofs of his loving providence. And, wheresoever we may be, we see everywhere how one link of the chain of <<532>>beings is wonderfully joined to the other. Everywhere we behold the unending ladder which reaches from earth to heaven;—how man is able to elevate himself, step by step, to a higher, better, and more divine degree, and every living being is a servant of God, and is compelled to labour in the accomplishment of the wise intentions of the Most high, whether consciously or unconsciously, and often even in despite of his own will.

And in all lands and in every place, where there assemble even but a few or many Jewish families, they always erected a memorial as a token of their revering the SOLE God, and gladly relinquished many an enjoyment, many a comfort, so that they but obtained a house of God, where they could perform their devotions. And the conviction forced itself constantly more and more on them, that wheresoever they approached the Omnipresent with awe and reverence, they also could rely on the attainment of his blessing, sinceבכל המקום אשר אזכיר את שמי אבא אליך וברכתיך “In every place where I shall permit thee to mention my name will I come and bless thee.” And as soon as the Lord had blessed the work of their hands, when the number of their families had increased, they were at once prepared to make yet greater sacrifices, to enlarge the spaces of the house of God, and to give them a heightened splendour.

Let us, brethren, continue a little farther the history of our ancestor. We see how, being strengthened, he lifted up his feet, and went to the land of the children of the east. And behold there was a well in the field, and three flocks of sheep were encamped around it, and a great stone was on the mouth of the well. After a friendly conversation with the shepherds, and after having seen Rachel the shepherdess, the daughter of his uncle, he rolled the stone from, the well, and gave drink to the sheep of Laban. In the same manner has it remained a beautiful and peculiar trait in the family of Jacob to be ready to aid and serve each other in the time of need, and so it will always remain.

Seven full years was Jacob compelled to serve for Rachel, for the beloved of his heart, when he was cheated, and in order to call her his own, he had to serve anew another seven years. And many of you, beloved brethren, surely know, from your own sad experience, how heavy was made the burden of the Jews through many centuries, before they could lead home their Rachel, and <<533>>how often they found themselves again deceived when they fancied themselves within reach of the fulfillment of their wishes.

And when Jacob had at length provided for himself a family, and was richly blessed with children, how difficult was it even then to obtain the deserved reward for his faithful services from his hard-hearted and avaricious relative. Only through his opposing artifice to artifice, and because God evidently caused all his enterprises to succeed, he became master and possessor of numerous flocks and herds, despite of the envy and jealousy of Laban and his sons. In the same manner was it made as difficult as possible to our brothers in faith in most countries, down to the latest times, to obtain a livelihood; but in despite of all unnatural and barbarous laws of senseless possessors of power, did the blessing of God rest on them, and however often they were robbed and plundered, the springs of this blessing carried nevertheless new abundance unto them.

We are told in the section which we read today, how Jacob employed a considerable part of his property to acquire the favour of his persecutor and inimical brother; in the same manner were his descendants innumerable times compelled to give up that what they had slowly acquired with the sweat of their face, to obtain rest from their enemies and persecutors, who nevertheless ought to have entertained for them brotherly feelings in a strict conformity to the prescription of their own religion. Jacob had also to contend and strive with a divine messenger, with an angel in human form, in the dark of night till the break of day; nevertheless, he overcame him, and forced from him his blessing. The angel then said to him, “What is thy name?” and he answered, “Jacob;” to which the other replied, “Not Jacob shalt thou be called any more, but Israel; for thou hast contended with divine beings and with men, and hast prevailed.”

And during the long and dark night of the middle ages, Israel had to contend against divine beings and men, and the contest is not ended even now; but this contest, for which the name of the Lord be praised, is not carried on any more at the present day with sword and lance and exercised with the rude power of the larger numbers, but with the weapons of the spirit, with the lightning of thought, with the power of ideas, and Israel will at length triumph when the day dawns, yea, will conquer, as our progenitor once prevailed, and <<534>>obtain moreover the blessing of those over whom the conquest is obtained.

Yet several other similarities, and many other points of comparison could we draw from the history of Jacob; but it is time that I leave the field of history to place myself on that of the present time. Behold! it suddenly threatens to grow dark, and night flits along to enshroud my eyes; dark figures I see moving spectre-like before me, and I feel as though I heard the ominous croak of the raven—it is the voice of those who everywhere and at all times appear with the assertion, that there is no safety perceptible in the present condition of Israel. Let us, therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, seek for consolation, strength, revival and edification, in the words of the prophet Ezekiel xxxvii. 1-15, which I will now read to you.

But thou God of all spirits and all flesh, send us the proper spirit that we may all recognise, that only then when we are penetrated by the spirit of love, and of pure and sincere faith, we are capable of accomplishing the problem of our life, of being Israelites—servants and warriors of God. Amen.

היתה עלי יד ה׳ ויוציאני ברוח ה׳ ויניחני בתוך הכקעה והיא מלאה עצמות׃ וגו׳ עד פסוק י״ד

“And the hand of the Lord was upon me, and I was carried out through the spirit of the Lord, and was let down in a valley, and it was full of bones. And he led me about them all around, and behold they were very many on the face of the valley, and they were very dry. And he said to me, O son of man, shall these bones live? and I said, O Lord God, thou alone knowest it. And he said to me, Prophesy concerning these bones, and say to them, O ye dry bones; hear the word of the Lord, Thus saith the Lord God to these bones, Behold I will bring spirit in you, and you shall live. And I will put veins upon you, and I will cause flesh to come upon you, and I will draw skin over you, and I will place a spirit in you and you shall live, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. And I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied there came a voice, and there was a storm, and the bones approached each one to its fellow. And I saw, and behold veins were on them, and flesh came, and a skin was drawn over them above, but there was no spirit in them. And he said to me, Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, O son of man, and say to the spirit, Thus saith the Lord God, From the four sides of heaven borne, O spirit, and breathe on these slain ones, that they may live. And I prophesied as the Lord commanded me, and spirit came into them and they lived, and they stood on their feet, an exceed<<535>>ingly great army.

And He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold they say, Our bones are dry and our hope is lost, we are cut off. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I open your graves, and I will bring you up from your graves, my people, and bring you to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, my people, and when I bring you up out of your graves, my people; and I will put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you upon your land, and you shall know that I am the Lord who have done it, saith the Lord.”

I.

The interpretation of this precious prophecy the Lord himself communicated to Ezekiel, in saying “These bones are (represent) the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, we are cut off.” This assertion was not heard only then when the Jewish kingdom was approaching its downfall and total dissolution, for it is also frequently heard even now, from the mouths of many of our brothers both in the new world as well as the old. What wonder then that the professors of another religion try all possible means to make us sick of our belief, and to draw us over to their own? Very frequently, too, they have endeavoured to cut off from us all hope of life, and have compared Judaism to an old rotten and dilapidated building which threatens to tumble down on all sides, which is full of breaches, crevasses, and rents, wherefore it offers no protection against the weather, against rain and storm. Others again allege, that they feel a lively interest for the eternal truths, the divine ideas of Judaism; whereas they consider the whole system of ceremonial laws as a superfluous addition, which they desire to have cut away root and branch, and this the sooner the better. They are in the habit of representing Judaism under the image of a very old tree which has still some healthy roots, wherefore the stem thereof, possesses still some vigour of life, whilst all the branches and twigs are totally rotten and decayed.

With all the love, attachment, and zeal, which I bear in my bosom for the religion of our fathers, for which I will also surrender everything, with all sincerity, till the last breath of my life is drawn, I cannot deny that the outward constitution of Judaism is in such a state of derangement, partly through pressure from without, partly through carelessness from within, <<536>>through indifference, through misunderstanding, through a want of religious sentiment, and through still many other causes, that we only can reflect with care and apprehension, how this evil, how these injuries can be remedied. A small, a very small part of the mass of nations as we are, scattered besides in all directions, we have among us no union, no chief, no authority; what is prohibited by one is permitted by another; what the one binds the other looseneth, and what one declares to be a principal, the other esteems as a secondary matter; men without moral value and without an accurate knowledge of the sources of our religion obtrude themselves not rarely as leaders, and the people, easily led astray, is for a time deceived by them with false lights; yea, men who openly before the eyes of every one have, times without number, transgressed the most important and sacred commands of religion, not rarely assume the appearance as though they were the true preservers of the ultra-orthodox Judaism, Can therefore any one be blamed for saying, under such circumstances, and when observing such evils, “Our bones are dry, our hope is lost; we are cut off?”

But, brethren, we must not yield ourselves too long to such sorrowful and melancholy contemplations, and not tarry quite too long at the shady side of the picture; but we will rather refresh ourselves and become stronger and more vigorous through the words of the prophet, through the announcement of the divine spirit, which brings new life among the dead bones. And what kind of spirit, brethren, do you think it is which is able to raise again the stiff, rotten, decayed, dry, and dead skeleton?—It is above all the spirit of love. There, where prevails true, pure, noble, and disinterested love, which, by the by, is immeasurably removed from sensual and beastly passion,—there is also true life. It is also for this cause that life and love have in our vernacular kindred sounds; as it is also in the German, the noble language of our fatherland, “Leben,” and “Liebe.” He who says not merely with his lips ואהבת את ה׳ אלהיך, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might,” but who is in reality filled with love towards God, must also be happy and content in every situation of life; he may indeed strain every nerve, employ all the powers of his mind to improve his condition by all legally permitted means; but he murmurs <<537>>and complains not concerning that which is unalterable, concerning the limits within which he is confined; for he feels and knows, that a Supreme Wisdom rules over all, and directs everything for the benefit of the entire mass of beings. Out of love to God he will also take care not to transgress any one precept through which he might draw upon himself the Divine displeasure. He will also for this cause not always think of himself only, not strive to promote solely his own interest; he knows that the love of God is not extended to none but him, but is bestowed likewise on all men and all beings, and that it is the will of God, that all mankind should love each other as brothers and render mutual assistance to all; as it is written ואהבת לרעך כמוך “And thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

Where true and sincere love has set up her throne in the heart of man, there is the individual easily inclined to defer to others and to forgive their faults. The husband bears patiently and mildly with the peculiarities and humours of the wife of his choice; and endeavours to show her a better course through kind but not by means of impatient words. The wife will bear with patience and yielding the excitement of the husband when he is much busied and overburdened with care, and not try to excite him yet more; and in this manner their union may be called happy and enviable. The children which spring from such a blessed union, grow up prosperously under the honest culture of their parents; their faults will be earnestly corrected and reproved, but not punished with undue rigour; and thus they advance to maturity amidst examples of fear and adoration of God and love for mankind, and obtain, likewise, proper instruction in what is worth knowing; and most especially the religion of their fathers. And thus they will find favour in the eyes of God and men.

Yes, my beloved hearers, this it is what the Scriptures mean in saying, “Behold, I have laid before thee this day the life and the good, the death and the evil; but choose thou life,” &c. Even this day can you all acquire life, if you open your hearts to the dictates of true love; for hatred and envy, wickedness and evil desires are the actual, spiritual, moral death, against which our law so earnestly admonishes us. But in the same measure as Providence has wisely ordained, that though each streamlet <<538>>which meanders through the meadow, is in itself a pleasant spectacle to the beholder, many streamlets must nevertheless carry their waters into the river, which, thus acquiring a high importance, bears on its bosom sail and steamships, and diffuses commerce, trade, intercourse, and blessing over a whole country; so was it intended that each individual man, and each single family, shall and must unite themselves with a larger mass, with a community, in order to obtain value and importance.

And do you know what is the means of union, the bond which keeps any community together and promotes their prosperity? It is again the principle of love. In a community composed of God-fearing, God-devoted and philanthropic members, there it is impossible that wrangling, quarrels, and contentions should prevail; and if such strife accidentally occur, it will be immediately settled quietly with moderation and reflection, on the principles of justice and equity. But the individual Israelite must not regard himself solely as a member of the congregation to which he belongs ; no, he must likewise bear within himself the consciousness that he is destined by God to belong to the whole congregation of Israel, and all mankind on the face of the earth.

If the spirit of true love towards God, the law, and Judaism, has found a place in us, then must all little jealousies between the different Jewish communities vanish; then will the walls of separation which divide and separate them fall to the ground; for they will then see and understand that they have all the selfsame task, the selfsame destiny, to glorify on earth the name of the ONE, the blessed God of our fathers, and that in this no one can have a preference above the other.

Look at this beautiful, great, and noble country, which was but thinly populated as late as the last century. Through what means has it attained, all at once and so suddenly, to such power, to such importance, to such influence, to such splendour? Because great and excellent men have given it a wise and reasonable constitution, an incomparable fundamental law, in respect to which men of the most varied and contradictory views can live near each other in peace, quiet, and concord. And should we Israelites, who are indebted on our being here to this same constitution, not learn therefrom that we also may attain a quite different importance, a much greater influence, if but once the <<539>>spirit of contradiction, which moves its wings here and there, be entirely overcome by the spirit of love?

Let us then call out in the words of our text, “From the four quarters of heaven, come, O spirit! thou pure spirit of love, and breathe into our brothers; and the lukewarm, and the cold, and the indifferent, and the narrow-minded, and the apostates; and the dead, shall feel themselves penetrated with a new life, and a great, numerous, uncountable host will then assemble around the banner of Israel.”

II.

With the spirit of love must also come, secondly, the spirit of a pure, undefiled faith, which must fill us, if we wish to he Israelites in the full sense of the word. Through the spirit of love we can be, without doubt, good and honest men and worthy citizens, but are nevertheless through this means not yet Israelites; not yet champions in God’s army, who are ready to aid with all their powers in the establishment of the divine kingdom on earth. Only then do we become Israelites, when we believe in the ONE, Eternal, and invisible God, who shares his glory with none other, and gives not his praise to idols,—that the Holy One, praised be He,  watches over the acts and omissions of every man, probes his innermost soul; that nothing, absolutely nothing, escapes his omniscience, and that He dispenses reward and punishment in the measure of justice, which is also accompanied at the same time with mercy. These doctrines are embraced in the first two of the ten commandments, which our forefathers heard themselves immediately out of the mouth of the Deity on Mount Sinai.

As Israelites we are moreover bound to believe that Moses was the principal among the prophets, and that through him God revealed his holy will, his laws and ordinances. To this day we are obliged to observe the execution of these laws and ordinances, so far as it is within our power; therefore ought every Israelite to busy himself with the study of the law as often as possible, and endeavour to obtain instruction therein from wise and God-fearing men. A principal advantage of Judaism consists therein, that it  demands of its professors only obedience towards the decisions of the judges of every period, but not by any means a blind faith in the words of its spiritual teachers; on the contrary, every one should with his own reason, with his own power of penetration, <<540>>and with unlimited love for the truth, endeavour to impress on himself the doctrines of religion and the prescriptions and the articles of faith. Notwithstanding this, have the pious Israelites always held at all times in honour, and revered as exalted and holy their instructors, their preachers, and Rabbis, so soon as they had convinced themselves that these were penetrated with true fear of God, and esteemed the honour of their faith hither than their own honour and their own interests.

If now the spirit of true and undefiled faith has opened itself a road in our midst, no one will then obstinately insist on prejudices and preconceived opinions, and every man will readily and willingly offer his hand to remove acknowledged abuses. Is it not so, beloved brethren? You have already abolished the sale of the Mitzvote in the house of God, as obnoxious to the superior intelligence of the age, and opposed to the dignity of the sanctuary. You have set a limit to the accumulation of innumerable Misheberachs (offerings), and to a surety the worship has lost nothing in dignity and propriety, but has gained greatly in both respects. Whoever has really a liberal heart, has day by day opportunities to be liberal, and to give charity, and waits not till his name and the amount of his gift are publicly proclaimed in the Synagogue; he willingly dispenses from his superfluous store for the heightening of the splendour of the house of God, without desiring to create public attention for so doing.

A yet more striking proof that you are resolved to pursue the path of a moderate progress, you have displayed therein that you have taken care with all due zeal that the prayers shall be recited in a beautiful and proper form, with solemn quiet and decorum, and that it was a sincere desire of your heart to introduce speedily a regular choir for the chaunting of the requisite prayers. Yes, my friends, this is the effect of the spirit of pure, unadulterated faith, that progress should unfold itself naturally from within to act without, and not to be forced from without upon the religion we profess; and how happy would we be, if it could be said of us all one day, “They believed in the Lord, and in Moses his servant.”

Let us then, my beloved brothers, and you also beloved sisters, whose disposition, by nature inclined to the adoption of religious a sentiments, has so great an influence on the education of children, hold fast to this our holy faith, but let us prove also its presence <<541>>by acts which correspond with it. Let us especially celebrate our Sabbaths and festivals as holy days consecrated to God, on which men and women, youths and maidens, should flock to the houses holy to the Lord, to become strengthened in the spirit of our holy faith, and to take an example by the life of God-inspired men of antiquity. Forget not that nothing contributed more to the preservation of our law, than the very Sabbaths and festivals on which the people obtained public instruction.

Thus also it is related in the Talmud: “Once upon a time the Israelites were prohibited by the tyrannical government of the Romans to engage in the study of the law. Paphos, son of Judah, came to a place where he found a large mass of people assembled, to whom Rabbi Akiba expounded the law. The former then said to him, Akiba, fearest thou not the government the law of which thou violatest? But R. Akiba answered him, I will tell thee a parable. A fox once took a walk along the bank of a river, in which he discovered a mass of fishes, who swam hither and thither in the greatest confusion. He asked them, What causes this great disturbance among you ? To which they replied, We fear the nets which men have spread against us.  I will give you an advice, said the fox; if you desire to be safe, then come and live with me on shore, just as your fathers formerly used to live with mine. What, they exclaimed, art thou the one who is called the most cunning of beasts? thou art not cunning, but the most foolish. If we are not safe here where alone we can live, what can we expect of a place where we are sure to die? Just so is it with us Israelites; if we are not safe when we adhere to our law, of which it is written, It is thy life and the length of thy days, what have we to expect if we forsake it? Soon afterwards Rabbi Akiba was thrown into prison, but Paphos, son of Judah, was also caught and put in the same place of confinement. When R. Akiba saw him he asked Paphos, What has brought thee hither? to which he replied, Happy art thou, R. Akiba, that thou sufferest for the law, and wo is thee, Paphos, that thy suffering proceeds from the vain and worthless things of this world.”

The same Rabbi Akiba, when he had been led to the place of execution, and was compelled to yield his spirit amidst the cruel tortures of the minions of tyranny, called out with his expiring breath, “Hear, O Israel, the Eternal, our God, the Lord is One.” Never would R. <<542>>Akiba, one of the greatest teachers of our people, have acted counter to the commands of the government, never would he have taken part in the revolt of his fellow-Israelites under the guidance of the celebrated Bar Cochebah against the Romans; never would he have ascended the scaffold; if he had not felt the most absolute conviction, that Israel would sooner or later become again an independent kingdom, and that the Creator of life had destined the human soul to endure for ever.

Let then many of our enlightened brothers in the old world renounce as they may the hope in the second birth of Israel, and the restoration of the temple on the mountains of Zion, because they fear that otherwise they would not be considered to love their present fatherland, or perhaps because they have no desire to see themselves united with their fellows in belief; we nevertheless give full credence to the assurances of our prophets; we believe, that when the time shall come, that no nation will lift up the sword any more against the other, and all revere only the ONE and ETERNAL God: then will all nations also regard it as their most sacred duty to honour especially that people which has suffered, constantly contending for the unity of God, and to distinguish pre-eminently that place, from which the word of the Lord first went forth; “for from Zion shall go out the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

Then will the spirit of love and of pure unadulterated faith penetrate all men, and be fulfilled what the prophet promised: “Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I open your graves, and bring you up out of your graves, my people, and bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, my people, and bring you up from your graves, my people; and I will put my spirit in you and you shall live; and I will place you [at rest] in your land, and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken and done it; saith the Lord.” Amen.