"A Lay Sermon by a Young Lady," a Yom Kippur sermon by Ray Frank, Part 3 of 3
The text of a sermon given by Ray Frank on the eve of Yom Kippur.
Part 1 and part 2.
...hands in one glorious cause. We are all Israelites, and anxious to help one another. Look up to our creed and live up to it. It is not necessary to build a magnificent synagogue at once; that can be done in time. The grandest temples we have ever had or the world has ever known were those which had the blue sky for a roof, and the grandest psalms ever sung were those rendered under the blue vaults of heaven.
It is absolutely necessary for a man to be something. A cipher or a million of ciphers all count naught. One must have a fixed value or been looked up as a nothing. This holds as true in religion as in other things. Your neighbors of various creeds and denominations would as soon think of avowing themselves cannibals as of disavowing their religion. They have no respect for the man who is nothing; neither do they trust him. If you would stand well in the eye of the community, uphold your faith and teach your children the glory of perpetuating a grand old creed.
Form yourselves into a permanent congregation as soon as possible, and organize a Sabbath school. Unless one is established soon your children will grow up without any creed at all. One must believe in something, and one must have faith in something or become a menace to society. Keep one day holy, and teach your children to do the same. It isn't good for you to do as you are doing. We are no longer a nation of people, although we are often spoken of as such. We have no ruler, but are simply citizens of the country we live in. We are loyal to the civil rule that governs us, and we should be loyal to the religious rule that we all bow to.
Friends, I thank you for the patience with which you have listened to me, and in the name of all we Hebrews hold most dear, I ask you to be patient with each other. Drop all personal feeling in this matter, and meet each other half way over your differences; give each other a hearty handshake for the sake of the cause, and I prophesy Heaven will crown your efforts with peace and prosperity.
From to-night on resolve to be something.
Part 1 and part 2.
...hands in one glorious cause. We are all Israelites, and anxious to help one another. Look up to our creed and live up to it. It is not necessary to build a magnificent synagogue at once; that can be done in time. The grandest temples we have ever had or the world has ever known were those which had the blue sky for a roof, and the grandest psalms ever sung were those rendered under the blue vaults of heaven.
It is absolutely necessary for a man to be something. A cipher or a million of ciphers all count naught. One must have a fixed value or been looked up as a nothing. This holds as true in religion as in other things. Your neighbors of various creeds and denominations would as soon think of avowing themselves cannibals as of disavowing their religion. They have no respect for the man who is nothing; neither do they trust him. If you would stand well in the eye of the community, uphold your faith and teach your children the glory of perpetuating a grand old creed.
Form yourselves into a permanent congregation as soon as possible, and organize a Sabbath school. Unless one is established soon your children will grow up without any creed at all. One must believe in something, and one must have faith in something or become a menace to society. Keep one day holy, and teach your children to do the same. It isn't good for you to do as you are doing. We are no longer a nation of people, although we are often spoken of as such. We have no ruler, but are simply citizens of the country we live in. We are loyal to the civil rule that governs us, and we should be loyal to the religious rule that we all bow to.
Friends, I thank you for the patience with which you have listened to me, and in the name of all we Hebrews hold most dear, I ask you to be patient with each other. Drop all personal feeling in this matter, and meet each other half way over your differences; give each other a hearty handshake for the sake of the cause, and I prophesy Heaven will crown your efforts with peace and prosperity.
From to-night on resolve to be something.
