Newspaper Page Text
Page 36
The Southern Israelite
T*
THE TERMS OF THE MORRIS PEAN LOANS ARE SIMPLE
AND PRACTICAL ANI) FAIR—IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO
HAVE HAD AN ACCOUNT WITH THIS COMPANY
TO BORROW
For rnch $50 or f ruction
borrower! you agree to de
posit $1.00 per week in an
account, the proceeds of
which may he used to can
cel the note when due. De
posits may he made on a
weekly, semi-monthly or
monthly basis as you pre
fer.
EASY
TO PAY
w
1-,-kly Depoall
Loan
for 50 WrrkN
* 1OO
$ 2.00
$ 200
$ -t.OO
* .TOO
$ 6.00
* 400
$ 11.00
* 500
$ 10.00
$ I ,ooo
$ 20.00
$5,000
$100.00
MORRIS PLAN
Savings Certificates Earn
you 5%.
Huy them on the weekly,
semi-monthly or monthly
plan. We have always
cashed them on demand.
THE MOKKIS PLAN COMPANY OF GEORGIA
66 Pryor Street, IN. E.
RESOURCES OVER $1,000,000.00
□31!........
Williams Bros. Lumber Co.
934 Glenwood Ave., S. E.
Phone*—Day, IVy 1032—IVy 4711
Building Material
“We Manufacture Everything That 1* Needed
to Build a House”
W. M. GARVIN
SHEET METAL WORK
(.utters, Pipes, Tin Roofs, Ventilators, Skylights
GENERAL TIN WORK
Furnace and Hoiler Pipes Renewed
IVy 4040
157 Edgewood Avenue, S. E.
WILLIAMS-FLYNT
LUMBER CO.
Hetail Dealers in
LUMBER ANI) BUILDERS’
SUPPLIES
250 Elliott, N. W. IVy 1093
Wedding Invitations, Announcements and
Visiting Cards
Sum pies and Prices Upon Request
L. I). SPECHT ENGRAVING CO.
329 Peachtree Si., N. E.
Best Wishes To Our Friends and Patrons
For the New Year
HOTEL ARAGON
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
One of the Leading Down Town Hotels
One Minute from Everywhere
H. A. TISDEL, Manager
Has Judaism Outgrown Ceremonialism
By RAPHAEL BRADWIN
The following optimistic treatment of one of the problem,, <
modern Judaism, coming as it does from the pen of one 0 f our
younger writers, is an indication that these problems will fall U]t ,
good hands and upon able shoulders. It is recommended as highl
worthy of your reading. The booklet. “The Ceremonies of / U( ^
ism,” referred to, may be had from the National Federation of
Temple Brotherhoods, Merchants Building, Cincinnati, Ohio.
—Editors Note
Symbols and ceremonies are ideas
and ideals crystalized. From the prim
itive savage to the most advanced
thinker of today, man has painted
pictures of his ideas and has fash
ioned his ideals in stone and bronze.
From the naive scratches of the pre
historic cave-dweller to the sublime
word-pictures of a Milton and a Keats
seems a far cry; yes, far in technique.
Yet the scratches of the one were
to him as much an expression of his
aims, his hopes and his aspirations
an the imagery of the others was to
them the noble expressions of noble
sentiments. The language of to-day is
but the picture talk of yesterday, both
symbols of human experiences; and
one of the most profound of all hum
an experiences is that of religion.
Every religion from the crudest
worship of stick and stone to the lof
ty idealism of Judaism has found ex
pression in symbol and ceremony. In
deed every organized human effort
has found the symbol and the cere
mony an indispensable factor in its
development. The college with its
songs, its mottoes, and its colors; the
secret society with its ritual and re
galia; the slate with its seal; and
the nation with its flag give abundant
evidence of the power of the symbol
as a rallying point.
Religion Needs Symbols
By far more important than in all
these is the place of the symbol and
the ceremony in religious life. For
religion, with its metaphysical ab
stractions and lofty ethical aspira
tions cannot live in the lives of the
masses without the symbolic expres
sion of its affirmations. It is not too
much to say that organized religion
without ceremonies and symbols is
unthinkable.
In recent years, men have been
wont to condemn, and not without
cause, the religious ceremonialism be
cause of its too great emphasis upon
form to the detriment of the inner
spiritual life. But in their desire to
rid religion of its impediments, they
have deprived it of its soul. As we
draw farther and farther away from
the Ghetto, the intense spirit that per
meated its narrow confines became ev
er more flabby and colorless.
In the eager attempt of the emanci
pated to clean Judaism of the Ghetto
taint, the work was done none too
carefully but only too well. With the
stain, also the warp and woof of the
Jewish pattern was rubbed away. The
Judaism that once affected Jewish
life in all its completeness to-day is
but the faint echo of its former viri
lity. It has lost much of its warm ap
peal to the Jewish heart, and has be
come emotionally barren and intellw
tually cold.
Men Swayed by Hearts
Whatever may be our intellectual
reaction to the Judaism of the Ghetto
it cannot be denied that its greatest
strength lay in its power to evoke a
profound emotional response in its ad
herents; and whether we like it or
not, men are swayed by the heart#
The head but rationalizes what the
heart dictates.
More and more, this psychological
truism is penetrating the conscious
ness of our religious leaders and guid
ing in their program of religious edu
cation. The re-introduction and re
vitalization of the ceremonies and
symbols of Judaism, by careful and
intelligent selection, is but the first
sign of the awakening to the need*
of the time; and it is indeed a health
ful and inspiring sign of the time to
see what an active, nay, leading part
the Jewish laymen are taking in this
work of rehabilitation.
During the past year, the Reform
Jewish laity, which is organized un
der the name of the National Fede
ration of Temple Brotherhoods Un
ion of American Hebrew Congrega
tions, undertook an extensive educa
tional program for its members and
Jewry at large. Beginning with »
comprehensive survey of the needs in
Jewish life, now published in a book.
“The Voice of the Jewish Laity," the
lay readers have made a brave at
tempt to understand the problems and
to meet the needs disclosed by this
study.
In their organ, “The Brotherhood
Monthly,” they began a campaign t
acquaint their members, some 20,000
of them, with the meaning and signi •
eance of Judaism, its symbols ar.d
ceremonies, its ideas and ideals.
series of articles on the symbols *n
ceremonies in Jewish life from t t
dawn of Judaism to the present day
was written by Prof A. Z. !«*>“
of the Hebrew Union College »"
furnished the text for their wor <■
instruction. Articles by others °P*
up other vistas of Jewish U e 0
public eagerly seeking enlighten
on subjects so closely interwoven
the pattern of their lives. n
“The Ceremonies of Judaism
In order to widen the S P ^
their educational activities an
cularly to acquaint American *>
with the Ceremonies and
important in Jewish life 0 „ ot h er -
the Federation of Temple ^
hoods collected the articles w t
Prof. Idelsohn on the subj^m^
beautiful booklet entitled contrib0 .
monies of Judaism. J “ ff*
tion is especially si ^. ^^bol and
religions are so rich 1
ceremony as is Judaism.
(Continued on Ua£ e