The Southern Israelite. (Augusta, Ga.) 1925-1986, September 19, 1930, Image 60

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Page 60 The Southern Israelite you want the BEST in DRUGS and SODA Run Right to Phones 194-195 ZEIGLER’S Florence, South Carolina A. G. BISSETT STAPLE AND FANCY GROCERIES 426 East Evans Street FLORENCE, S. C. PHONES 227-228 Cook with Gas THE IDEAL FUEL 4* Fllorenee Gas & Fuel Company Florence, S. C. 24 Hour Service Wind Shield and Door Glass Bodies Rebuilt JONES AUTO PAINT CO., INC. HIGH GRADE AUTOMOBILE TRIMMING AND PAINTING 156 N. Sanborn St. Florence, S. C IDEAL FILLING STATION S. W. GRAHAM, Proprietor AUTOMOBILE LAUNDRY Gasoline—Oils—Accessories Battery Service—General Repairing—Vul- canizing—Fisk Tires—Willard Batteries— National Batteries PHONE 840 208 East Evans Street Florence, S. C. My Dreams and I By RABBI JOSEPH UTSCHEN Athens, Ga. It is characteristic of the Jew that lie meets the milestones of time in a religions spirit, with worship and prayer. Not in the wine shop or on the dance floor, but in the synagogue does the Jew welcome the changes of times and seasons. Especially so the New Year. Unlike others to whom New Year’s Day is a day of riotous living and sensual enjoyment, the Jew considers Rosli ha-Shanah as a day of spiritual devotion and of religious af firmation. And so, let my message he the opening words of an ancient He brew prayer: Rihono shel olom! Ani sheloch va-halomosai sheloch (“Master of the universe! I am Thine and my dreams arc Thine.” “I am Thine.” What a fitting ex pression of the spirit of the day! What a glorious affirmation! If there is one truth we are trying to realize during this holy season more than any other it is the truth of our dependence on a Power other than ourselves; it is the acknowledgment that God is the Source and the Director of human destiny. Standing on the threshold of a new year and filled with awe of the un certain and the unknown, the Jew rev erently and humbly bows before God and confesses His supremacy over all creation. “I am Thine.” All that I am, all that I have, all that I have accumulated is Thine, () God. My health, my strength, my wealth, my very life —all is Thine. True, man has increasingly acquired control over his immediate environ ment : he knows more of the condi tions that make for health and decent living; he has discovered the instru ments wherewith greater comfort in life can be obtained. But what of his “I”? What of that spark divine that stamps him as "hut little lower than the angels”? True, man has learned a great deal about nature and its work ings: he can analyze its elements and synthesize them; harness it to do his work; exploit it for his convenience. What do we know of the inmost na ture of the universe and its forces? The mystery of the “1”, the secret of “being” is with God alone. “And my dreams arc Thine.” That great power of man, that extraordinary faculty of his to dream and to vision, to imagine and to plan, to scheme and to project—that, too, is God’s. No other human quality has done more to make man delude himself into believing that he' is master of his own fate than that of dreaming. For it is a God-like quality to foresee and ap praise events in advance of their ac tual happenings; to evaluate results ahead of time. Dreaming, in the wider sense of the word, takes man out of the immediate and the concrete; it carries him on the wings of im agination into realms as yet intangible; it enables him to fashion something out of nothing, so to say. And many there are, people of intellect and im agination, who are so carried away by this power of theirs to dream that they stand ready to renounce any de pendence on a higher power other than themselves. “By the strength of my hand,” they repeat the words of the Assyrian king, “I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent.” Of late there have even been formed religious societies whose outstanding tenet is the renunciation of God’s do minion over man, telling us that today man is king. To these the Jew, with the experi ence of countless centuries behind him, Rabbi Joseph ( tschen again proclaims va-halomosai sheloch mv dreams, too, are Thine. Though man has the capacity to dream, the outcome of his dreams is with God. Dreams are shattered, hopes are thwarted, carefully laid plans are wrecked sometimes by the slightest turn of the weather. Who is he that can truly say he is master of his own fate? Who is he that can with any degree of certainty foretell what the future has in store for him? That “there are many devices in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand” is as true today as it was in the days of yore. Whence, then, the pride and arrogance of the presumptuous Humanist? It certainly is not validated by human experience. If anything, experience has discredited the cocksureness of the high and the mighty; if anything, experience should make 11s humble and reverent. rhe Jew, of all peoples, has a right and a duty to affirm the existence of a Supernatural Power guiding and di recting the destinies of men and na tions. Throughout the millennia of our history, as we watched the centuries glide by, we have repeatedly seen the ambitious dreams of tyrants come to naught; empires built on injustice and oppression vanish into the limbo of the forgotten; civilization founded on brute strength disappears into oblivion. To The Ladies \ who like to wcai a Stylish Coat, Coat ii t or Costume, as wel as those who own pretty Homes and who have an eye for pretty Draperies and other Husehold Furnishin, s, we invite you to sec the Season’s new showings you expect to find in a First Class Dry Goods Establishment, such as THE SUMTER DRY GOODS COMPANY (Regulators Of Prices /'or Sumter) JOHN EVANS 24 Hour Wrecker Service Auto Repairing and Rebuilding 4*4* SUMTER, S. C.