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but the property in slaves is placed
under the same protection as any
other species of lawful property
when it is said ‘Thou shalt not
covet thy neighbor’s house, or his
field, or his male slave, or his
female slave.’
“That the Ten Commandments
are the Word of God, and as such,
of the very highest authority, is
acknowledged by Christians as
well as Jews. I would therefore
ask the reverend gentleman of
Brooklyn and his compeers, how
dare you, in the face of the sanc
tion and protection afforded to
slave property in the Ten Com
mandments — how dare you de
nounce slaveholding as a sin?
When you remember that Abra
ham, Isaac, Jacob, Job — the men
with whom the Almighty con
versed, with whose names he em
phatically connects his own most
Holy name . . . that all these men
were slave-holders, does it not
strike you that you are guilty of
something very little short of blas
phemy? And if you answer me,
‘Oh, in their time slaveholding was
lawful, but now it has become a
sin’ I will in turn ask you, “When
and by what authority do you
draw the line? Tell us the precise
time when slaveholding ceased to
be permitted and became sinful?’ ”
He stressed the inherent human
ity in the Jewish Law that regard
ed the slave, not a chattel as in the
South, but a person; that the
Mosaic dispensation protected his
body, his rights and even his dig
nity. Consequently the rabbi placed
Judaism in diametric opposition to
the aim and ideology of the Aboli
tionists.
The sermon created a sensation.
Copied by many newspapers, it
was reprinted in pamphlets and
widely distributed. The Southern
slave owners were elated. Testi
mony out of the Bible, supported
by scholarly interpretations of
Jewish lore received acclamations
from Fundamentalists and slavery
sympathizers in the North. But
liberals were shocked, angered and
ready to accept the anti-Jewish
canards circulated among the
masses for centuries. Bitterness
came from the infuriated Aboli
tionists, among whom could be
found Judeophobes of the classic
type, who referred to the “race
that stoned the prophets and cruci
fied the Redeemer of the World.”
In the main, rabbis and laymen
tended to consider Raphall’s ser
mon just another partisan pamph
let in the bitter political contro
versy. But the more acute minded
saw Judaism besmirched. Attacks
from enemies were too familiar to
cause surprise. Yet for a prominent
rabbi to condone slavery as divine.-
ly ordained (though he did not ac
tually say so) seemed blind and
callous. The liberals contended that
even if laws drafted 3,000 years
ago did not forbid human bondage,
yet enlightened religion must pro
gress beyond the penumbra of a
semi-barbarous age. Jews, of all
people, should particularly feel
compassion for the unfortunate
and downtrodden.
The rabbi of Har Sinai in Balti
more entered the lists against Rap-
hall. With fiery sermons and vi-
trolie articles in German, David
Einhorn exhausted logic, theology,
and invective against his reaction
ary colleague. “If a Christian,” he
declared, “would make the charge
that Judaism was pro-slavery,
Jews of every shade would ‘call
the wrath of heaven and earth
upon such falsehood’.” Raphall
was concerned with the letter and
bypassed the spirit of the Torah
which proclaimed “break down the
bonds of oppression, let the op
pressed go free and tear every
yoke” . . . “Is it anything else but
. . . rebellion against God to en
slave human beings created in His
image, and to degrade them to a
state of beasts having no will of
their own? Is it anything else but
an act of ruthless and wicked vio
lence to reduce defenseless human
beings to a condition of merchan
dises, and relentlessly to tear them
away from the hearts of husbands,
wives, parents and children?” ■
For his courageous stand on the
slavery issue, American Jewry
must ever be grateful. The comba
tive oppositionist could not con
tain his feelings on human bond
age in a free land. His bitter in
vectives, though voice in German,
became known to the Southern
sympathizers in pro-slavery Balti
more, which had jailed the aboli
tionist William Lloyd Garrison and
mobbed a German editor for ex
pressing anti-slavery views. Pub
lic feeling boiled over in a riot
on April 19, 1861. The military and
the police warned Einhorn that his
name appeared on the mob’s list.
Friends pleaded that he display
the Dixie Flag. He refused. He
finally consented to remove his
family from the danger spot. He
abandoned home and belongings
and secretly brought his wife and
children to Philadelphia. Martial
law forbade his return. When mat
ters calmed down, he prepared to
take up where he left off. But the
trustees denied him the freedom
to discuss dangerous questions. He
resigned and accepted a pulpit in
Philadelphia.
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