Before closing I beg to express the hope that some one else of Chicago will soon fill out the lacunæ in the above sketch, and will correct the errors which probably are contained therein. There are also quite other fields in the history of the Jews and of Judaism in Chicago which in the foregoing notes have not been touched upon at all, and which are waiting to be tilled by another chronicler or historian. Let me indicate some of these as yet untilled fields: The origin and the rise or decadence of the various philanthropic and other societies among the Chicago Jews; the history of the charitable institutions founded and maintained by them (for example, the Michael Reese Hospital, the Jewish Manual Training School, the Old People's Home); the several attempts at establishing Jewish periodicals in Chicago, and the final success of some of these attempts; the beginnings of the Russian colony there, its growth and its influence upon Chicago Judaism in general; the factors which were active in influencing the inner religious life of the Jews there, etc. But all this must be left to another pen. THE JEWISH CONGREGATION IN SURINAM. BY DR. B. FELSENTHAL. Among the existing Jewish congregations in America, that of Surinam, in Dutch Guiana, named K. K. Berakhah weShalom (Congregation of blessing and peace), is one of the oldest, if not the oldest. After the attempt to establish Jewish colonies on a large scale in Brazil had failed and the colonists had scattered, a number of them must have come to Surinam and must have founded there a congregation. By this congregation a splendid synagogue was built in 1685, and it was dedicated in that year soon after the fall holidays. On Wednesday, the 8th of Heshvan 5546 (October 12, 1785), the congregation joyfully celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of their synagogue's dedication.* Subsequent to the erection of the synagogue, Rabbi David Pardo came from London to Surinam, and died there in 1713.* He was, * A description of this centennial celebration and a collection of the hymns then sung and of the prayers then recited are found in a book of 52 pages in quarto, partly in Hebrew, partly in Dutch, printed in Amsterdam, 1786. It bears the title: זכר רב ושמחה וששון ליהודים .... במלאת מאת שנה לחנוך בית הכנסת של ק"ק ספרדים ברכה ושלום בקולוניא סורינאם .... ביום ד' ח' לחדש חשון בשנת להיות עיניך פקוחות אל הבית הזה לפ"ק. Dutch title:-Beschryving van de plechtigheden nevens de lofdichten en gebeden . . . op het eerste jubelfeest van de Synagogue der Portugeesche Joodsche gemeente, op de Savne in de colonie Suriname... op den 12den van Wynmaand... 1785. Amsterdam, H. W. en C. Dronsberg. A copy of this book is in the Rosenthal library (now a part of the library of the University in Amsterdam); see Roest's Catalog der Hebraica und Judaica aus der L. Rosenthal'schen Bibliothek, p. 738. without doubt, the most distinguished Rabbi the Surinam congregation has ever had. While he was still in Europe, he published the Sepher Shulchan Tahor (containing extracts from the first and second part of the Shulchan 'Aruch), Amsterdam, 1686, several editions of which were afterwards printed (see Benjacob Thesaurus, p. 584).† *See H. J. Michael's Or ha-Hayyim, Frankfurt, 1891, p. 342, where the author says that this is stated as a fact by Rabbi David Nieto in a letter, of which he, Michael, possessed a copy. David Nieto is a reliable witness. He may have known D. Pardo personally; if not, he certainly knew of him and of his life through mutual friends. For David Pardo was a Hazzan in London before he went to Surinam. See Hananel Nepi in his Zekher Zaddikim li-Bhrakhah (contained in Ghirondi's Toledoth Gedolé Yisraël), p. 83; see also title-page of Shulchan Tahor, where, too, mention is made of the fact that Pardo was a cantor in London. R. D. Nieto was his cotemporary and was likewise living in London during the last 27 years of his life. He had been a rabbi in Leghorn, Italy, but was called to the rabbinical chair in London, where he arrived in Elul 5461 (September, 1701), and died there on the 28th of Tebheth 5488 (10th January, 1728); see Or ha-Hayyim, p. 342. Ye'hiël Heilprin names one Baer London as being the author of the Shulchan Tahor; see Seder ha-Doroth, III. (ed. Warsaw, 1882, pp. 8 and 98). Heilprin's Baer London is due to a very curious misunderstanding. If a future Isaac Disraeli should write "The Curiosities of Hebrew Literature," he could well speak of the curiosity before us. On the title-page of the editio princeps of the Shulchan Tahor, the author, David Pardo, is designated as Hazzan בעיר לונדון in the city of London). And these words) בעיר לונדון (be'Ir London) were read by Heilprin as 11 ya (Baer London). And Baer London, a man who never existed, is made immortal by Heilprin, who places him in his list of authors! In this connection it may be proper to add another remark. Isaac Aboab, one of the Amsterdam Rabbis, went in 1642 with a number of Jewish emigrants from Holland to Brazil, and while there he was their spiritual head. After the Jewish settlements in Brazil had broken up, Aboab returned to Amsterdam, in 1654, and there he again entered the Board of Rabbis. David Pardo's Shulchan Tahor (Amsterdam, 1686) contains the approbations (Haskamoth) of several Amsterdam Rabbis, and among them appears Isaac Aboab's name as that of one of the signers. A SERMON BY MOSES MENDELSSOHN, PRINTED IN PHILADELPHIA 130 YEARS AGO. BY DR. B. FELSENTHAL. The discovery made by Prof. Jastrow, in the Philadelphia Library, of the Thanksgiving Sermon, printed in Philadelphia, 1763,* was one of great value. This find is the more interesting, as the German original was written by Moses Mendelssohn. The Sage of Berlin probably never in his lifetime heard of the fact that a sermon written by him when he was 28 years old was translated into English, and that this translation was printed in a city of the distant American colonies. Mendelssohn's name does not appear on the title-page, but the fact is well known that at the request of the officers of the Berlin Jewish Congregation, Moses Mendelssohn several times composed German sermons, which were then delivered by the rabbi of the congregation.† The original of the English Thanksgiving Sermon, which Professor Jastrow has discovered and dug out from the grave of oblivion, was undoubtedly the very first Jewish sermon. ever composed in grammatically correct and pure German and printed in German type; and the Philadelphia translation of the same was also undoubtedly the very first translation of any of Mendelssohn's writings into a foreign language. That sermon was delivered, as stated on the titlepage, by Rabbi David Hirsch Fränkel. This David Hirsch Fränkel was none other than Rabbi David ben Naphtali *See Publications of the A. J. H. S., No. 1, p. 63. Dr. M. Kayserling: Moses Mendelssohn, sein Leben und seine Werke, first edition, p. 145. |