6

[fol. vi.]

5

concerning woman, the Mosiac Law adopts neither unbounded liberty
nor seclusion. It doesn not bestow upon her the solemn functions
of priesthood which exclusively belong to men; but on the other
hand it does not permit her to live a life of asceticism, into
live apart from the world in a grave, though in the midst of
society, with the object of meditating upon heavenly things while
she is upon Earth & subject to Earthly wants & feelings. Judaism
does not violate laws of nature. Thus woman has no public
religious office & she will have none as long as Judaism is not
undermined by rash & unreasonable changes. But a lovely graceful
office is reserved for her. She is the priestess of her home
It depends upon her whether or not the house, the home become
a house of refinement prayer, sacred, inviolable, a house in which our
religious observances are sincerely adhered to, a house in which spiritual
Judaism, morality & virtue is practised. It is to you, mothers
of Israel that I ap direct my remarks on this sacred day, that
the obnoxious leaven return not into your houses when once
it has been banished. The leaven which I refer to is not the
material, but that which symbolises the moral imperfections
which often deface our families, those imperfections which
are one of the causes of their misery, just as physical