| 2[fol. ii.]
Passover
My dear Congregants: Once again in the swift march of time, this
great symbolical festival well nigh o'er is upon us, this festival which recalls
to our mind, the long pilgramges of our ancestors to the city
of Jerusalem. Men, women & children in their thousands could be
seen travelling along the innumerable dusty roads, beneath the
scorching rays of the tropical sun, all looking with wistful
eyes in the same direction, all bending forward with eagerness
to reach that wonderful city of past memories, the very
thought of which aroused them to the greatest heat of expectation
& enthusiasm, all animated by the same motive, & all
united in the one common object of paying a tribute of
veneration & love to their God. ( It was not by accident that the
feast of Passover was ordained to be celebrated in the Early
Spring. The birthday of a nation was appropriately fixed
in the youth of the year & it thus became crowned as it
were, with a garland of new green leaves. It is
naturally a joyous season. The smiles of the ascending Sun
disperse the clouds of dreary winter & melt the icy
fetters which have lain heavily upon the Earth. Vegetation
awakes from its tarpor & puts forth its millions of bright
shoots. But to the Israelite the advent of Spring, & with | 2[fol. ii.]
Passover
My dear Congregants: Once again in the swift march of time, this
great symbolical festival well nigh o'er is upon us, this festival which recalls
to our mind, the long pilgramges of our ancestors to the city
of Jerusalem. Men, women & children in their thousands could be
seen travelling along the innumerable dusty roads, beneath the
scorching rays of the tropical sun, all looking with wistful
eyes in the same direction, all bending forward with eagerness
to reach that wonderful city of past memories, the very
thought of which aroused them to the greatest heat of expectation
& enthusiasm, all animated by the same motive, & all
united in the one common object of paying a tribute of
veneration & love to their God. ( It was not by accident that the
feast of Passover was ordained to be celebrated in the Early
Spring. The birthday of a nation was appropriately fited
in the youth of the year & it thus became crowned as it
were, with a garland of new green leaves. It is
naturally a joyous season. The smiles of the ascending Sun
disperse the clouds of dreary winter & melt the icy
fetters which have lain heavily upon the Earth. Vegetation
awakes from its tarpor & puts forth its millions of bright
shoots. But to the Israelite the advent of Spring, & with |
EN