The Jewish Herald (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 15, Ed. 1, Thursday, December 30, 1909 Page: 4 of 28
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Springs Ark and immortalized itself
in the celebrated Kishineff petition
which Was so promptly forwarded by
President Roosevelt to Russia
The founder was iHenry Jones ot
New York Julius Bien ot New York
the great lithographer and scientist
was the president for thirtythree
years and under his auspices the or-
der gained magnificent headway and
in every direction reflected honor and
credit upon the general community as
well as upon the oiganization
In 1900 Mr Bien declined to be le
elected and Leo N Levi of New York
who had come from Texas to found a-
new home became its president He
was in every sense an ideal officer
and did much to strengthen and ele-
vate the organization Unfoitunately
death claimed him withm a very shoit
time after his election The executive
committee then selected Simon Wolf
of this city who served one year and
twho at the New Orleans convention
declined a leelection and Adolf Kraus
of Chicago was elected Mr Kraus
is a man of eminent ability wonderful
resources and has made a splendid of-
ficer
The European grand lodges are com-
posed of the v r > best men of their
respective communities Men of great
culture and scholarship in all the pro-
fessions and walks of life
The convention to be held here will
be composed of about eighty delegates
from all parts of the United States
and some from the European grand
lodges They will be accompanied by
their wives and daughters The head-
quarters will be at the Arlington Ho-
tel The convention will be in session
on week and discuss important ques-
tions appertaining not only to the pio
blems that confront the American
Jewish citizen in the United States
but also those in other lands-
Men of note and gieat ability will
compose the convention and it is
confidently hoped and busted that the
citizens of Washington will vie with
each other to make our compatriots
thoroughly at home The Commission-
ers of the District invited the conven-
tion to ccrao here and President Tatt
has consented to leceive them oificialr
lyr There will be banquets balls and
THE JEWISH HERALD
excursions and notable orations and
addresses
Representative men from Argo
Lodgeof the Independent Order of
BNai Brlth and lady members of the
Jewish Womens Council and the La-
dies Auxiliary Society have been ap-
pointed on committees as have other
piominent citizens of Washington
The delegates form Distiict Grand
Ledge No 7 to the Constitutional
Grand Lodge aie1
Nat Strauss At Large Jos Hirsch
Mississippi L B Hirschman Florida
Chas Jacobson Arkansas Chas J
Haase Emil Nathan Tennessee Clias
Rosen Archibald A Marx Louisiana
Henry Cohen G A Levi B Wadel
Texas Jacques Loeb Lewis E Mayer
Henry Hanaw Alabama
Altei nates Chas F Moritz M
Mohr E R Bernstein E Frisch Jos-
S Loeb H Gernsbacher Leo O Ober
dorfer Max Samfield Sam Ullman
Leo Goodman Arthur L Kramer Jos
Beitman Bertrand Cahn A Steeg
0y Rahht ijatry am stein
So Joseph died being 110 years
old and they embalmed him and he
was put into a coffin of Egypt
This text which is the last verse
of the Book of Genesis is taken from
this weeks portion of the Talmud in
which we have an account of the last
words and the death of the two patri-
archs Jacob and Joseph
At first sight it might seem strange
to you how I can pick such a very
gruesome text upon which to hang
any remarks T mpTy have to niakeupon
Christmas from theJewish point of
view > At first sight it appears that
they have absolutely nothing in com-
mon and I need hardly tell your that
they have leally nothing in common
except that they both hang upon a
common connection that is the ad-
vantage of using nonJewish things to
benefit and to help Jewish things the
advantage of occasionally fructifying
Jewish soil with seed drawn from non
Jewish soil
Our text informs us that the body
of Joseph was embalmed Now em-
balming is an Egyptian custom which
is closely connected with the heathen
religion which was practiced in the
Egypt of old for the Egyptians em-
balmed their dead because they be-
lieved in the future reunion of the
body with the soul This belief we
find constantly referred to in the
Egyptian book of the dead Now in
ordei that tho body might be in a bet-
ter state of preservation when it
reached the soul it was embalmed and
50
so perfect was the process employed
that as you know mummies are found
in wonderful state of preservation in
ruins the world over Now the Jews
believe in burying the body and puri-
fying the soul and this Jewish belief
is shown in the words Dust to Dust
and the dust was returned to the earth
as it was left by the soul for the God
who gave it In other words the JeW-
ish belief is that the body will be re-
solved into its constituent elements
and so it is diametrically opposed to
the Egytian belief yetwe read the
bodies of Jacob and Joseph were em-
balmed We later find that the body
of King Asa also underwent a similar
process and in spite of the fact that
embalming is a part of the heathen
religion the Bible has nothing to say
against it Their bodies were embalm-
ed because they died in Egypt and
wanted to be buried in Palestine and
embalming was employed to avoid di-
sease and so we still embalm bodies
in hot countries for reasons of health
and sanitary purposes Now we may
apply that practice in the widest pos-
sible manner We must heed the
voice of practice no matter whence
it comes Those wisest in the ethics
of the fathers are those who are will-
ing to learn from anyone and so tho
Jews have always believed in that pro-
cess when crosses try us >
Now Christmas time may be a ye
ligious celebration it may celebrate <
a fact which has no religious signifK <
cance to the Jqw but yet wo must rievV
ii
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Goldberg, E. The Jewish Herald (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 15, Ed. 1, Thursday, December 30, 1909, newspaper, December 30, 1909; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth84800/m1/4/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .