(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
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Sabato Morais was born on April 13, 1823, in Livorno, Italy, the son of Samuel Morais and Buonina Wolf and one of nine children. Descended from a Portuguese family which fled to Italy to escape the persecutions of the Inquisition, he inherited a love of liberty and an interest in republican government which manifested itself throughout his life and led to a friendship with Mazzini.
He carried on his Hebrew studies under the rabbis Funaro, Curiat, and Piperno, the latter chief rabbi of Leghorn, acquiring a good knowledge of the Bible, the Talmud, and Jewish literature generally, and an ability to write and speak Hebrew fluently.
Secular studies he pursued under Salvatore de Benedetti; in addition to his native Italian, he wrote and spoke French and Spanish with facility. During most of his student life he taught others in order to aid his father in the support of the family.
In 1845 he went to London as a candidate for the position of reader at the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue in Bevis Marks, but the fact that he knew no English prevented his election and he returned to Italy.
The following year he was recalled to London to fill the post of Hebrew master of the orphan school of the same congregation.
He came to America in March 1851 and the following month was elected minister of the Mikveh Israel Congregation of Philadelphia, which he served until his death. His duties were many; he read the services on Sabbaths and holidays, and preached in English, often using his pulpit for instruction, chiefly in Jewish history. In addition to this work, he visited widely those who were in distress, in his congregation and outside of it, and answered painstakingly all letters asking him for advice or comfort. In the early days he complained of his difficulty with English but as time went on he gained greater command of it, though his style retained a Latin warmth and richness.
His most important articles were reprinted in 1926 under the title Italian Hebrew Literature, to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of his birth.
During the Civil War Morais, who was an ardent abolitionist, had several disagreements with his congregation over the partisan tone of his sermons. At one time a group to whom he refers as "copperheads" prevented his speaking in the pulpit for three months. His attitude won him recognition in another quarter, however, for the Union League Club of Philadelphia elected him an honorary member.
Morais was much moved by the persecution of the Jews in Russia in 1881. Through an old schoolmate, Emanuel Felice Veneziani, the aide of Baron Maurice de Hirsch in his varied philanthropies, he was able to get a fund for the settlement of the immigrants from Russia in agricultural colonies in New Jersey. Nor did his interest end with securing the money. He often visited the colonies and burdened himself with countless details of their management. He was a born teacher and was greatly interested in the local educational organizations. He gave private lessons gratuitously to any one who wanted to learn and collected about him a group of young men who carried on the various interests which he fostered or founded.
He was professor of Bible and Biblical literature in the Maimonides College which was established in Philadelphia in 1867, and taught there until it closed in 1873. When the Hebrew Union College was founded in 1875 he hoped that it would serve as a seminary for all the Jews in America desirous of entering the rabbinate, but when he saw that the trend there was away from traditional Judaism, he immediately took steps to start another institution.
As a result, the Jewish Theological Seminary was founded in New York in 1886, which from small beginnings has grown to be an important seat of learning. He was president of the faculty and professor of Bible in this institution until his death on November 11, 1897, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
Sabato Morais was an honorary member of the Union League Club of Philadelphia.
Sabato Morais was a man of genuine humility, tall and spare, and ascetic in his habits.
In 1855, Sabato Morais married Clara Esther Weil, and they had seven children.
Giuseppe Mazzini was an Italian politician, journalist, activist for the unification of Italy, and spearhead of the Italian revolutionary movement.
