ENFacsimile
Transcription
S. MORAIS,
546 N. Fifth Street,
Philadelphia, PA.
3
may win for every giver a record in the book lying
open before the throne of the Most High -- a record
of merits rewarded by a life of uninterrupted hap-
piness. But not because I wish that all may
enjoy the satisfaction which a venerable member
of this Congregation recently experienced -- I mean the
celebration of the the anniversary of ninety first dayanniversary
of his birth in health, wealth and public respect -- not
because I petition God that it may so happen, am I
assured that the Sovereign Creator will so decree.
Still, Jews are taught to believe that the fostering of a
learning productive of righteousness, is a shield against
evil occurrences. Mark, says a Talmudist: the Torah,
personified by Wisdom, is declared a tree of life to those
who lay strong hold thereof. We do not read that
it will prove so only to such as possess a mastery
acquaintance with of it, for, all are not endowed
with mental capacities to acquire its a thorough knowledge of the Torah,
nor have all the leisure to cultivate that study, but it will
confer heavenly blessings on those who do strengthen it will rest upon all who jealously guard diligently seek that it may
not decay - Ez Chayim hee la-machazikim bah.
namely, on persons who effectively contribute to the permanence
Notes and Questions
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I do not know the best way to transcribe this -- not least because I am barely at all literate in Hebrew myself and because I do not generally input Hebrew characters with a computer -- but I wish to note that I see in this image -- between the lines of English-language text numbered 21 and 22 in the transcription at this point -- Hebrew characters (lacking marks representing vowels) -- which I believe can be read as the Hebrew phrase tranliteratable as "eitz chayim hee" (please see Rabbi Morais's similar struck-through transliteration visible later in the image's text) -- a quotation from Proverbs 3:18 (a familiar part of traditional Ashkenazi Jewish liturgy), which declares that "It [the Torsh] is a tree of life" (to those who -- in Rabbi Morais's translation here "lay strong hold thereof").
The last word in the line of text numbered 23 in the transcription seems to me to have been revised by Rabbi Morais from "masterly" to "mastery" -- by means of writing "y" over concluding "ly".
I seem to read -- above the line of text numbered 28 in the transcription -- further Hebrew characters corresponding to "la-machazikim bah" in Rabbi Morais's (struck-through) transliteration (visible in Line 28) of the quotation from Proverbs which I have cited in another Note.