CONSECRATION OF JEWISH SYNAGOGUE.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 128, 14 November 1885, Page 7

CONSECRATION OF JEWISH SYNAGOGUE.

The ceremonial consecration of the new and handsome Jewish Synagogue lately ereoted in Princes-street took place on November 8, the Rev. Samuel A. Goldstein being the officiating Rabbi. Admission was by ticket only, and as the invitations had been freely issued, the building waß thronged both on the ground floor and in the gallery, quite as many Gentiles as Jews being present. Books containing the order of service, printed both in Hebrew and English, were circulated, and the sequence of the pages from right to left proved as novel to the Gentile portion of the congregation as the injunction to the males to keep on their hats. The service opened with a voluntary played upon the harmonium by Mr Alfred Bartley, who was stationed with the choir in the gallery. After this, the inner doors of the Synagogue were thrown open, and four young men were disclosed to view standing at the threshold, each bearing a pole supporting a canopy of crimson velvet heavily fringed with gold. The Rabbi and the officers of the Hebrew congregation, with silken shawls around their shoulders and carrying in their arms the scrolls of the law wrapped in gold-embossed whi^e satin and ornamented with gold bells and silver pointers,moved into position from the outer corridor under the canopy, whereupon v the Kabbi, having first exclaimed in Hebrew, " Open unto me the gates of righteousness ; I will enter them, and praise the Lord," paused under the canopy, and with the choir chanted the following portion of one of the Psalms : — "How goodly are thy tents, 0 Jacob ! thy tabernacles, 0 Israel l 0 Lord ! I have ever loved the habitation of thy house, and the dwelling-place of thy glory. We will came into thy tabernacles, and worship at thy footstool." The procession of Rabbi and officers slowly passed up the Synagogue, still under the canopy which was borne along with them. While the prpcespion was moving along, the Rabbi, assisted by an efficient choir, sang a metrical translation of another Psalm. Arrived before the ark, the procession stopped, and che Rabbi proclaimed, " Hear, O Israel, the Eternal is our God ; the Eternal is One. Our God is a Unity. Great is our Lord whose name is the Most Holy." Still bearing the scrolls, but no longer accompanied by the canopy, the Rabbi and the officers then passed seven times slowly round the raised rostrum in the centre of the Synagogue in the following order : — 1. The Rabbi; 2. Mr Arthur N. Nathan (President) ; 3. Mr Moss M. Levy (Treasurer) ; 4. Mr P. A. Philips ; 5. Mr Ralph Keesing. During each circuit the Rabbi recited a psalm in Hebrew, those selected being the 30th, 43rd, 100 th, 127 th, 117 th, 130fch, and -24th. The latter Paalm was effectively sung by the choir. After this the Rabbi and officers repaired with the scrolls to the front of the ark, where the Rabbi offered up in English the prayer for the Queen and Royal Family, and also another prayer, several verses from the Psalms were recited, and the scrolls were then placed within the ark. This concluded the ceremonial proper. Immediately afterwards a solo aDd trio from the Psalms were tastefully sun^ by Mrs Goldstein and Mrs Moss Davia, and Mrs Alexander, Mrs Goldstein taking the solo. The Kabbi then mounted his rostrum and proceeded to address his congregation. He said that for months past their thoughts and energies had been consecrated upon the erecting of a fitting temple to the Most High, Their fellow citizens hAd helped them most liberally, and they now beheld the fruition of their labours. Their first duty was therefore to return thanks to the Giver of all Good for having spared them to witness another epoch-making event in their annals as a Jewish community. But they should not be too elate. The advantages of public worship were manifest, but under the high pressure of this 19bh century life we were apt to forget that we were of a dual nature — spiritual and material— and that the former was not to be rendered subservient to the latter. In that temple rich and poor, sound and decrepid, strong and weak, met upon a common platform to offer thanksgiving to their God, to hear the truths of their religion expounded and expatiated upon, to improve their lives, to cultivate the intellect, to practise virtue, to learn that benevolence is the most sacred of duties, that charity is the highest form of divine worship, that religion is not asceticism, that piety is not austerity, and that creeds must not erect any barriers between man and man. The preacher went on to make a comparison between the fugitive condition of the Jews in former and harsher times with their prosperous state in these days of enlightenment. He impressed upon his hearers that great advantages entailed great responsibilities. What would enable them to maintain their faith pure and undimmed in the face of multiplying temptation ? The answer was moral courage, which might be interpreted as a renunciation of all their most cherished plans when they were prejudicial to the interists of Judaism. Judaism was opposed to self-righteousnesp. It taught that he who fulfils conscientiously the will of God stands on a level with the high priest. Its whole aim was the establishment of the kingdom of justice and peace. One of their writers had well said that if a man would be free from sin, his heart must be opened to enlightenment and his passions must be subdued. After holding up the example of Sir Moses Montefiore, the typical Israelite, as that which should be followed, and enforcing the duty of regular attendance at public worship, the Rabbi concluded by saying that gratifying as had been their dedication ceremony that day, perhaps the best dedication of all were the fervent prayers breathed, the good resolutions formed, and the tears theyhadshed. Immediatelyaftertheaddress Mrs Goldstein sang with nice expression the solo, " Hear 5Te, 0 Israel," from the "Elijah." Then a benediction by the Rabbi, and following it the well-known contralto solo from the "Elijah," "Rest in the Lord," whiob Mrs M. Davis sang with good effect. The Rabbi pronounced the concluding prayer in Hebrew, Mrs Alexander sang "Father in Heaven" from " Judas Maccabaeus," and the choir brought the proceedings to a close with the 15th Psalm.

«'I wouldn't worry about the cholera, dear," said a wife to her husband. Mlt isn't at Ml likely that it will reach ,this country." "I don't know about that, "he" replied nervously ; «« It might.break W afr any moment, and we might .have a frightful time. I— l think I had b&fer pay the baofr ' pew rent any wayy 1 N •-->•