Rabbi Abraham Shusterman - "The Jew Speaks to a Troubled Generation" (November 7, 1954)

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	(church organ music)	0:03
	(organ music intensifies)	0:09
	(choral voice music)	0:39
-	Accept these offerings, we beseech Thee, O Lord	1:24
	and mercifully direct and enable us by their holy spirit	1:28
	to use them in accordance with I will	1:32
	for thy namesake, we pray, Amen.	1:36
	(electric buzzing)	1:40
	(switch board thudding)	1:44
	(electric buzzing)	1:46
-	My dear friends.	2:10
	A preacher is stricken with humility	2:19
	as he stands before a congregation of this type.	2:26
	So large,	2:31
	in such a cathedral	2:35
	made up of so many young people.	2:39
	And as he stands before a mighty voice choir	2:44
	(door thuds)	2:47
	such as that which is present at our service today,	2:49
	may I say to Mr. Jones	2:56
	who has been so kind in his hospitality	3:00
	and to all of you who have come here today	3:04
	to hear my message,	3:06
	that one has a feeling of the presence of God.	3:10
	Holy holy, holy,	3:15
	not only the whole Earth is full of his glory.	3:18
	This chapel today is a glow with the very glory	3:23
	and the presence of God.	3:28
	It is with great humility,	3:31
	with the feeling of exultation	3:35
	and with a sense of honor	3:39
	that I stand in this sacred faith.	3:41
	You have been very kind to ask me	3:46
	to come to you this morning,	3:48
	speak to you about the Jewish Tercentenary.	3:51
	300 years ago, this season of the year,	3:56
	a small band of Jews, 23 in number,	4:01
	came up the Atlantic coast from Brazil to North America.	4:07
	Began to hammer on the gates of new Amsterdam.	4:12
	These were Portuguese Jews.	4:17
	They had come across the Atlantic to escape the inquisition.	4:21
	They were brave pioneer folk.	4:26
	I am sure that many of them had seen	4:30
	loved ones burned at the stake.	4:32
	I am sure many of them had witnessed scenes	4:36
	that were burned upon their minds and their heart.	4:40
	Scenes of sadness, scenes of torture.	4:45
	Scarcely had they settled themselves in Brazil	4:51
	under the friendly arm of the Dutch people.	4:55
	And the arm of the Portuguese reached across the sea.	4:59
	And these 23 Hebrews found that history might repeat itself.	5:04
	But once again, the long arm	5:11
	of the inquisition had touched them.	5:13
	And so they decided, tired and weary though,	5:16
	they were to leave Brazil for north America.	5:20
	And here under the friendly guidance,	5:26
	and protection of the Dutch folk in new Amsterdam,	5:28
	to establish themselves upon this new continent.	5:34
	300 years ago, three long centuries,	5:38
	this small band of Hebrew folk knocked at the door	5:42
	of new Amsterdam and were admitted	5:47
	by Peter Stuyvesant, somewhat reluctant.	5:50
	These were not, historically speaking,	5:54
	the first Jews to settle our North American soil.	5:56
	Other Jews, individuals had come here	6:02
	and had established themselves.	6:05
	As a matter of fact, the 23 who came to new Amsterdam	6:09
	were met by a fellow Hebrew.	6:12
	His name was Joseph bar Simpson.	6:15
	We have historic record of a Jew who lived in Maryland.	6:19
	A Mathias de Sousa	6:24
	who lived in my state in the colony	6:27
	that preceded my state 15 years	6:29
	before the 23 came through Amsterdam.	6:32
	But we celebrate this season as the Jewish Tercentenary	6:36
	because this was the first organized Jewish community	6:44
	that came here.	6:47
	This was the first group,	6:49
	large enough in number to establish a community,	6:51
	to build synagogues, to build schools,	6:55
	to establish other Jewish philanthropic institutions.	6:58
	Throughout the length and breadth of our land,	7:03
	the Hebrew people are celebrating this season,	7:06
	the great anniversary year,	7:09
	thanking God for our growth in numbers.	7:12
	Thanking God at this season of the year	7:16
	for our growth and influence.	7:18
	Thanking God for the peace and the security,	7:21
	and the brotherhood, and the fellowship	7:25
	that we have known in this blessed land.	7:27
	Today, I'd like to talk to you about many of the lessons	7:32
	that come to us from these three centuries	7:35
	of Jewish experience in North America.	7:39
	I would not for a moment, speak to you	7:43
	about those experiences which are peculiar to the Jews.	7:47
	In the Talmud, we find a statement	7:53
	that there is no sorrow, which is real	7:55
	unless it is a universal sorrow shared by all men.	7:58
	And by the same token,	8:03
	it seems to me that there is no truth.	8:04
	That is really true.	8:06
	No valid truth unless it is universal in nature.	8:09
	And while some of these experiences	8:13
	of which I speak today may be peculiar to Israel,	8:15
	nonetheless, to be really valid in your life	8:20
	and mind, and in the lives of our children.	8:23
	They must be truths which are universal in nature,	8:27
	lived by Jews thus far, but somehow embracing	8:31
	the whole race of men shows that are important	8:35
	to every religious group, to every race	8:39
	and to every spiritual fellowship	8:42
	under the stars and stripes.	8:44
	I wanna speak to you about	8:47
	a kind of distillation if you will.	8:48
	Kind of, spiritual distillation of truth	8:51
	that one can find as one thinks of the three centuries	8:54
	of Jewish life on North American soil.	9:00
	A distillation of those truths,	9:04
	which come to us as the result of Jewish	9:06
	and of, universe of experience.	9:09
	A kind of truth that grows out of Israel	9:12
	but is shared by Israel for the glorification	9:18
	and the enrichment of the hearts of men.	9:21
	True it is that we are speaking now	9:26
	about an anniversary that concerns immigration.	9:28
	And one of the truths that comes to me	9:34
	is that we have not emphasized enough in our thinking.	9:39
	The importance of the immigrant life of the American folk,	9:46
	this small band of Spanish, Portuguese Jews	9:51
	who came here 300 years ago,	9:54
	many of whom took such an important part	9:58
	in the American revolution, was followed in the course	10:01
	of time by a German-Jewish immigration.	10:05
	And after these German Jews had built up	10:09
	our spiritual institutions, had integrated themselves	10:12
	into the life of the United States of America,	10:16
	they were followed in turn	10:20
	by a large wave of eastern European folk.	10:22
	All of whom by this time	10:28
	have become integrated into American life.	10:30
	All of whom share the basic spirit	10:35
	of the United States of America.	10:38
	Each one of which has placed its stone	10:41
	in the general mosaic of American life. (coughs)	10:45
	And this, my friends, was paralleled,	10:49
	as everyone knows by the immigration of non-Jewish folk.	10:51
	What I say about Jews today might be said about Christians	10:57
	for there was an English migration and a Dutch migration.	11:01
	And the French came and the Spaniards came,	11:05
	and the Irish, the Italians, the folks from central Europe.	11:08
	And our United States of America today	11:13
	represents a great mosaic of life.	11:15
	A great mosaic of cultures and of tongues, and of religions.	11:19
	In this latter-day, you and I are inclined	11:25
	to take for granted many of the blessings	11:28
	which meant so much to these immigrant folk.	11:31
	And I think that as a native-born American,	11:35
	I think that as one whose fathers	11:39
	and grandfathers lived, and died on American soil,	11:42
	I have the right to say	11:47
	what I am sure many of you think today.	11:49
	That taking America for granted,	11:53
	we have lost that which was to our fathers	11:57
	the very glory of their life.	12:01
	It was my privilege in my boyhood	12:04
	to know a great many immigrant folk.	12:06
	Their heart sang for America.	12:09
	They knew the difference between life across the sea	12:12
	and life on these shores.	12:15
	They knew the difference between life beneath the stars	12:18
	and stripes, and life under the Czars,	12:22
	and under the Habsburgs.	12:24
	The kind of life that they did not want	12:27
	to pass on to their children.	12:29
	The kind of life which drove them	12:32
	as it drove these 23 folk 300 years ago	12:34
	to venture the dark sea filled with piracy	12:39
	in order to establish themselves in a new and free land.	12:44
	Perhaps one of the things that's wrong with us is	12:49
	that you and I are not near at rough to immigrant stock.	12:53
	An immigrant knows the difference.	12:58
	You and I take for granted what to him is so important.	13:02
	My father who was one generation nearer	13:06
	to immigrant stock than I am understood this.	13:09
	My father never doubted for a moment	13:15
	the vitality of the American way of life.	13:18
	My father never compared adversely	13:22
	the spirit and the strength of Americanism	13:26
	with the -isms that come to us from across the sea.	13:30
	My father and the generation that preceded his	13:34
	would not stand in fear and trembling	13:38
	before those who compare the might of communism	13:43
	with the might of Americanism.	13:46
	My father knew that there was vitality to freedom.	13:49
	My father and his generation realized	13:55
	that the truth will prevail.	13:58
	They were not shrinking, trembling folk,	14:01
	lost their courage when they heard voices from Washington	14:06
	or from Wisconsin cry out against man's right to be free.	14:12
	Man's right to think freely and to act freely,	14:19
	and to pursue the truth.	14:22
	That immigrant generation (indistinct) mighty heritage.	14:25
	And you and I as Americans in this latter-day,	14:32
	would be well to learn a universal lesson	14:35
	which comes from them.	14:38
	It's a lesson of courage and the faith,	14:40
	and of seeking the truth.	14:44
	But there are three lesson that come to us	14:47
	from the spiritual tradition of those Jews	14:50
	who have lived for three centuries in this land	14:54
	that I would like to share with you today	14:58
	as part of the universal tradition	15:00
	of those who love God and who pursue freedom.	15:04
	First is that these Hebrews who came here 300 years ago	15:10
	and those who have lived within the shadow	15:15
	of the synagogue for these three centuries	15:18
	were characterized by the spirit of individualism.	15:22
	There's one thing about Jews.	15:27
	It is that they're individuals.	15:28
	Jews are strong individuals.	15:32
	I never tire pointing out	15:36
	that there's no hierarchy of Jewish life.	15:38
	Jewish individualism reflects itself	15:43
	in the autonomy of each synagogue.	15:46
	Hebrew individualism reflects itself	15:49
	in the autonomy of each rabbi.	15:53
	A Jew is a believer in the right of the individual	15:56
	and that's one of the universal truths	16:01
	of which I want to speak today.	16:03
	A man who is an individualist is by nature, a Protestant.	16:06
	And I use that expression with a small P.	16:12
	I think that Jews were the first Protestant people	16:16
	in the history of the world.	16:19
	Part of our tradition tells us that Abraham was	16:22
	a strong iconoclast and Protestant by nature.	16:26
	One of our Jewish folk stories is about	16:31
	how Abraham broke the idols of his father	16:33
	and went from Ur of the Chaldees into the promised land	16:36
	determined to follow the message of his own heart.	16:42
	Determined to live by the truce	16:48
	that welled up within his own soul.	16:50
	And Abraham handed on that iconoclastic individualism,	16:54
	that strong protesting spirit to his descendants	17:00
	and come to the prophets of Israel.	17:04
	And I read in the scriptural lesson of this morning,	17:07
	one of the messages of the prophets of Israel.	17:10
	One of the characteristic things about the prophets was	17:13
	that they never wanted to swim downstream.	17:17
	They stood up before an evil generation	17:23
	and in the spirit of rugged spiritual individualism,	17:27
	they cried out against all the evil that they saw.	17:31
	And the spirit of the prophets of Israel	17:36
	is the spirit of the eternal protestor,	17:39
	the eternal individualist.	17:43
	And understanding the truth proclaims it	17:47
	in spite of all the opposition of his fellow men.	17:51
	And one of the universal spirits of this day,	17:54
	that which is part of your life and mine	17:59
	is the mandate that comes to us	18:03
	to keep alive this individualism.	18:05
	I suppose this is reflected in the minds of many of us	18:09
	in the doctrine of the separation of church and state.	18:12
	In our determination not to be mere spokesmen	18:17
	for the state, in determination of many of us	18:22
	who stand in the pulpit,	18:26
	that we're going to speak not in the name of the state	18:27
	but in the name of God.	18:32
	That we are going to be if religion is to remain	18:34
	the kind of force that ought to be an American life.	18:37
	The kind of force that the individualism	18:41
	of the Hebrew prophets makes it become.	18:44
	The Pulpit must become the conscience of the state	18:50
	and the men who stand in the American pulpit.	18:54
	And those who sit in the pew must recognize	18:59
	that they have an obligation,	19:03
	not only to the spirit of the times in which they live,	19:06
	not only to the prevailing winds and the sight dice,	19:11
	but that they have an obligation to their hearts,	19:16
	to their souls, to the God within them.	19:18
	And this strong Jewish individualism	19:22
	is part of the heritage of the American folk.	19:25
	Then, there is the spirit of Hebrew monotheism.	19:29
	Someone has said that anyone is a Jew	19:33
	who proclaims the unity of God.	19:36
	By and large, this is common ground	19:39
	of Judaism and Christianity.	19:42
	The great proclamation of the book of Deuteronomy,	19:46
	Hear O Israel, hear all mankind!	19:50
	The Lord our God, the Lord is One.	19:52
	The spirit of Malachi who proclaimed	19:56
	have we not all one father	20:00
	as not one God created us all.	20:02
	Where else but in America, my friend,	20:06
	can one find the embodiment of this Hebrew spirit	20:10
	of monotheism and of world brotherhood?	20:14
	That would bring a Hebrew preacher	20:18
	to stand in a great interdenominational pulpit	20:22
	amid the symbols of the Christian faith	20:28
	with an expected congregation,	20:31
	waiting for a message common to all religious groups.	20:35
	This spirit of Hebrew monotheism, the spirit brought	20:40
	to these shores by the 23 who came from Brazil to New York.	20:45
	This is part of the universal heritage of all our groups.	20:51
	And this represents not only a historic fact	20:56
	but an ideal by which to live.	20:58
	I know that we live in trying times.	21:02
	I know that we live in times	21:06
	when there is the up surge from beneath.	21:07
	There are many groups everywhere crying	21:12
	for freedom and equality.	21:14
	And I know as in this area of the country	21:17
	and in my own community,	21:20
	there is that great wave of emancipation,	21:23
	the outreaching of men for brotherhood	21:27
	and for fellowship, and for equality.	21:30
	I don't know how each community handles the problem.	21:33
	I don't know how each area of our country must move	21:38
	toward the realization of this ancient dream and ideal	21:43
	which is part of our Judeo-Christian heritage.	21:46
	But I do know this	21:51
	that if we as Jews and Christians take seriously,	21:53
	proclamation of the oneness of God	21:58
	and therefore the oneness of mankind,	22:01
	if we take seriously the proclamation	22:04
	that because God is one, mankind is one	22:06
	and if we take seriously the political translation	22:11
	of this great truth that all men are created equal,	22:15
	then we must keep our eyes upon a star.	22:20
	And that star is the embodiment of this truth	22:23
	in our daily life.	22:27
	That the time will come, the time the must come	22:29
	and we will speed the coming of that time	22:34
	when there shall be but one God in heaven,	22:37
	and one mankind on earth.	22:40
	And this doctrine of Jewish monotheism,	22:43
	part of Christianity in Israel as well,	22:47
	this is one of the eternal truce,	22:51
	one of the universal ideals	22:54
	that we share on this anniversary occasion.	22:57
	Then, there is of course,	23:00
	the great message of human freedom.	23:02
	These 23 Jewish pioneers came to these shores	23:06
	in search of freedom.	23:10
	They had lived under the inquisition of Portugal.	23:12
	They feared the coming of that inquisition to South America.	23:17
	In search of freedom, they ventured up the coast	23:23
	and asked for admittance to new Amsterdam,	23:29
	and became the first organized Jewish community	23:33
	on North American soil.	23:36
	I'm sure that many of them wanted to make a living	23:39
	just as our fathers,	23:44
	just as my grandfather wanted to make a living	23:45
	for his children when he came to American soil.	23:49
	But I am sure that on the part of most of them,	23:53
	there was the desire not only to make a living	23:57
	but also to make a life.	24:00
	And that life meant freedom.	24:02
	That life meant the right to live and to think,	24:05
	and to be freed, and to look their fellow men in the face.	24:09
	One of the most thrilling moments	24:14
	of my life came as a child.	24:15
	My father took me, first took me to Philadelphia.	24:19
	And I stood in the presence of Libertyville	24:24
	and saw inscribed on that historic symbol,	24:28
	words from our Hebrew scripture.	24:32
	Words brought to these shores by the 23 of whom I speak.	24:35
	Words shared by Jews and Christians everywhere.	24:41
	Proclaim liberty throughout the land,	24:49
	unto all the inhabitants thereof!	24:52
	Many of you may recall	24:55
	that in the early days of our country, a seal was submitted.	24:57
	A seal was proposed showing Israel,	25:03
	this Israel of whom I speak crossing the Red Sea.	25:08
	Pharaoh pursuing, The Lord beckoning them on,	25:13
	the waters of the sea parting for Israel	25:19
	to walk on dry land.	25:24
	And the title of that seal was to be	25:27
	that rebellion to tyrant,	25:33
	his obedience to God.	25:39
	All of this is part of this heritage brought to these shores	25:42
	by these folk whose anniversary we celebrate this week.	25:47
	All of this is part of the universal tradition	25:52
	of all our faiths.	25:54
	All of this part of these truths of which I speak.	25:57
	To me, one of the most glorious things about this tradition,	26:02
	the fact that universally we proclaim	26:07
	that all our religions of the Western world	26:09
	rest upon the foundation of the Decalogue.	26:14
	There's one part of the Decalogue	26:18
	that to me is the most inspiring.	26:20
	It's difficult for a man to pick out one of 10 commandments	26:24
	and to say, this is the greatest inspiration of all.	26:27
	But notice the first statement in the commandments.	26:33
	The first statement of these 10 sacred words	26:36
	of scripture declares, I am the Lord thy God	26:40
	who brought the out of the land of Egypt	26:44
	and out of the house of bondage.	26:46
	I like to think of this as God's self introduction	26:49
	to the people who stood before him at the foot of Sinai.	26:53
	God's introduction of himself to the Hebrew folk,	26:57
	as they stood of the foot of the mountain,	27:02
	awaiting the sacred words.	27:04
	The Lord introduces himself.	27:07
	Not I am the Lord thy God who created the world,	27:10
	even though creativity is certainly	27:14
	an important part of divinity.	27:17
	Nor did he say I am the Lord thy God	27:20
	who breathes into thee, the very breath of life	27:22
	even though the creation of man	27:25
	and the divine image is certainly part of God's function.	27:28
	But when the Lord introduced himself to his people,	27:32
	he said, "I am the Lord thy God, the emancipator of men,	27:36
	I am the Lord who led thee from the bondage of Egypt	27:41
	into the freedom of the promised land	27:44
	for I am the emancipating God	27:47
	who breaks the chains that bind men.	27:50
	I am the God who makes men free."	27:54
	Freedom then, is part of Israel's contribution.	27:59
	Freedom is part on the universal heritage	28:04
	of all groups beneath the stars and stripes.	28:06
	This is an ideal worthy of all of us.	28:11
	An ideal to which we can consecrate ourselves	28:14
	as we observe a great historic anniversary.	28:18
	Now, dear friends, in the light of all this,	28:24
	all this history of these universal ideals	28:29
	and of this determination on the part of many of us	28:35
	to consecrate our lives to the individualism,	28:38
	and to the monotheism, and to the freedom	28:42
	of which I spoke today.	28:44
	In the light of all of this, beneath the stars and stripes,	28:47
	there can be two ways of life.	28:52
	One way of life is for each group	28:56
	to live in mutual indifference,	29:00
	for each group to live in disregard of one another.	29:03
	For each group to establish itself and to go its way.	29:07
	To live and let live as it were.	29:13
	But on the other hand, there is that way of life	29:16
	which each group retains its integrity	29:22
	but in which there is the outreaching	29:26
	of hands and of hearts.	29:28
	To live and to help live,	29:31
	to live and to serve as comrades.	29:35
	Thus, to make the American way of life	29:39
	not only a mosaic of faiths	29:44
	but to make the American way of life a great adventure	29:48
	in brotherhood and in fellowship, and in peace.	29:54
	I like to think of the next century is being one	29:59
	in which Jews and Christians in this land	30:05
	will dedicate themselves to these universal truce	30:09
	that we proclaim today.	30:12
	But a century in which all of us will embody in our lives,	30:15
	that great quest of Joseph, wondering, searching,	30:21
	looking as all of us wander, search and look for that,	30:27
	which will satisfy our heart's desire.	30:33
	Was asked, "what do you seek?"	30:36
	And his answer ought to re-echo in our hearts	30:39
	through the century to come.	30:43
	"My brethren.	30:46
	My brethren do I seek."	30:48
	Our heavenly father.	30:58
	We thank thee for all these years.	30:59
	We thank thee for the blessings that thou has given us.	31:05
	We thank thee for the quest, the truth and the freedom.	31:10
	We thank thee for the (indistinct) of the good quest.	31:15
	We ask our heavenly father that	31:19
	as we seek thy truth together,	31:23
	we may be drawn closer to thee but closer to one another,	31:26
	recognizing that thou our are common father,	31:33
	and that on our knees, we are thy children	31:37
	and coworkers with thee.	31:41
	And so our God and father as we prepare to leave thy house,	31:44
	we ask that thy blessing may abide with us	31:49
	in the self same words that were spoken by Aaron,	31:54
	the high priest of your in the self, same tongue	31:58
	as he ministered at the altar in ancient days.	32:03
	May the blessing, the blessing promised by him.	32:07
	The blessing that,	32:12

Item Info

Title:

Rabbi Abraham Shusterman - "The Jew Speaks to a Troubled Generation" (November 7, 1954)

Description:

Shusterman urges the congregation not to take their American identity and way of life for granted because of its ideals of unity and freedom. He says that though different congregations and faiths are separate, there still must be mutual support and love for one's fellow man. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: "There is that way of life where each group maintains its integrity, but which there is the outreaching of hands and heart, live and to help live, live and to serve its comrades, thus is the American way of life an adventure of brotherhood, fellowship, and peace."

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4jh3j385

Date:

November 7, 1954

Speaker:

Shusterman, Abraham

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0003
ref5229_nj0
uachapelsermaud
duke:628189
dcrau002059
ark:/87924/r4jh3j385
d5338d81-fb02-49cb-bee8-733edd013810

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

No Re-Use

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Rabbi Abraham Shusterman - "The Jew Speaks to a Troubled Generation" (November 7, 1954)

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