So in a thousand squalid Ghettos penned, Engirt, yet undismayed by perils vast, The Jew, in hymns that marked his faith, would spend This night, and dream of all his glorious Past, And wait the splendors by his seers forecast. And so, while medieval creeds at strife With nature die, the Jew's ideals last; The simple love of home and child and wife, ISRAEL ZANGWILL 95 THE DAY OF REST Come, O Sabbath day, and bring Thou shalt rest! Earthly longings bid retire, Wipe from every cheek the tear; Thou shalt rest! RABBI GUSTAV GOTTHEIL 96 SABBATH THOUGHTS I bless Thee, Father, for the grace I bless Thee that each workday care And every thought whose wing has prayer I bless Thee, Father! Those dark fears That called for murmurs, doubts, and fears, O Thou alone couldst send them hence On this bless'd day of peace, And with Thy spirit's pure incense Bid workday turmoils cease. GRACE AGUILAR 97 SEDER-NIGHT Prosaic miles of streets stretch all around Gin-palaces in tawdry splendor stand; The newsboys shriek of mangled bodies found; Yet in ten thousand homes this April night, ISRAEL ZANGWILL 98 THE HOPE OF NATIONS A PASSOVER HYMN The sullen ice has crept from many fields; The conflict, though so turbulent, is past; Again the spring its wealth of verdure yields; The probing sun has conquered cold at last. It is the Paschal of reviving earth, The longed-for resurrection of its charms; Each bud, prophetic type of freedom's birth, A conquest each o'er winter's dread alarms. And all the sunny joys, till now concealed, Are emblems bright of freedom's blessèd morn, When Israel's rescue first the truth revealed: "To free and equal rights all men are born!" Then let our festival to all proclaim Who yearn for liberty's enkindling sun, And let the nations join the glad acclaim, "Our God is One-Humanity is one! FROM THE HEBREW Translation by Deborah Kleinert Janowitz 99 HYMN FOR PENTECOST When Thou didst descend upon Sinai's mountain, It trembled and shook 'neath Thy mighty hand, And the rocks were moved by Thy power and splendor; How then can my spirit before Thee stand On the day when darkness o'erspread the heavens, And the sun was hidden at Thy command? The angels of God, for Thy great name's worship, Are ranged before Thee, a shining band, And the children of men are waiting ever Thy mercies, unnumbered as grains of sand. The Law they received from the mouth of Thy glory, They learn and consider and understand; Oh! accept Thou their song, and rejoice in their gladness Who proclaim Thy glory in every land. JEHUDA HALEVI Translation from the Hebrew by Mrs. Henry Lucas ΙΟΟ THE HEAVENLY LIGHT SHABUOTH When Israel to the wilderness Had fled from Pharaoh's cruel might, And, guided by that heavenly flame, Their destined goal, the promised land. Yet not alone in days of yore Has God His wondrous mercies shown, A lamp of radiant, glowing hue, By Israel borne in every clime, Through fire and flood, through tears and blood. With courage grand and faith sublime. When all the world was steeped in sin, The Hebrews braved the nations' wrath And nobly followed still the guide That beacon is the Decalogue, Proclaimed from Sinai's flaming height, And burning, as each age rolls by, With purer, grander, holier light. |