Back in the West Indies and badly shaken by an earthquake!

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/31/2006

Beautifully penned, lengthy 4 page letter with fine autograph signature of MOSES N. NATHAN to Isaac Leeser. Nathan earlier was rabbi on island of Jamaica, later leading the congregation at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands (second oldest Jewish in western hemisphere) and then assumed leadership of the “Dispersed of Judah” congregation in New Orleans, returning to England in 1854 and now back leading congregation at Kingston, Jamaica, from where this letter was written Dec. 26, 1858. He opens discussing different books he needs and for himself and for his Hebrew school: “I require also about one dozen copies of ‘Cohen’s Hebrew Grammar on the Ollendorff System’ which you will oblige me by procuring…want them without delay…also forward couple of dozen of Miss Peixotto’s book and three dozen Henry’s class books of the edition published in America” and more on that subject. He continues: “HAVE YOU EVER FELT AN EARTHQUAKE !! For a quarter of a century I have been familiar with them, and their nature is such that, totally different from other danger to which one gets accustomed they excite and increase our fears the more often their shock is felt. You become paralyzed, your faculties are suspended, the will ceases to act on the voluntary parts of the body and although fully alive to the horrors of entombment, whether in or out of doors, which threatened your life, you are incapable of making the effort to move from the spot. To ejaculate a word or two of prayer in prospect of an immediate and awful death which hundreds may share with you at the same moment is one that your consciousness of the alarming extent of your peril and the possibility of escaping in permits you to do. When the earthquake is felt in the daytime, a rush from the house to the street may be effected by some over whom fear does not render incapable of moving. At night however, when enfolded in the bonds of sleep, you become suddenly awakened by the house shaking and reeling on its foundation, the upheaved and undulating earth on which it rests, then can one realize, in all its positive meaning [Hebrew word] the Psalmist speaks of. Not the bad dream, not the distressing night-mare nor the terrifying images which a heated brain, a sickly fancy, or a superstitious mind conjures up--but it is the awe of an instant dissolution, a stern summons to give up life in a few seconds which stops the beating of the heart, checks the current of the blood and distills you to jelly with the effect of fear. On this day at half past one a.m., 23 December, the whole city was on the verge of destruction from one of the severest earthquakes I ever yet felt. A few seconds longer, say 3 or 4 and every building would have fallen in and buried its inmates alive. Truly ‘God is merciful’ or I would now not be writing. [He describes at length the frightening experience]… My wife and I were awake when it began… Neither of us could move; both were calm... momentarily expected to see the walls give way and the roof fall in and crush us to death. Thanks be to the Almighty, no life was lost, no one injured. Shortly after the occurrence several places of worship were opened and thronged by worshipers scared and trembling with affright. My wife begged me not to leave her and therefore I did not go. The occultation of Saturn took place that night…. have you seen Dr. Kalisch’s translation of Genesis ? From a review of it in the ‘Westminster Review,’ whose tendencies are rationalistic. I have gleaned an extract or two. He has not been fortunate in his rendering of [Hebrew word] than his predecessors. I do not like [Hebrew phrase] ‘although many flock to Shiloh.’ You may differ from me in opinion, but I prefer the translation given in the ‘Israelite’ and although the more I examine and consider it with reference to history, the more am I convinced of its truth. [Two named passages or books] have led the whole Jewish and Christian world astray.” [He analyzes and critiques the passages adding his personal interpretations, interposing words in Hebrew]. Nathan continues: “So our friend Gutheim [of New Orleans] is going to be married. I am glad to hear of it and wish him all happiness. Your intended weekly ought to succeed. Such an array of talent [as you have put together with] Jacobs, Raphall and yourself is not often to be met with, and in the ranks of Israel is an anomaly by considering that even [litterateurs] rarely combined to advance the general good. I am glad the Pope still refuses to give up the child of Mortara; his obstinacy will the sooner bring on the crisis in which the Papacy and its supporters… and Austria, will be crushed. The proceedings of the [habam bnohi ??] are very mischievous. United Israel in Europe should by means of enlightened rabbis abolish the power of [Hebrew words] and the whole of this irresponsible power…by such fellows as the [?] Rabbis. All this is the effect of the dangerous precedents set by the Rabbenism of the dark middle ages [with further remarks on that subject]. It will be unquestionably beneficial to the Turkish Jews generally that the Rabbis have aimed so high as the Rothschilds and Albert Cohen who will now help [?] to break the galling chain which ignorant zest has bound them. What say you ? Is this [?] Orthodoxy less dangerous to Israel then cold rationalism ? I say no. …Mrs. Nathan [wishes] that you are more cheerful and in higher spirits then when you last wrote…” Normal aging; exc. Clean, partial tears on two centerfolds not obscuring any wording. The final page is written both vertically and horizontally as was the custom in those years (and a very frustrating one at that) as the writer ran out of space; instead of using an extra page it was turned horizontally and written transversely of the other writing. It is quite readable (as we have), just time consuming! Fascinating letter by a staunch supporter of Leeser and one in full agreement with his Orthodoxy. Important Judaica

Click on a thumbnail above to display a larger image below
Hold down the mouse button and slide side to side to see more thumbnails(if available).