Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, April 1885Various
General
Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art, April 1885
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Literature -- Periodicals
population in the infected districts only seven fell victims to the
disease, a fact which ought to receive more than a passing notice in
the interests of humanity.
Another point that may be mentioned is the provision made by the Jewish
Board of Guardians for the indigent poor. It has been said that no
known Jew is allowed to die in a workhouse. When poverty, or sickness
involving the loss of his livelihood, occurs, charity steps in and
bestows the help which places him above want, and tides him over his
bodily or pecuniary distress. The mother is also seasonably provided
with medical and other comforts when her pressing need is greatest. In
this way they are saved from the diseases incidental to lack of food,
and after an attack of illness are sooner restored to health than the
majority of the poor, who linger on in a state of convalescence little
better than the ailment itself, and often sink into permanent bad
health from the scanty supply of the necessary nourishment which their
exhausted frames require.
In enumerating the causes which have made the Jewish people so strong
and vigorous, particular mention must be made of their observance of
the Sabbath. This day was appointed for the double purpose of securing
a set portion of time for the worship of God, and of affording rest
to the body wearied with its six days’ labors. The secularising of
this holy day in the history of the French nation has demonstrated
the need of a day of rest and the wisdom of its institution by a
merciful Creator, even before there was a man to till the ground.
Obedience to this primeval law, renewed amid the thunders of Sinai,
and repeated on many subsequent occasions by Moses and the prophets,
is still held by the Jews to be as strictly binding on them as any
other religious obligation. Of the physical blessings derivable from
keeping the Sabbath day they have had the benefit for many long
centuries when other nations were sunk in heathenism and ignorant of
the divine ordinance made to lighten their labors and recruit their
strength. In Christian countries where the Sunday is kept sacred, or
observed as a holiday, another day of rest in addition to their own
Sabbath is obtained, thus fortifying them against the crushing toil and
nervous strain of modern life. The loss accruing from this enforced
abstinence from business worries is more than counter-balanced by the
gain in nerve power with which periodical cessation from any harassing
employment is compensated. This is doubtless one of the factors which
have helped to invigorate both mind and body, and to develop in them
those high qualities for which they are justly distinguished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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