Rev. Mr.
Rice’s Letter.
My Dear
Friend,
Your
resolve not to admit any farther articles on the subject of Lard Oil,
prevents me from replying to Mr. Falkenau’s letter, whilst, at the
same time, I agree with you that the public discourse of this point
would lead to nothing positive.
I,
however, think it my duty to call your attention to a subject on which I
have kept silent hitherto, from the sole motive that some one might
believe me speaking from interested motives. It is to urge upon the Jews
in the United States the great importance of selecting a spiritual
chief, or Beth Din, for the purpose of regulating all our spiritual
affairs, and before whom all religious questions might be brought for
decision. How easily may not a far more important point of discussion
arise than the one which I have discussed in your periodical, and the
people may not know whose decision they are to obey. How long will the
entire Jewish population in this country delay to fill up this defect
which is so injurious to our religious interests? And it surely is
necessary to prevent the uninitiated from giving their crude decisions
which are but too well calculated to do a permanent injury to our faith.
But,
before I close the present, I believe it necessary to add one more
closing observation to our discussion, which, on account of its
importance, I trust you will not refuse; namely, the words נותן
טעם לפגם “imparting a
vitiating taste” have been wrongly applied, since the modern chemical
discoveries in the production of lard oil exceed all older experience,
and the “late Rabbi of Vilna” maintains, on occasion of another
important subject, in his work Chaye Adam, 126 § 3, that “we cannot
draw any conclusion from former times to our own age, and not from one
country to another.” The same principle is laid down in Peri Chadash,
with reference to sugar on Passover: “Every thing depends on the
custom of the country, and the manner of preparing the sugar.” With
those few observations I dismiss the subject altogether, and remain very
truly your friend,
A.
Rice. Baltimore, Feb. 3d, 5605. |
