A Sermon Delivered at the Great Synagogue of Smyrna on the Arrival of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore in that City after His Successful Mission on Behalf of His Persecuted Brethren in Damascus

From the Midrash Shoḥer tov.² “For the leader. Of the servant of the Lord, of David. I know what transgression says to the wicked.” [Psalm 36:1–2.] As scripture says, “O happy Israel! Who is like you, etc.” [Deuteronomy 33:29]. The Holy One, blessed be He, fights Israel’s wars, but victory is theirs. And scripture says, “for the various signs and portents [ . . . ] that Moses displayed” [Deuteronomy 34:11–12]. It does not say the Lord, but Moses. The Holy One, blessed be He, sent him, but the victory belongs to Moses. Deborah says, “Arise, O Barak, take your captives” [Judges 5:12]. David, when he went down to Goliath the Philistine, what did he say? “And all the kingdoms of the land shall know that there is a God in Israel” [I Samuel 17:46 reads similarly]. When the women responded, “the women sang as they danced, etc., and David [has slain] his tens of thousands!” [I Samuel 18:7]. David said to the Holy One, blessed be He, You gave me victory, and so I also give you victory.

It is our obligation to praise the infinite master of all, for the miracles and for the salvation, both revealed and hidden. It would not be enough, even if our mouths were filled with song about all of the good that He did for us in times of trouble. And each and every day, we are obligated to thank and praise our God in the heavens, God our salvation. “By Him whose understanding is perfect” [Job 37:16], this will never disappear from our eyes, that which God did for us and our children, like that which he did when the Israelites left Egypt. And He took us out from there by a strong hand, twice, by the hands of Moses.

Here also, we saw that in every generation, they try to destroy us and our native land. And the Holy One, blessed be He, saved us and does wondrous things each and every day because of the love God has for His people. “Yet, even then, when they are in the land of their enemies” [Leviticus 26:44], it is true that everywhere, not a single nation or language rules over them. “The Lord can give victory without sword or spear” [I Samuel, 17:47]. When they are in distress, He “first afflicts, then pardons” [Lamentations 3:32]. God defends the Torah, which is “drawn up in full and secured,” (2 Samuel 23:5), the Torah of Moses.

[ . . . ] To thank God, “who delivered the people from under the hand”³ of cruel peoples, from many peoples who thought to conspire about the whole nation, the Children of Israel, in all regions. They believed lies, killing for the sake of matzo for Passover. [ . . . ] It will be for you as you were commanded by Moses.

They put them, our brothers, in prison. In bitter and hard suffering, “cruel words” [Psalm 64:4]. “And there was a great outcry by the common folk,” ⁴ and it was bitter, [and] there was “wrath, indignation, and trouble” [Psalm 78:49]. And the leaders of the children of Israel were beaten, “strip her, strip her to her very foundations” [Psalm 137:7]. And they cried out to God, and their cry went up to Him. And God heard their cries, [based on Exodus 2:23–24] and gave the remedy before the plague. God prepared the path, the path of man, the man Moses.

“Were it not for the Lord, who was on our side” [Psalm 124:1–2], God, “we perish, we are lost” [Numbers 17:27]. “As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for his people,”⁵ the people of Israel he created in His world. “And God remembered His covenant” [Exodus 2:24], and provided for us ministers and deputies, heads of exile, noblemen and officers, [ . . . ] leaders of the House of Israel, the members of the exalted family of Sir Rothschild. [. . . they are] great and mighty, the wisest of the wise, in the Torah of Moses. [ . . . ]

It is not only that He saved us from the hands of all of our enemies, but also that He made this a law for us, for our children, and our children’s children, to sustain to this day. For you will no longer remember such as thing as this. Moses went up before the great king, our master and crown of our head, and told him everything, the evil libels and wicked deeds. “He has given us light” [Psalm 118:27], and our eyes saw. Agreeing with him, the king went up, removed his ring from his hand, and wrote everything commanded by Moses.

For this, we must pray for the peace of the kingdom “as the moon, established forever” [Psalm 89:38], “O king, live forever” [Daniel 2:4]. Forever we must bless and thank all of the mighty kings upon whom the Children of Israel rely, may their days and years be good. Especially the greatest of all queens, who rules in the city of London [ . . . ] may her kingdom never be destroyed forever and ever, as in the days of Moses.