To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: Exodus 16:23
"Did American Jews really once think about changing the Sabbath?
The short answer is yes—, some Jews in America discussed the idea of changing the day of worship from the Sabbath to Sunday.
This public discussion took place in 1884. Around that time,
roughly 250,000 Jewish people were living in the United States—a number that was to increase dramatically over the next 20 years. But at the start of the so-called “Gilded Age,” many of the Jews in America were highly secular and not always observant of their religious traditions.
Finding a newspaper article headlined “HEBREWS — The Agitation on the Question of Changing the Jewish Sabbath,” as you might imagine, stirred interest in the circumstances of that discussion. It turns out that less-observant members of the Jewish community were taking what they saw as a “practical” view of things.
“We are all businessmen, and as Saturday is the busiest day in the week, we cannot close our shops to attend services,” a shop owner identified as Mr. Liebman told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper in May 1884. “I can’t do it because I can’t afford to hire a man in my place,” he added.
The newspaper, at the time one of the country’s largest and most influential dailies, took an interest in the situation of people they called “Hebrews” because a reader had noticed a consistent lack of attendance at a congregation called Temple Israel, which was then part of the nascent reform movement in American Judaism.
The Eagle dispatched a reporter to investigate, and back came a survey of Jewish thought about the Sabbath in late nineteenth-century Brooklyn. From what the reporter could find, members of local congregations were happy to financially support these bodies but were less enthused about attending Sabbath services. Mr. Liebman, the merchant, said he found it depressing to find only a handful of worshipers on a given Sabbath.
Other members of Temple Israel were less resistant to change. The Eagle reporter visited with a “Mr. Abraham,” believed to be Abraham Abraham—founder of the dry goods store that became the Abraham & Strauss department store chain popular in
twentieth-century New York—who endorsed a switch.
“I am a reformed Jew and am in favor of worshiping on Sunday. It makes little difference on what day we hold our religious services so long as we set apart at least one day in the week for that purpose,” Mr. Abraham said. “We are living in a Christian community and of course cannot expect the Christians to change from Sunday to Saturday, so all we can do is conform to their customs.”
Interestingly, Joseph Wechsler, Abraham’s original business partner, opposed the notion.
The newspaper also quoted a gentleman described as “one of the more prominent members” of an area congregation by the name of Moses May. Mr. May was adamant against changing the day of worship, the paper noted.
“What would you think of a Christian who allowed his business to interfere with his religion and change his day of worship to suit his own convenience,” May asked the newspaper reporter.
By the end of the newspaper article, readers of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle could easily conclude that while changing the day of worship might have been discussed in some circles, there wasn’t much enthusiasm for formalizing a shift. The less observant among the Jewish people of that moment in time would largely continue to do business on the Sabbath but attend worship services on the faith’s main holy days.
Interestingly, it was the persecution of the Jews in Eastern Europe that led to a reinforcement of Sabbath worship among Jews in the United States. But the Bible tells us about a time when those who do observe the Sabbath will suffer even greater tribulation."
7thDayTruth
"Did American Jews really once think about changing the Sabbath?
The short answer is yes—, some Jews in America discussed the idea of changing the day of worship from the Sabbath to Sunday.
This public discussion took place in 1884. Around that time,
Finding a newspaper article headlined “HEBREWS — The Agitation on the Question of Changing the Jewish Sabbath,” as you might imagine, stirred interest in the circumstances of that discussion. It turns out that less-observant members of the Jewish community were taking what they saw as a “practical” view of things.
“We are all businessmen, and as Saturday is the busiest day in the week, we cannot close our shops to attend services,” a shop owner identified as Mr. Liebman told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper in May 1884. “I can’t do it because I can’t afford to hire a man in my place,” he added.
The newspaper, at the time one of the country’s largest and most influential dailies, took an interest in the situation of people they called “Hebrews” because a reader had noticed a consistent lack of attendance at a congregation called Temple Israel, which was then part of the nascent reform movement in American Judaism.
The Eagle dispatched a reporter to investigate, and back came a survey of Jewish thought about the Sabbath in late nineteenth-century Brooklyn. From what the reporter could find, members of local congregations were happy to financially support these bodies but were less enthused about attending Sabbath services. Mr. Liebman, the merchant, said he found it depressing to find only a handful of worshipers on a given Sabbath.
Other members of Temple Israel were less resistant to change. The Eagle reporter visited with a “Mr. Abraham,” believed to be Abraham Abraham—founder of the dry goods store that became the Abraham & Strauss department store chain popular in
“I am a reformed Jew and am in favor of worshiping on Sunday. It makes little difference on what day we hold our religious services so long as we set apart at least one day in the week for that purpose,” Mr. Abraham said. “We are living in a Christian community and of course cannot expect the Christians to change from Sunday to Saturday, so all we can do is conform to their customs.”
Interestingly, Joseph Wechsler, Abraham’s original business partner, opposed the notion.
The newspaper also quoted a gentleman described as “one of the more prominent members” of an area congregation by the name of Moses May. Mr. May was adamant against changing the day of worship, the paper noted.
“What would you think of a Christian who allowed his business to interfere with his religion and change his day of worship to suit his own convenience,” May asked the newspaper reporter.
By the end of the newspaper article, readers of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle could easily conclude that while changing the day of worship might have been discussed in some circles, there wasn’t much enthusiasm for formalizing a shift. The less observant among the Jewish people of that moment in time would largely continue to do business on the Sabbath but attend worship services on the faith’s main holy days.
Interestingly, it was the persecution of the Jews in Eastern Europe that led to a reinforcement of Sabbath worship among Jews in the United States. But the Bible tells us about a time when those who do observe the Sabbath will suffer even greater tribulation."
7thDayTruth
