2007 HIGH HOLY DAY SERMONS
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2009 MARKS THE BICENTENIAL COMEMORATION OF LINCOLNŒS BIRTH HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS:
Abraham Lincoln Tribute

by Rabbi Stephen S. Pearce

At a recent rabbinic conference, I had the pleasure of hearing Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning book: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (Simon & Schuster, 2005), deliver an eloquent Lincoln encomium. In preparation for next year's commemorations at Congregation Emanu-El of Lincoln's birth and life, I share a document from the Emanu-El Archives.

Lincoln was assassinated on Friday while attending a theatre performance. On Saturday morning, word reached Rabbi Elkan Cohn, the third rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El, when a Saturday newspaper was handed to him just as he was preparing to conduct Shabbat services. The tearful rabbi broke the news to the dumbstruck congregation. Composing himself, Dr. Cohn delivered this eloquent address:

Beloved Brethren! Overpowered with grief and sorrow at the terrible news which just at this moment was communicated to me, I am scarcely able to command my feelings, and to express before you the sad calamity that has befallen our beloved country. Who might believe it! Our revered President Abraham Lincoln, the twice anointed high priest in the sanctuary of our Republic, has fallen a bloody victim to treason and assassination, and is no more. He, who by the indomitable power of his energy, stood amidst us like a mighty giant, holding with his hands the tottering columns of our great commonwealth, and planting them secure upon the solid basis of general freedom and humanity; his great mind full of wisdom, his great heart full of love, his whole being, a true type of the American liberal character. Oh, the beloved of our heart is fallen, and is no more amongst the living. And with his soul departed also the soul and spirit of his council, the great statesman who inspired him with wisdom, and stood on his side with the giant intellect of his mind, William H. Seward. Under the burden of this terrible affliction, we can scarcely realize the truth of our bereavement; our feelings quail under the weight of a most intense grief, and we are more inclined to cry than to speak them out. Two great men have fallen. Arise, my brethren, and bow in humble devotion before God! Arise, and honor the memory of the blessed, whose life was a blessing to us, to our country, to the oppressed and afflicted, and to the human race at large. But though they are dead, their noble persons hushed in ethereal silence, their spirits live‹live in thousands and millions of American hearts and souls, a sacred inheritance to them of their great dead ­ never to die out‹never, never! The great principles they so nobly and fully represented are the very nerve and essence of our people, and as long as there is upon our soil a mind to think and a heart to feel, these principles will be defended and upheld with the last drop of blood. Glory in heaven will be the celestial reward of our beloved, whom we mourn as children mourn the loss of a father, and we pray to God to receive their souls in love and mercy, and be gracious to those His most faithful servants. Oh, they served God, in their love to man, the most glorious worship upon earth! And we pray that He, in His infinite love, may graciously avert the dreadful consequences of this calamity, calm the passions of the people, so justly aroused at this atrocious crime, soothe the grief and sorrow so deeply cutting in the very heart of our nation, and speak to the Angel of Destruction: "Enough! The noblest victims may be the last. Henceforth, the great work for which they bled stands under My Divine protection. They have fulfilled their mission, they have restored the Union, they have rebuilt the great stronghold of humanity and freedom; I will now seal their work with the great blessing of peace! O God! Thou who hast given victory to thy people, may it please Thee to bless Thy people with peace.