Labatt D C (1 results)

All 1st edition. All Recent boards or limp cloth, 8vo, 28 + 17 [with errata slip present] + 15 pages. 21-23 cm. Singerman 1496, 1711 & 1739. Rare Complete Set of all three separately issued anniversary addresses for the Home for Jewish Widows and Orphans in New Orleans, all from the Civil War era. OCLC-Worldcat locates only one institution (Penn) holding all three. A later anniversary speech was addended to the Home's 10th Annual report in 1865. The First Anniversary publication, from 1857, includes a preface with an exchange of letters between Labatt and Rabbi James K. Gutheim. It gives a detailed description of the 1st anniversary celebration and of the roles played by Labatt, Isaac Hart (father of Confederate Army Major Alexander Hart), John Abrahamson, and M. Goldsmith, as well as a history and description of the Home and its supporting association. D. C. Labatt's (David Cohen Labatt, 1825-1893) address then covers the one-year history of the home as well as the values and value that Jewish immigrants bring wherever they settle: "No student of ancient history can fail.to ascribe the greatness and prosperity of modern nations to that spirit of tolerance and equality which, by degrees, is pervading the human family in both hemispheres. If the statesmen and rulers of the world would only read aright the lessons of the past, emblazoned upon every page of future history there would be inscribed, to the glory of humanity, 'Equalization of religious worship.'" Labatt goes on to praise Jewish adherence to Jewish law and to ideals of mutual aid and charity. The remainder of the work lists the board of officers (M.M. Simpson, Isaac Hart, H.M. Hyams, Danile Goodman, Rev. James K. Gutheim), the directors, a list of 172 named members, and a list of over 100 named contributors with the amounts given. The second oration in the series, given at the Fifth Anniversary in 1861, comes from Rabbi James K. Gutheim, who begins his sermon, 3 months before the start of the Civil War, with glorious militaristic references to the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, to "'good men and true,' who staked their lives for their country's good. Forty-six years have elapsed since the last invader was met and vanquished upon American soil--upon Louisiana' sunny plains." The tone throughout is militaristic, with references to this institution and its "battle" with misfortunes and distresses. He continues with a history of the Home, its support for widows and orphans from across the South, Europe, Canada, and New York, and the little financial support it receives beyond that of the local community. He discusses the attacks on Christian civilians in 1840 in Syria and holds up two Jews--Moses Montifoire and Adolphe Cremieux-- as the first men who "published to the world" the "voice of humanity;" he then continues to discuss support from other Jewish leaders around the world. He also holds up the deceased Judah Touro as a local example of great charity and calls on the rest of the Jewish community to follow Touro's and others' examples and to be generous toward the Home. James Koppel Gutheim (1817-1886) was the rabbi of Congregation Shangarai Chasset of New Orleans and was a president of the New Orleans Board of Education. "Although generally referred to favorably in era literature, in The Occident and American Jewish Advocate, Isaac Leeser appeared to offer Gutheim especially favorable coverage through the 1860s. Gutheim's move from Cincinnati, Ohio to New Orleans was given flowery coverage, saying that 'The Crescent City has robbed the Queen of the West of one of the brightest jewels in her diadem.' The Occident also published an exchange of pleasantries in the form of correspondence between Gutheim, then serving as congregational rabbi of Shangarai Chasset and the congregation's president, Isaac Hart (father of Confederate Army Major Alexander Hart), when the congregation presented Gutheim with a gift marking the anniversary of his service to the congregation. His first term as rabbi of the synagogue was from 1850-1853. After his first term at Shangarai Chasset ended, Gutheim served as the New Orleans' Portuguese Synagogue Nefutzot Yehudah's Rabbi/Hazan, where he encountered both religious and political controversy.in 1863, when he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Union after New Orleans was recaptured. He fled New Orleans, and served as rabbi to Jewish congregations in Montgomery, Alabama, and Columbus, Georgia. Gutheim returned to New Orleans after the Civil War, to serve as Shangarai Chasset's rabbi, but left to serve in New York City's Temple Emanuel in 1868. In 1872 Gutheim once again returned to New Orleans to become minister of the New Orleans Temple Sinai, where he preached until his death.he was referred to as being '.one of the most eloquent and learned men in American Jewry,' particularly in connection with his service as the New Orleans Reform Temple Sinai's spiritual leader, and his adherence to the principles of Tikkun Olam. Gutheim's lifetime involvement in educational and charitable work, was recognized by the Louisiana State Senate adjourning on the day of his funeral. The Menorah, in its July-December 1894 edition noted that the B'nai Brith lodge (no. 439) in New Orleans was named after Gutheim during that year. The lodge members credited Gutheim as a 'beloved teacher and pulpit orator.deeply enshrined upon the hearts of the people of New Orleans'" (Wikipedia). Finally, the third oration, a Civil War era sermon delivered by Rabbi Illowy on the Home's sixth anniversary, also takes a militaristic tone (like Gutheim the year before), merging the anniversary of the Home with the anniversary of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans, holding up "that glorious day, on which Jackson, the immortal hero of many battles, who will forever live in the hearts of his countrymen, and whose name will forever shine in the pages of our history, killed the great monster of the sea, and drove the enemy back, defeated and o.