STACK ANNbX SERMON n\ THE nation of Their Gracious Majesties, KING EDWARD VII. AM) QUEEN ALEXANDRA, DELIVERED KY Rabbi I. H. DAICHE5, On Saturday, August 9th, 1902, BETH HAMEDRASH HAGODEL, LEEDS. [. POK'I''\ ! I : K.M !'R1SMN(, \V,,KKS. If, HnilK,!'. S'l'KKKI. SERMON ON THE Coronation of Their Gracious Majesties, KINO EDWARD VII. AND QUEEN ALEXANDRA, DELIVERED BY Rabbi I. H. DAICHES, On Saturday, August 9th, 1902, AT THE BETH HAMEDRASH HAGODEL, LEEDS. his Illajestp King du>ard VII. To a telegram he sent to the King and Queen, Rabbi Daiches was honoured with the following reply : BUCKINGHAM PALACE, 8.15 p.m. To THE RABBI OF THE BETH HAMEDRASH HAGODEL CONGREGATION, 3, WINTOUN STREET, LEEDS. Am commanded by the King and Queen to thank you for your kind telegram of loyal congratulations and good wishes. KNOLLYS. fier majesty Queen Alexandra. The following is the telegram Rabbi Daiches sent : To THEIR MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTIES THE KING AND QUEEN. On behalf of my congregation I humbly beg to express our heartfelt good wishes on the occasion of the Coronation. May the Lord grant the Royal pair long life and health to reign for many, many years for the benefit of the great British Empire. As a token of gratitude to the Almighty for having spared to the English people the dear life of His Majesty, I to-day suggested in my sermon to my congregation to found a charitable institution, and a resolution to create a fund to assist necessitous people was passed and will be carried out to-morrow. ISRAEL DAICHES, Rabbi of the Beth Hamedrash Hagodel Congregation 3, Wintoun Street, Leeds. Rabbi Simeon says : " There are three crowns : the crown of the law, the crown of priestly office, and the crown of royalty ; yet the crown of a good name is high above them all." (Pirque Aboth. iv., 17.) The commentators of the Ethics found some difficulty in explaining why the sage at first says : there are. three crowns, and afterwards enumerates four. The following illustration will, I believe, justify this saying : There are two ways in which a crown may be put on: by right of descent and by right of merit. When one's fathers have occupied a crown for generations, and afterwards the crown passes over to their descendant, that is known as hereditary right. But when a man is a distinguished character, highly cultivated, in possession of brilliant qualities, and the people put a crown on his head out of reverence and love for him, and owing to the feeling that he is the man whom the high position requires, then the crown is obtained by merit. The difference between obtaining a crown by one way or the other is this : When a person succeeds to the crown by right of inheritance, then all classes of people recognise his right, and there can be no dispute or quarrel about it, and there is no fear of disturbance of the peace of the country ; therefore the people may heartily rejoice and be glad that they have got a King who is a descendant of their royal house, and under the government of whose ancestors their parents lived. But still there is a small cloud on the horizon of the country's joy. For there arises some doubt whether the reign of the new King will be a good one for the country, if he will further its welfare, and if he possesses the character, the -qualities which make a good King. Although his noble descent, his high, princely education allow it to be taken for granted that he is the most suitable man for the rank which he is going to enter, and possesses all the qualities that are required for the dignity which he is going to main- tain, still one cannot get rid of a secret anxiety as to whether the new reign will be a happy one, as to whether the new ruler will take sufficient care of the country which is en- trusted to him. When a crown is placed on the head of a man who has not inherited it, but whom his own personal qualities, his high-minded spirit, his capability of ruling, his righteousness and integrity have elevated to this high dignity, then also the country is rejoiced and glad, but still the horizon of their joy is not quite cloudless. For there may be men whom envy and hatred would stir up to act and agitate against the newly-anointed King, and thus the peace and with it the welfare of the country would be disturbed. But when the crown is put on the head of a person, whose fathers reigned over the country and governed it with the utmost care and love, under whose rule the country had flourished and become strong, wealthy and prosperous, to whom the people were affectionately attached, and in addition to that, he himself is so distinguished a man, with such good qualities, that had he not succeeded to the crown by heritage, he would have deserved to be chosen King for his merits alone, then the joy of the country is a true and perfect one, for the people are sure of good government and of inward peace, and the King is sure also of the love of his people, and of their readiness to offer their property and even their life for his safety and honour, and to fight for him to the last drop of blood. This, as it seems to me, is the meaning of the words of Rabbi Simeon : There are three official crowns : the crown of the law, the crown of priestly office, and the crown of royalty ; but if any of these crowns is to conduce to the happiness of its bearer and of the people entrusted to his care, then there must be high above this crown " the crown of a good name," a crown which is obtainable only by good character, by -high education, great qualities, by acting justly and being merciful. Surely, when such jewels are set in a crown, then the crown is a most valuable one. My brethren ! To-day takes place the happy event which the whole English nation has so anxiously awaited, and which it welcomes with the greatest joy and happiness the Coronation of our GRACIOUS KING EDWARD VII. AND QUEEN ALEXANDRA. He is a King, not only by His descent from the English Royal House, not only by the fact of his being the son of the late Queen Victoria, whose memory is most dear to the English people, to whom the English nation was devoted with heart and soul, but He is also King by his merits, his generosity, his kindliness, his care for and love to the country, his humane, high sentiments, of which we have just had so splendid a proof. Indeed, the joy and happiness are justified, when on the head of such a King the crown of the country is put. But let us see, is the Coronation of a King according to our Jewish view a reason for special joy? And what is it that makes this day a holiday ? My brethren ! A look into the history of our own people will serve best to secure enlightenment on this question. When the people of Israel were yet in their own country, then they also had rulers and kings. The appointment of a king was to Israel a Divine command, which it received even before it had a land of its own and before it required a ruler. " Thou shalt set a king over thee," was said when Israel was still in the wilderness. But the king of Israel was not to be a tyrant who rules according to his own discretion ; not a despot, who is independent of law or duty ; but more than any other mortal was he to observe the laws and commands which God had given to His people, more than any other was he bound to engross himself in the Divine doctrines, always to be mindful of them and to make them the motive principles of all his thoughts and deeds. He was the representative of God, and therefore he had to show himself worthy of His the Divine confidence. He was a king by the grace of God, and as such he deserved obedience and high esteem. Supercilious, self complacent conquerors like those whom we find in the heathen antiquity, and who now and then appear also in modern times, figures like Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, Caesar and Napoleon, were an unusual appearance among the Jews, and the greatness of the most famous of the Jewish kings, of the wise Solomon, was on account of his wisdom, the Divine understanding which he possessed and which enabled him to bring the welfare and the prosperity of his people to the highest degree. The view of the nature and the dignity of a king as an agent of God has, with the gradual dissemination among the European nations of the most important religious views of Judaism, passed over to the former, and to the present day has remained prevalent. But not only has this view alone been adopted from Judaism, but the solemn and holy act of crowning a ruler, too, is undoubtedly to be traced back to a Jewish origin. The holy dignity which God, entrusted to him, was conferred on the king by this act, viz.: that his head was anointed by the High Priest with holy oil. In this way were Saul and David installed into their office by Samuel, and when Solomon was to ascend the royal throne while his father was yet alive, the High Priest Zadok was ordered by David (I. Kings, i.) to perform on him the solemn act of anointing in order to secure for him in this way the crown of the country. And how did the people conduct itself with regard to this event ? In the above- mentioned chapter it is reported that on the day of the anoint- ment of Solomon, the people rejoiced and shouted with happiness. " And they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, ' God save King Solomon.' And all the people came up after him, and the people played on pipes and rejoiced with great exuberance, so that the earth rent with the sound of them." This was the view of the Jewish people on the coronation of its King, and so great was its joy on that day. Now, my brethren, if our people during its long, disastrous exile ever had cause to celebrate the Coronation of a King with joy and happiness, to-day is that occasion, on the Coronation of our GRACIOUS, ILLUSTRIOUS KING EDWARD VII. AND QUEEN ALEXANDRA. It is not only the feelings of loyalty and allegiance that compel us to celebrate this day, but also our feelings of gratitude to the English people. Gratitude was always a Jewish virtue, our feelings of gratefulness towards our benefactors were always stronger than those of hatred towards our persecutors. And we have reason to be thankful to the English people. Whilst in most of the other countries our brethren are despised and oppressed, in England they are received with unlimited hospitality, enabled to lead an honourable life, and find a second home. Therefore we may be proud of the sentiments which animate us to-day, and give ourselves up to them entirely. We may, therefore, frankly express 8 our lively and sincere participation in the general joy of the whole English people. And thus we may with gladness of heart express our exalted frame of mind with the words of the Psalmist : " This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it," which we may apply in a double sense : we have to rejoice at the great event of the day, at the solemn act of crowning the head of our Sovereign, and we also have to participate in the universal joy that our King has recovered from His dangerous illness and has so far regained his strength as to be able to undergo such a ceremony. My brethren ! In our Talmud are enumerated four classes of persons who have to bring thank offerings ; one of those is he who has been suffering from a grave illness and has recovered. Now, our King, too, was lying ill with a very serious illness and we, as His loyal and faithful subjects, who fully appreciate the mercy that God has shown us by restoring Him to health and strength, also ought to bring a thank-offering. But in what way can we do that ? An act of charity always pleases God as the best of offerings, and since our King takes great delight in rendering help to the needy, I would suggest that a Benevolent Loan Society be founded, the aim of which shall be to assist necessitous people. And so let us offer up our prayers to the Almighty and All-merciful God, that He may keep our King and Queen for a long, long time in good health and strength, and that He may bless the English country and increase its welfare and prosperity ! Amen. A 000 069 307 7