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<font size=3>At 01:14 PM 5/21/2013, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">It could be that my information
was incorrect, but it could also be that<br>
this was a departure from the usual practise. Note that this was
not on a<br>
Shabbos, but at a Thursday service that he invented from scratch.
Did he<br>
preach at Shearith Israel on Shabbosos? And if so, in what
language? My<br>
information is that English was not introduced into SI until the
mid-19th<br>
century, and that it was very controversial then. Of course
both could<br>
be true - perhaps Seixas introduced English and then it fell out of
use<br>
after his day. I'm speculating there, but so must anyone without
enough<br>
data.<br>
</blockquote><br>
Have a look at the write up about Gershom Mendes Seixas in David de Sola
Pool's Portraits Etched in Stone. There he recounts the many
addresses and sermons he gave in English at Congregation Shearith Israel
and gives English selections from them. <br><br>
The following is from page 363.<br><br>
"It may be well to recall how frequently he preached, since it
is often claimed that the sermon was introduced into the American
synagogue by the Reform movement in the nineteenth century. Seixas
was born in 1745 and died in 1816. There was no Reform movement in
America during this period. The first Reformers began in Charleston in
1825. <br><br>
From
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/mrm3mkc" eudora="autourl">
http://tinyurl.com/mrm3mkc<br><br>
</a>It was actually not until January 16, 1825,<br>
that they formally organized "The Reformed Society of
Israelites"<br>
and prepared its constitution, which was unanimously adopted on<br>
February 15, 1825 by forty-four people present.<br><br>
In brief, they wrote a new and abbreviated ritual service with<br>
some original prayers: original prayers and services for
circumcision,<br>
naming a daughter, confirmation and the marriage ceremony; used<br>
instrumental music, worshipped without hats and revised the<br>
Maimonidean creed. They planned to educate some youth to serve<br>
as their spiritual leader.<br><br>
Three of the Rambam's Thirteen Principles of Faith were eliminated in
their<br>
document - the Divine Revelation of the Scriptures; the expectation of
the<br>
coming Messiah, and the resurrection of the dead<br><br>
YL<br>
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