Rabbi's letters to congregation, including prayer by Rev. David de Sola Pool

Held by

The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue Archives via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)

Dates

1980 (indexed as 1980)

Level

file

Location

No place found in this description yet.

Locate this photo

Genre / form

textual record

Format

Document

In the picture

ChristmasCoat of ArmsDocumentHandwrittenJewish CommunityLetterPrintedReligionSignatureSynagogueTypewrittenTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.

Text in the image

A PrayerbyThe Reverend Dr. David de Sola PoolDear Family of Friends,With love and devotionPRINTED WITH DEVOTED REVERENCE, BYEDNA FUERTH LEMLELord God, give me understanding of the mind so that I may come to know what is right and what is wrong, and may mine be the strength of moral will to choose the right.Give me also understanding of the heart so that I may count my days and attain a heart of wisdom as I try the more understandingly to fulfill Thy will and Thy commandments of life.Yea, open my heart that I may the better understand the heart of my fellow men and thereby come to love my neighbor as myself.Give me also wisdom of the soul so that I may face life with reverent spirit and ever feel that I am in Thy presence. Then, as I open my mind, my heart, and my soul to Thee, I shall know peace within my own being, and shall further peace on earth among Thy children. May all Thy children be strengthened to know Thee and harken to Thee so that darkness may be lifted from the earth and all may walk through life with mind, with heart, and with soul uplifted towards the light and the peace that come from Thee. For then shall we truly feel the blessing of Thy love through all our days of life on earth.Today is Wednesday, October 1, 1980. Tonight will usher in the end of the Sukkot Festival and after the weekend the New Year will truly begin.May it be a Year of Peace in our troubled world, a year of Progress for our harassed Land of Israel, and health and happiness for each of you and the dear ones around you.Is it strange to say Leshanah Tovah at the end of the solemn month of Tishri? Are you receiving a second letter of New Year blessings from me?The answer lies in a mail mix-up, in which my letters got lost and my list for mailing turned up. Perhaps it was due to an accident I suffered when crossing the breakwater on the Fire Island beach. I hit my head against a sharp rock, bled like a sieve, was given first aid by a police crew and taken by helicopter from the beach to a hospital on Long Island, where they took ten x-rays of my poor head and found nothing in it. Absolutely nothing! Not satisfied with that vaccuity, the doctors submitted me to a "scan" and now the report has come that there really is nothing there. They lost interest in me and dropped me from the waiting list and here I join them and drop the subject.My original letter was addressed to "Dear Family and Family of Friends." What I remember about it is that I said that the family is mankind's greatest achievement and that the "family of friends" is the next step upwards and that you, dear friends, are building the ladder of which Jacob dreamed, the ladder reaching heaven.I thank you for your thoughtful inquiries about my well-being, your good wishes which the Lord clearly heard and all the pretty Rosh Hashanah cards that anticipated my need of them.God bless you all and may He give us the strength to carry our share of His work on earth.Read automatically; may contain mistakes.

Harvested

2026-10-18T19:27:00Z · source datestamp n/a · cjhn

Digital objects at the source

• imageOpen original at source ↗SP-15-40-RabbisLetterToCongregation1980.jpg