In the Jewish Synagogue at Newport

The interpretations of the Emma Lazarus poem will be written in purple in between the stanzas...

and the information on the Jewish culture is being taken from http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com

In the Jewish Synagogue at Newport

Emma Lazarus

"Here, where the noises of the busy town, 

The ocean's plunge and roar can enter not,
We stand and gaze around with tearful awe,
And muse upon the consecrated spot.

This is explaining where exactly the Jewish Synagogue is in Newport. It is within a busy town by an ocean in which cannot be heard within the synagogue walls. Within the synagogue they stand in awe of what is in front of them.

 
No signs of life are here: the very prayers
Inscribed around are in a language dead;
The light of the "perpetual lamp" is spent
That an undying radiance was to shed.

This is explaining that the prayers of the Jewish religion are disintegrating and the language is as well. Less and less people are taking part in the traditions of the Jewish religion. The individuals whom are Jewish do realize what their religion is, but with the times changing so are the individuals. The "perpetual light" is something that is important to the Jewish religion. It is typically  a lamp which consists of a glass vessel which is containing a wick burning in olive-oil. It is also usually suspended from the ceiling in front of the "Holy Ark" within the synagogue. The tradition of this lamp is that it is never allowed to go out, while the other six lamps in the synagogue only burned during the night.

What prayers were in this temple offered up,
Wrung from sad hearts that knew no joy on earth,
By these lone exiles of a thousand years,
From the fair sunrise land that gave them birth!

The history of the Jews is one in which is filled with death and exile. The Jews were filled with sadness and despair. Especially, from the land of Israel that gave them birth. In 597 Israelites who were deported had high hopes for their speedy return home. They had given credence to the sayings of the false prophets who had flattered them and they had come to regard themselves as the true Israel, even though they had not truly conformed to what the true prophets had imaged as the ideal Israel. The Israelites expectations were detroyed when Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 and they were then compelled to follow the advice of Jeremiah and get used to the conditions of protracted exile. This also refers to stanza 7.

How as we gaze, in this new world of light,
Upon this relic of the days of old,
The present vanishes, and tropic bloom
And Eastern towns and temples we behold.


Again we see the patriarch with his flocks,
The purple seas, the hot blue sky o'erhead,
The slaves of Egypt, -- omens, mysteries, --
Dark fleeing hosts by flaming angels led.

These two stanzas explain that there is a will to flea from the past but without the past the Jews would not be where they are today and things would be completely different. And even with a dark past it has come to be a brighter future in which is still being developed.

A wondrous light upon a sky-kissed mount,
A man who reads Jehovah's written law,
'Midst blinding glory and effulgence rare,
Unto a people prone with reverent awe.

 The pride of luxury's barbaric pomp,
In the rich court of royal Solomon --
Alas! we wake: one scene alone remains, --
The exiles by the streams of Babylon.
 
Our softened voices send us back again
But mournful echoes through the empty hall:
Our footsteps have a strange unnatural sound,
And with unwonted gentleness they fall.

The weary ones, the sad, the suffering,
All found their comfort in the holy place,
And children's gladness and men's gratitude
'Took voice and mingled in the chant of praise.
 
The funeral and the marriage, now, alas!
We know not which is sadder to recall;
For youth and happiness have followed age,
And green grass lieth gently over all.

With the funeral they are bringing an old life to a close and with the marriage they are beginning a whole new life. And new beginnings are ones in which are happy moments. 

 
Nathless the sacred shrine is holy yet,
With its lone floors where reverent feet once trod.
Take off your shoes as by the burning bush,
Before the mystery of death and God."


This poem really shows the Jewish religion and shows a lot of Jewish themes as shown above. Emma Lazarus definitely has a way with words and making her writing flow. I am really looking forward to the rest of this project and reading many more of her works. I will be looking for more Jewish themes within her writing as I continue reading her poems. Also, with the very little information about her life, I will also be looking at that in terms of how it may relate to her writing and see if there are any themes there. 

The pictures shown below are the actual Synagogue in Newport R.I. It is a national historic site.

 If it can't be read the plaque above reads:

"National Historic Site - Touro Synagogue of Jeshuat Israel Congregation founded 1658 - This oldest synagogue building in the United States was designed by Peter Harrison. Ground was broken August 1, 1759.   It was dedicated on December 2, 1763.  Here 1781-84 the Rhode Island General Assembly met, and during Washington's visit to Newport in 1781 a town meeting was held here.  The State Supreme Court held sessions here at that period.  The building was reopened for religious services on August 2, 1850.  In 1790 George Washington wrote to this congregation that..."happily the Government of the United States...gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance."