Witness from the Pulpit

Harold I. Saperstein is Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Emanu-El of Lynbrook, N.Y., where he served for 47 years. Marc Saperstein is the Charles E. Smith Professor of Jewish History and Director of the Program in Judaic Studies at George Washington University. He is the author of four books, including Jewish Preaching 1200-1800 (1989) and Your Voice Like a Ram's Horn (1996), both winners of the National Jewish Book Award.

This selection from a lifetime of sermons is a treasure. We see a half-century of American Jewish history though the eyes of a learned rabbi who fought for justice and decency all his life. Rabbi Saperstein evoked for me the actions and the passions of all those days, and my admiration for him rose sermon by sermon.

• Chapter 1 Nazi Nationalism, 1933Chapter 2 Are We Civilized?, 1933Chapter 3 The Call to Battle, 1934Chapter 4 The Great Olympic Idea, 1935Chapter 5 Must There Be War?, 1936Chapter 6 Can Jews Afford to Be Pacifists. 1937Chapter 7 Return to Thy People, 1938Chapter 8 Unconquered, 1939Chapter 9 The World We Make (Introduction), 1940; Sufferance Is the Badge, 1940Chapter 10 Undying Fires, 1941Chapter 11 The Mount of Sacrifice, 1942Chapter 12 What Have We Jews to Be Thankful For?, 1942Chapter 13 Farewell, 1943Chapter 14 The Call of the Shofar, 1944Chapter 15 The Voice of Joy and Gladness, 1945Chapter 16 A Jewish Veteran Returns, 1946Chapter 17 Passover—For Our Day, 1946Chapter 18 The Resistance Movement in Palestine, 1946Chapter 19 Thieves in the Night, 1947Chapter 20 Israel and Us, 1948Chapter 21 A Prince in Israel, 1949Chapter 22 Outside the Law, 1949Chapter 23 Chains of the Messiah, 1950Chapter 24 Birth of a Nation, 1951Chapter 25 "I Lift My Lamp," 1952Chapter 26 The Fruits of Sacrifice, 1953Chapter 27 Promise and Fulfillment, 1954Chapter 28 How Leadership Fails, 1957Chapter 29 Message from the Movies, 1958Chapter 30 Jewish Life Behind the Iron Curtain, 1959Chapter 31 Moral Issues of the Eichmann Case, 1961Chapter 32 New Frontiers in Catholic-Jewish Relationships, 1962Chapter 33 The American Dream, In Color, 1963Chapter 34 Martyr for the American Dream, 1963Chapter 35 "The Deputy"—Where Does the Guilt Lie, 1964Chapter 36 The War on Poverty, 1965Chapter 37 On the Freedom Trail in Alabama, 1965Chapter 38 The Dilemma of Vietnam, 1966Chapter 39 A Great Miracle Happened There, 1967Chapter 40 An American Tragedy, 1968Chapter 41 Portnoy's Complaint, And Mine, 1969Chapter 42 The Ordeal of Soviet Jewry, 1970Chapter 43 Dissent—Jewish Style, 1971Chapter 44 Keepers of the Keys, 1972Chapter 45 The War of the Day of Judgment, 1973Chapter 46 Slaughter of the Innocent, 1974Chapter 47 How My Mind Has Changed, 1975Chapter 48 The Dream Shattered, 1975Chapter 49 The Harvest of '77, 1977Chapter 50 Jonestown and Masada, 1978Chapter 51 Farewell to the "Me Decade," 1980Chapter 52 Days I Remember, 1973