The secret courses of our thoughts doth th' Allwis watch and know;

And clear to Him, all hidden ends their own commencements show.

His loving kindness blesseth those who well their task fulfil,

A chast'ning hand falls heavy on transgressors of His will.

His messenger He'll surely send upon the final day, Redeeming those, who, strong in faith, for His salvation stay.

In love He will the dead revive that sleep beneath the ground,

For ever blessed be His name, His praise fore'er re

sound.

FLORENCE AHRONSBERG.

Yigdal

EXTOL we now the living God,
His praises loud relate,

Who is and whose existence is

Not bound by time or date.

Who, One and only One, alone
Invisible doth dwell;

And peerless in His unity,

His limit who shall tell?

Material form, similitude,
Or likeness, none hath He;
Nor can there to His holiness
Comparison e'er be.

Ere glad Creation, at His word,
To life and light outburst;
Of primal date-Eternal He-
Without beginning-First!

In all the world-the wide expanse,
Its dwellers all around,
Proclaim His might, His majesty,
Which everywhere abound.

Prophetic powers he deigned below,
Blest words of revelation,

To them, His treasured men of worth,
In glorious inspiration.

But like to Moses none arose,

'Mid Israel's chosen few,

Who face to face with God did speak, And did His semblance view.

And when in mercy, laws of truth,
God for His people penn'd,

He by that faithful Prophet pleased
His holy law to send.

Nor ever will our gracious Lord
Another code bestow;

For, all complete, His perfect law
No altering change can know.

Our hidden thoughts, our ev'ry act, From Him are ne'er conceal'd; Yea! ere commenced, of all, the end To Him at once reveal'd.

Rewarding kindness, as his meed,
The good man's just return;
But to the wicked, punishment
His own misdoings earn.

Who at His time-in length of days-
Will our Messiah send,

Redeeming those who, anxious, wait
Salvation as their end.

In wondrous mercy, then the dead
Revive at God's behest;

Then be His praises ever sung,

His name be ever blest.

PHILIP ABRAHAM.

Yigdal

HE living God we praise, exalt, adore!

THE

He was, He is, He will be evermore.

No unity like unto His can be,
Eternal, inconceivable is He.

No form or shape has th' incorporeal One,
Most holy beyond all comparison.

He was, ere aught was made in heaven or earth,
But His existence has no date or birth.

Lord of the Universe is He proclaimed,
Teaching His power to all His hand has framed.

He gave His gift of prophecy to those

In whom He gloried, whom He loved and chose.

No prophet ever yet has filled the place

Of Moses, who beheld God face to face.

Through Him (the faithful in His house) the Lord The law of truth to Israel did accord.

This law God will not alter, will not change
For any other through time's utmost range.

He knows and heeds the secret thoughts of man:
He saw the end of all ere aught began.

With love and grace doth He the righteous bless,
He metes out evil unto wickedness.

He at the last will His anointed send,
Those to redeem, who hope, and wait the end.

God will the dead to life again restore,
Praised be His glorious name for evermore.

ALICE LUCAS.

The Mezuzah

THE Cerberus breakers that brawl and that cry,
The sun and the sky with their Raphael eye,
The skylarks that soar and the serpents that creep,
The lilies that love and the willows that weep,
The grandeurs of heaven, the glamours of earth,
In Thy outdoors, O God, they are singing Thy worth.
And love and its wonder, the mother and child,
The lullabies sweet, and the elegies wild,
The sanctuary, Home, the spirit-realm's pole,
The Eden unlost, and the shrine of the soul,
In Thy indoors, O God, in the hearth we revere,
In its tears, in its triumphs, Thy splendors appear.
But leaving to heaven, the sun and the star,
When we grope on the threshold and wait for the bar
To slip, and the door of the home to unfold,
And see not the rising or sunsetting gold,

While we grope on the threshold expectant and tense,
All silent with fearful and hopeful suspense,
Dumb lintel above us, blind doorstep, before,

The heart, it is neither on ocean or shore,

What hint to the soul of the Master, what gleam,
What clue to His labyrinth's coil of dream?

It is the Mezuzah, the doorpost uplifts,

Enwrit with Thy statutes, Thy name and Thy gifts;
Coat of Arms of the knighthood of God, like a spell,
The Mezuzah holds sentry where Israelites dwell.
What heavenly romance, its blazonings seal,
What lists, and what Galahads that harm not but heal.
What Unity linking the shadow and sun,
Till shadow and sunshine one glory have spun;
And it isn't the parchment, the scroll or the case,
It's the charm of the Shaddai it bears on its face,
And the mystical Shema inscribed in the scroll,
We caress and we kiss. We are kissing its soul
In crossing the threshold; O hearken, we pray,
"Heaven keep our going and coming each day."
And they tell, Belial, the demon of vice,

In touching the threshold, must cease to entice.
For the doorstep's enchanted, the Mezuzah has charm.
To keep from the threshold the harpies that harm.
The Mezuzah's the soul of the threshold, behold,
It touched with enchantment and mystical gold,
The portal: The threshold with witchcraft is shod,
On the threshold and doorpost, we also see God!
ALTER ABELSON.

Tephillin

RECT he stands, in fervent prayer,

ERE

His body cloaked in silken Tallis;
He seems a king, so free from care,

His wife a queen, his home a palace,
His arm and head, his brawn and brain,
He dedicates to God in Heaven;
For Him he suffers toil and pain,

Endures whatever lot he's given.

Around his arm seven times is wrapped
A wide phylactery, glistening thong;

His shaggy, curly hair is capped

By still another, tough and strong.