Two Civil War Sermons

This chapter discusses two sermons by David Einhorn. The first sermon was delivered on Thanksgiving Day 1863. Central to the subject of Einhorn's sermon is the theme of divine providence. The tapestry of the sermon is woven out of a group of verses from the biblical lesson of the week, ‘Vayishlaḥ’, describing the encounter after many years of separation between Jacob and Esau. These two figures have deep resonance in Jewish consciousness, as Esau had long been typologically transformed into a figure for the enemy of Israel. Next, the chapter presents the sermon for the sabbath before the festival of Purim. Here, Einhorn chooses for his text a verse where the war crime of the Amalekites is first recorded. It is one of the most powerful verses a preacher can use in a wartime context, evoking an unprovoked attack against a defenceless civilian population by the arch-enemy of the Jewish people, and a divine sanction for a war of annihilation.