He spoke and Thro' the Gloom Profound, a hymn for Shabbat by Cordelia Moïse Cohen (Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim 1842)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=39554

Date: 2021-10-11

Last Updated: 2025-04-16

Categories: Ḳabbalat Shabbat

Tags: 19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., ABAB rhyming scheme, English vernacular prayer, hymns, South Carolina

Excerpt: "He spoke and thro' the gloom profound," by Cordelia Moïse Cohen (1809-1869), first published in 1842, appears under the subject "Sabbath" as Hymn 56 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), p. 58. . . .

Content:

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	He spoke and thro’ the gloom profound Effulgent light its glory shed; He breathed and all the earth around With living myriads soon was spread.
	How vast, how holy was the love, That blest us with these gifts divine, While angels, in the choir above, Sung praises round His heavenly shrine.
	Nature in primal beauty glow’d, Her incense, too, to heaven ascending; On every side rich blessings flow’d, His mercy with His goodness blending.
	Still o’er these works of grandeur rose A radiant beam — a heavenly ray — The holy rest, the calm repose, That sanctified the Sabbath-day.
	In sacred song our voices swelling, Let hallelujahs peal around, While seraphs, near His starry dwelling, Shall echo back the grateful sound.

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“He spoke and thro’ the gloom profound,” by Cordelia Moïse Cohen (1809-1869), first published in 1842, appears under the subject “Sabbath” as Hymn 56 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), p. 58. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

 

Contributor: Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim (Charleston, South Carolina)

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: Cordelia Moïse Cohen
  Bio: Cordelia Moïse Cohen (1810-1869) was born in Charleston, the younger daughter of Cherie (Cherry) Moïse and Esther Moses. She married Dr. Philip Melvin Cohen of Charleston in 1832 and with him had eleven children. In The Moïse Family of South Caroline (1961) Harold Moïse writes that "she is remembered by her gift for poetry. She wrote a series of hymns for Congregation Beth Elohim which supplemented those of her aunt Penina Moïse. Cordelia, keen in wit and repartee, was the center of a brilliant circle of admirers. She suffered bitterly from poverty and anxiety during the Civil War, her physician husband in the service of the Confederacy, her family scattered. They were in Columbia when that city was burned by Sherman." She died in Charleston in 1869.
  Website:
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/cordelia-moise-cohen
• 
  Name: Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim (Charleston, South Carolina)
  Bio: Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim (Hebrew: קהל קדוש בית אלהים‎, also known as Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, or more simply Congregation Beth Elohim), founded in 1749 in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the oldest Jewish congregations in the United States. The founding members of the synagogue were Jews of Spanish and Portuguese descent (Sepharadim), who arrived into Charleston via London, England. Before 1830 Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim was a place of worship for Spanish and Portuguese Jews using Portuguese rituals as done in Portugal before the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions. A splinter group animated by the European Reform movement, the Reformed Society of Israelites, formed in 1824. While at first this group did not succeed in reforming Beth Elohim, by the mid 1830s Beth Elohim had reabsorbed its members and its ḥazzan, Gustavus Poznanski (1804–1879), joined the Reform camp in 1840. After the first synagogue building was destroyed by fire in 1838, it was rebuilt two years afterward (in a Greek Revival style designed by Cyrus L. Warner) with an organ to the chagrin of the traditionalists. Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim is recognized as the oldest Reform Jewish congregation in the Americas.
  Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahal_Kadosh_Beth_Elohim
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/kahal-kadosh-beth-elohim
• 
  Name: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
  Bio: Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)
  Website: https://aharon.varady.net
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/aharon-varady-transcription

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Title: He spoke and thro’ the gloom profound – Cordelia Moïse Cohen (1856) crop
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