They say it is enough, as those who remember that even during the night they have to worship God; they talk as those who know that the Lord is one of their auditors. After manual ablution, and the bringing in of lights, each [Or, perhaps—“One is prompted to stand forth and bring to God, as every one can, whether from the Holy Scriptures, or of his own mind”—i.e. according to his taste.] is asked to stand forth and sing, as he can, a hymn to God, either one from the holy Scriptures or one of his own composing,—a proof of the measure of our drinking.
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Translation and commentary by Daniel C. Matt, volume 4, page 210. Reading "And the people took their dough before it was leavened," the Zohar taught that "leaven" and "unleaven" symbolize the evil inclination (, yeitzer ra) and the good inclination in people. The Zohar taught that one who fervently and joyously relates the story of the Exodus on Passover, telling the story with a high heart, shall be found worthy to rejoice in the Divine Presence (, Shekhinah) in the World To Come (, Olam Haba). The Zohar taught that the joy of Israel causes God to be glad, so that God calls together all the family above and to hear the praises that God's children bring to God.
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The constitutional clergy, in the national council, held at Notre Dame in 1797, protested against the new religion, and Henri Grégoire wrote in his Annales de la Religion (VI, no 5.): :"Theophilanthropism is one of those derisive institutions which pretend to bring to God those very people whom they drive away from Him by estranging them from Christianity... .Abhorred by Christians, it is spurned by philosophers who, though they may not feel the need of a religion for themselves, still want the people to cling to the faith of their fathers." Pope Pius VI, 17 May 1800 placed an interdict on the churches that had been used by deists, and Cardinal Consalvi, in the course of the negotiations regarding the Concordat of 1801, demanded that a speedy end be put to their use of the Catholic churches.
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He went home happy, confident, trusting in God, for he had not wavered, he had nothing for which to reproach himself. If we imagine that Abraham, by anxiously and desperately looking around, discovered the ram that would save his son, would he not then have gone home in disgrace, without confidence in the future, without the self-assurance that he was prepared to bring to God any sacrifice whatsoever, without the divine voice from heaven in his heart that proclaimed to him God's grace and love. Nor did Abraham say: Now I have become an old man, my youth is gone, my dream has not been fulfilled; I became a man and what I yearned for you denied me, and now that I am an old man you fulfilled everything in a wonderful way. Grant me now a quiet evening; do not summon me to new battles; let me rejoice in what you gave me, in the consolation of my old age. Journals of Søren Kierkegaard IIIC 4 1840-1841} Abraham was wrong as far as ethics is concerned but right as far the Absolute is concerned.
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