[Adeline Jacobs was the daughter of the Reverend George Jacobs of Jamaica, who succeeded the Reverend Isaac Leeser as spiritual leader of Congregation Beth El Emeth in Philadelphia. She was unmarried, and lived with her unmarried sisters, Virginia (the eldest) and Emilie.]
It is customary not to give long eulogies during Passover, and this is as it should be, for we want to remember Adeline Jacobs principally in connexion with her life; for she knew better than anyone I know how to use life to its best advantage, putting a great deal into it, and receiving a great deal from it.
I saw her last just a week ago. Naturally, she was inactive, but had spent some of the time watching one of the traffic lights from her window. She said to me: " I have often wondered if a great tree makes a noise in the forest when there is no one there to hear it." I told her that this was an old problem in philosophy, and recited for her a little rime that sums up the question neatly. She was delighted with it, and insisted that I write it down.
Up to the end, she maintained an intense interest in everything that formed part of life; art and history and religion, and, as you see, even traffic lights and lonely trees were food for her thoughts.
This deep interest in life she combined with a gentle nature that did not allow here to injure anyone unwittingly.
Adeline Jacobs knew how to live deeply and sweetly, and now that she has rendered a very rich life to her maker we should not be sad, but rather grateful for her time in mortal life, and we should pray that her example may enable us to do with our lives at least as much.
Our sympathy goes out to her beloved sisters. May they be granted the divine consolation which time and the Almighty alone can bring.