rfaum rnnwn CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM, FACTS, OPINIONS, ANECDOTES, AND REMARKS RELATIVE TO THE HEBREW NATION, COMPILED AND COLLECTED BY PHILIP ABRAHAM. nnx nnnjn CT "a " I will glean now and gather among the standing sheaves after the reapers.' RUTH ii. 7. PUBLISHED BY AND FOR THE AUTHOR, 147, GOWER STREET, W.C. 1879. LONDON PRINTED BY WERTHEIMER, LEA AND CO. ; CIRCUS PLACE, LONDON WALL. PREFACE. THE Title which I have assumed for this little book, bringing it, so far, in juxta-position with the world- renowned work of the elder D'Israeli, might lead to the expectation of elaborate disquisitions and ex- tended remarks on various subjects, which its nature would seem to include. It is true that the field of research is extensive, fertile, and rich in its treasures ; and will, no doubt, under younger and more vigorous labourings, yield ample and productive harvests. Herein, however, I have simply gleaned Dm3321 ntfaa, " in the corners and among the first-ripe fruits," content if I may have pointed out to others where plenteously to gather in the golden grain. Repeating the words of my prospectus, my readers will please to remember that this is a work of little pretension. It is simply a selection, with references to every original source ; " it does not aspire to the dignity of history, nor even of a chronological arrangement." Still, it is hoped that it may be found amusing and interesting, and, in some degree, useful to those who wish to investi- gate Jewish affairs subsequent to Scriptural periods. P. 'A. 2097042 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. JEWISH SCHOOLS IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE. LONG before Poetry spread a brilliant eclat among the population of Southern France,' a remarkable literary move- ment took place, although this was generally unknown, because it operated but indirectly among the branches of knowledge of the Middle Ages. We refer to the studies, and the philosophical works, which the Jews undertook with such great success, at this epoch, in the bosom of the schools which they had founded at Narbonne, at Lunel, at Saint-Gilles, and at other towns of the South. A Spanish Jew, Benjamin of Tudela, who travelled from 1 1 60 to 1173, to visit his co-religionists in various places, has transmitted several interesting details respecting these establishments and those who directed them. We shall supplement his account by what we gather from the writings of these celebrated rabbins themselves, but in this intro- duction we shall simply glance on the intellectual move- ment, and particularly on the schools and establishments which have favoured and advanced it, limiting ourselves here to a general view, but reserving for further remarks particulars of different men who have taken part in this movement. Benjamin of Tudela relates, that after having admired at .Montpellier the science and riches of a great number of Israelites, he visited, at Lunel, the celebrated university B 2 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. which was annexed to the synagogue of that town. At the head of it was the renowned Rabbi Messulam; five of his disciples and some other rabbis, versed in theo- logical studies and in medicine, seconded his efforts. This university enjoyed a merited reputation among the Jews ; it is asserted that Solomon Jarchi (whom some authors assert to have been a native of Lunel) taught there in the eleventh century. But what ought to secure it a place in history, is the part which it undertook in the discussions which arose during the second half of the twelfth century, respecting the works of Maimonides. The university maintained and defended the Talmudical tradi- tions,, which the celebrated philosopher of Cordova seemed inclined to sacrifice to the Aristotelian philosophy. The Spanish rabbis, and those of Narbonne at the head of the latter town, sided with Maimonides : those of Lunel, Vau- vert, Saint-Gilles and Provence declared, on the contrary, against the innovator (novateur)^ The quarrel burst forth just about the time that Benjamin was visiting these locali- ties, and the names of those whom he mentions ramong others, of Messulam of Lunel, and Abraham, the son of David, of Vauvert, were precisely of those who engaged in and continued the contest. A great number of students flocked to Lunel r and there received, not only learned instruction, but also food and clothing. About two leagues (lieus) from Lunel was a large village called Posquieres (now Vaubert), where the traveller found forty Jewish families, distinguished among whom, by his riches and his virtues, was a celebrated rabbin, whose name was venerated among his people. This was Abra- ham, son of David. This learned and generous man, dispensed at the same time to his disciples nourishment for the body and for the soul. Surrounding him were several intelligent Jews (whose names Benjamin has pre- CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 3 served to us). It was in this little centre of intellectual activity, that Maimonides encountered the most lively opposition, which was perseveringly maintained. Still some leagues further, on the borders of the Rhone, at Saint- Gilles, another synagogue had a congregation of about a hundred families. A school, under the management of teachers of renown, was established at its side > and the teaching there, as at Lunel and Vauvert, had a decidedly conservative character, strictly guarded against any infusion of the philosophy of Aristotle, which was so welL received by the Spanish rabbins. There was also at Aries, a Jewish congregation of about two hundred,, among whom were many distinguished in theology and in medicine. Such are the facts which Benjamin of Tudela transmits to us respect- ing the Jewish schools of our country : they prove to us, that, in the midst of that nation repulsed by Christians-, there was at this period a great intellectual movement, and that the Jews who inhabited our localities, enjoyed there a considerable importance.. It is scarcely possible to de- termine what influence these schools may have had over the population of our country, when we consider the pro- found separation which religious opinion traced between Jews and Christians. But on the other hand, we know that during the twelfth century,, and almost during the whole of the so-called Middle Ages-, talented Jews were what we might designate the literary agents^ or brokers (courtiers) of the learned world, transmitting to Christian doctors, who were in general ignorant of the Greek language, the works of ancient philosophers- and physicians, translated and commented on by the Arabs. In any case, it must be admitted that the school of Montpellier profited, not only by the intelligence of rabbins well skilled in the knowledge of medicine, but also by their talents, which enabled them to render into Latin the original works of the 4 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Arabs, as well as those which the latter had themselves made from the ancient writings of the Greeks. NICHOLAS. Histoire Litteraire de Nimes et des Localites Voisines. OBLIGATIONS OF CHRISTIANS. If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from whom the Jewish Nation had their originals, were holy, the Branches also that spring from this root are holy. If, then, some of the natural branches were broken off, and if some of the natural Jews of the stock of David were broken off and rejected, and thou ! an Heathen of the wild Gentile race, wert taken in and engrafted into the Church of God in their room ; and thou partakest of the blessings promised to Abraham and his seed ; be not so conceited of thyself as to shew any Disrespect of the Jews. If any such Vanity possess thee, remember that the privilege which thou hast in being a Christian, is derived to thee from the promise which was made to Abraham and his seed ; but nothing accrues to Abraham and his seed from thee. LOCKE. LETTERS TO VOLTAIRE. Voltaire having, with his usual sneering cynicism, reviled the Jews and their Scriptures, a series of letters was pub- lished in refutation of his calumnies, bearing the title of "Lettres de quelques Juifs Portuguais, Allemands, et Polonais; d M. de Voltaire" This was in fact written by Abbe Gui- menee, in 1769, and it has since gone through ten editions. It is a most excellent production, combining an assemblage of great erudition and vigorous reasoning, with a remark- able purity and precision of style. The work, although written by a Catholic, is well worthy the attention of Israel- ites. It has been translated into English. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 5 MlLTIADES. St. Clement says, " Miltiades, general of the Athenians, and conqueror of the Persians at Marathon, who had studied the tactics of Moses, imitated him in the following manner he made his troops march at night by imprac- ticable ways" (sic). Should we not rather say, "the tactics of Abraham " ? M DH^y j^W. P. A. YOUNG MEYERBEER. "Venice, February, 1817. A new Italian opera, 'Ro- muldi and Constance,' the music of which has been com- posed by a young German Israelite, M. Mayer Beer, son of the banker, Herz Beer, has met with great success in the theatre of this city and of Padua." OBJECT OF GOVERNMENTS. Though all governments have the same general end, which is that of preservation, yet each has another parti- cular object. Increase of dominion was the object of Rome ; war, that of' Sparta ; religion, that of the Jewish laws ; commerce, that of Marseilles ; navigation, that of the laws of Rhodes ; natural liberty, that of the policy of savages. MONTESQUIEU. Esprit des Loix. PRYNNE'S "SHORT DEMURRER." During the period of the revival of letters, there were no Jews in England, and Jewish books therefore escaped the effect of the hostile spirit which existed in other countries against them. We fear that we owe our exemption from being chargeable with this species of persecution, to the early date at which we expelled the Jews in 1279. The theologians of the court of Edward I. and his predecessors, we should imagine, knew very little of their existence, O CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. except as books of Black art, of cultivating which the Jews were very generally accused in the Dark Ages. The belief has lingered in the superstitions of this country, and the witch reads her magic lines backward, for no other reason than because such is the method of reading Hebrew.* The people who, at the accession of Richard I. burnt the Jewish papers, took care to burn those of most im- portance against themselves, content with flinging into the fire contracts and stars,\ they let the Talmuds and Medra- shim escape. . When Cromwell, on the soundest maxims of policy, per- mitted their return, at the solicitation of Menasseh Ben Israel, the outcry that Avas raised against the measure proved that the unfriendly feeling had not abated in the course of four centuries. Cromwell was accused of being looked on as the Messiah by the Jews ; and a visit paid by a wandering rabbi to Cambridge, in quest, as he said, of Hebrew MSS., was construed into a design of seeking in Huntingdonshire the genealogy of Oliver, for the pur- pose of tracing his pedigree to David. Prynne took a most active part in this clamour, and brought his ever ready pen to abuse the unfortunate Hebrews. His " Short Demurrer " is worthy of being read, because it contains a history of the cruel treatment which the Jews suffered in this country, drawn from authentic records. It is written with all his usual asperity of temper, silliness of argument, and accuracy of research. His hatred * An ignorant bookseller, making out his catalogue, and not knowing how to insert the title of a certain Hebrew book in his collection, printed it as, "A book, the beginning of which is at the end." | The deeds, obligations and releases of the Jews were usually called " Stars" in our early records; as for instance in King John's time " Istud Star fecit Hagius, films Magri de London, Domine Ade de Strattona," etc. They were written in Hebrew, not Latin. It is derived from the Hebrew "113B>. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 7 of the Jews makes him give a ready credence to all the absurd stories of the Middle Ages against them, even so far as to swallow Popish miracles, which under other circumstances he would have called anti-Christian; and he absolutely revels in describing cruelties which disgraced the perpe- trators as much as they injured the victims. Prynne's arguments are folly, but his researches are profound ; he however finds everything among the Jews abominable, even to " their base parsimony, industry and frugality." Quarterly Review, vol. xxxiii. 1827. THE JEWS AND THE PRETENDER. At the time of the proposed Naturalization Bill, in 1752 the town was flooded with pamphlets, pro and con, on this controverted measure. One argument, pressed by the friends of the Jews, is rather whimsical ; they claimed, it seems, much merit for their exertions against Charles Edward, in 1745 ; and the answer this plea received from one of the most eager of their antagonists is, perhaps, worth copying, though little complimentary to any party : " Fifthly. A piece of political merit they saved the State, if you may credit the apologist. When the constitution was in danger, in the year 1745, then the heroic Jews raised all Duke's Place ; they mustered, they marched out, and took the field ; they raised money, imported specie, filled the royal coffers, lent money on the land-tax, entered into asso- ciations and subscriptions, preserved our sinking credit, and saved the bank. All this the Jews did, which, when the ragged Highland crew heard at Derby, they fled from these intrepid Jews like so many frighted sheep from a troop of wolves, and never stopped until they received intelligence that the Jews' army was returned to its head quarters in Duke's Place." Answer to a Pamphlet entitled, Considera- tions on a Bill, etc., reprinted by the Citizens of London. 8 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. APTITUDE FOR Music. It is remarkable that the great susceptibility and fondness for music, which the ancient Hebrews evidently possessed, have been preserved by the race until the present day. Many of our distinguished musical composers, as well as ( virtuosi, are Jews, or of Jewish origin. It would be easy to make out a long list of- them, but I shall mention only three celebrated composers Halevy, Meyerbeer, and Men- delssohn. The Jews, it must be remembered, are limited in their choice of occupation for gaining a subsistence by their religious laws, as well as in many countries by civil laws. This may in a great measure account for their so often choosing the art of music as a profession and means of livelihood. Their innate delight and perseverance in carrying out any fixed plan, would not be sufficient for their attainment of those accomplishments in music, by which they often distinguish themselves, did they not also possess extraordinary talents for this art. Some of them exhibit in their compositions, peculiarities which remind us of the Synagogue. This is, in my opinion, also the case in the music of Mendelssohn, who, though a Christian, was of Hebrew origin. These peculiarities are more easily felt than described ; they consist especially in the employment and frequent repetition of short melodious phrases, and passages of a peculiar rhythmical effect, especially in minor ; and of a certain monotony, which Mendelssohn, however, knew how to render highly interesting by a skilful harmony. ENGEL. Music of Ancient Nations. SHORTENING PRAYERS. In India there is a sect that includes in its religious belief a very strange idea. They assert, that God com- mands an angel to gather up on this earth the passages of CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 9 prayers and orisons which mortals have skipped with the intention of shortening their prayers. Were this tradition real, and applicable to the people of Israel, what a harvest of shortened passages would he not glean in our temples, where, in consequence of the length of certain prayers, the faithful so negligently fulfil their pious exercises. Archives Israelites, tome ii. PERSECUTION IN GERMANY. A circumstance equally extraordinary and disgraceful in the annals of modern Germany, was the persecution, of which the Jews were the victims, during the year 1819. The motive of the injuries inflicted on this unfortunate people is somewhat obscure, but it seems to have been some sentiment more akin to political or commercial jealousy than to the ancient religious antipathy. The condition of the Jews in Germany had received the most important amelioration within the last twenty years. Buonaparte (sic) on entering Germany, had effaced the ancient stigma impressed upon this race, by declaring them citizens and members of society. Yet during the then recent war, hoping to obtain from the legitimate sovereign of Germany a confirmation of the privileges thus granted them, the Jews had freely offered their fortunes, and even their lives, for the defence of their country, and in return had obtained strong testimonies of approbation from several of the allied Powers; and from the King of Prussia the rights of citizens, with eligibility to all offices. These acquisitions of civil privileges, when combined with their extensive command of capital, enabled the Jews in some commercial towns to assume a port, which some of their Christian neighbours considered as presumptuous and offensive. A cry was raised against them, and but for the powerful and prompt protection extended by the German 10 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. sovereigns, the fury of th*e people would have quenched itself in their blood. Annual Register, vol. Ix. ANIMOSITY AT LUBEC. The Senate of the free town of Lubec had been the first to mark its animosity against the people, by re-enforcing an edict of 1788, forbidding all strangers to carry on com- merce of any kind within that city, a prohibition which is said to have been followed up with regard to the Jews by measures of great harshness and insult. The police officers were ordered to search all Jews openly in the streets, and to burst open their houses, and take posses- sion of their property, sealing up even the common neces- saries of life. The Senate further decreed, that any person acting for, or in any shape transacting business with a Jew, should for the first offence be fined ; and for the second, should be further visited with imprisonment and loss of citizenship, and that any clerk, porter or menial servant living with a Jew should be imprisoned and expelled the town. Ibid. SIMILARITY OF THE ARABIC. Aben Ezra observes, in commenting on Exodus xii. 9 Jinay J1E6 1 ? nn *aiy \tth an " The Arabic language has a great similarity with the Hebrew." PROHIBITION OF USURY. The prohibition of usury among the Jews, in their own mutual transactions, while they were permitted to take a premium for the money which they lent to strangers, was in perfect consistency with the other principles of their political code ; commerce being interdicted, as leading to intercourse with idolaters j and mortgages prevented by the indefeasible right which every man had to his lands. DUGALD STEWART. Philosophy, CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. II YOUNG MEYERBEER. Les Archives Israelites (Jan. 7, 1862), cites from Die Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, a piquant anecdote, which, as the editor observes, proves how much prejudice had influence even among minds of a cultivated nature. This phenomenon, so astonishing to the present times, demonstrates also what pains must have been taken to uproot it. Among the friends of the family of Beer, of Berlin (of which the celebrated Meyerbeer was a member), one of its most assiduous guests, was the composer Weber. He had given lessons to young Meyerbeer, and he often made applications, which were not always without fruitful results, to the purse of his pupil's father. When the young German maestro resolved to make his first journey into Italy, he asked Weber for a letter of introduction to the manager of the theatre, the " Fenice " at Venice ; this he easily obtained, and departed. But he had no necessity to use it. A long while after, when all Italy had given a brilliant reception to the young composer's Croaato, he accidentally lighted on Weber's letter, and curiosity led him to open it. What there did he read ? " The bearer of this letter, son of a rich Jew, has studied music with some success. That the Jews, in their insatiable desire for control (jouissance) were not contented with the sceptre of the exchange, but that they wished also to reign in the sphere of art, and to usurp the staff of the leader of the orchestra ; consequently that the Venetian manager need not do anything to smoothen the road for the young Jew." The composer hastened to send this letter to his mother, Madame Amelia Beer, who simply caused it to be placed under the napkin of this " friend of the family," the first time that he came to dine with them. The confusion of Weber may be well imagined. Archives Israelites, vol. xxiii. p. 48. 12 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. AMUSING ANECDOTE. The two great sections of our community in Holland, the Germans and Portuguese, are not, it appears, on the most intimate terms. A German hawker called on a lady to sell some goods ; she refused to see them, saying she would not deal with Jews. "Why not, madam?" asked he. "Why?" answered she, "because they killed our God." " Nay, madam," the Jew replied, "that was not we, the Ger- man Jews, it was the Portuguese Jews." " Oh !" said she, "in that case let me look at your wares." DIALOGUES ON LOVE. Garcilasso de la Vega, a captain in the service of the King of Spain, was a son of one of the unscrupulous con- querors of Peru, and, by maternity, of the blood royal of the Incas. He was born at " Cuzco, in P.eru, the seat of Atabalippa," in 1540 ; when twenty years old he was sent to Spain, where he maintained an honourable reputation during a life protracted to the age of seventy-six. The military part of his personal history was not of much consequence ; the part he gave to letters was more in- teresting and important. This portion he began in 1590, with a translation of the " Dialogues on Love," by Abarbanel, a Platonizing Jew, whose family had been expelled from Spain in the persecution under Ferdinand and Isabella ; and who in Italy had published this singular work under the name of " The Hebrew Lion." The attempt, as far as Garci- lasso was concerned, was not a fortunate one. The " Dia- logues," which enjoyed considerable popularity at the time, had been already printed in Spanish, a fact evidently un- known to him ; and though, as it appears from a subsequent statement by himself, he had obtained for his translation the favourable regard of Philip the Second, still there was an CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 13 odour both of Judaism and heathen free-thinking about it, that rendered it obnoxious to the ecclesiastical authorities of the State. Garcilasso's first work, therefore, was speedily placed on the Index Expurgatorius, and was rarely heard of afterwards. TICKNOR. History of Spanish Literature. vol. iii. p. 144. (See further.) SPANISH INTOLERANCE. The condition of things in Spain at the end of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, seemed to announce a long period of national prosperity. But one institution, destined soon to discourage and check that intellectual freedom, without which there can be no wise and generous advance- ment in any people, was already beginning to give token of its great and blighting power. The Christian Spaniards had from an early period been essentially intolerant. To their perpetual wars with the Moors, had been added, from the end of the fourteenth century, an exasperated feeling against the Jews, which the government had in vain en- deavoured to control, and Which had shewn itself at dif- ferent times, in the plunder and murder of multitudes of that devoted race throughout the country. Both races were hated by the mass of the Spanish people with a bitter hatred ; the first, as their conquerors, and the last, for the oppressive claims which their wealth had given them on numbers of the Christian inhabitants. In relation to both, it was never forgotten that they were the enemies of that Cross under which all true Spaniards had gone to battle ; and of both it was taught by the priesthood, and willingly believed by the laity, that their opposition to the faith of Christ was an offence to God, which it was a merit in His people to punish. When, therefore, it was proposed to establish in Spain the Inquisition, which had been so effi- ciently used to exterminate the heresy of the Albigenses, 14 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. and which had even followed its victims in their flight from Provence to Arragon, little serious opposition was made to the undertaking. Ferdinand, perhaps, was not unwilling to see a power grow up near his throne, with which the political government of the country could hardly be in alliance ; while the piety of the wiser Isabella, which was, however, but little enlightened, led her conscience so com- pletely astray, that she finally asked for the introduction of the Holy Office into her dominions as a Christian benefit to her people.* After a negotiation with the court of Rome, it was established in the city of Seville, in 1481 ; their first Grand Inquisitors being Dominicans, and their first meeting being held in a convent of their order, on the 2nd of January. Its earliest victims were Jews. Six were burned within four days, when the tribunal first sat ; and Mariana states the whole number of those who suffered in Andalusia alone, during the first year of its existence, as two thousand, besides seventeen thousand who underwent some sort of punishment less severe than that of the stake ; all, it should be remembered, with the rejoicing assent of the mass of the people, whose shouts followed the exile of the whole body of the Jewish race from Spain in 1492, and whose persecution of the Hebrew blood, wherever found, and however bidden under the disguises of con- version and baptism, has hardly ceased down to our own days. TICKNOR. History of Spanish Literature, vol. i. p. 408. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. Mary de Medicis sent to Italy for a celebrated physician, named Montalto. He was of the Jewish religion, and ex- pressed a willingness to come to the French court, but only on condition that he might be allowed there to exercise * PRESCOTT'S Ferdinand and Isabella, Part I. c. 7. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 15 freely the requirements of his faith. As soon as he arrived in Paris, Henry IV. sent for him, and thus addressed him : " Freedom of conscience is a holy thing, God forbid that I should violate it; exercise then uninterruptedly, you and your family, the worship of your fathers, your conscien- tiousness in religion is a pledge to me of your conscien- tiousness as a physician." The king did still more ; he loaded Montalto with proofs of his favour, and his respect for conscientiousness went so far, that he allowed him a relay of horses, when he had to visit a distant invalid on Friday, in order that by arriving in Paris before sunset, he might not encroach upon the sanctity of the Sabbath rest. Quoted in the Voice of Jacob; voL iv. p. 109. THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. It is known that the Empress Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, pretended to have discovered in a miraculous manner the site of the Holy Sepulchre at Jeru- salem. There is an old tradition that Helena did not trust altogether to supernatural guidance in her quest, but that she tortured some Jews in order to elicit any informa- tion which might be preserved and kept secret by members of the old faith. Three Israelites of note were immured in a dungeon without food, and when they were almost dead by starvation, one of them said to his fellow-sufferers, that the place where Jesus had been executed had been shewn him by his father, to whom it had been pointed out by his grandfather. His companions mentioned that disclosure to their jailer. The Jew was taken from his dungeon and forced to conduct the empress to the place of which he had spoken. Sunday at Home. EXTRAORDINARY INFORMATION. In the Gentlemaris Magazine, vol. Ixxxvi. p. 596, is the 1 6 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. following peculiar piece of information : " By the Jewish law as to adultery, the woman was put to death as well as the man, so that the parties should neither of them marry again" INTOLERANCE. There can, indeed, be little doubt that a chief cause of the hostility felt against the Christian Church was the in- tolerant spirit it at one time displayed. The Romans were prepared to tolerate almost any form of religion that would tolerate others. The Jews, though quite as obstinate as the Christians in refusing to sacrifice to the emperor, were rarely molested, except in the periods following their insur- rections, because Judaism, however exclusive and unsocial, was still an unaggressive national faith. But the Christian teachers taught, that all religions, except their own and that of the Jews, were constructed by devils, and that all who dissented from their church must be lost. LECKY. Euro- pean Morals. CURIOUS TRADITION. The rabbins aver that there are seven persons over whom the worms of the grave have no power, viz., Abra- ham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Miriam and Benjamin. Some add David to these, because it is said, " My flesh shall rest in safety." Yalkut Shimoni, fol. 95, Frankfort edition. FEAR OF GOD. II y a des gens, dont il ne faut pas dire qu'ils craignent Dieu, mais bien qu'ils en ont peur. DIDEROT. Pensees Philosophiqucs. The idea is also strangely confused in the remark : Je crains Dieu, cher Abner, et n'ai point d'autre crainte. RACINE, Athalie. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 17 There are few words so much misunderstood as the word usually rendered " fear," and which in many minds is confounded, as shown above, with the idea of " terror." In most instances " awe " or " reverence " would be a pre- ferable translation. P. A. BEECHER ON THE JEWS. There is one people that has endured. I refer to the Jews. Their national economy was based upon a regard, not merely to God personally, but a regard to that righteousness, which is the marrow of the providence of God in this world. Though they did not strictly adhere to this, they were the earliest nation, and the only nation in early times, that attempted to organise a temporal polity on the immutable principles of righteousness. And what is the result ? They are as vital to-day as when Abraham went forth. The old patriarch himself was not more a man, than are his pos- terity men. In the days of Moses, and King David, and Solomon, when the military power of the Jews was felt all over the world, there was not so much in that stock, as there is to-day. There is scarcely a country in Europe, in which the principal chairs of some of the best institutions are not held by the Jews. There is not a school of philo- sophy, of statesmanship, in which you shall not find the Jew-mind to range high. Wasted? They have been blown about like dust ! They have endured persecution, enough to blot out any ordinary people a dozen times ; and, to-day, nowhere shall you find more national breadth of character than among the despised, vagabond Jews. But although they have no place to put their foot as Jews, they are Americans in America; Europeans in Europe; and Asiatics in Asia. Although they are Jews only by sufferance and historical reminiscence, yet they exist, and hold their own in the world. REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER. Church Union. 1 8 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. CONVERSION OF THE JEWS. Lewis Dufour Lingerne, who lived in the reign of Louis XIV., says, "A Jew, a man of understanding, but of an advanced time of life, told me that it was wasting water to baptise a Jew." See instances of this opinion in Spain and Portugal. The fact is, a Jew will continue a Jew, till the tenth generation. If a Jew were to turn Christian, he would be of the sect of Socinians, because they deny the divinity of Jesus Christ. Recreative Review. THE HUMAN VOICE. The qualities of the human voice are commonly distin- guished under three heads, according to the natural organs which appear most particularly concerned in its modulation and tones. First, when the -sound appears to issue almost entirely from the lungs, it is distinguished as a chest voice ; secondly, when the throat appears the chief organ connected with the production of sound, it is called a throat voice ; thirdly, when the process of breathing seems more than usually connected with the nostrils, and the sound is accor- dingly modulated by their influence, it is called a head voice. There is a fourth kind of voice, which is but little appre- ciated, that does not seem to come naturally from the chest, but the quantity of sound that I allude to, is not that which is produced in the throat, and distinguished under the name of falsetto ; nor is it the voce di testa. It is a species of ventriloquism, a soft and distinct sound, produced apparently in the chest, and chiefly in the back of the throat and head an inward suppressed quality of tone, that con- veys the illusion of being heard at a distance. It is a sweet and soft melodious sound, wafted from afar, like unto the magic spell of an echo. Mr. Braham is the only public CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 19 singer I ever heard who has availed himself of the proper advancement which the feigned voice affords. This kind of voice is in common use among the Hebrews, and is termed by them I? 11 7& ^lp, "voice of a child." I am decidedly of opinion that it is partly in consequence of their cultivating this particular tone, that they possess that peculiar sweet- ness of voice that has ever distinguished them from other singers. NATHAN. History of Music.' CRUEL CUSTOM. It is said that Charlemagne instituted a ceremony at Easter, which consisted in a Christian's giving a box on the ear to a Jew ; and it appears that the brutal ignorance and superstition of those times made those who were appointed to perform this scandalous ceremony very zealous to make it as hurtful to the poor Jew as possible ; for in the time of Count William the third, Hugo, Chaplain to the Viscount of Limoges, having been appointed to perform it, exerted himself with so much zeal, that he made both the brains and the eyes of the poor Jew drop out of his head to the ground. This execrable custom was, about the middle of the 1 2th century, changed into a tax, which was appro- priated to the Canons of Saint -Serin. RAYNAL. Histoire de Thoulouze. PREJUDICIAL REMARKS. The Jews have at all times been the object of numerous prejudices, of monstrous accusations. We may well believe that many of those crimes have been imputed to them wrongfully; but that which by no means is an error or a calumny is the love which this degraded (decAu] people has for. lucre ; a love which often causes them to adopt the most vile practices to obtain it. Neither is it a prejudice to assert that the hereditary hatred of the Jew against every 20 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. . religion except his own, and specially against the Christian religion, causes him to consider himself as an enemy, even under those governments which grant him the greatest pro- tection, and leads him constantly to the commission of con- demnable deeds. M. Amedee de Batz says, in one of his works, " The Jew is a Jew before he is a Frenchman ; he is a tradesman, before being a citizen ; he is a being apart in a great city, who has not the heart of a man, except for the brethren of his own faith, and who looks upon all other men as far below his co-religionists. Neither the arts, nor literature, nor science, is able entirely to efface the prodigious love for gain which is in his heart with his life-blood. Let the Jew be a broker, a lawyer, a sculptor, an architect, a notary, or a judge, he will always speculate ; the base of his actions will be always money, and nothing but money." MIGNE. Troisieme Encyd. Theologique, tome xx., p. 513. [As the present work professes to give various opinions respecting our nation, I have included the above without comment. P. A.] TYPES OF JUDAISM. There are types of races which have a wonderful power of adaptation to the changes of climate, while others are scarcely able to support the least change. Among the former we may cite the Jew and the Gipsy. The Jew, at the present moment, is to be found in every part> of the world ; in Europe, from Norway to Gibraltar ; in Africa, from Algiers to the Cape of Good Hope ; in Asia, from Cochin to the Caucasus, from Jaffa to Pekin. In America he is to be met with from Montevideo to Quebec ; he has peopled Australia ; and has given proofs of his powers of acclimatisation under the tropics, where people of European origin have constantly failed to perpetuate themselves. In CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 21 relation of altitude, though he seldom inhabits the moun- tains, for his tendencies are mostly industrial or commer- cial, yet there is nothing to make us suppose but that he possesses a physical compatibility for residence in elevated localities. On the other hand, he has lived for many ages, and lives still, on the only part of the globe the valley of the Jordan which is situated more than 400 metres below the level of the sea, and where it is doubtful whether any European would succeed in propagating his race. Finally, wherever the Jewish race has been studied up to the present time, it has been found to present to statistics of births, deaths, and proportions of sex, differing completely from those which govern the nationalities among whom they reside. Assuredly so unexpected a fact, and one so contrary to reasoning, is not one of the least interesting of the facts which medical geography has demonstrated to us. BOUDIN. La Geographic et Statisque Medicales. RABBINICAL HISTORIES. The ponv 1QD of Zacuto, or " Book of Genealogies," is the most important of the Jewish histories ; but it has not met with the luck of a translator, from the circumstance of some anti- Christian passages, which might easily have been expunged. We have the in nDS, or the " Branch of David," by Ganz, illustrated by Vorstius. Gentius has given a better version of Solomon ben Vergas, min* O3t?, or "Book of Judah." Vergas was a Spanish physician, who collected sixty-four afflictions of his people, among which he classes " public disputations with Christians," and the number of false Messiahs. These rabbinical histories do not reach lower than the middle of the sixteenth century. It is a pity that Menasseh Ben Israel did not complete his design of a history of Judaism. ISAAC D'ISRAELI. 22 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. SHIBBOLETH. rfnSf (see Judges xii. 6). This is the Hebrew word which the Gileadites under Jephtha made use of at the passages of the Jordan, after a victory over the Ephraimites, to test the pronunciation of the sound sh by those who wished to cross the river. The Ephraimites, it would appear, in their dialect substituted for & sh, the simple sound & s ; and the Gileadites, regarding everyone who failed to pronounce & sh as an enemy, put him to death accordingly.* The word n?^ has two meanings in Hebrew ; first, an ear of corn ; secondly, a stream, or flood ; and it was per- haps in the latter sense that this particular word suggested itself to the Gileadites, the Jordan being a rapid river. There is no mystery in this particular word ; any other be- ginning with the sound & sh would have answered equally well. Before the introduction of vowel points (which took place not earlier than the sixth century) there was no- thing in Hebrew to distinguish the letters W and & ; so that it could not be known by the eye in reading, when h was to be sounded after s, as in the English, Sugar, or as in German after the most common pronunciation in (Spracfye, *&!&?, ftWpIp, nb?^ having become naturalised in the Greek form, have been retained in the English version, as Samson, Samuel, Simeon, and Solomon ; also as n f , W&\ have become Anglicised as Moses, Isaiah, etc. Hence, likewise, there is a singularity of the Septuagint version, that in the passage quoted from Judges xii. 6, the translator could not introduce the word " Shibboleth " ; but has substituted one of its translations ara-^vg (an ear of corn), which certainly destroys the point of the narrative, and the sense of the' passage. The LXX. version says, " Say now, Stachys." In proper names, not naturalised through the Septuagint, the Hebrew form is retained, as in Shiloh, Sheba, Mephi- bosheth, etc. Compiled. SMITH. Dictionary of the Bible, etc. NOTE. Other letters are also transformed in the LXX., particularly n, 1 and y. There is little doubt that J1, rendered sometimes by s, sometimes by /, would mostly best be ren- dered by th; as we find in old Latin versions, "B'raisheeth JT&'tf-a, cum multus aliis." P. A. COMMANDMENTS TO NOAH. According to tradition, the seven commandments given to Noah and his sons, known as ru *33 JllSJO JDB> were PJH, due administration of justice ; DEVI 7D13, to worship God ; mr miny, to avoid idolatry; niny *lVJ, chastity and moder- ation ; D'DT rOSB>, not to be guilty of bloodshed ; ^T3, to abstain from robbery ; *nn JO "OK, not to eat from a living animal, or deprive it of a limb. The Rabbins hold, that whatever non-Israelite holds these seven obligations, has a share in the world to come ; and that wherever the power of the Israelites prevails, it is their duty to enforce the above observances. 24 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. EATING BACON. The custom of eating a gammon of bacon at Easter, still maintained in some parts of England, is founded on the abhorrence our forefathers thought proper to express in that way, towards the Jews, at the season for commemorating the Resurrection. DRAKE. Shakespeare and his Times. NOMS DE GUERRE. Looking at the contests in which history records them to have been engaged, and their unremitted persecution of our own race, surely we are not wrong in calling the assumed names of Clement, Innocent, Benedict, and Pius, in sober earnest, noms de guerre. P. A. INSCRIPTION ON A CEMETERY. At Great Strelitz, in Silesia, may be seen a burial-ground, which a generous Israelite presented in 1842, for the inter- ment of the Jewish community there. He had the follow- ing remarkable inscription engraved on a stone at the entrance : Contristis Consolatio ! finun nil '*O*^>. Improbis Moestitia ! nn:K & nrpy 1 ?. Justa Laetitia ! nnEt? nV nB>^>. Archives Israelites. EMANCIPATION IN WURTEMBERG. According to a special law voted in 1861, the Jews resi- dent in Wiirtemberg had already obtained the right of citizens, which had been previously withheld from them by the Constitution of that State. The legal commission of the Chamber of Deputies has just made another step in advance, by proposing that henceforward Jews should be admitted to all political rights, and that they should be put CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 25 on the same footing as Wiirtemburgers of other religious professions. Besides which, the commission has proposed, by five votes against four, the abolition of the Israelitish oath, the right of intermarrying between Jews and Chris- tians, and an equal claim for help to poor, without distinc- tion of faith or creed. Archives Israelites, tome xxv., 1864. Die Allgtmeine Zeitung des Judenthums, writing on the same subject, says, "The Chamber of Deputies at Stuttgard, has discussed the proposal of a law relative to the civil position of the Israelites of this country. The first para- graph of this law runs thus : ' The Israelites of this country are subject in every respect to the same laws as affect all other of its subjects ; they shall enjoy the same rights and will have to fulfil the same duties.' This proposal was adopted almost unanimously (82 against i). Another article, proposing the authorisation of marriages between Christians and Jews, was more strongly opposed ; but was subsequently carried by 49 votes against 34. As might have been expected, the clergy were the opponents, and the Liberals, as well as several professors, in favour of this pro- position. The whole of the law, in which also is included the suppression of the oath more judaico, has been adopted by 64 votes against 15. Alleg. Zettung des Judenthums. SYNAGOGUE AT POONA. The ceremony of laying the first stone of a new syna- gogue in the Deccan, was solemnly performed at Poona. The attendants were not numerous, but they were of the elite of society. According to the Hebrew ritual, and under established forms for such celebrations, Mr. David Sassoon fixed the corner-stone of an edifice which will soon rise majestically from its foundation. Many persons came from Bombay to witness this ceremony. Psalms cxxii. and 26 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. cxxxii. were recited. After the laying of the stone, the minister invoked the blessing of heaven on the Queen of England and her Government, as also on the generous founder of this Temple. Archives Israelites, tome xxv., 1864. HUGH BROUGHTON. Broughton, a learned divine, descended from an ancient family, was born at Oldbury, in Shropshire, in 1549. At Cambridge he became one of the Fellows at Christ's Col- lege, and there laid the foundation of his knowledge of Hebrew, in which he afterwards made such remarkable proficiency. In 1589 he went to Germany, and stayed some time at Frankfort, where he had a long dispute in the Jewish Syna- goge with Rabbi Elias, on the truth of the Christian re- ligion. He appears to have been very solicitous for the conversion of the Jews, and his taste for rabbinical and Hebrew studies led him to take pleasure in the conversa- tion of those learned Jews whom he occasionally met with. In the course of his travels he had also disputes with the Papists ; but in his contests both with them and with the Jews, he was not very attentive to the rules either of pru- dence or politeness. As may be supposed, he was a very voluminous writer, even. for those times. Most of his works were collected and printed in London under the following title : " The Works of the great Albionean Divine, renowned in many Nations for rare Skill in Salem's and Athen's Tongues, and familiar Acquaintance with all Rabbinical Learning, Mr. Hugh Broughton." This edition of his works is bound in one large volume folio, and is. replete, as may be supposed, with much recondite and " Thalmudique " lore, which might be of interest to Hebraique students, though of course all have CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 2"J a tendency in favour of the opposite belief. Condensed from ROSE. Biog. Dictionary, 1857. MENASSEH (BEN JOSEPH) BEN ISRAEL. Those who may be desirous of inspecting the first printed copy of his address to Cromwell, will find it in the British Museum Library, under the Press mark -^p b, a small quarto, which also contains several other tracts incident to the Jews. The title-page is addressed "To His Highnesse The Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, the Humble Addresses of Men- asseh Ben Israel, a Divine and Doctor of PHYSICK, on behalfe of the Jewish nation." There is also in the same volume " The Hope of Israel," etc., by the same erudite writer. The second edition, corrected and amended, " Whereunto are added in this second edition, some Dis- courses upon the Conversion of the Jewes, by Moses Wall, 1652." Many very interesting extracts could be given from these tracts ; but a few must suffice. Cromwell is thus addressed : " And beseech you for God's sake, that ye would according to that Piety and Power wherein you are eminent beyond others, to grant," etc. " Now we know, how our Nation at the present is spread all about, and hath its seat and dwelling in the most flourishing parts of all the Kingdomes and Countreys of the World, as well in America as in the other three parts thereof." He heads the address in different sections "How profitable The Nation of the Jewes are ; " " How Faithfull the Nation of the Jewes are." "The Nobility of the Jews," is also cited, but not enlarged on, " as lately it hath bene most worthily and excellently shewed and described in a certain Booke, called ' The Glory of Jehudah and Israel,' 28 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. dedicated to our Nation by that worthy Christian Minister, Mr. Henry Jessey (1653, in Dutch), where this matter is set at large ; and by Mr. Edw. Nicholas, Gentleman, in his Booke called ' An Apologie for the Honourable Nation of the Jewes, and all the Sons of Israel' (in English, 1648)." "How KIND!" It is said that the late Duke of York, on the eve of his departure from Lisbon, was waited on by the Inquisitor- General of Portugal, who humbly requested his Royal Highness to stay a few days longer, and he would treat him with an auto dafe that is, burn a few Jews for his diver- sion. Recreative Review, vol. i., p. 294. QUID PRO Quo. The Jews are a race of people very difficult of conver- sion ; and if they are converted as we have lately found they must be paid for it. In Rymer's " Fcedera," we have an account of Elizabeth, a Jewish convert, the daughter of Rabbi Moses, who was allowed twopence per day, as a con- sideration, in 1603, for being deserted by her family, on account of her change as to religion. Ibid., vol. ii., p. 128. GONDEMAR AND BACON. Gondemar, the Spanish Ambassador, happening to meet the ex-Chancellor, after his fall, wished him a merry Easter. " And to you, Signer," replied Bacon, " I wish a merry Pass- over." The reply, it must be remembered, not only com- prehended a wish that the ambassador were well out of the kingdom, but alluded to his supposed Jewish origin. Secret History of James I. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 29 VITALITY OF THE JEWISH NATION. a people scattered wide indeed, Yet from the mingling world distinctly kept ; Ages ago the Roman standard stood Upon their ruins ; yet have ages swept O'er Rome itself, like an o'ervvhelming flood ; Since down Jerusalem's streets she poured her children's blood And still the nation lives ! B.ull's Museum. A PECULIAR PEOPLE. And yet it is certain this is a peculiar people. Let us consider the prophecies given so long ago, of which they see the fulfilling at this day with their own eyes, of the state of the Jews for many ages past ; and at present, without a king or priest, or temple, or sacrifice ; scattered to the four winds, sifted as with a sieve, among all nations ; yet pre- served and always to be so, a distinct people from all others of the earth; whereas those mighty monarchies, which oppressed the Jews, and which commanded the world in their turns, and had the greatest human prospect of per- petuity, were to be extinguished as they have been, even that their names should be blotted out from under heaven. Recreative Review, vol. iii., page 321. CONVERSION OF A JEW. The following wonderful account of the conversion of a Jew, is extracted from "The Golden Legend; imprynted at London, in Fleete Strete, at the Sygne of the Sonne, by Wynkyn de Worde, 27 August, 1527 ;" and is not only curious for its antiquity, but for a surprising parallel to a story to be found in " Don Quixote." The old story runs 30 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. thus : There was a man y had borrowed of a Jewe a somme of money, and svvare upon the awter of Saynt Nycolos, that he wolde rendre and paye it agayne as soone as he myght, and gave none other pledge. And this man helde this money so longe, that the Jewe demanded and asked his money. And he sayd, that he had payed him : then the Jew mayd him to come before the lawe in judge- ment, and the othe was given to y e dettour, and he brought with him an holowe staffe, in wyche he had put the money in golde, and he lente upon y e staffe. And when he sholde make his othe, and sware, he delivered his staffe to y e Jewe to kepe and holde whyles he sware, and then sware y l he had delyvered more than he ought to hym.* And wha he had made the othe, he demanded his staffe back agayn of the Jewe, and he, nothynge knowing of his malice, delyvered it to him ; then this deceyvour went his waye, and laid him in the waye, and a cart with four wheles, came with grete force and slewe him, and brake the staffe with golde, that it spred abrode. And when the Jewe herde this, he came thyder, sore moved, and saw the fraude. And manye sayd to him that he sholde take to him the golde. And he refused it, sayinge, But yf he y l was deed were not raysed agayne to life by y e merits of Saynte Nicolas, he wolde not receyve baptysm and becorre Chrysten. Then he that was deed arose, and the Jewe was christened. Recreat. Rev., vol. ii., p. 128. * See the history of Sancho Panza's judgments on the Island of Baraturia. The More Judaico (see further) would necessitate the giving over the staff while the oath was administered. The tale is, I believe, recounted in the Talmud; but as Cervantes was most likely not a Hebrew scholar, he must have acquired his knowledge of it through some Arabic version, rendered into the Spanish language. P. A. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 3! NOAH AND HIS WIFE. In Chaucer's " Miller's Tale," we have this passage, ver. 3,538:- Hast thou not herd, quod Nicholas also, The sorwe of Noe with his felawship, Or. that he might get his wif to ship ? This anecdote about Noah also occurs in the " Chester Whitsun Playes," where the authors, according to the established indulgence allowed to dramatic poets, perhaps thought themselves at liberty to enlarge on the sacred story. MSS. Harl., 2,013. This altercation between Noah and his wife takes up almost the whole pageaunt of these inter- ludes. Noah, having reproached his wife for her usual forwardness of temper, at last conjures her to come on board the ark for fear of drowning. His wife insists on his sailing without her, and swears by Christ and Saint John that she will not embark till some of her old female companions are ready to go with her. She adds, that if he is in such a hurry, he may sail alone, and fetch himself a new wife. At length, Shem, with the help of his brothers, forces her into the vessel ; and while Noah very cordially welcomes her on board, she gives him a box on the ear. This salutation is still carefully preserved in the puppet- show, where Punch says, " Hazy weather, Master Noah," etc. WARTON. History of English Poetry, vol. ii., P- 373- BISHOP GROSTHEAD. Greathead, or Grossteste, Bishop of Lincoln, a uni- versal scholar, and no less conversant in polite letters than the most abstruse sciences, cultivated and patronised the study of the Greek language. He wrote about two hundred 32. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. books. He is also said to have been profoundly skilled in the Hebrew language. HEBREW BOOKS. William the Conqueror permitted great number of Jews to come over from Rouen, and to settle in England about the year 1087. Their multitude soon increased, and they spread themselves in vast bodies throughout most of the cities and capital towns in England, where they built synagogues. There were fifteen hundred of them at York about the year 1189. At Bury, in Suffolk, is a very com- plete remain of a Jewish synagogue of stone, in the Norman style, large and magnificent. Hence it was that many of the learned English ecclesiastics of these times became acquainted with their books and language. In the reign of William Rufus, the Jews were remarkably numerous, and had acquired a considerable property ; and some of their rabbis were permitted to open a school in the university, where they instructed not only their own people, but many Christian students, in the Hebrew literature, about the year 1054. Within two hundred years after this, they were banished the kingdom. This circumstance was highly favourable to the circulation of their learning in England. The suddenness of their dismission obliged them for present subsistence and other reasons, to sell their movable goods of all kinds, among which were large quantities of rabbinical books. The monks, in various parts, availed themselves of the distribution of these treasures. At Huntingdon and Stamford, there was a prodigious sale of their effects, containing immense stores of their manu- scripts, which were immediately purchased by Gregory of Huntingdon, prior of the Abbey of Ramsey. Gregory speedily became an adept by means of these valuable CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 33 acquisitions, which he bequeathed to his monastery about the year 1250.* Other members of the same convent, in consequence of these advantages, are said to have been equal proficients in the same language soon after the death of Prior Gregory, among which were Robert Dodford, Librarian of Ramsey, and Laurence Holbech, who com- piled a Hebrew Lexicon. At Oxford, great multitude of their books fell into the hands of Roger Bacon, or were bought by his brethren, the Franciscan friars of that Uni- versity. WARTON, vol. i. cxxxv. GIFT OF QUEEN ANNE. There is a beam in the roof of the Portuguese Syna- gogue in Bevis Marks, which came from the timbers of a man-of-war in the reign of Queen Anne, by whom it was presented to the Synagogue. It may also be noted that there are, in the same place of worship, some seats more than two hundred years old, having been moved thither from the ancient synagogue in King Street, Aldgate, the first place of worship established since the return of the Jews to this country, about the year 1655. COMPILED. JEWS IN BERLIN. The number of Jews allowed to live in Berlin was fixed by an edict of Frederick the Great, in 1752. It was a pri- vilege that had to be purchased. A Jew was obliged to pay for the permission to marry ; he had to pay for every child ; and if the number of Jews exceeded that authorised by law, the surplus had to quit the country. They were not even allowed to enter the army. Manufactures and * Among the MSS. in Bibl. Lambeth may be seen " Libri Prioris Gregorii de Ramesey : Prima pars Bibliolhecae Hebraicae" etc. This may be well worthy the inspection of Hebrew scholars. P. A. D 34 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. agriculture were forbidden to them, as well as liberal pro- fessions ; mathematics and medicine alone were excepted. A Jew who was not born at Berlin could not reside there, unless he was in the service of one of his co-religionists. Moses Mendelsohn was only tolerated at this capital in the capacity of a shopman, in the employ of Bernhard, the- manufacturer. It was a Frenchman, the Marquis D'Argens who procured for him the privilege of domicile, by address- ing to Frederick, who was partial to him, the following petition : " A bad Catholic philosopher, entreats a bad Protestant philosopher, to grant the privilege to a bad Jewish philosopher." The king granted this privilege for Mendelsohn, but not for his descendants. Moreover, a thousand thalers were demanded from him for the grant ; this fine, however, the king remitted. NATIONALITY OF CHIEF RABBIS. It may not be generally known, that the former Chief Rabbi, Reverend Solomon Herschel, was an Englishman by birth, his father having been Chief Rabbi in London when his son Solomon was born. The present Chief Rabbi, Reverend Dr. Adler, was born a subject of the United Kingdom, his birthplace being Hanover, at the time of its connection with the British Crown. Jewish Chronicle, 1869. INSCRIPTION AT FRANKFORT. In the public promenade of this city was a board bearing this inscription "Jews and dogs are not allowed here." Napoleon, when here, observed this, and instantly ordered the removal of the insulting notice. Ibid. ''PLACE AUX DAMES." The first series of proverbs, originating in so far a period CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 35 that they are lost in the mist of time, I intend laying before you, are, in deference to "Place aux Dames," relating to the gentler sex. I exclude, of course, all those that are to be found in that part of Semitic literature called sacred : " A good wife is a good present." " Happy the man that has a beautiful wife, his days are increased." " Descend a step to choose a wife, ascend a step to choose a friend." " If your wife is little, stoop to her." " A woman can love a poor boy better than a rich dotard." " A man can only find real delight in one wife." " When the wife is asleep, the basket is asleep also." " A wife speaks and spins." " A man should not, while drinking from one cup, look into another." I have only quoted a few of the many proverbs that lie scattered everywhere in the Hebrew literature, and it is perfectly evident that woman occupied as high and respect- ful a position as she does at the present day. It has been the fault of many writers to select the worst possible garbled and detached extracts, misquoted and mistranslated, and deduce from this that woman owes her true and equal rank only to northern races. B. L. BENAS. Liverpool Phi- losophical Society, 1869. MONTEFIORE. One of the most euphonious of Italian family names is the designation which has been so brilliantly illustrated in our own country by the present head of the family " Mon- tefiore." The family bear on their arms mounds of flowers (monte di fiore). Montefiore is the name of a town or village in Italy. ESTIMATION OF THE TALMUD. The Talmudists are accused of esteeming their own works more than the Bible, and of recommending the 36 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Mishna and Talmud in preference to it. Their traducers endeavour to support this truly absurd charge by two pas- sages from the Talmud itself. One (according to their representation) runs thus : " They who study the Bible, do what is deemed neither virtue nor vice. They who study the Mishna, perform something of a virtue, and on that account receive a reward. But they who study the Gemara, perform what may be esteemed the greatest virtue." (Talmud Baba Meziah.) The other runs thus: "The Bible is like water, the Mishna like wine, and the Talmud like spiced wine," etc. (Treatise Sophrim.} From these passages it is inferred that the Talmudists preferred their own works to the Scriptures. But really I cannot see how such an inference can fairly be drawn from them. For what regards the first quotation, the first part thereof is evidently mistranslated. The original doth not say, " That those who study the Bible, do what is deemed neither virtue nor vice, but mo Wl mo K^poa D'pPWn. " Those who study the Scripture, do what is deemed a virtue and no virtue," that is to say, the knowledge of Scripture is so indispensably necessary to every Israelite, that those who are engaged in it, have no right to arrogate any particular merit to them- selves, since they are only doing their duty. " Those who study the Mishna (not, indeed, to the exclusion of Scrip- ture, as those writers would have us believe, but in addition to it) do what is meritorious, for which they may expect a reward." Because a knowledge of it is not absolutely necessary for every individual, but for those who are designed to instruct their brethren, because also it cannot be acquired without great industry and application. And a knowledge of the Talmud, in addition to the preceding, is still more laudable. The second proposition inculcates the same sentiments. The Holy writings are compared to water, water being indispensably necessary for the preser- CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 37 vation of every individual, so are the Scriptures. The Mishna is compared to wine, wine being very acceptable, but surely not absolutely necessary.* Still less necessary is spiced wine, to which the Talmud is compared } though happy is he who possesses all three in abundance. HYMAN HURWITZ. Hebrew Tales, etc. RESPECT FOR THE JEWISH NATION. I look upon that people (the Jews) with astonishment and reverence ; they are living proofs of facts most ancient and most divine. Wherever we have a Jew on the surface of the earth, there we have a man whose testimony and whose conduct connect the present time with the memory of all time. BISHOP WATSON. D'ISRAELI'S JEWISH ORIGIN. Mr. D'Israeli is himself of Jewish origin, and he has iden- tified his own natural powers, and his own ambition, with the history and destinies of that people ; he has done more, he has sacrificed to his natural feelings his own good sense, and his appreciation of the circumstances of his own age and time. It is indisputably to his honour that while so many persons of his blood have condescended to the smallest devices, such as the elision of vowels, or the trans- position of consonants, to veil the classical names of their families, or have dropped them altogether, out of a false shame, he should, without even the obligation of the reli- gious duty, have frankly avowed the fact, and repudiated the notion of disgrace in this alien origin. This is not only honourable, but, like other bold avowals of the truth, * Analogous to this I remember a passage in my English grammati- cal exercises, when under the educational charge of my respected schoolmaster whom I have quoted above : " It is no great merit to spell correctly, but a great defect to do it incorrectly." P. A. 38 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. it is wise ; for what distinction Mr. D'Israeli may hereafter achieve, this circumstance can never be thrown in his teeth, and he has taken at least one weapon of prejudice out of the hands of his opponents. Edinburgh Review, 1847. THE OATH " MORE JUDAICO." Among the (arrets) decrees of the " Court of Colmar," vol. iv., page 368, etc., may be found the extract of a decree of said Court, under date of February 10, 1809, which (translated) reads as follows : In conformity with the Imperial decree on this subject, and noting those of the Emperors Sigismund and Charles V., of the date of August 12, 1530, concerning the privileges of the Jews; of the jurisprudence adopted by the Court of Appeal of Brunswick-Luneburg ; the regulations of the Imperial Chamber of Lower Austria ; of those of Frankfort, under date of December 7, 1705; and of other States of Ger- many, it appears, that any Jew who has to take an oath, must present himself in the Synagogue, accompanied by ten Jews of the same sex, whose age must not be less than thirteen ; his head being covered, his forehead and his hand bearing the THEPHILLIN SCHEL RASCH*, and SCHEL YAD, covered with his TALLIS, and wearing his AREA CANPHOR (sic) with the ZIZZES. He must then present himself before the OREN, or the tabernacle. The COSCHER SEPHER THORA must be taken out, and carried with pomp to the ALMEMOR, where shall be read the passage concern- ing the oath. The THORA shall then be placed on the arm of the Jew, his right hand extended on the verse in the fifth book of Moses " Thou shalt not take the name of * The names of the holy appendages, etc., are all worded according to their designation in the Hebrew. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 39 thy God in vain." After having heard the explanation of the Rabbi respecting the oath, and of the evil consequences attending perjury, he is to repeat the following formula : ADONAI ! Creator of heaven and all things, who is equally my God, and that of all assembled here, I invoke Thee, by Thy Sacred Name, at this moment, when the truth is required to be declared, and I swear by Thee to speak all the truth. I swear, consequently, that I pray Thee, Adonai, to aid me, and to confirm this truth ; but in case that I should now employ any fraudulent concealment of the facts, may I be eternally cursed, and consumed, and anni- hilated by the fire in which perished Sodom and Gomorrah, and punished by all the maledictions written in the Thora, and may then the Eternal, who has created the leaves, the grass, and all things, never come to my help, nor to my assistance, in any of my affairs or of my troubles. But if I speak truly and act rightly, may Adonai be a help to me, and then only. HALLEZ. Des Juifs en France. Although time and improved intelligence have greatly modified, if not entirely abrogated, this invidious distinc- tion, it will not be uninteresting to read the decision of the Court of Colmar of January 13, 1828, with the detailed opinions that preceded the decision. It may be found in HALLEZ, pp. 352365. The gist of the argument seems to be that the Chamber considers the oath as partly civil, and in a great measure as a religious obligation ; that the Jews in Alsace being reci- pients of the Talmud obligations, are bound to adhere in this case to the dicta of their rabbins; but that the Jews of the South, who consider themselves amenable only to the Mosaic dispensation, do not require any special form of oath to verify their evidence. The decision concludes with stating that the enormous disproportion which exists between the two localities in this respect, explains also the 40 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. enormous difference between the respective Jews who people them, and that, if in fact, the judges of the South have the pleasing satisfaction of seeing in the Jews who are under their constant observation, only men who are honest, active, industrious in a word, citizens, who equally are as useful to the country as to themselves it may easily be conceived that they may, with perfect approval of con- science to justify themselves, release themselves from a special form of oath, no longer necessary, and which even could never have been legally prescribed to these southern Jews. But, at the same time, these decrees do not decide any- thing for the Jews of Alsace, because they have among themselves a special rite and legislation, particularly with regard to oaths ; and it is therefore more important to retain for them a formula, because it fulfils more effectively the purpose of the law, that of associating religious obli- gations with civil requirements. It is to be hoped, that by the concurrence of those rabbins who exercise great authority, and have great influence, the desirable end may be obtained, of effacing all distinction between Frenchmen in general ; it will then be easy for legislators to make this change, when facts and the spirit of progress shall have proved the real utility of such a measure. Condensed and compiled from HALLEZ. ORTHOGRAPHY OF PROPER NAMES. One of our correspondents, a good Hebraist, objects to the general orthography of many Jewish eminent men. He observes "The true name is Avravenel, and the proof is, that there is here (Constantinople) a Chacham named R. Jehuda Avravenel, and all the Eastern rabbins, pro- nounce the name in the same manner. There also are CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 41 other persons of the same surname residing here, and they are most probably descendants of the same Portuguese family. It is the same with the name of Kimchi> R. David Kimchi (the celebrated Hebrew grammarian) in which way also Western Jews pronounce it ; but his name was Kamchi ; there are many families of that name here. So also with regard to the poet Salomon ben Djebirul, who with you is Gebiral, because people are ignorant of Judaic-Spanish names. R. Elias Misrachi is the name of this sage, and not Misrochi, as you sound it." I could easily, adds the writer, increase this nomenclature. Here I hear the names correctly spoken, and I venture to rectify thai which is erroneous in Western designations. Archives Israelites, torn, xxv., 1864. HASTY BAPTISM. Geoffrey, son of Otho, succeeded his father in 1049 in the County of Macon, where there were many Israelites. An anecdote is related which testifies more to his zeal than to his intelligence. It was customary in the Church of Macon to baptise a child on Holy Saturday, at the Bless- ing of the Fonts. On one occasion, no infant having been brought for that purpose, Count Geoffrey, who was present, rushed out of church with some of his nobles, ran to the Hebrew bridge, seized a Jewish child, and brought him to the font for baptism. The Countess Beatrice, his wife, became godmother to the child, to which she gave the name of her husband. When he grew up (a prototype of Mortara), having persisted in his imposed Christianity, he became a monk of Cluny. - Lart de verifier les Dates, annee 1049. JEWISH BIOGRAPHY. Mr. L. B. Phillips, who has published an elaborate work 42 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. on Biography, containing more than 100,000 references, writes to the editor of the "Jewish Chronicle" (June i, i86g) : "I am nbt forgetting to notice as many of our race as the works and writings in the public and private collections which I am working will afford; and your readers will be enabled to judge that they will not be un- worthily represented, when they learn that I have carefully digested the following works, and extracted the names and qualifications of the authors, scholars, etc., mentioned therein : Wolf, ' Bibliotheca Hebraica;' Bartolocci, 'Magna Rabbinica,' and ' Bibl. Heb. cum comm. Rabbin. ;' Le- long, 'Bibl. Sacra;' Jost, 'Geschichte der Israeliten ;' Buxtorf, ' De Abbreviaturis Hebraicis ;' and the ' Biblio- theca Espanola,' of J. R. de Castro, which latter work has been quite forgotten by former biographers, although it contains notices of seven hundred works of the rabbis, which escaped the ravages of time, superstition, and the Inquisition, the writers of which have been thus described by Prescott ' The whole bearing most honorable testimony to the talent and various erudition of the Spanish Jews.' " EMBASSY FROM CHARLEMAGNE. It has frequently been asked, why Charlemagne included a Jew in the famous embassy which he sent to the Caliph Aroun-el-Rashid, at the end of the sixth century. We must always bear in mind the manners of the times ; the ambassadors did not know how to read or write ; they did not know the manners of the East. The Jew, who knew all this, was a precious man, indispensable, and it is there- fore not astonishing that he formed part of the embassy. BAIL. Etat des Juifs en France. THE TARGUM DIALECT. In the impenetrable Alpine mountains of Kurdistan, no CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 43 less than in the plains of Urmiah, there are Jews who speak the language of the Targum, that is, the language which the existing Chaldean people of the Hebrew Scrip- tures have more or less faithfully preserved since ancient times. The number of Jews in the Persian and Turkish States, who speak the language of the Targum, or modern Syriac, is not ascertained. REV. A. LOWY. THE RABBI'S "TICKET OF LEAVE." In the Synagogue at Metz is still observed a min "ISO (Roll of the Law), which belonged to Gabriel Cohen, rabbi of that community from 1638 to 1649. He would never permit any one to rise on his account, though it was according to the adage, Dlpn n^B> '3SD, " thou shalt rise before the hoary head." Seeing, however, that this custom was persevered in, he adopted the plan of carrying a small "n "D under his arm, so that the homage might be rendered to the sacred roll and not to himself. Having once asked permission of absence to visit his family, he exceeded the permitted time of his conge, and on his retuni the com- munity refused to receive him ; wishing to remain by force, they took off the doors and windows of his residence, and compelled him to quit the town. Archives Israelites. ON MIRACLES. The miracles in the Bible are not, like those in Livy, detached ; they do not disturb the civil history, which goes on very well without them. But the miracles of the Jewish historians are intimately connected with all the civil affairs of which they make the necessary and inseparable part. The whole history is founded on these, and consists of little else ; and if it were not a history of them, it would be a history of nothing. BOLINGBROKE. Posthumous Works, vol. iii., p. 279. 44 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. PAUL IV. ON THE JEWS. In a passage of a Bull by this Pope, we find "This wretched people (malheureuse peuplade] attests by its exist- ence the truth, the triumph, and the perpetuity of religion." And yet strange contradiction this Pope (Caraffei) was one of the most violent persecutors of the Jews in Italy about the middle of the loth century. It was this pontiff who, after having imprisoned them in those species of doaques called the Ghetto, caused their books and their persons to be burnt by the Inquisition. FIRST RUSSIAN JEWISH SYNAGOGUE. The Jews here (St. Petersburg) have at length, after much negotiation with the Government, obtained permis- sion to erect a synagogue. Hitherto the Jews have legally had no right to reside in the empire, and were consequently obliged to account for their presence under various pre- texts ; for the admission of which by the authorities they had to pay large sums, and as they were regarded as tem- porary residents only, they were not allowed to erect any permanent houses of prayer. A committee, consisting of the wealthiest Jews of St. Petersburg, has now been formed to collect funds for the new building, which is to be got up on a scale of great magnificence. The Golos, ever ready to suspect separatist principles in the empire, takes this opportunity to lecture the Jews on their attachment to their religion and customs, and to re- commend such of them as wish to remain in Russia to become Russians. Pall Mall Gazette, November 3, 1869. PROSPERITY OF THE JEWS. Selden says, " Talk what you will of the Jews, that they CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 45 are cursed ; they thrive wheresoever they come ; they are able to oblige the prince of their country by lending him money. None of them beg ; they keep together j and for them being hated, my life for yours, Christians hate one another as much." JEWS IN SCOTLAND. " Jews do not thrive in Scotland, they find the place too hot for them, or pre-occupied ; we dare not decide which." This absurd remark is found in the " Edinburgh Review," vol. xxviii., p. 386. Elsewhere, however, I read, "There is an opinion that when Edward I. expelled the Jews, many of them fled to Scotland, where they have propagated since in great numbers." Witness the aversion this nation has, above all others, to hog's flesh. JEWS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. The Aristotelian, or Arabian philosophy, continued to be communicated from Spain and Arabia to the rest of the world by means of the Jews, particularly to France and Italy, which were overrun with Jews about the xoth and nth centuries. About these periods, not only the courts of the Mahommedan princes, but even those of the Pope himself, were filled with Jews. Here they principally gained an establishment by the profession of physic, an art then but imperfectly known and practised in most parts of Europe. Being well versed in the Arabian tongue, from their con- nection with Africa and Egypt, they had studied the Arabian translation of Galen and Hippocrates, which had become still more familiar with those of their brethren who resided in Spain. From this source also the Jews learned philosophy,' and Hebrew versions, made about this time from the Arabic, of Aristotle and the Greek physicians and 46 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. mathematicians, are extant in some libraries. Here was a beneficial result of the dispersion and vagabond condition of the Jews, I mean the diffusion of knowledge. One of the most eminent of these learned Jews was Maimonides, a physician, philosopher, astrologer, and theologist, educated at Cordova under Averroes ; he died about the year 1208. Averroes being accused of heretical opinion, was sentenced to live with the Jews, in the street of the Jews, at Cordova. Some of those learned Jews began to flourish in Spain as early as the beginning of the gth century. Many of the treatises of Averroes were translated by the Spanish Jews into Hebrew; and the Latin pieces of that author, now extant, were so translated from these Hebrew verses. It was in the time of Averroes that one of our Jewish philo- sophers, having fallen in love, turned poet, and his verses were sold publicly in the street. My author says, that " re- nouncing the dignity of the Jewish doctor, he took to writing verses." " Amore capitur et dignitate Doctorum Posthabitu coepit edere carmina." WARTON. Hist. English Poetry. QUEEN MARY'S RELICS. Her Majesty has accepted certain relics, bequeathed to her under the will of the Lord Belhaven, of great historic value, as souvenirs of the ill-fated Mary Stuart, from whom the Queen is directly descended. They consist of a beautiful ebony cabinet, which about 200 years ago came into the possession of the Belhaven family, through a granddaughter of the Earl of Mar, to whom it was pre- sented by the Scottish queen ; of a purse, the work of Mary's own hands ; of a lock of her hair, which is of a light colour; and of a piece of unleavened bread, under- CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 47 stood to be a fragment of that used by Mary in some of her religious rites. Glasgow Herald, 1869. THE TAPE WORM. In the "Annales de Medecine" of February, 1841, Pro- fessor Wawurch observes, that of 3,864 patients whom he attended at the hospital (La Clinique) at Vienna, he found 206 affected by tape-worm (ver solitaire), among whom were only three Jews. And what more particularly struck him was, that in the course of thirty-four years' previous practice, he met with but one Jew labouring under that disorder. He explains this pathologically that the Jews do not feed upon impure food, and what confirmed him in this opinion was that the three persons mentioned above did not at all conform to the Jewish dietary. Arch. Israelites. THE BEARD. When the custom was introduced among the Jews of Prussia of shaving off the beard, it occasioned great scandal among the orthodox, who considered that parting with the beard was equivalent to renouncing the Jewish religion. A preacher (TJQ) enlarged very strongly against this prac- tice, and took for his text IHKvn nnK imi "]K21 nnK *im " Blessed shall thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out," and cited a passage in the Mishna, which applies the text to the birth and death of man, and imposes upon him the necessity of quitting the world with the same degree of innocence as when he entered it. A would-be wit, without his beard, charmed with the text, approached the orator, and told him that if he had cut off his beard it was that he might quit the world as he had entered it. " You have not badly applied the text," said the lecturer, "only to be consistent, you should pluck out your teeth." Ibid. 48 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. JEWISH MUNIFICENCE. The late Mr. Alfred Davis, who, during his lifetime was a most generous benefactor of the Jews' Free School, has bequeathed to that institution the princely legacy of thirty thousand pounds. -Jewish Chronicle, Jan. 14th, 1870. In the same number of this journal will be found a detail of the life and character of this " true philanthropist." EARLY JEWISH GRAMMARS. It was only about the commencement of the loth cen- tury that the first efforts , were made by the Jews in com- piling their grammars after the example of the Arabs. The earliest attempts by Rabbi Saadi and others are lost, but those of R. Yehuda Chayyug (called also Abu-Zakaria Yachya), about the year 1000, and of R. Jona (Abu'l Walid Marwan ibn Ganach), about 1030, composed in the Arabic language, are still extant. Assisted by these pioneer- labours, Abraham ben Ezra (about 1150) and R. David Kimchi (about 1200) especially won for themselves a classic reputation as grammarians. The father of Hebrew philology among Christians was John Reuchlin, to whom Greek literature also owes so much. But he, as also the gram- marians of the next succeeding period, down to John Buxtorf, still adhered almost exclusively to Jewish tradi- tion. It was only after the middle of the i7th century that the field of view gradually widened, and that the study of the sister tongues, chiefly through the labours of Albert Schultens and N. W. Schroder, became of fruitful service to Hebrew grammars. Dr. DAVIES. Translation. Gese- nius's Hebrew Grammar. NATURALISATION OF THE JEWS. A remarkable history is the attempt of the Pelhams, in 1752, to legalise the naturalisation of Jews. The Jews, CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 49 as is well-known, had been completely banished from Eng- land by a statute of Edward I. ; and they did not attempt to return till the time of the Commonwealth, but were not formally allowed to establish themselves in England till after the Restoration. The first synagogue in London was erected in 1662. It is possible that occasional physicians or merchants may have secretly come over before ; but their number must have been very few, and it is more than prob- able that Shakespeare, when he drew his immortal picture of Shylock, had himself never seen a Jew. The hatred, indeed, of that unhappy race in England, was peculiarly tenacious and intense. The old calumny, that the Jews were accustomed on Good Friday to crucify a Christian boy, which was sedulously circulated on the Continent, and which, even now, forms the subject of one of the great frescoes round the Cathedral of Toledo, was firmly believed, and the legend of the crucifixion of young Hew, of Lincoln, sank deeply into the public imagination. The story was told by Matthew Paris ; it was embodied in an early ballad ; it was revived, many years after the ex- pulsion of the Jews, by Chaucer, who made the Jewish murder of a Christian child one of his most graphic tales (" The Prioress's Tale ") ; and in the same spirit Marlowe painted " The Jew of Malta " in the darkest colour. There does not appear, however, to have been any legal obstacle to the Sovereign and Parliament naturalising a Jew, till a law, enacted under James I., and directed against the Catholics, made the sacramental test an essential pre- liminary to naturalisation. Two subsequent enactments exempted from this necessity all foreigners who were engaged in the hemp and flax manufacture ; and all Jews and Pro- testant foreigners, who had lived for seven continuous years in the American plantations. In the reign of James II., the Jews were relieved from the payment of the alien duty; E 50 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. but it is a significant fa'ct that it was re-imposed after the Revolution, at the petition of the London merchants. In the reign of Anne, some of them are said to have privately negotiated with Godolphin, for permission to purchase the town of Brentford, and to settle there with full privileges of trade ; but the minister, fearing to arouse the spirit of re- ligious intolerance and of commercial jealousy, refused the application. The great development of industrial enter- prise, which followed the long and prosperous administra- tion of Walpole, naturally attracted Jews, who were then, as now, pre-eminent in commercial matters, and many of them appear at the time to have settled in England, among others, a young Venetian Jew, whose son obtained an honourable place in English literature, and whose grandson has twice been Prime Minister of England. The object of the Pelhams was not to naturalise all resi- dent Jews, but simply to enable Parliament to naturalise those who applied for it, although they had not lived in the Colonies, or been engaged in the hemp or flax manufacture. As the principle of naturalisation had been fully conceded by these two Acts, which had been passed without any diffi- culty, and had continued in operation without exciting a murmur ; as the Bill could only apply to a few rich men, who were prepared to undertake the expensive process of a parliamentary application, and as they were among the most harmless, industrious, and useful members of the community, it might have been imagined that a Bill of this nature could scarcely offend the most sensitive ecclesiastical conscience. When it was brought forward, however, a general election was not far distant ; the opponents of the Ministry raised the cry that the Bill was an un-Christian one, and England was thrown into paroxysms of excite- ment, scarcely less intense than those which followed the impeachment of Sacheverell. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 51 According to its opponents, the Jewish Naturalisation Bill sold the birthright of Englishmen for nothing; it was a distinct abandonment of Christianity; it would draw down upon England all the curses which Providence had attached to the Jews. The commercial classes complained that it would fill England with usurers. The landed classes feared that ultimately the greater part of the land of Eng- land would pass into the hands of Jews, who would avail themselves of their power to destroy the Church. One member of Parliament urged that to give the Jews a resting- place in England, would invalidate prophecy, and destroy one of the principal reasons for believing in the Christian religion. * * * The Mayor and Corporation of London petitioned against the Bill. The clergy all over England denounced it. The old story of the crucifixion of children was revived, and the bishops, who had voted for the Bill, were libelled and insulted in the streets. It passed, after a severe opposition, through the Commons, and received the Royal assent ; but, as the tide of popular indignation rose higher and higher, the ministers, in the next year, brought forward and carried its repeal. It is probable, that in the excited state of popular feeling, if they had not done so, the Jews could not have lived safely in .England. LECKY. History of England in the Eighteenth Century. BENJAMIN OF TUDELA. The first European traveller who went far eastward, is Benjamin of Tudela, in Navarre. He penetrated from Constantinople, through Alexandria in Egypt, and Persia, to the frontiers of Tzin, now China. His travels end in 1173. He mentions the immense wealth of Constantinople, and says that its ports swarm with ships from all countries. He exaggerates in speaking of the prodigious number of 52 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Jews in that city. He is full of marvellous and romantic histories. WARTON on English Poetry. An English translation of these travels, with notes by Dr. Zunz, has been published by ASHER, Berlin. SHAKESPEARE. The only places (with the addition of those in The Mer- chant of Venice] wherein Shakespeare mentions the Jew, are as follows : Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act ii., scenes 3 and 5 ; Much Ado about Nothing, Act ii., scene 3 ; Mid- summer Night's Dream, Act iii., scene i; Love 's Labour Lost, Act iii., scene i ; Macbeth, Act iv., scene i ; first part of Henry IV., Act ii., scene 4. In accordance with the spirit of the times, the allusions are not very complimentary to the Hebrew race. P. A. JEWS IN IMPERIAL ROME. As early as the reign of Augustus, there were many thou- sands of Jewish residents in Rome, and their manners and their creed spread widely among the people. Josephus (" Antiq." XVII., xi. i) says, about 8,000 Jews, resident in Rome, took part in a petition to Caesar. If these were all adult males, the total number of Jewish residents must have been extremely large. See the famous fragments of Seneca, cited by St. Augustin ("De Civ. Dei, VI. n), "Usque eo sceleratissimae gentis consuetudo convaluit, ut per omnes jam terras recepta sit; victi victoribus leges dederunt." There are numerous scattered allusions to the Jews in Horace, Juvenal and Martial. It would appear at first sight that the persecution which attended the innovation of all new religious oppositions, would have been directed against the Jews as strongly as against the Christians ; but a moment's CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 53 reflection is sufficient to explain the difference. The Jewish religion was essentially conservative and unexpansive. Although in the passion for Oriental religions, many of the Romans had begun to practise its ceremonies, there was no spirit of proselytism in the sect ; and it is probable that almost all who followed this religion, to the exclusion of others, were of Hebrew nationality. The Christians, on the other hand, were ardent missionaries ; they were, for the most part, Romans who had thrown off the allegiance of their old gods, and their activity was so great, that from a very early period of their history, the temples were in some districts almost deserted. Besides this, the Jews simply abstained from and despised the religions around them. The Christians denounced them as the worship of daemons, and lost no opportunity of insulting them. LECKY. Hist. European Morals, passim. FILIAL INGRATITUDE. The Jewish religion is an old trunk which has produced two branches that have covered the earth I mean Mahom- medanism and Christianity or, rather, it is a mother, that has brought forth two daughters, who have crushed her (font accablee) with a thousand wounds. MONTESQUIEU. Another French author thus expresses himself: The Jewish religion is a venerable mother, whose age is lost in the obscurity of time. She has given birth to two daughters, the Christian religion, and the Mahommedan religion, who respect her, and rend her at the same time ; who glory in being descended from her, and desire nothing so much as to see her exterminated ; who approve all she has done before becoming a mother, and condemn all she has done since, although her conduct has always been the same ; in a word, who have for her, at the same time, ad- miration and horror. COLLIN DE PLANCY. 54 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. THE VEILED PROPHET OF KHORASSAN. " For far less luminous, his votaries said, Were ev'n the glories, miraculously shed O'er Mousa's cheek, when down the mount he trod, All glowing from the presence of his God." MOORE'S Lalla Rookh. " Ses disciples assuroient, qu'il se couvroit le visage, pour ne pas blouir ceux qui Fapprochoit par 1'eclat de son visage, comme Moyse." D'HERBELOT. HEBREW VIRTUE. The character of virtue of Marcus Aurelius, though ex- hibiting the softening influence of the Greek spirit, which in his time pervaded the Empire, was in its essentials strictly Roman. Though full of reverential gratitude to Providence, we do not find in him that intense humility, and those deep and subtle religious feelings which were the principles of Hebrew virtue, and which have given the Jewish writers so great an ascendancy over the hearts of men. LECKY. European Morals. GREAT SYNAGOGUE, DUKE'S PLACE. August 3ist, 1766. This afternoon the ceremony of the dedication of the new built Synagogue in Duke's Place was performed with the greatest pomp and solemnity, in which the chief and other eminent rabbis belonging to the Portu- guese Jewish nation assisted; when the prayer for their Majesties and the Royal Family, which was always read in Hebrew, was at this time pronounced by the Chief Rabbi in English, and followed by Handel's "Coronation An- them," performed by a numerous band of the most eminent musicians. The procession and other ceremonies on that CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 55 occasion in the synagogue were accompanied with several anthems, choruses, etc., by the same performers. Annual Register, 1766. AGUILAR. The Hebrew word for an eye, signifies also a fountain, D'On \iy ; hence, perhaps, the Spanish and Portuguese derive their " olhar d'aqua. LIGHTFOOT. Query. By conversion, Agui(o)lar? though some, I believe, derive this name from Aquila. In the copy of an old letter to Henry VIII., under date March 3rd, 1513, I find men- tioned the " Comendador de Aghilar." P. A. CORDOBA (CORDOVA). No city has been honoured with so proud a list in many departments of literature as Cordova. Strabo speaks of the learning of its inhabitants, and so does Cicero (" Orat. pro Archia "). The two Senecas and Lucian among the Romans ; Aver- roes and Abenzoar, distinguished Arabic writers ; the three most famous Hebrew Rabbis, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Maimonides ; Ferdinand, the logician ; Juan de Mena, the father of Spanish poetry ; Gongora, the poet, and Cespeda, the universal genius, were all natives of Cordova. Repeated efforts have been made to revive the spirit of learning in this interesting capital ; but Cordova continues without a bookseller's stall a striking monument of the triumphs of monkery and ignorance over all that is great, good and generous in the human character. Compiled. Our readers no doubt recollect that the French shoemaker derives his designation, " Cordonnier " from cordo.uanier, a leather dresser, who is so called from his using the excellent leather of Cordova. 56 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. AUTHENTICITY OF THE PENTATEUCH. Whoever wishes to see the principal arguments for the genuineness and antiquity of the Pentateuch, brought together within the compass of half-an-hour's reading, will do well to consult a pamphlet by Dr. Marsh, entitled " The Authenticity of the Five Books of Moses Vindicated;" in which the objections are refuted with all the acuteness and perspicuity which so eminently characterise the learned professor. Quarterly Review, vol. ix. Dr. Marsh, who became successively Bishop of Llandaff, and of Peterborough, republished his observations in an enlarged work in 1840. P. A. JEWISH LAWS. God, at the first, gave laws to all mankind ; but afterwards he gave peculiar laws to the Jews, which they have ever to observe, just as we have the common law for all England ; and yet you have some corporations besides, that have peculiar laws for themselves. SELDEN. Table Talk. PERMANENCY OF JEWISH CUSTOMS. The history of the Hebrews develops those permanent customs which are still operating on this insulated race, and which, through a long series of ages, by separating the Israelite from the Christian, have occasioned a reciprocal ignorance of their modes of thinking, their motives of con- duct, their dissimilar customs, and their irreconcilable diffi- culties. Christians, who have written on Jewish affairs, frequently describe customs and opinions, as if they solely related to the 4 former state of the Hebrews, not aware that customs and rites which are purely Oriental are still existing in the CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 57 domestic duty of the Jewish citizen, whether a native of Berlin, or Amsterdam, of Paris, or London. The close of the Jewish history is imagined to be the final destruction of the Holy City ; but this people have survived their metro- polis, their kingdom, their code ; and a terrible interval of more than fifteen centuries of merciless persecution, of heroic struggle, of blasting calumny, of martyrdom, and of expul- sion, constitute the modern history of the Hebrews. I. D'lSRAELi. Genius of Judaism. ANIMOSITY BETWEEN JEWS AND CHRISTIANS. The eager credulity with which baseless accusations against the Jews were received, illustrates the reason why equally scandalous charges against the Christians found implicit believers. Those two religious bodies mutually were opponents; and the heretics, in addition, gladly accused the Catholics ; while the Roman judge, in whose eyes Judaism, orthodox Christianity, and heresy were but slightly differing modifications of one despicable supersti- tion, doubtless found in this interchange of accusations a corroboration of his prejudices. In the eyes of the Pagans, the Christians were regarded as a sect of the Jews ; and the Jews, on account of their continual riots, their inexhaustible hatred of the Gentile world, and the atrocities that frequently accompanied their rebellions, had early excited the anger and the contempt of the Pagans. On the other hand, the Jew, who deemed the abandonment of the law the most heinous of crimes, and whose patriotism only shone with a fiercer flame amid the calamities of his nation, regarded the Christian with an im- placable hostility. Scorned or hated by those around him, his Temple levelled with the dust, and the last vestige of his independence destroyed, he clung with a desperate tenacity 58 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. to the hopes and principles of his ancient creed. In his eyes the Christians were at once apostates and traitors. He could not forget that in the last hour of his country's agony, when the armies of the Gentile encompassed Jeru- salem, and when the hosts of the faithful flocked to its defence, the Christian Jews had abandoned the fortunes of their race, and refused to bear any part in the heroism and in the sufferings of the closing scene. They had proclaimed that the promised Messiah, who was to restore the faded glories of Israel, had already come; that the privileges which had so long been the monopoly of a single people, had passed to the Gentile world ; that the race, which was once supremely blest, was for all future to be accursed among mankind. It is not, therefore, surprising that there should have arisen between the two creeds an animosity which Paganism could never rival. While the Christians viewed with too much exultation the calamities which fell upon the prostrate people, whose cup of bitterness they were destined through long ages to fill to the brim, the Jews laboured with unwearied hatred to foment by calum- nies the passions of the Pagan multitude. On the other hand, the Catholic Christians showed themselves extremely willing to draw down the sword of the persecutor upon the heretical sects. LECKY. Hist. European Morals. LOYALTY OF THE JEWS. They have ever been loyal subjects. When, in the year 1745, the Pretender advanced triumphantly to the very heart of the kingdom, threatening to overthrow the government, and exciting throughout the whole land, and especially in the Metropolis, the most lively alarm when the finances of the country, owing to the machinations of the rebels, were at so low an ebb, and the run on the Bank CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 59 for specie so urgent, as to create serious fears of a national bankruptcy, associations of the most active and loyal citizens were formed to assist an alarmed and oppressed government, and replenish an exhausted exchequer. The Jews took a prominent part ; they were most anxious to assist their country they had amassed wealth under the protection of the State, and they cheerfully poured out their hoards when the State required it. When the Govern- ment called upon the inhabitants of the country to arm for all they held most dear, fro arts et focis, did the Jews shrink back ? did they plead their ineligibility that they who were unworthy of being trusted among the regular troops, should not be trusted as volunteers? No! they one and all enlisted themselves with the Christians, and had the occasion arisen, would have proved themselves descendants of the noble Maccabeus. BASIL MONTAGU. The Popu- lar Record, 1834. ABRAHAM MOCATTA. In March, 1744, when the rumours of a French invasion, in favour of the young Pretender were prevalent, the mer- chants of the City of London waited on the king (George II.) with an address, expressing their " resentment and in- dignation at so rash an attempt ; " and declaring their re- solution that "we will, at this critical conjuncture, exert our utmost endeavours for the support of public credit ; and at all times hazard our lives and fortunes in defence of your Majesty's sacred person and government, and of the security of the Protestant succession in your family." This address is signed, among other names, with those of several loyal Jewish citizens. It is lamentable, however, to admit that since that period most of the representatives of these Hebrew loyalists have either passed away, " and left 60 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. not a wrack behind;" or, worse still, have abjured the name and faith of their forefathers. It may not, therefore, be. deemed invidious to record, as a valued " Curiosity of Judaism," one name, now almost unique, in that address, which name, now as then, evidences the existence of a family whose guiding principle is, " Fides Dei Maximi." P. A. WORKS OF MENDELSSOHN. Mendelssohn has exercised an immense influence over the civilisation of Israelites. It appears to be little known (at least in England) that a complete edition of his works was published in 1845, by F. A. Brockhaus, in Leipsic, in seven vols., 8vo. How desirable it would be if this work were translated from the German, and made available for the improvement of English readers. P. A. QUOTATIONS OF THE TALMUDISTS. When the Talmudists do not sport with passages of the Scripture, nor bring them forward frivolously and from memory, but quote accurately and with care, their citations are to be regarded as critical depositions and of some value, as with fragments from an ancient manuscript. It is only the most ancient rabbis who lived nearest to the time of the Talmud, that are of any critical value in this respect, such as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Jarchi, and Maimonides. DE WETTE, on the Old Testament. Hereto belongs the formula -p t6s 13 *Opn >S, " Read not thus, but thus." But this formula is only used when a passage is treated allegorically, though sometimes it is fol- lowed by a proper variant. BUXTORFF. EMANCIPATION OF SWEDISH JEWS. The Reichstag, or Diet of Sweden, adopted (on the ryth CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 6l inst.) the report of the Committee of the Constitution, which grants emancipation to Jews, and other persons not of the Established Swedish Church, the right of sitting in the Reichstag, or Parliament, and of holding office, other than those of Ministers of State; 93 members of the Upper House, against 18, and 166 of the Lower House, against 58, voted for the measure. Jewish Chronicle, Feb- ruary 20, 1870. GESENIUS. This celebrated Hebrew scholar and Professor of Theology at Halle, died in 1842, at the age of fifty-six. It is generally owing to him that the study of Hebrew advanced so much in civilized Europe, during the last half-century. He was born in 1785 at Nordhausen. After his early studies at the Gymnasium in his native town, he went successively to the University of Helmstadt, and that of Gottingen. There he heard the celebrated Eichhorn, whose manner of reading Hebrew struck the youthful student, and excited in him his thenceforward devotion to Oriental languages, and specially to the Hebrew ; and it was thus that he developed the foundation of his Lexicon, of which, when he became Professor of Theology at Halle, he published an abbrevi- ated edition in 1815. This soon ran through five editions. In 1817 he published his great grammatical work, "Lehrge- bande der Hebraischen Sprache " on the Hebrew language, and its connection with cognate dialects. He also contri- buted a work on the Samaritan Pentateuch, and in 1823, his " Commentary on Isaiah," which created a great sensa- tion. But his greatest work, and that with which his name will ever be associated, is the "Thesaurus Linguae Hebrse." It was he who, in a great measure, softened down the pre- judice which had existed among Christian theologians against rabbinical studies ; and, indeed, it was he who, in a 62 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. great measure, evoked in the bosom of modern Judaism a desire to avail itself of its own hidden treasure. Compiled by P. A. VERIFICATION OF PROPHECY. Several rabbis went up to Jerusalem with Rabbi Akiba. When they arrived at Mount Zophim (the seer's) they rent their garments ; when they arrived at the " Mount of the Temple " they saw a fox running out of the " Most Holy of Holies " D'EHpn KHp JV3D (such was the name of the inner- most part of the Temple). They began to weep, but Rabbi Akiba smiled. "Why dost thou smile?" asked they; and "Why do ye weep?" rejoined he. "Shall we not weep," said they, " seeing foxes inhabit the place of which Scrip- ture says, 'And whoso he corneth near he shall die?'" "For this very reason, I smile," said he, " because Isaiah has said, ' And I took to me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Berechiah.' In what relation can Uriah and Zechariah stand to each other, when Uriah lived during the first Temple, and Zechariah during the second ? But their respective prophecies are purposely connected to show that the fulfilment of the one proves the veracity of the other. Uriah prophesied, ' Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field' (Micah iii. 12). Zechariah prophesied, ' There shall yet old men and women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem ' (Zech. viii. 4). Unless the prophecy of Uriah were fulfilled, I feared that the pro- phecy of Zechariah would not either be fulfilled ; but now since the prediction of the former has this day been ful- filled before our eyes, it affords strong evidence of the verification of the latter." The rabbins thereupon exclaimed, "Akiba, thou hast indeed comforted us." Quoted by Rev. Dr. ABLER, in his sermon lorn nat? "n"Y'n. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 63 A JEWISH PARLIAMENT. I question whether many are acquainted with Parlia- mentum Judaicum. Yet such a one was held, being the 25th of Henry III., as properly deserves that title. For the king directed writs to the sheriff of each county, com- manding them to return before him, at Worcester, upon Quinquagesima Sunday, six of the richest Jews from every town, or two only from places where there were but few, to treat with him, as well concerning their own, as his benefit ; and threatening the sheriffs that if they failed, he would so terribly handle them, that they would remem- ber it as long as they lived. Great, no doubt, was the surprise of those unhappy people to find themselves thus all of a sudden made councillors to the king, after so many years spent in ignominious servitude. I would almost think he was desirous to become Jew himself; when they ob- served how little he regarded the Christian Sabbath by appointing it for their day of meeting. But whatever san- guine hopes this great honour may have inspired them with, when they came to understand no other part of his Majesty's most gracious speech but that he wanted money they must raise him money he had called them together to think of ways and means ; to furnish him with twenty thousand marks ; their consternation was inexpress- ible. But there was no remedy. Liberty of speech for this one time was denied in Parliament ; and they were only commanded to go home again and to get half of it ready by Midsummer, and the remainder by Michaelmas. BLUNT. Early History of the Jews. A FEMALE HEBREW SCHOLAR. An extraordinary knowledge of Hebrew was possessed by a Christian lady named Anna Miriam Schurman. She 64 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. was descended of a noble family resident at Cologne, and was born in 1607. She was considered as a prodigy of her age, for not only did she excel all women in all kinds of needlework and embroidery, in painting, poetry and music, but she also understood thoroughly the Hebrew, Arabic, Chaldaic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Greek, and Latin, and spoke fluently the French, English, and Italian lan- guages. She carried on a correspondence in Hebrew with some of her literary friends. Two of her letters are in the D^nyn T132, and display a curious specimen of the proficiency in Hebrew of a lady, not of the Jewish faith. Extracted from the Bikurai Ha-ittemfor 1824. HOUSE OF MENDELSSOHN. Berlin. The house once inhabited by the celebrated Jewish philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn, No. 68, Spandau Street, was recently bought by the Jewish Community for 35,000 dols. (^5,000), for the purpose of establishing a Jewish Charity School for children of both sexes. In the house was found a marble tablet bearing this inscription : " Here lived a sage, not less distinguished for his great wisdom, than for his pure morals and his exemplary life." LUnivers Israelite, 1846. ON THE BAPTISM OF JEWS. Saint Gregory the Great, who died in 687, wrote to the Bulgarians : " No violence must be done to the Jews, for what is not done voluntarily, cannot be good." Pope Innocent III. published an ordinance (1199) in which he takes the Jews under his protection against every injury. " However blameable (he writes) the unbelief of the Jews, they should nevertheless not be subject to grave persecu- tions from the faithful, considering that they serve as a CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 65 confirmation to the Christian faith. No person should be coerced into baptism, but if anybody manifests of his own accord a desire of becoming a Christian, he must not be prevented from receiving baptism, for those who submit under violence cannot be true believers. The fourth Council of Toledo says : " As for the Jews, the Holy synod orders, not to offer violence to any person in order to bring him to the faith ; for God enlightens with His grace him He chooses, and hardens him He chooses not" ! Saint Thomas, who died in 1274, said, "It has never been customary in the Church to baptise the children of Jews against the will of their parents." Journal of Sacred Litera- ture, Third Series, page 453. This is preceded and followed by some pungent remarks respecting the (then recent, 1859,) abduction of Mortara. HEBREW CIVILISATION. The peculiarity of the Hebrew civilisation did not con- sist in the culture of the imagination and intellect, like that of the Greeks, nor in the organisation of government like that of Rome ; but its distinguishing feature was Religion. To say nothing of the Scriptures ; the prophets, the miracles of the Jews, their frequent festivals, their constant sacrifices, everything in their collective and private life was connected with a revealed religion; their wars, their heroes, their poetry had a sacred character ; their national code was full of the details of public worship; their ordinary employ- ments were touched at every point by divinely appointed and significant ceremonies. Nor was this religion, as were the religions of the heathen world, a creed which could not be the common property of the instructed and the ignorant. It was neither a recondite philosophy which might not be communicated to the masses of the people, nor a weak superstition controlling the conduct of the lower classes and 66 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. ridiculed by the higher. The religion of Moses was for the use of all and the benefit of all. The poorest peasant of Galilee had the same part in it as the wisest rabbi of Jerusalem. The children of all families were taught to claim their share in the privileges of the chosen people. Contrast with Gentiles. And how different was the nature of this religion from that of contemporary Gentiles ! The pious feelings of the Jews were not dissipated and distracted by a fantastic mythology, where a thousand different objects of worship, with contradictory attributes, might claim the attention of the devout mind. " One God," the Creator and Judge of the world, and the Author of all good, was the only object of adoration. And there was nothing of that wide separation between religion and morality, which among other nations was the road to all impurity. The will and approbation of Jehovah was the motive and sup- port of all holiness ; faith in His word was the power which raised men above their natural weakness, while even the divinities of Greece and Rome were often the personifica- tions of human passions, and the example and sanction of vice. The pious Hebrew was always, as it were, in the attitude of expectation. It has been well remarked, that while the golden age of the Greeks and the Romans was the past, that of the Jews was the future. While other nations were growing weary of their gods without anything in their mythology or philosophy to satisfy the deep cravings of their nature; with religion operating rather as a barrier than a link between the educated and the ignorant ; with morality divorced from theology the whole Jewish people were united in a feeling of attachment to their sacred insti- tutions, and found in the facts of their past history a pledge of the fulfilment of their native hopes. REV. J. S. HOW- SON. Life and Epistles of St. Paul. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 67 Neander observes that it has been justly remarked that the distinctive peculiarity (die auszeichende Eigenthiimlich- keit) of the Hebrew nation from the very first was, that con- science was more alive among them than any other people. Pflanzung and Leitung, p. 91, edit. 1847. EARLY RESTRICTIVE LAWS. The law of the Salien Franks, the law of the Burgun- dians, contain terrible denunciations against the Jews. The laws of the Visigoths are not less cruel. It was under these latter that the population of the South of France and of Spain existed. About this period the clergy would have relegated the Jews to complete isolation. About the year 465 a canon of the Council of Vannes forbade priests to associate with Jews, or to eat with them. The Councils of Agde (506), and of Epaone (517), extended this prohibition to Christians in general. The Council of Orleans (533) forbids marriage with them. An edict of Childebert (533) prohibits the Jews' appearance in public during certain days; also the possession of Christian slaves. In 618, Clotaire II. took from Jews the privilege of instituting any lawsuit against Christians. At last, a decree of Dagobert (633) orders them to quit the domin- ions of that prince, unless they consented to profess imme- diately the faith of Christianity. T. MALVEZIN. Hist, des Juifs a Bourdeaux. THE NAME D'ISRAELJ. My grandfather, who became an English denizen in 1748, was an Italian descendant from one of those Hebrew families, whom the Inquisition forced to emigrate from the Spanish Peninsula at the end of the fifteenth century, and who found a refuge in the more tolerant territories of the 68 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Venetian Republic. His ancestors had dropped their Gothic surname on their settlement in the terra firma, and grateful to the God of Jacob, who had sustained them through unprecedented trials, and guarded them through unheard of perils, they assumed the name of D'!SRAELI, a name never borne before nor since by any other family, in order that their race might be for ever recognised. Undisturbed and unmolested they flourished as mer- chants for more than two centuries, under the protection of the Lion of St. Mark, which was but just, as the patron saint of the Republic was himself a child of Israel. But in the middle of the eighteenth century, the altered cir- cumstances of England favourable as it was then sup- posed to commerce and religious liberty attracted the attention of my great-grandfather to this island, and he resolved that the youngest (sic] of his two sons, Benjamin, "the son of his right hand," should settle in a country where the dynasty seemed at length established, through the recent failure of Prince Charles Edward, and where public opinion appeared definitely adverse to persecution on matters of creed and conscience. RIGHT HON. B. D'lSRAELi. Life and Writings of I. D' Israeli. JEWISH FAMILIES IN ENGLAND. The Jewish families who were then settled in England were few, though from their wealth and other circumstances they were far from unimportant. They were all of them Sephardim, that is to say, children of Israel, who had never quitted the shores of the Midland Ocean, until Torquemado had driven them from their pleasant residences and rich estates in Arragon, and Andalusia, and Portugal, to seek greater blessings even than a clear atmosphere and a glowing sun, amid the marshes of Holland, and the fogs of Britain. Most of these families, who held themselves CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 69 aloof from the Hebrews of Northern Europe (then only occasionally stealing into England as from an inferior caste), and whose synagogue was reserved only for Sep- hardim, are now extinct ; while the branch of the great family, which, notwithstanding their own sufferings from prejudice, they had the hardihood to look down upon, have achieved an amount of wealth and consideration which the Sephardim, even with the patronage of Mr. Pelham, never could have contemplated. Nevertheless, at the time when my grandfather settled in England, and when Mr. Pelham, who was very favourable to the Jews, was Prime Minister, there might be found, among other Jewish families flourishing in the country, the Villa Reals, who brought wealth to this country almost as great as , their name, though that is the second in Portugal, and who twice allied themselves with the English aristocracy; theMedinas, the Laras, who were our kinsmen, and the Mendez da Costa, who, I believe, still exist. Ibid. LORD BEACONSFIELD'S GRANDPARENTS. Whether it was that my grandfather on his arrival was not encouraged by those to whom he had a right to look up which is often our case at the outset of life or whether he was alarmed at the unexpected consequences of Mr. Pelham's favourable disposition to his countrymen, in the disgraceful repeal of the Jew Bill, which occurred a very few years after his arrival in this country, I know not ; but cer- tainly he appears never to have cordially or intimately mixed with his community. The tendency to alienation was no doubt subsequently encouraged by his marriage, which took place in 1765. My grandmother, the beautiful daughter of a family who had suffered much from persecu- tion, had imbibed that dislike for her race which the vain 70 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. are too apt to adopt when they find that they are born to public contempt. Seventeen years, howerer, elapsed before my grandfather entered into this union, and during that interval he had not been idle. He was only eighteen when he commenced his career, and when a great responsibility devolved on him. He was not unequal to it. He was a man of ardent character, sanguine, courageous, speculative and fortunate, with a temper which no disappointment could disturb, and a brain, amid reverses, full of resource. He made his fortune in the midway of life, and settled near Enfield, where he formed an Italian garden, entertained his friends, played whist with Sir Horace Mann, who was his great ac- quaintance, and who had known his brother at Venice as a banker ; ate macaroni which was dressed by the Venetian Consul, sang canzonettas, and notwithstanding a wife who never pardoned him for his name, and a son who disap- pointed all his plans, and who to the last hour of his life was an enigma to him, lived till he was nearly ninety, and then died in 1817, in the full enjoyment of prolonged existence. My grandfather retired from active business on the eve of that great financial epoch, to grapple with which his talents were well adapted, and when the wars and loans of the Revolution were about to create those families of millionaires, in which he might probably have enrolled his own. That, however, was not our destiny. My grand- father had only one child, and nature had disqualified him from his cradle for the busy pursuit of men. Ibid. ISAAC D'IsRAELi. The preceding two extracts are from the memoirs of this celebrated writer, and are compiled by his son, the CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 71 present Prime Minister. This memoir, which is prefixed to a new edition of " Curiosities of Literature," in three volumes, published by G. Routledge, 1858, displays the writer as an acute recorder of life and character, and at the same time as an affectionate son, gladly recounting the good qualities of an esteemed father. It is well worth reading. Curiously, however, it seems to ignore all that is connected with his father's secession from Jewish associa- tions, which subsequently so greatly influenced the after- life of the son himself. P. A. REMONSTRANCE AGAINST THE JEWS. In the " Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series," under date, November 30, 1660, may be found a Remon- strance, addressed to the King, concerning the English Jews, showing the mischiefs accomplished by them since their coming in at the time of William the Conqueror; the privileges which they have purchased by money ; their prosperity, notwithstanding their oppressions and taxations, their ill-dealings, and banishment by Edward I., at the desire of the whole kingdom ; yet they have since returned, renewed their usurious and fraudulent practices, and flourish so much that they endeavoured to buy St. Paul's for a synagogue in the late usurper's time, suggesting the issue of a commission to inquire into their state, and the imposition of heavy taxes, seizure of their personal property, and banishment for residence without licence, etc. State Paper Department, Public Record Office, vol. xxi. PETITION OF CONVERTS. July, 1660. Peter Samuel and Paul Jacob, converts from Judaism to the Christian faith. That they may partake the benefit of the charity of Henry III., who founded a house for 72 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. converted Jews, which, with its lands, etc., was annexed to the Office of Master of the Rolls by Edward VI., and he settled 202 os. 4d. on the converts who have lately been very few in number; were converted in the kingdom, but are destitute of maintenance. Ibid., vol ix. GRANTS OF DENIZATION. May 9, 1662. Denization of Daniel Bueno Enriquez, a Portuguese, at request of Sir William Davison. Vol. liv. September 2. Grant to David Dacosta, of denization Vol. lix. PERMISSION TO LAND. February, 1665. Petition of Abraham Meza and David Baruh, and their families, to the King, for permission to come on shore, being all in perfect health. Came from Rotterdam, and are on their way to Surinam, but were stopped at Tollhaven in the Thames, by his order. Stale Papers, Domestic Series, vol. cxiii. PETITION FOR PROTECTION. August 22, 1664. Petition of Emanuel Martinez Dormido and two others in behalf of the Jews trading in and about London to the king, for protection and leave to remain and trade in the kingdom, unless ordered by His Majesty to de- part. Have long traded there and behaved with due obedi- ence to the laws, but Mr. Rycaut and others threaten seizure of their estates, and say that both life and estate are for- feit ; the Earl of Berkshire says he has a verbal order from His Majesty to prosecute them and seize their estates, unless they come to an agreement with him. With answer thereto that the king has given no such order, that they may enjoy the same favour as before, as long as they demean them- selves peaceably and obey the laws. State Papers, Public Record Office, vol. ci. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 73 PETITION FOR A PASS. February 5, 1660. Petition of John d'lllan, Jew, of Amsterdam, for a pass for a Holland ship to transport him- self and fifty families of Jews from Amsterdam to Palestine. God has at length begun to gather in His scattered people, having raised up a prophet for them. They will pray for His Majesty when they arrive at Jerusalem. State Papers, Domestic Series, vol. cxlvii. About this period there was an impostor who gained many believers as the Messiah. In a letter about this date I read, " The Jews hurry from Amsterdam with great expectation of their Messiah, who is said to be a silly fellow, a baker's son." And in a subsequent letter : " The new Messias of the Jews was hanged in chains at Stamboul, having first confessed, after some blows on the feet, that he was persuaded by some Jews." A still later letter says, " The King of the Jews, who was reported to be destroyed, is still living." (See further on this.) BYRON AND THE J11XD MOTSOS. After leaving his lordship, it occurred to me that as he was particularly fond of biscuits, some Passover cakes would be acceptable to him on his voyage. I accordingly sent some to him, with the following letter : MY LORD, I cannot deny myself the pleasure of sending your lordship some holy biscuits, commonly called unleavened bread, denominated by the Nazarenes (sic) Motsos, better known in this enlightened age by the epithet Passover cakes ; and as a certain angel at a certain hour ensured the safety of a whole nation, may the same guardian spirit pass with your lordship to that land where the fates may have decreed you to stay for a while. My Lord, I have the honour to remain, etc., I. NATHAN. 74 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Lord Byron's Reply. MY DEAR NATHAN, I have to acknowledge the receipt of your very seasonable bequest, which I duly appreciate ; the unleavened bread shall certainly accompany me in my pilgrimage ; and with a full reliance of the efficacy, the Motsos shall be to me a charm against the destroying angel wherever I may sojourn. His serene highness, however, I hope, will be polite enough to keep at a desirable distance from my person, without the necessity of smearing my door- posts or upper lintels with the blood of any animal. With many thanks for your kind attention, Believe me, my dear Nathan, yours very truly, To I. Nathan, Esq. BYRON. THE HEBREW MELODIES. The " Hebrew Melodies " are a selection from the favourite airs which are still sung in the religious cere- monials of the Jews. Some of them have, in common with all the sacred compositions, been preserved by memory and tradition only ; their age and originality therefore must be left to conjecture ; but the latitudes given to the taste and genius of the performers, has been the means of en- grafting on the original melodies a certain wildness and pathos which at length become the chief characteristics of the sacred songs of the Jew. NATHAN. Fugitive Pieces. JEWS IN CEYLON. Two Mussulman travellers in the ninth century, and the Nubian geographers, probably on their authority, declare that there were many Christian Manicheans, Jews, and Mussulmans in Ceylon, and that the learned Hindoos of that country used to frequent them, and the king kept secretaries to write down their respective histories, and the CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 75 expositions of their doctrines and laws. Ferishta, in his general history of Hindostan, says, " Formerly, before the rise of the religion of Islam, a company of Jews and Chris- tians came by sea into the country (Malabar) and settled as merchants or Pishcaras. They continued to reside there until the rise of the Moslem religion. Asiatic Researches, vol. x. HINDOO MONSTROUS STATUES. It is remarkable that ancient travellers make no mention of the monstrous stones of the Hindoos. It is not improb- able that at the time of Alexander the Hindoos had not yet attempted to represent either in stone or wood their monstrous deities. They were first introduced to notice by Jews, accord- ing to Claudian, who wrote in the fifth century, and who says, . Jam frugibus aptum Aequor, et assuetem silvis delphina videbo ; Jam cochleis homines junctos, et quidquid inane Nutrit JUDAICIS, quae pingitur India velis. From this it appears that in his time the Romans adorned their houses with tapestries worked by Jews, and represented all the wild and monstrous figures of Hindoo mythology, such as men growing out of shells, etc. Ibid., vol. x., p. 112. ALTERATION OF THE COMMANDMENTS. The " Holy Santa Croce," or Christ's-cross row (a common school book), contains a creed, a short catechism, and a manufactured copy of the Decalogue. In this last, the second commandment is completely omitted, to accom- modate the pictures and images of the Roman worship, and the tenth is split to make up the number. Indeed, we do 76 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. not see how the commandment against idolatry could be retained when the practice is so prevalent. MARIA GRAHAM. Three Months in Rome. On this the "Edinburgh Review," vol. xxv.,page 142, re- marks, " But of all the changes made in the ten commandments above referred to, we may here add that it is not the only one introduced to serve the purposes of the hierarchy. The fourth, which stands third in their version, requires not that the Sabbath, but that the days of festivals should be kept holy." The reviewer should not have omitted to notice that the Protestants do the very thing which he cavils at, for they " split " the second commandment into two, so as to omit the first, which would certainly militate against the doctrine of the Trinity. P. A. HEBREW ART. Whatever arts the Hebrews may have originally pos- sessed, it was obviously the policy of Assyrian and Roman conquests to annihilate. To the pages of Holy Writ we must refer for information on this subject, although the scattered and incidental notices which they contain only make the task of realisation the more difficult. Those illustrations which have been furnished by learned Fathers of the Romish Church must be accepted with the reserva- tion due to mere assumption. It must, however, be recollected, in considering Hebrew Art, that the great incentive to art study was wanting to the Israelite. Forbidden by divine command from employing it for the noblest objects, and for the highest purposes, Religion, which in other countries enlisted and almost en- grossed the artist's assistance, in Judea rejected his aid, and thus deprived of its patronage and excluded from its ser- vice, it is not surprising that no school of art should have CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 77 been formed worthy of a nation which by its poetry and its music has established a character for all time. The knowledge necessary for the production of the tabernacle and its furniture (entrusted to Bezaleel and Aholiab) may be partly ascribed to the influence of types suggested by the court of the nation of which they had long been subjects. Of painting we hear nothing. Embroidery was an early form of the pictorial expression. Tyre and Babylon were celebrated for their works of this kind, and although Homer is silent on painting, he particularly describes the productions of the needle. You will also recollect that the Cartoons of Raphael were designs to be elaborated through the instrumentality of the embroiderer's skill. That the adequate amount of native talent did not exist, when, in the height of Jewish prosperity, it was sought to execute a most important work involving multiform considerations of fine art character, is made apparent, when King Solomon, in seeking to realise the plans which his father transmitted to him for the construction of a temple, found himself necessitated to apply for assistance to a neighbouring monarch. The solicitation itself is an ad- mission made by the Hebrew King that his native resources, either in material or skill, were inadequate to the importance of his task ; while the reply of Hiram is eloquent of the great degree of refinement to which the several arts had attained under the Phoenicians. This nation is made known to us through the pages of ancient and modern history. With their arts we have no specific acquaintance. Con- densed from Lectures on Painting by PROFESSOR HART, R.A. Without wishing to enter into a polemical disquisition, I will here state that it always has appeared to me that the Jews were in the wrong in not exercising their talents in Painting and Statuary, as they did in the sister arts of Poetry and Music. They seem not to have noticed the 78 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. expressive word 1/j " to thee," in the Commandment which forbids the making of the representation of any material form for the purposes of their own worship or adoration. But to extend the prohibition as to its forbidding the production of any form of grace or beauty, is simply an exaggerated and erroneous conception of the Divine behest. King Solomon did not so consider it when he had the lions placed in his Temple. Surely the Birmingham manufacturer who exports Brahmas by the hundred-weight and Vishnus by the gross, or the Protestant artist who may paint a Madonna or any of the legion of Saints for a Catholic patron, cannot be, therefore, accused of Idolatry. There are beauteous works of art " which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore." As this is, perhaps, the only dissertation on any Scripture point this little book may contain, it is hoped its insertion may not be deemed out of place. P. A. TRAVELS OF RABBI PETACHIA. The Rabbi appears to have been a contemporary of Benjamin of Tudela, and his travels took place in the twelfth century, previous to 1187, since he describes the Holy Land as still in the possession of the Christians. The itinerary, however, which goes by the name of R. Petachia, must, as appears from internal evidence, be considered as an abridgement, and probably a meagre one, of the original work, which has not yet reached us. It is written in the Rabbinical dialect, and both internal and external evidence shew its genuineness. Several editions have appeared at various times on the Continent. There are also in existence Latin, German, and French versions thereof; but it does not appear to have ever been translated into English. This Dr. Benisch proposes to do from the original Hebrew and CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 79 with the notes of the learned commentator on the legends and social system and polity of the Jews, more especially of the Captivity, whom the Rabbi specially visited. The work will be an interesting addition in a particular and very curious field of enquiry. The Rabbi appears to have enjoyed ease and affluence, and to have been prompted in his distant pilgrimage solely by the desire to become better acquainted with the state and condition of his distant brethren. Journal of Sacred Literature, vol. Hi., 3rd series, 1856. NOTE. The learned and lamented Dr. Benisch carried out his intended purpose to translate this work. It has also been rendered into English by Bialloblotzky, a copy of which I have fortunately been enabled to present to Dr. Williams's Library in Grafton Street, W.C., an institution which, though of small dimensions, affords great assistance to enquiring students. Those who may be desirous of referring to a copy of the work in Hebrew rvnro "} 2~in 211D, will find it at the British Museum under the press mark, Pethahi-ah ben Jacob of Ratisbon, 12904 e. 4, 1750, 4to. It has been rendered also into Latin by Antoine Zanolini with many notes. P. A. THE NAILS. We are inclined to think that the excessive growth of the Nails as indications of rank (the wearers of them being necessarily above manual labour) a fashion not confined to China, but followed also in Upper Nubia, where the growth is encouraged by holding the nails over small fires of cedar- wood we are inclined, we say, to think that such fashion, if it does not date from the time of Adam, prevails in the localities named only because of him. There is at all events a Rabbinical tradition which says that before the Fall, Adam and Eve had a transparent covering, a robe of 8o CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. light, of which remnants remain in mankind in the nails of the hands and the feet. To encourage the growth of the nails was probably, in its original sense, only to recover as much as possible the robes of light which decked the forms of the parents of mankind. Encyclopedia Britannica, Art. " FASHION." HUMOROUS ANECDOTE. Many superstitious persons have absurdly imagined, that when cutting their nails, unless they gather up the fragments and burn or bury them, they will be sent on earth after death to seek for them. A man (say, a Pullak, as all jokes are fastened on them, as by others on the Irish) was observed performing this operation at the Crystal Palace, and allowing the parings to be dispersed by the breeze. " How can you do such a thing, here, above all places ? " said an ultra-orthodox companion ; " don't you know you'll have to come and look for what you cut off, after you are dead, till you find them ? " " Shouldn't I like it to be sent here, above all places, till I do find them ? " smilingly answered the recalcitrant Pole, as he continued his unseemly occupation. DISCLAIMER Of the Portuguese, Spanish, and Avignonians of Paris, Bourdeaux, Bayonne, and of the South of France. Having been informed that the Council of State is at this time engaged with a project of decrees relative to the Israelites, those Jews who are known by the name of Por- tuguese and Spanish hope, that whatsoever may be the measures which the Council of State may think proper to adopt with regard to their co-religionists, they may not be therein included, since they have always been distinguished from the others ; that they have always enjoyed privileges CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 8 1 refused to Israelites of certain provinces ; that they have always been subject to the same legislation as all other Frenchmen that they have easily obtained the enjoyment of all political rights ; and that there never has been any fault or misconduct alleged against them. The justice of their cause, their irreproachable conduct, ought to be for them a sufficient guarantee that they will not be included in a decree which might brand them in public opinion, although they may be not actually implicated, and they are well assured that the Emperor will not depart, with regard to them, from that special benevolence which he has always deigned to display towards them. They, therefore, request the gentlemen of the Council of State to have regard to their expostulation, and to except them from any measure or law which shall not equally affect Frenchmen of all religious creeds. This Reclamation has no date affixed, but the printed form has appended to it the autographs of Cremieux, Carcassonne, Furtavoli, Rodrigues Aine, Depute's de Bordeaux, and also at the foot of the page B. Rodrigues, deputd de Paris pour les Juifs de Bayonne et du St. Esprit. The letter is ad- dressed a Monsieur Montalivet, Conseiller d'Etat, Rue de 1'Universite, No. 120, a Paris. BURIAL CHARGES. A claim having been made in 1805 by the Prefect of Gironde against M. Carcassonne for certain payments rela- tive to the interment of his wife, since the ministers of public religion only had the right to supply, or to cause to be supplied, all things necessary for funerals, and that the Jews had no prescriptive right to be exonerated from this decree, the Jews of course resisted this claim. The Section of the Interior, at the direction of the Minister of G 82 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Religion, enquired into the customs of the Jews with re- gard to funerals. The Paris rabbis said that it did not appear to them that there would be any infraction of their rites (en faisant concourir a 1'inhumation de leurs morts des personnes Strangers a leur culte) by allowing persons of an opposite faith to assist at the interment of our dead, so that they did not touch the body. The Israelites of Bordeaux, however, contended that their religion forbade any inter- ference of a stranger, direct or indirect. In spite of this diversity of opinion the Section agreed with the Minister that the greatest freedom ought to be allowed to the con- science, and that the decree which mentioned only (" des fabriques et des consistoires ") funeral appendages and con- sistorial rights did not apply to the Jews, who, above all, according to immemorial usages, themselves buried their own dead and had their own cemetery. To prevent, therefore, any further contestation, it is de- creed that the articles 22 and 24 of the decree are not applicable to persons professing the Jewish religion. Rapport et project de Deere t, &*c., sur une Reclamation des Juifs de Bordeaux. 1806. PALINDROME. We need scarcely remind our readers that a Palindrome signifies a line or verse which can be read backwards or forwards. " B. S.," in the " Jewish Record," July 17, 1868, forwards the subjoined clever examples of this description by Aben Ezra : ta no 1 ? WORKS OF MENDELSSOHN. Mendelssohn has exerted an immense influence over CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 83 the civilisation of Israelites. It appears to be little known (at least in England) that a complete edition of his works was published at Leipsic in 1845, in seven vols. 8vo., by F. A. Brockhaus. How desirable it would be if this work were translated, and made available for English readers. ABHORRENCE OF THE JEWS. There was a time when almost all classes of Christians united in expressing their abhorrence of the Hebrew people ; and the name of Jew was associated with whatever was mean and contemptible. And long since the general spread of literature and elevation of character produced by re- ligious toleration and civil improvements, writers of the first reputation have not hesitated to represent the Hebrew nation as sunk in ignorance. Will it be believed that in adducing the words of an author who affirms that " before the conquest of Asia by Alexander the Great, the Jews were entirely unacquainted with letters" I quote an author of such extensive research as Dr. Mosheim ? It were to be wished that such loose and inaccurate views of Hebrew literature could be charged on no other respectable writers than that distinguished ecclesiastical historian. But the same want of acquaintance with the literature of the Hebrews, mingled with an unusual degree of contempt, shows itself in the remarks of a finished scholar and elegant poet of the fifteenth century, the Italian Politian, who despises the lyre of David in comparison with that of Horace ; and does not scruple to say that the study of Hebrew obstructs or corrupts the acquisition of Latin. PROFESSOR S. W. TURNER'S Lectures, 1831. MOSHE HADDARSHAN. He was from Narbonne, having studied under Gershon 84 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. the elder, and had the honour to reckon among his de- scendants Jews, who, in after times became celebrated. It was in his time that sermons were first delivered in syna- gogues. If Moshe himself did not introduce this practice, at least he must have favoured it greatly, since to him was given the title par excellence tEmn. Benjamin of Tudela mentions Moshe' as one of the luminaries of the Jews of Narbonne. He is the author of NT! rwaoa the great commentary. It is an exposition on the Pentateuch, but, unfortunately, it has not been preserved. BAILEY. ARREST OF JEWS. Hamburg, October 5, 1667. The principal Jews have been arrested at Vienna for raising difficulties among them- selves, and endeavouring to publish things to the disturb- ance of the public. Calendar of State Papers. THE COMMANDMENTS IN TEN LINES. (From an old Parish Register, 1689.) Have thou no other gods Butt me ; Unto no image bow thy Knee ; Take not the name of God in vain, Doe not thy Sabbath day profane ; Honor thy ffather and mother too ; And see yt thou no murder doo ; From vile Adultry keep thee cleane And steale not, tho' thy state be meane ; Bear no ffalse witness, shun yt Blott ; What is thy neighbours covet not. Write these thy Laws, Lord, in my heart And lett me nott from them depart. Notes and Queries. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 85 ON FORCED BAPTISM. Some Jewish merchants from Italy, who went to Mar- seilles on commercial business in the 6th century, were requested by the Jews of that city to complain to St. Gre- gory of the conduct of their bishop, as well as of the Bishop of Aries. St. Gregory wrote to these prelates several letters exhorting them to mildness. He forbade them particularly to force Jews to receive baptism, because, said he, that sacrament imposed by violence causes death to them instead of giving them life, and that their relapse would cause more scandal than their conversion would be edifying. GREGORY. Epist. xlv. THE " NEW SYNAGOGUE." Previous to the establishment of the congregation at St. Helen's Place, the worship was celebrated in Leadenhall Street, respecting which the Annual Register, under date of July 28, 1798, contains the following interesting paragraph : " The ceremony of the consecration of the Jewish Synagogue was performed on Friday and Satur- day, at their house of worship in Leadenhall Street. The building has been repaired and beautified in a very elegant and neat style. The high priest, with the subordinate rabbis, chorus, and attendants, with a great number of the fathers of families in their proper vestments were at the ceremony, which was awful, grand, and affecting. The music and the verses were performed in the Eastern manner of strophe, antistrophe, and full chorus. The anthems were performed by the four brothers, who sang there in a very superior style of modulation and harmony. A crowd of people attended, but they all conducted themselves decorously." It may not be generally known that the site of the syna- gogue had been originally occupied as the Builders' Hall, 86 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. and when the synagogue was erected thereon in 1760, the very apposite quotation from Psalm cxviii. was placed on it. njQ two^ nivn D'aan IDND p "The stone which the builders rejected has become the corner headstone." THE REJECTED "STONE." The above recalls an anecdote. In a certain town in Germany an individual applied to the authorities of the syna- gogue for the then vacant appointment of beadle ; but in consequence of his dissolute habits, his application was rejected. In subsequent years he returned to his native town rich in fortune's gifts, and having thereby obtained the favour of the Grand Duke, was by him nominated Parn'ass of the Synagogue. The congregation had no alternative but submission. -When the retiring warden opened the door for his entrance on a certain appointed Sabbath, the parvenu, remembering his former rejection, said in a sneer- ing tone, ber Stein, ben bie SSauIeute wnrorfen, ift &um @or unfern 2(ugen ; or, as we should say in English : Truly the LORD has so ordered it, and we are ourselves astonished at it. APPLICATION TO HENRY VII. Ferdinand and' Isabella, writing to Henry, assert that certain Jews who have left the dominions of Spain have seized the sum of 428,000 maravedis, belonging to Diego de Soria, and in the keeping of Fernan Lorenzo, alleging that the said Diego owes them certain sums on bills of exchange, which were given to them when they were ex- pelled from Spain. These Jews have forfeited their rights, CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 87 for they had carried with them prohibited goods, and Diego de Soria has been ordered to pay the said bills of exchanges into the Royal Exchequer. The letter, which is in 22 pages, is dated from Segovia, i8th August, 1494, requests Henry to annul the arrest, for by so doing he will not only act justly, but also render them a " special service." Fer- dinand had already written in an imperious tone to the King of Naples to put the Jews into prison, and to force them under pain of death to give back the goods they had taken with them. Diego di Soria was a Spanish' merchant with establish- ments in Burgos, Bristol, and London. Calendar of State Papers. ZULEIKA. Such was the name of Potiphar's wife according to the Sura, or chapter of the Koran, which contains the history of Joseph, and which for elegance of style surpasses every other of the prophet's books ; some Arabian writers call her also Rail. The passion which this frail beauty of antiquity conceived for the young Hebrew slave has given rise to a much esteemed poem in the Persian language, called " Yu- sefvan Zelikha," byNoureddin Jami, the manuscript copy of which, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, is supposed to be the finest in the world. NOTT'S. Trans la 't. of Hafez. FRAGMENTS FROM A SERMON. The sermon was preached in Zaragoza on Sunday, March ist, 1671, by Brother Manuel, Doctor of Theology, Pro- fessor of Philosophy, &c., in reference to the Inquisition, "On the ist of March,' Moses opened the tabernacle; Aaron clothed himself as high priest, and the princes of the tribes offered to obey his precepts, because on the ist day of March the temple of St. Francis would be opened ; 88 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. the pontifical mandates to delate heretics to the Inquisitory as vicars of the most high Pontiff would be published, and the principal citizens of Zaragoza would promise to obey them. Aaron was inquisitor of the law, and he is this day represented by the inquisitors of Zaragoza. Jacob sepa- rated himself from the house of Laban his father-in-law without saying ' Good-bye.' Why did he not pay respect to his father-in-law ? Because Laban was an idolater, and in matters of faith religion must be above all human con- siderations. Therefore, the son ought to delate the heretic, although his own father. Moses was inquisitor against Pha- raoh his foster- grandfather, plunging him into the sea be- cause he was an idolater ; and against his brother Aaron, reproving him for having consented to the golden calf. Therefore, in offences of inquisition you must not stop to think whether the offender be your father or your brother. Joshua was inquisitor against Achan, commanding them to burn him because he had stolen property confiscated under the curse of Jericho, which ought to have been burnt in fire. Therefore it is just for heretics to be burnt. Achan was a prince of the tribe of Judah, and yet they delated him. Therefore, every heretic ought to be delated though he were a prince of royal blood." He probably alluded to Don Carlos, whom his father Philip II., with the concurrence of the Inquisition, caused to die in prison, because he thought him tainted with heresy. RULE'S Hist, of the Inquisition, vol. i., p. 276, ed. 1874. PROCEEDINGS AGAINST HERETICS. On the 4th of August, 1483, the Pope wrote that he in- tended to reconsider his last resolution (of permitting an appeal to Rome) in favour of the heretics, and until then would leave the matter in suspense. As, nevertheless, Papal remissions of penalties were obtained, Ferdinand CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 89 promulgated an ordinance stating that in the kingdoms of Arragon and Valentia any person, whether ecclesiastical or secular, and without any distinction of class or sex, who should make use of a Papal indulgence, should be put to death on the spot. Not only living heretics, but those who had died were persecuted. They were cited before the tribunals, and if found guilty, their bones were exhumed and solemnly burnt. So far the whole procedure looks like a hideous farce, but there was also a serious element in it. The goods that the heretics had left to their heirs were confis- cated, and filled the coffers of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. Amongst the many who were destined to un- dergo judgment after burial were the father, the mother, and the grandmother of Don Juan Arias de Avila, Bishop of Segovia. As soon as he heard what was in prospect, he drove out from his diocese all the inquisitors, and re- monstrated with the king and queen. When he found that all was in vain, he went in the dead of the night to the churchyard of the Convent de la Merced, dug up the bones of his ancestors, and hid them in a place where they could not be found. He himself proceeded to Rome. As soon as Queen Isabella was informed of the journey, she wrote a long letter to her ambassadors at the Papal Court, giving them instructions what they were to say to the Pope and the cardinals. The Bishop of Segovia, she said, had ex- humed the bones only in order to deprive the Inquisition of the proof that they had been buried after the Jewish fashion. G. A. BERGENROTH. Introd. to State Papers, 1485 1509, p. xlv. PERSECUTION CONTINUED. Persecution even hunted the fugitives in foreign coun- tries. The King of Naples, for instance, was requested in a tone of command to torture and put to death all those 90 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. who would not at once deliver the small remnants of the fortune they had saved. The heretics were not safe even in England. Ferdinand and Isabella, in their letter of the i8th of August, 1494, asked Henry as a special favour to prevent the courts of law from condemning Diego de Soria, a Spanish merchant in London, to pay to the fugitive Jews such sums of money as they had confided to him on leaving Spain. In the year 1498, when Londono and the sub-prior of Santa Cruz were sent to England, the sub-prior had a secret mission to Henry. The instructions relating to it are not extant, but there is no doubt they were connected with religious persecution. The sub-prior gives a short sketch in his letter of the i8th of July of his conversation with the King of England, from which it is perfectly clear that certain demands res- pecting the Inquisition were made. Ferdinand and Isabella had expressed their sorrow that whilst Spain had been purged of infidelity, Flanders and England were infested by that scourge. Henry, laying both hands on his breast, swore that he would persecute without mercy any " cursed" Jew or heretic that the King or Queen of Spain could point out in his dominions. Much more, however, must have been said on both sides, as the sub-prior writes he spoke to the king a long time on the subject. Ibid., fol. xlvii. FRENCH PAPERS RELATIVE TO JEWS. 1. Avis sur des questions touchant les Juifs (ff. 3). 2. Projet de De'cret, sur la Convocation d'une Assemblee d'individus professant la religion juive (ff. 4). 3 and 4. Projets de Decrets et Avis Relative aux Juifs (ff. 15, 3, 10, 12). Memoires sur le Projets de Decrets (ff. 1 6). Resume' pour les Israelites du Department du Bas-Rhin CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 91 (ff. 21). Rapport et Projet de decret en faveur des Juifs (if. 1 8). Distributions du Conseil Cultes et Bienfaisance, under the heading "Juifs." 5403 a 5, 4to, 1806 8, &c., Catal. British Museum. " GOING TO THE DOGS." In France, until the i4th century, Jews were hung head downwards between two dogs. Biblioth. de Poche; Curios, des Traditions, 312. THE FIRST ACADEMY. The first academy, founded by the learned Jews in Spain, was that of Cordova in the year 948. CASTRO. Bibloteca Espanola, torn. i. TRADITION. By tradition we do not mean such doctrines as are not founded upon the Scriptures, or cannot be deduced from them, much less doctrines manifestly contrary to the sacred truths contained in them, but only explications of some doctrines, mysteries, types, prophecies, and precepts, which were revealed obscurely, and in a manner hid under a veil. The standard of religion has always been Divine revela- tion, or the written law ; to this all were to have recourse, all were obliged to submit to its decisions and to follow this sacred rule. But the Oral Law was a sort of Cate- chism or instruction established in the time of Moses, and continued afterwards in order to explain the whole doctrine of religion, and to make it clear and obvious to the meanest capacity. The Jews themselves, R. Aben Ezra, R. Solo- mon Jarchi, R. Bechai, and others, relate that God ex- plained to Moses upon Mount Sinai the true meaning, sense, reason, manner, measure, and foundation of every precept of the law, and ordered him to instruct the Israel- ites in them, and they prove this from Deut. iv. 14, where 92 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Moses saith "The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments," by which statutes, so they pretend, is meant the Oral Law. STEHELIN. Rab- binical Literature. 1748. NAPOLEON AND THE JEWS. The tragedy of Esther had been represented at Court in the commencement of July, 1806. The next day Talma appeared as usual at the emperor's breakfast, at which M. de Champagny, then Minister of the Interior, assisted. The conversation was about the last evening's representa- tion. "Ahasuerus was but a poor sort of king," said Napoleon to Talma, and then turning almost at the same moment towards the Minister of the Interior, said " What about the present Jews 1 What is their state of existence 1 Make me out a report respecting them." The report was made, and a fortnight after this conversation, the govern- ment convoked (July 26, 1806) the first Assembly of Nota- bles from among the Jews, which had the result of fixing the position of that nation, and of giving them a legal status in France. Bibliottieque de Poche, Curios. Hist., p. 120. ON THE TRADITIONS OF THE JEWS. The nation of the Jews, descended from the family of Abraham, had distinguished itself in an extraordinary manner from all other families, by being public worshippers of the one true God, while all others were overspread by the absurdest idolatries ; and God, accordingly, had been pleased to distinguish that family and nation with repeated promises of the greatest blessings. He declared that " He would be their God, and they should be His people." St. Paul tells us that one of their chief advantages was that unto them were committed the oracles of God. And the CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 93 Psalmist exhorteth them to praise the Lord, for showing His word unto Jacob, and His judgments unto Israel, etc. The Jews, who value themselves highly upon this account, pretend that besides the Written Law, or the books of Moses and the prophets, they have received an Oral Law, which was preserved by tradition, and is contained in the Talmud. STEHELIN. Rabbinical Literature, Preface. OF THE ORAL LAW. The account given by the rabbinists of this oral law, may be seen in Prideaux's " Connection," Book v. Maimonides, in his preface to " Sedar Seraim," and in his book " Jad Hazakah," tells us : " When God revealed himself to Moses, He delivered to him the law for the children of Israel, with the comments or explications. Moses committed the law to writing, but delivered the comments to Aaron and his sons, and to the elders of Israel by word of mouth, who, by oral tradition, handed them down to the prophets, and the prophets to the men of the Great Synagogue." This opinion is founded upon a passage of the Talmud, in Berachot, page i, where it is said, that by mm? (the Tables) are meant the Ten Commandments ; by min (the Law) the Scripture ; by niSD (the Precept) the Mishna by TQro "IK>N (which I have written) the Books of the Pro- phets and of the Hagiographers ; and by DniTin? (to teach them) the Gemara. And that by the latter we learn they all were given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Some add, that Esdras, after the captivity of Babylon, created a new office, and appointed a person under the name of Nasi or Prince, who was the depositary of tradition, and resolved cases of conscience, and taught the Oral Law. Ibid. STEHELIN'S PRELIMINARY PREFACE. This treatise, from page i to page 64, is, as well as the 94 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. whole contents of two thick volumes, written with a bias and animus which would make them very distasteful to Jewish feelings in general. Nevertheless, from the fund of research, and the numerous references, Talmudical and Scriptural, they will be found of interest and amusement even to those who cannot coincide with the author's asser- tions. The subjoined are the most favourable extracts : MYSTICAL SENSE OF THE TALMUD. It cannot be denied that there are several things related in the Talmud, which, taken in a literal sense, seem ridicu- lous and absurd ; but the most learned among the Jews look upon them as so many D*3D*D parables, and explain them in a mystical sense. The rabbins, for the more de- lightful entertainment of the people, indulged themselves in the ancient and useful way of instructing by metaphors, and figurative expressions ; their books abound everywhere with parables, similitudes, and figures of speech. If, ac- cordingly, we take several figures of the Talmud in a mystical sense, we find that far from being ridiculous and absurd, they contain very useful maxims. To give an example : it is said in the Gemara, that Raf and Shemuel disputed together, one pretending that D^iyn n^nm nn D?iyn PpD t?1D1 Hodu (India) was situated at the beginning of the world, and Cush at the end of it; and the other affirming that they lie contiguous and border one upon the other. In a literal sense it seems a ridiculous contra- diction to say that Hodu and Cush, India and Ethiopia, are the two opposite extremities or bounds of the earth, when they lie contiguous; but R. Joses Iserlis explains Jt3p D71J? yuurpoe KOffpoe, Micro-cosmos, the little world, whence ptKpo Koff/j. man. Hodu, the time of his birth ; Cush, the darkness of death ; that these are the two extremities or bounds of man's life, which, being short, they are said to CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 95 be contiguous. It is evident from this that there are several passages in the Talmud which are not to be taken lyD'^O "*!& in a literal sense, but must be explained mysti- cally. Preliminary Preface, pages 29, 30. SOME MYSTICAL PASSAGES EXPLAINED. We proceed now to explain the mystical sense of the several passages of the Talmud. When it is said in A'vodah-Sara that God laughs, and in Rabboth, that he weeps and laments, it is obvious to any man's capacity, that no more is meant by it than that God acts as men are wont to do when they are pleased or displeased. We find the same expressions in the Holy Writ. David says, " He that sitteth in the heaven shall laugh," Psalm ii. 4 ; and we read in Judges x. 16, that " his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel." God spake to His people in the language of man, and assumed to Himself all the passions of human nature ; He is described as rejoiced at the virtues of men, and grieved at their sins ; not that the Divine nature can be capable of rejoicing or grief, but simply because men are wont to re- joice when they can reward the virtuous for their good actions, and to grieve when others do amiss, and they are forced to punish them. In the same way, when it is said, God prays, wears frontlets, and studies the law, the rabbins only intended to teach us that the practice of these duties is acceptable in the sight of God, and to encourage us to perform them carefully, in setting such an excellent example before us, as telling us that God prays and reads the law, Nin 773JV 'D?. To whom could He pray? Ibid., pp. 30, 31- FREE DENIZENS OF GREAT BRITAIN. In the " Warrant Book," vol. xxx., 1760 1766, may be 96 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. found notices of warrants, countersigned by one of the Secretaries of State, and addressed to the Attorney, or Solicitor-General, to prepare Bills for the King's signature to pass the Great Seal, for Grants to receive as Free Denizens of Great Britain, the following persons (all aliens) : Chacon, Isaac de Castro, of Stoke Newington, in the County of Middlesex, Gent. ; Capadose, Aaron, of Stan- more, in same county, Esq. ; Solomons, Isaac Levin, of Mark Lane, London, Merchant; Henry, Solomon, of Sweethin Lane, London, Merchant; Drago, Aaron Franco, of Cree-church Lane, London, Merchant ; Norso, Lazzaro Vitta, of Cammomile Street, London, Merchant; Souza, Joseph Henriquez de, of Bell Alley, London, Gent. PASS FOR MANASSEH BEN ISRAEL. In the " Calendar of Domestic State Papers " (published 1878) may be found a notice dated from Whitehall, Dec. 17, 1652, of the grant of a " Pass for Manasseh Ben Israel, a rabbi of the Jewish nation, well reported of for his learning and good affection to the State, to come from Amsterdam to these parts. All officers to give him the favourable entertainment due to well-affected strangers, they behaving themselves without offence."* THE RABBI AND THE SCEPTIC. A Persian came to Rab, with the request, " Teach me the law." Rab consented, and began teaching him the Hebrew alphabet. " Say Aleph," said Rab. The Persian replied, " How do I know that this letter is called Aleph ? " * Should am r one be desirous of seeing the original of this interesting document, it will be found in vol. xxvi. of the " Proceedings of the Council of State," 1652 (at the Record Office). CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 97 " Say Beth," Rab continued ; and the Persian sceptic re- peated, "Who says this letter is called Beth?" Rab got angry, and drove him out of the house. The Persian went to the learned Samuel, the colleague of the former, and made the same proposal. Samuel also began to teach him the Hebrew alphabet, and the Persian repeated his ques- tions, " Who tells me surely that this is Aleph, and that is certainly a Beth ?" Samuel caught the sceptic by the ear, and pinched him so hard that he cried out : " O my ear ! O my ear ! " Who tells you that this is called an ear?" Samuel asked. "Why, everyone calls it so," replied the Persian. " Well, then," said Samuel, " everyone calls these letters Aleph, Beth." Midrash Koheleth. ISAAC AND ISHMAEL. The lot of the unfortunate Ishmael and his unoffending mother have always been to me peculiarly interesting. An infant expelled his father's house for no offence, thrown under a tree to starve, the victim of an old man's dotage, and a termagant's jealousy. God forgive the wicked thought (if it be wicked), but speaking in a temporal sense, and knowing the histories of the two families, I would rather be the outcast Ishmael than the pampered Isaac, the father of the favoured people of God. I know not what divines may see, but I see nothing con- trary to the Divine attributes, in supposing that when in the one, God thought proper to give a grand example of mercy and benevolence, He should think proper to give in the other a grand example of retributive justice. The descendants of the pampered Isaac have known little but misery ; have become a bye-word of contempt, the slaves of slaves ; but the descendants of the outcast Ishmael in H 98 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. their happy country, proverbial for its luxuries and happi- ness (Felix], have walked with heads erect. The world has bowed beneath their yoke, or trembled at their name ; but they never have either bowed or trembled, and I hope and trust they never will.~ GODFREY HIGGINS. Celtic Druids, page 68. MENASSAH BEN ISRAEL. Barbosa contends that Menasses Ben Israel was a Portu- guese, not a Spaniard. Thus are they proud of a man whom they would have burnt. The Jew has left some verses of a tolerant creed, somewhat free in metre as in principle. Cunctorum est coluisse Deum ; non unius sevo Non populi unius credimus esse pium. Si sapimus diversa Deovivamus amici, Doctaque mens pretio constet ubique suo, Hsec fidei vox summa meus est, hsec crede Menasses f Sic ego Christiades, sic eris Abramides. He went to England, and under the protection of old Oliver, printed three Hebrew Bibles in his own house. SOUTH EY. Common Place Book, Series ii., page 252. FIRST MENTION OF ENGLISH JEWS. The first mention that we find made of the Jews in any document connected with English history, is in the canons of Ecbright, Archbishop of York, which contains an ordi- nance that "no Christian shall Judaize, or presume to eat with a Jew." These canons were issued in the year 750, and having been promulgated for the government of the province of York alone, shows that the Jews were, even at that early period, already resident in this country. J. E. BLUNT. History of Jews in England. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 99 CHARTER OF WHITGLAFF. Ingulphus, in his history of Croyland Abbey, relates that in the year 833, Whitglaff, King of the Mercians, having been defeated by Egbert, took refuge in that abbey ; and in return for the protection and assistance granted him by the abbots and monks on the occasion, granted a charter, confirming to them all lands, tenements, and other gifts which had at any time been bestowed on them by his pre- decessors, or their nobles, or by any other faithful Chris- tians, or by Jews. The notice which is taken of the Jews in this charter, affords a proof that previously to the time when it was granted, there were some Jews settled in England. But the circumstance of their being distinctly mentioned, would at the same time induce a belief that they were then con- sidered as standing in a different situation, with respect to property, from the Christian inhabitants. Ibid. ABRAHAM'S TOMB? We are told by D'Herbelot, that in the year 1119 Abra- ham's tomb was discovered near Hebron, wherein Jacob and Isaac also were interred. The bodies were very entire, and many gold and silver lamps were found in the place. The Mahometans have so great a respect for the tomb that they make it their fourth pilgrimage (the three others being Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem). The Christians built a church over the cave of Macpelah, where Abraham was buried, which the Turks have changed into a mosque, and forbidden Christians from approaching. THE SURNAME "JEW" OR "JEWE." This surname seems to have been somewhat common in 100 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Devonshire. "Land in Beerholl came after unto John Jew by inheritance from Thomas Norton." " Poltimore, at length the inheritance of Jewe, of Cotleigh, from whom by the daughter of William Jewe, it came unto Yeo, of Heanton Sackvil." " In the forty-seventh of Edward III., Thomas Jewe, and Julian, his wife, granted the Manor of Widworther, at Cotligby." In King Edward the Second's " tyme " I find the name of " Sir Roger le Jewe," who had issue. The name seems afterwards to have glided into Yeo. Extracted from Description of Devonshire, by SIR JOHN DE LA POLE. DREAD OF PRINTING. In 1462, the Latin Bible was first printed; in 1488, the Old Testament in Hebrew was printed; and in 1516, the Greek Testament was printed at Basle. In 1474, the art ,of printing was brought into England by William Caxton, and a printing press was set up by him at Westminster. This proceeding greatly alarmed the monks, who de- claimed from the pulpit " That there was now a new lan- guage discovered called Greek, of which people should beware, since it was that that produced all heresies ; that in this language was come forth a book called the New Testament, which was now in everybody's hands ; was full of thorns and briary ; that there was also another language started up, which they called Hebrew, and those who learned it were termed Hebrew." Compiled. The understanding a little Greek was not only sufficient at that time (Reuchlin's) to make a man suspected, and the understanding Hebrew to make him convicted of heresy ; but the design of studying the language was enough to bring cruel enemies on one's back. BASNAGE. History of the Jews. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. IOI DUTY OF TOLERATION. "There can be no difference between these men (the Jews) and ourselves," observed M. de Talleyrand, in the Assemblee Nationale, 1791, "but in the exercise of their religious worship ; take that away, what can we see in them but fellow-citizens and brothers? Were it otherwise, it would be religion that gives civil and political rights ; but it is birth, domicile, or landed property (propriete) that confers them. If we reject the Israelites as Jews, we punish them for being born in one religion rather than in another ; this is a manifest infraction of all laws humane or civil" LEARNING OF PAUL. Whatever may be said of the learning of Peter, it will not be contended that Paul, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and most thoroughly versed in all the rabbinical lore of the day, did not understand Hebrew well enough to know what the idiom of Psalm xvi. would bear. I can see no reason why, as a mere rabbi, as much deference is not due to him as to Maimonides, and Aben Ezra, and Kimchi. American Bible Repository. EMBASSY TO THE POPE. Among the Venetian State Papers (March, 1524), it is recorded that " an ambassador has come to the Pope from the Jews in India, offering him 300,000 combatants against the Turks, and asking for artillery." (Si non e vero, etc.) LAWS OF THE VISIGOTHS. These laws, passed from the fifth to the seventh centuries, were marked with the most intense hatred against the Jews. 102 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. They were forbidden to retain any of their ancient customs. They were compelled to give public proofs of their apostasy, such as eating of the forbidden meats, working on the Sabbaths, etc. Indeed, it was ordained that every Jew should go to some Christian on each succeeding Sabbath, to prove to him that he actually did work. They were condemned to the severest punishment if they still showed themselves faithful to their religion ; they were not permitted to keep Christian slaves, or, indeed, to have any transactions with Christians. Stoning and the flames were decreed against them for every infraction. Their punish- ment was relegated to the clergy, who themselves were threatened with great severity if they manifested any pity towards the unhappy victims. BEDARIDDE. Etat desjuifs. THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH. "The angel of death," say the rabbins, "holdeth his sword in his hand at the bed's foot, having on the end thereof three drops of gall. The sick man, seeing this deadly angel, openeth his mouth with fear, and then these drops fall in ; of which, one killeth him, the second maketh him pale, the third rotteth and putrefieth." PURCHAS, his Pil- grimage. Probably the expression, to taste the bitterness of death, may refer to this. See i Samuel xv. 32, "ID ID px men. p. A. TACHK'MONI. At intervals the occasionally melancholy and generally grave rabbins cast off their garments of mourning, and in festive robes they sing songs of love ; they enliven their epigrammatic language by a play upon words, and at times they even offer facetiae which the reader is astonished to meet with in the holy tongue. The most prominent among CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 103 the Arab rabbins, who have been handed down to us, stands Rabbi Jehuda, of Charisi. His Tachk'moni, written in rhymed prose intermingled with verse, displays a curious melange of didactic, satirical and facetious compositions. A part of this work is devoted to a history of poetry among the Jews, and contains hints for the art of versification. Hebrew Review. DENYS MARCHANT, Seven Jews, whose names have been preserved, sustained a lawsuit in Paris, in 1314. A Jew, Denys Marchant, had been converted, but his brother had brought him back to the faith. The reconversion caused great scandal, and the law interfered. The provost condemned the Jews to be burnt ; they appealed to the Parliament ; the provost was summoned to give an account of his conduct. The Par- liament, after hearing, consulted the theologians, con- demned the appellants to cause Denys to return to Chris- tianity ; to be detained in prison until he had so done ; to be whipped with rods on three successive Saturdays, and to be fined 100 livres. In the end the court banished them from the kingdom, and seized all their property. BEUGNOT. Les Juifs d' 1 Occident. [Query? An ancestor of the family of Sir Denis Le Marchant (Clerk of the House of Commons), formerly settled in Jersey.] A POWER IN THE LAND. An American paper (Sept. 2 8th, 1870,) announces that " business was nearly suspended, owing to the Jewish New Year," and that the Jews are " a power in the land." MODERN JEWS. Davison in his " Discourse on Prophecy," uses the fol- 104 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. lowing beautiful illustration, when speaking of modern Jews : " Present in all countries, with a home in none ; intermixed and yet separated, and neither amalgamated nor lost ; yet, like those mountain streams which are said to pass through lakes of another kind of water, and keep a native quality to repel commixture, they hold communion without union ; and may be traced as rivers without banks in the midst of the alien element which surrounds them." "RICH AS A JEW." We are accustomed to say, "rich as a Jew," but the Jews, take them all together, are not a rich people. There have always been some few among them that were im- mensely wealthy, and it was from the observation of these few that the proverb arose. PEGGE. Anonyma. GLORY OF THE CHURCH. " They forget a main point of the Church's glory," says Archbishop Leighton, " who pray not daily for the conver- sion of the Jews." Sermon on Isaiah Ixi. KING OF THE JEWS. Rainard, Count of Sens (about 1008) so much loved the customs and " prevarications " of the Jews (says Raoul Glaber, lib. iii., c. 6), that he ordered every one of his attendants to place after his name the title of " King of the Jews." This affection towards a religion which was a horror in the Middle ages, brought a misfortune to him, for in 1015, an army which the king sent against him, drove him out of the city. BibL de Poche; Curiosites Biograph., p. 72. LANGUAGE OF PRAYER. In the eighth century, some persons asserted that it was CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 105 only allowable to pray to God in Hebrew, Greek, or Latin, which were regarded as holy, in consequence of the inscrip- tion put on the cross of Christ. The 52nd canon of the Council of Frankfort, in 794, declaimed against that error. In the Latin Church, that language alone was employed in divine service. At the end of the eleventh century, Wratislaus, King of Bohemia, having requested the author- isation of the Pope to employ the Slavonian language in religious ceremonies, was strictly forbidden to do so. Ibid.; Curio sites des Traditions, p. 208. A DROP OF WAX. A little Jewish child, saved from the massacre of many of his nation at the time of the first Crusades, was brought for baptism. " When it was time to light the lamp, in order to cause some boiling wax to fall into the water (says Guibert de Nogent) a drop, which fell untouched, appeared to form, with perfect exactitude, the figure of a cross ; so perfect, that no human hands could have shaped it. This cross certainly did not appear by chance, but was with reason sent by heaven itself, to announce that a man of the Jewish race would display a sincerity of faith truly rare in our days." GUIBERT DE NOGENT. De Vita sua, lib. ii., c. 3. MOSES. There is nothing in' the records of the world more affecting than the story of the death of Moses, as there is nothing more romantic than his birth, and nothing more stupendous than the work with which he grappled during his life. The more minutely we review the details of this extraordinary biography, the more deeply are we impressed with the significant pathos of its close. The more carefully we study the character of Moses, the more emphatic are the religious lessons derived from his final disappointment. 106 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. The child whose beauty is mentioned three times in the Scriptures, is noticed in such a manner by Josephus as to show that it was always a traditional subject among the Jews who was trained for his high mission, first at a royal court, in the midst of the earliest recorded civilisation; then under the cliffs and on the slopes of the mountains, among the most solitary scenes of nature who became the liber- ator of his people, their liberator and their prophet, and more than their monarch yet left the promise to Abraham just yet unfulfilled. He, whose devotion to the people had been so unfailing, whose forgetfulness of self, whose humility, patience, and enduring soul, and the faith on which those virtues rested, were an example to all time ; still, for a sin, which a man would hardly notice, is not to set his foot on the soil for which the nation had been prepared. A most touching melancholy rests on all the latest passages of his life. His sister was dead ; his brother was dead ; of those who had reached manhood when the Red Sea was crossed, hardly one remained ; and he himself was not to see the accom- plishment of his work, though all the preparations, all the responsibility had been his. The last two victories have just been won ; the Amorites of Heshbon have been subdued ; the rock fortresses of Og and Bashan have been stormed. As far as he is concerned, it would appear that all this preparation had been for nothing ; as if all this legislation, this government, this war, this varied adventure, had been the discipline for one last sorrow the prelude to one deep humiliation. The religious lessons arising from this disappointment itself are not obscure. We should not fail to notice how nobly Moses rises above the disappointment, how steadily he looks forward to the future of the people, though he him- self must die. Quarterly Review, vol. 105. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 107 CHARGE OF MURDER. ST. SIMON ; an infant. The Jews are said to have mur- dered this infant in 1472. After having deliberated at their synagogue in the holy week, on the preparations for the Passover, they came to the resolution of crucifying a child on Good Friday, and having stolen Simon, they made him the victim, and sung around his body while elevated. When- ever an act of cruelty was to be perpetrated on the Jews, fables like these were forged, and ,the brutal .passions of the mob let loose upon the life and wealth of fugitive Israelites. ST. WILLIAM, of Norwich, 1137, was another of these pre- tended martyrs to Jewish hatred. Weever states, that "the Jews in the principal cities of the kingdom did .use some- times to steal away and crucify some neighbor's male child"; " did use " as if it were a common practice. Since Protest- antism, no such barbarities have been imputed^to the Jews. HONE'S Everyday Book, vol. i., p. 386. JEWISH STAGE PLAY. A Jewish play, of which fragments are still preserved in Greek Iambics, is the first drama known to have been written on a Scripture subject. It is taken from Exodus ; a performer, in the character of Moses, delivers the pro- logue in a speech of sixty lines, and his rod is turned into a serpent on the stage. The play is supposed to have been written by one Ezekiel, a Jew, as a political spectacle to animate his dispersed brethren with the hopes of a future deliverance from their captivity. Jbid., vol. i., ai nv CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 113 it is a village." These ten men that they mean must be men of some fortune and quality. They read not in the law nor in the prophets, unless there are ten persons pre- sent. The Divine Majesty dwelleth not among less than ten ; nay, Rabbi Jonathan saith, " When the holy blessed God cometh into the Synagogue and findeth not ten, then He is presently angry, as it is said, ' Wherefore came I and there was no man.' " LIGHTFOOT. SCRAPS FROM STOWE. 1261. There was slaine Jewes at London to the number of 700, the rest were spoiled and their synagogue defaced, because a Jewe would have forced a Christian to have paid more than 2d. for the using of 203. for one week. 1282. John Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, send- ing commandment to the Bishop of London to destroy all the synagogues of Jewes within his diocese. 1287. On the 2nd of May all the Jewes in England were sentenced by precept from the king (Edward I.), then at " Burdeaux," for what cause it was not known, but they redeemed themselves for 12,000 pounds of silver. And at that time the Jewes had a synagogue at Canterbury. 1290. He (Edward I.) banished all the Jewes out of England, giving them to beare their charges till they were out of his realme. The number of Jewes thus expelled was 15,060 persons, whose houses being sold, the king made a mighty masse of money. SURNAMES. It was only in 1846 that a royal ordinance compelled all the Jews in Prussia, who had not previously done so, to adopt a family name. The decree of Napoleon had previously established the principle in all countries under the French I 114 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. domination. Flowers, plants, and fruits were then put into requisition to furnish the new cognomens, as Rosenberg, Rosenbaum, Rosenthal, Blumenthal, Birnbaum, Mandel- baum, Lindenthal, etc., etc. HEADINGS OF THE BIBLE CHAPTERS. The summaries of the contents of each chapter, as found in the authorised editions of our English Bibles, were pre- fixed by Miles Smith, Bishop of Gloucester, one of the original translators, who also wrote the preface, and in con- junction with Bishop Bilson finally revised the whole work. Notes and Queries, No. 75, Series I. FIRST COMING INTO ENGLAND.* I find no Jews in England (no deviation, I hope, from Church history to touch at the synagogue) before the reign of the Conqueror, who brought many of them from Roan in Normandy, and settled them in London, Norwich, Cam- bridge, Northampton, etc. In what capacity these Jews came over I find not ; perchance as plunderers, to buy such oppressed Englishmen's goods which Christians would not meddle with. Sufficeth it us to know that an invasion by conquest (such as King William then made) is like an inn entertaining all adventurers, and it may be these Jewish bankers assisted the Conqueror with their coin. These Jews, though forbidden to buy land in England, grew rich by usury, their consciences being so wide that there was none at all : so that in the barest pasture, in which a Chris- tian would starve, a Jew would grow fat, he bites so close to the ground. And ever bow down their heads is part of God's curse upon the Jews. And crook-backed men, as they eye the earth, the centre of wealth, so they quickly see what straight persons would pass by, and easily stoop to * See, however, pp. 98 and 99 of present work. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 115 take up what they find thereon ; and, therefore, no wonder if the Jewish nation, whose souls are bowed down with covetousness, quickly wax wealthy therewith. King Wil- liam favoured them very much, and Rufus, his son, much more, especially if that speech reported of him be true, that he should swear by St. Luke's face, his common oath, that " If the Jews could overcome the Christians, he himself would become one of their sect." This complimentary extract is from The Church History of Britain, by the reverend and excellent DR. THOMAS FULLER, circa 1661. HAGAR. The Turks call her in their language Hagiar Anai, Agar the mother, par excellence, on account of Ishmael, her son. The Mussulmans do not believe that she was the concubine of Abraham ; they assert, on the contrary, that she was his legitimate wife, and that she bare Ishmael to him, and who, as the eldest born, had a great advantage over Isaac, obtaining for his share Arabia, which for extent and beauty surpassed the land of Canaan, which fell to the share of the younger son. They say also that Agar died at Mecca, and that she was buried in the interior enceinte of the Temple of the Caaba, or square house. This enceinte, or wall, is called by the Arabs Hathim. D'HERBELOT. Bibl. Orientale, vol. ii., p. 175, ed. 1777. CEYLON. Sir Emerson Tennant points out very forcibly that in the Tamul language the words for " apes, ivory, and peacocks " (see i Kings x. 22) are identical with the Hebrew names for the same objects, and thus gives a very strong reason for supposing that Ceylon was the country whence Solomon's fleet drew their supplies. REV. J. G. WOOD. Bible Ani- mals. Il6 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. VlEW FROM ZlON. I, the feeble poet of an age of silence and decay, had I desired a residence at Jerusalem, would have selected pre- cisely the spot which David selected upon Zion. Here is the most beautiful view in all Judea, Palestine and Galilee. To the left lies Jerusalem, with its Temple and its edifices, over which the eyes of the king or of the poet might rove at large. Before him fertile gardens, descending in steep declivities, lead to the bed of that torrent in the roar and foam of which he must have delighted. Lower down, the valley opens and extends itself, fig trees, pomegranates, and olives overshadowing it. Here the eye reposes on the once verdant and watered valley of Jehoshaphat ; a large opening in the eastern hills conducts it from steep to steep, from height to height, from undulation to undulation, even to the basin of the Dead Sea. This sea is not, however, what the imagination has pourtrayed it a petrified watery expanse, with a dull and colourless horizon. It resembles, as seen from Jerusalem, one of the most beautiful lakes of Italy or of Switzerland, and its tranquil waters seem reposing beneath the shadow of the lofty mountains of Arabia, and the sparkling ridges of the distant mountains of Judea. Such is the view from Zion. LAMARTINE. SOLOMON'S POOLS. Solomon declares that water was to be found in his days in Jerusalem, and speaking of the gardens in which he appears to have taken great delight, he says, " I made me pools of water, to water with them the grove flourishing with trees." And these very pools (under the name of Solo- mon's pools), and also the aqueduct, as described .by Maundrell, Carne and others, remain to this day. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. H7 JEWS TRANSFORMED TO APES. The Giafferine Chronicle relates that in the reign of Belasche, father of Firvuz, fifth king of Persia, several Jews who did not observe the laws of Moses were turned into apes, and died at the end of seven days. The same fable is related by Arabian historians, who attribute this metamorphosis of the Jews to their violation of the Sabbath day, for which they were punished in this world and that to come. D'HERBELOT. Bibl. Orientals, tome ii., p. 44, ed. 1777. THE JEWISH MAIDEN. There dwelt in Bethlehem a Jewish maid, And Zillah was her name, so passing fair That all Judea spake the virgin's praise ; He who had seen her eyes' dark radiance, How it revealed her soul, and what a soul Beam'd in the mild effulgence, woe to him ! Under the heading of "The Rose" may be found in Southey's " Ballads and Metrical Tales," the versification of a legend, in which he recounts the fate of the " injured maid," in whose behalf the interposition of God is invoked. In the legend on which the verses are based, " she made her preyeres to oure Lord, that ' he wolde help hire,' " etc. Certainly, if Southey's other poetry had not had a little more verve in it than appears in this ballad, he would never have been the Poet Laureate after Tennyson. JEPHTHA'S DAUGHTER. " Who shall decide when doctors disagree ] " The reader may be amused with the following list of combatants who at different times took place in this arena. I shall begin Il8 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. with those who believe that Jephtha's daughter was doomed only to service in the tabernacle, or at most to a life of seclusion. There are on this side the Rabbis Kimchi and Maimonides, Arias Montanus, Pagninus, Vatablus, Estias, Junius, Ludovicus de Dieu, Pool, Broughton, Perkins, Drusius, Grotius, Le Clerc, Patrick, Heinsius, Selden, Saurin, Hales, and Glegg. But the adherents of the oppo- site opinion muster equally strong, at least, in point of number. Josephus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Jerome, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustine, Luther, Peter Martyr, Salianus, Serorius, Menochius, Ludovicus Capellus, Light- foot, Edwards, Jurien, Michaelis, Jennings, and Burder. RUSSELL. Conned. Sacred and Profane Literature. CLASSICAL RESEMBLANCES. The history of Jephtha's daughter bears a striking re- semblance to that of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamem- non. Lucius Capellus is of opinion that the latter is borrowed from the former, and even that the Grecian maid obtained her name from the Hebrew judge, quasi Jeph- thigenia. It is at the same time amusing to find the heathen poet no less anxious than the Christian divine to save the reputation of the father from the stain of innocent blood. (See Ovid xii., 31 36.) A story, which in some parts reminds us of Jephtha's vow, is mentioned by Servius in his commentary on the Third Book of the ^Eneid. When Idomeneus, the King of Crete, and a descendant of Deucalion, was on his return home from the war of Troy, he was overtaken by a violent storm, during which he vowed to offer to the gods the object that should first meet him when he landed. It happened that his only son was the first to meet him, whom, as he was bound by oath, he proceeded to offer as a sacrifice. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. IIQ There is a doubt whether he actually perpetrated the crime, but as a pestilence arose soon after, which was ascribed to the wicked act or purpose of the king, the Cretans expelled him from the government. Ibid, JEWS IN SPAIN. By the middle of the fifteenth century, the Albigensian heresy had become nearly extirpated by the Inquisition of Aragon, so that this infernal engine might have been suffered to sleep undisturbed from want of sufficient fuel to keep it in motion, when new and ample materials were dis- covered in the unfortunate race of Israel, on whom the sins of their fathers have been so unsparingly visited by every nation in Christendom among whom they have sojourned, almost to the present century. As this remarkable people, who seem to have preserved the unity of their character unbroken, amid the thousand fragments into which they have been scattered, attained perhaps to greater considera- tion in Spain than in any other part of Europe ; and as the efforts of the Inquisition were directed principally against them during the reign of Ferdinand, it may be well to take a brief review of their preceding history in the Peninsula. Under the Visigoth empire they multiplied exceedingly in the country, and were permitted to acquire considerable power and wealth. But no sooner had their Arian masters embraced the orthodox faith, than they began to testify their zeal by pouring on the Jews the most pitiless storm of persecution. One of their laws condemned the whole race to slavery. Under the Arabs, After the Saracenic invasion, which the Jews, perhaps with reason, are accused of having facilitated, they resided in the 120 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. conquered cities, and were permitted to mingle with the Arabs on nearly equal terms. Their common Oriental origin produced a similarity of tastes to a certain extent, not unfavourable to such a coalition. At any rate, the early Spanish Arabs were characterised by a spirit of tolera- tion towards both Jews and Christians, which has scarcely been found among later Moslems. The Jews, accordingly, under these favourable auspices, not only accumulated wealth with their usual diligence, but gradually rose to the highest civil dignities, and made great advances in various departments of letters. The schools of Cordova, Toledo, Barcelona, and Granada were crowded with numer- ous disciples, who emulated the Arabians in keeping alive the flame of learning during the deep darkness of the Middle ages. Whatever may be thought of their success in speculative philosophy, they cannot reasonably be denied to have con- tributed largely to practical and experimental science. They were diligent travellers to every part of the then known world, compiling itineraries which have proved ot extensive use in later times, and bringing home hoards of foreign specimens and Oriental drugs that furnished im- portant contributions to the domestic pharmacopoeias. In the practice of medicine, indeed, they became so expert as in a manner to monopolise that profession. They made great proficiency in mathematics, and particularly in astro- nomy ; while in the cultivation of elegant letters, they re- vived the ancient glories of the Hebrew muse. This was indeed the golden age of modern Jewish literature, which under the Spanish Caliphs experienced a protection so benign, although occasionally chequered by the caprices of despotism, that it was enabled to attain higher beauty, and a more perfect development in the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, than it has reached in any other CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 121 part of Christendom. PRESCOTT. Hist, of Ferdinand and Isabdla. OPPRESSION. From the dispersion of the Jews they have lived peace- ably in all nations towards all, and in all nations have been persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, and put to death or massacred by mobs. In England, kings conspired with their subjects to oppress them. To say nothing of the well-known persecutions they endured under King John, the walls of London were repaired with the stones of their churches, which his barons had pillaged and destroyed. Until the reign of Henry II., a spot of ground near Red- cross Street, in London, was the only place in all England where they were allowed to bury their dead. In 1262, after the citizens of London broke into their houses, plundered their property, and murdered seven hundred of them in cold blood, King Henry III. gave their ruined synagogue in Lothbury to the friars, called the Friars of the Sackcloth. The Church of St. Olave, in the Old Jewry, was another of their synagogues, till they were dispossessed of it. Were the sufferings they endured to be recounted, we should shudder. Our English ancestors would have laughed any one to derision, who urged in a Jew's behalf, that he had "eyes," or "hands," "organs, dimensions, senses, affec- tions, passions j " or that he was " fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heated by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same summer and winter as a Christian is." They would have deemed a man mad, had one been found with a desire to prove that the poor Jew In corporal sufferance feels a pang as great As when a Christian dies. 122 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. To say nothing of the more obvious sufferings for many centuries, the tide of public opinion raged against the Jews vehemently and incessantly. They were addressed with sneers and contumely; the finger of vulgar scorn was pointed at them ; they were hunted through the streets in open day, and when protected from the extremity of violence, it was with tones and looks denoting that only a little lower hate sanctuaried their persons. In conversation and in books they were a bye-word and a jest. W. HONE. The Every -Day Hook, vol. i. ADVANCE OF EDUCATION. To extend the benefits of education to the children of the humbler classes of Jews, is one of the first objects with their opulent and enlightened brethren. The " Examiner," Sunday newspaper, of the 4th of February, 1825, co-operates in their benevolent views by an article of information, par- ticularly interesting. "On Thursday last, the Jews held their anniversary at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate Street, to celebrate their plan for the education of 600 boys and 300 girls, instituted April 20, 1818, in Bell Lane, Spitalfields. It was gratifying to contrast the consideration in which the Jews are now held in this country, with their illiberal and cruel treatment in former times, and it was no less gratifying to observe that the Jews are becoming partakers of the spirit of the present time, by providing for the education of the poor, which till within a very few years past had been too much neglected. Another pleasing feature in the assemblage was that it was not an assemblage of Jews only, but attended by people of other denominations, both as visitors and subscribers." A record testifying the liberal disposition and humane CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 123 attention of the Jews to the welfare of their offspring is not out of place in a work which notices the progress of manners ; and it is especially grateful to him who places it on this page, that he has an opportunity of evincing his respect for generous and noble virtues in a people whose residence in all parts of the world has advantaged every State, and to whose enterprise and wealth, as mer- chants and bankers, every government in Europe has been indebted. Their sacred writings and their literature have been adopted by all civilised communities, while they them- selves have been fugitives everywhere, without security anywhere. Ibid. JEWS AND TURKS. Some Jews in Constantinople were contesting with some Turks, about Paradise, saying that no one would be per- mitted to enter there but themselves. The Turks asked, "If it be as you assert, where do you mean to place us?" The Jews were not so daring as to say that they would be entirely excluded ; therefore, only replied, " Oh ! you will be outside the walls, and you will look at us." This dispute reached the ears of the Grand Vizier, who said, " Since the Jews leave us outside the walls of Paradise, it is quite right that they should provide us with tents, so that we be not exposed to the sun and the rain." Consequently, since that time, the Jews at Constantinople had, in addition to their ordinary tribute, to pay a tax to defray the expense of the aforesaid tents. Paroles Re- marquables des Orientaux, p. 523. SHAKING THE HEAD. The Mahometans have the custom of shaking the head backwards and forwards when they read. The Jews also 124 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. shake their heads in the synagogue when saying their prayers, but they do it from one shoulder to another, not as the Mahometans do. Both of them, however, pretend that this motion causes them to be more attentive to their prayers. Ibid., p. 428. It may be remarked that among some of the Jews, at least, this oscillation is not limited as above mentioned, but proceeds with the whole body horizontally, angularly, to every point of the compass, and with varied degrees of velocity. The custom is falling into desuetude. Its origin seems to have been a mistaken reading of 'rnosy ?3 ' "r6 D^nn 'IICO Tl nriDXn, "All my bones shall answer, O Lord, who is like unto Thee?" (Ps. xxxv. 10). P. A. ALONSO VI. When Toledo was recovered from the Moors by Alonso VI., the Jews of that city waited upon the conqueror, and assured him that they were part of the ten tribes whom Nebuchadnezzar had transported into Spain ; not the de- scendants of the Jerusalem Jews, who had crucified Christ. Their ancestors, they said, were entirely innocent of the crucifixion ; for when Caiphas the high-priest had written to the Toledan synagogues, to ask their advice respecting the person who called himself the Messiah, and whether he should be slain, the Toledan Jews returned for answer, that in their judgment the prophecies seem to have been fulfilled in this person, and therefore he ought not by any means to be put to death. This reply they produced in the original Hebrew, and in Arabic, as it had been translated by command of King Galifre. Alonso gave ear to the story, had the letter rendered into Latin and Castilian, and deposited it among the archives of Toledo. The latter version is thus printed by SANDOVAL : " Levi Archisinagogo, et Samuel, et Joseph CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 125 homes bonos del Aljama de Toledo; a" Eleazar Muryd gran Sacerdote, e a Samuel Canud, y Arias, y Cayphas, homes bonos de la Aljama de la Terra Santa, Salud en el Dios de Israel." (The letter is to be found quoted at length by SANDOVAL, fol. 71.) Had Alonso been as zealous as some of his Gothic pre- decessors, or his Most Catholic successors, he might have found a fair pretext in this letter for ordering all the Jews of Toledo to the font, unless they could show why they should adhere to the opinion of Caiphas and the Jerusalem Jews, rather than to that of their own ancestors. SOUTHEY. Notes to Roderick, last of the Goths. THREE RACES OF JEWS. A Jew in Tirante el Blanco explains the difference be- tween the different races of Jews. They are three, he says : One, the progeny of those who took counsel for the death of Christ; and they are known by this, that they were in continual motion, hands and feet, and never could rest ; neither could their spirit ever be still, and they had but very little shame. The second were the descendants of those who put in execution and assisted at the various parts of the sufferings and death of Christ ; and they never could look any man in the face, nor could they, except without great difficulty, look up to heaven. The third were the children of David, who did all they could to pre- vent the death of Christ, and shut themselves up in the Temple so that they might not witness it. These are affable, good men, who love their neighbours a quiet, peaceable race who can look anywhere. Ibid. JEWS IN MALABAR. During my residence at Angengo, I was deputed to 126 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. transact some money concerns between the English com- pany and the Jews of Cochin. They do not reside in the city, but at Jews-town, at Mottancheree, situated on the banks of the river, about a rnile distant, where they have two large synagogues and many excellent houses and gar- dens, and are allowed the free exercise of their religion, and carry on the principal trade of the settlement. Jews from Poland, Spain, and other parts of Europe, were intermingled with their establishments at Malabar, many years before the discovery of India by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. Samuel Abraham, a native of Poland, a man of learning, years, and respectability, was the most eminent merchant of Mottancheree, in 1772. He managed my business for the company, and gave me every information in his power respecting the Jewish tribes settled in the King of Cochin's dominions. They are a people distinct and separate from the sur- rounding Malabars, in dress, manners, and religion, as well as in their complexion and general appearance. This Hebrew colony is said to have emigrated from Judea soon after the destruction of the Second Temple by Titus Ves- pasian, when a number of these devoted people, escaping from the dreadful massacre and sale of captives at Jeru- salem, consisting of men, women, and children, priests and Levites, with such effects as they could transport, emigrated from Palestine to India, a country probably not much unlike their own in more prosperous days, or at least, to those tribes living near Tyre and Sidon. It is not improbable that some Jewish families, in despair at the first captivity, or at some subsequent period, may have wandered to the Malabar coast, which, my venerable informer assured me, was be- lieved by his people to have been the case with part of the tribe of Manasseh. FORBES. Oriental Memoirs. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 127 PHARAOH'S BATH. The Arabs tell a thousand stories of certain hot waters in a grotto which they call Pharaoh's Bath. Among others^ that if you put four eggs in it, you can take out but three, the devil always keeping one for himself. THEVENOT. PROVERBS OF THE RABBIS. The Jews of the Holy Land, when they visit in pilgrimage the graves of the ancient rabbis, repeat over the grave those proverbs which the rabbi who is there interred used most frequently to inculcate to his disciples. BARTOLOCCI, vol. i. THE LANGUAGE OF PRAYER. It may not be uninteresting to know the opinions of some profound scholars respecting the adaptability of Hebrew as the medium of prayer. " The Hebrew language alone," says HERDER, "is the language of prayer. It is the real language of the soul ; it alone is able to awaken the true and pure feelings of de- votion in suitable expressions." MARTIN LUTHER, the celebrated reformer, says, " The Hebrew language is so rich, that scarcely any language can equal it ; for it has so many words that express singing, praise, sorrow, etc., for which we have only one ; and espe- cially is it copious in words for the holy cause, for it has no less than ten different words for expressing the Deity, whereas we have but one the word God alone ; it also excels other languages, because of its flowery and figurative expressions." "How can we expect," DE WETTE remarks, "that so ancient a language (the Hebrew), in which the strains of 128 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. creation still exist, can be exchanged for the German or any other modern tongue : with the best translation error fol- lows error." Compiled. THE JEWS OF PESTH. The Israelites have become by their talent and activity a powerful lever of civilisation, and they render great service to the world. The city of Pesth is divided into two parts ; one part looks like a centre of commerce; it is the Jewish quarter. The other part may be compared to a great village in a desert ; it is the Hungarian quarter. All that in Pesth is a product of civilisation, all that can be designated as a sign of European culture, has been produced by the money and the talent of the Jews. Pesth to-day is neither a Hungarian city, nor a German one, but a Jewish city, and we delight in it for Hungary's sake and the cause of civili- sation. The more Jews the more light. COUNT DE BETHLEN, in reply to the "Vaterland" 1870. KING ARTHUR. So generally popular were the romances of the Round Table, that a history of King Arthur, translated from the Spanish into Hebrew, exists among the manuscripts in the Vatican. BARTOLOCCI, vol. i. OBI. It seems worthy of notice that this magical fascination is generally called Obi, and the magicians " Obeah men," throughout Guinea, Negroland, etc., whilst the Hebrew or Syriac word for the rites of necromancy was Ob, or Obb,* at least when ventriloquism was concerned. Blackwood's Magazine, vol. xlvii. * I quote the text from Deut. xviii. u, '3JJT1 31N CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 129 Two GATES OF HEAVEN. God has placed on the earth two gates, which lead to heaven. He has placed them at the two extremes of life, the one at its entrance, the other at its exit. The first is that of innocence ; the last is that of repentance. ST. PIERRE. Harmonies de la Nature. SAND OF THE SABBATICAL RIVER. " As to the Sabbatical River, I heard it from my father," saith Manasseh ben Israel (and fathers do not usually im- pose upon their sons), " that there was an Arabian at Lisbon, in Portugal, who had an hour-glass filled with the sand taken out of the bottom of this river, which ran all the week till the Sabbath, and then ceased ; and that every Friday, in the evening, this Arabian would walk through the streets of the city, and show this glass to the Jews who counterfeited Christianity, saying, ' Ye Jews, shut up your shops, for now the Sabbath comes.' I should not speak of these glasses," saith he, " but that the authority of my father has great power over me, and in- duces me to believe that the miracle is from God." In the four holy cities of Palestine Jerusalem, Tiberias, Safed, and Hebron, there are at present a great number of reading-rooms, which have this name, ni3*B*. They are fitted up with books and desks, and with many of them there are endowments, founded as works of merit, by wealthy Jews, from which students who regularly attend the rooms derive in some cases as much as 150 piastres a year. DR. ETHERIDGE. K 130 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. THE HEBREW CONCORDANCE. Isaac Nathan was the first who compiled a Concordance to the Hebrew Bible. He finished the work in 1445, under the title of 3JU TND " The Pathway Illuminated," pub- lished also at Venice (1524) DD3KT>Kp3p snpan 3ru TKO. It has been attributed on erroneous grounds, to another rabbi, Mordecai Nathan. Isaac is said to have availed himself of a Latin Concordance, which had been made so early as 1290 by Arlotti, General of the Order of Minorites. The labours of these men were embodied by Calasius, in his great concordance (Rome, 1621), and by Reuchlin in his " Dictionarium Hebraico-Latinum " (Basil, 1556). DR. ETHERIDGE. Useful books of this kind have been published in all countries within the past few centuries, but, perhaps, there is none that can be compared with the exhaustive work of the talented Julius Fuerst. P. A. REPREHENSION OF IDLENESS. Idleness is a vice that has always been reprehended by the Jewish laws. " The Study of the Law," say the rabbins, " is a fine thing, if you join to it the practice of a business." " Whoever does not teach a trade to his son," says another, " brings him up to the trade of a robber." " Never say, as it is said somewhere, ' I am a man of quality, that occu- pation does not at all suit me.' " Rabbi Johannan followed the occupation of a skin-dresser ; Nahum, a transcriber of books; another Johannan was a shoemaker; Rabbi Judas was a baker. Thus the most celebrated rabbis were simple artisans. The famous R. Jose, one of the lights of his age, followed the trade of currier. In Italy, there was no industrial employment to which the Jews were strangers ; CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 131 and if in later times they were reduced to the occupation only of usury, the fault was in the laws which interdicted them from every other branch of industry. BEDARRIDE. Etat des Juifs. JEWS IN TURKEY. The toleration extended by Turkey to the Israelites has at all times been as great as that extended to them by the Christian nations in Europe. The very presence of Israel- ites in that empire, and the increase in numbers attest the fact. Driven from Spain by Christian intolerance in the fifteenth century, they found a welcome in Constantinople from the Sultan, who permitted them to take up their resi- dence in a quarter of the city known by the name of Balaat, situated on the Golden Horn. Thence they spread themselves in the villages along the Bosphorus and other portions of the Turkish empire. In a previous description, by Benjamin of Tudela, the Jews in that capital amounted to two thousand Rabbinites, and five hundred Caraites. They now (1870) count some twenty or thirty thousand souls. Their number in Turkey in Europe is variously estimated from seventy to one hundred thousand. During the reign of Mahomet III. they occupied the positions of directors of the mint, and were the bankers of the Sultan and the wealthy pashas, who regarded all labour as below their dignity. Their accumulation of wealth was the cause of their downfall. Armenian bankers were substituted in their places, and in the course of time the Jews, losing the influence they once had with the Turks, fell to the low con- dition in which they now are to be seen among that people. Among them they have still some wealthy bankers ; others are engaged in mercantile pursuits ; the great majority are, however, in a state of apparent poverty, and are looked upon with contempt both by Christians and Mahometans. 132 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. They have, however, synagogues and schools, and are permitted to enter the Sultan's medical college. The Turks allow them a quasi government of their own. A rabbi (Kakam Bachi) and two rabbis chosen for life by the nation, constitute a tribunal to which is confided the executive powers of the Jewish nation. From Jewish tribunals there is an appeal to the Turkish courts, which, however, is never resorted to. Their magistrates receive the name of regidores, the appellation by which they were known in Spain. The Saturday Night, Baltimore. "THE TREASURE OF THE POOR." Nicholas Antonio sent to Bertolacci, a manuscript entitled " Otzar Ha-aniyim " (D"JJJn 1XW) " The Treasure of the Poor," written by a certain Master Julian, in the Portuguese language, but in the rabbinical character. It was a col- lection of simple receipts for all diseases, and appears to be written thus that it might be serviceable to those only who were acquainted with Hebrew. There was good policy in this. A king's physician in those days was hardly a less important person than a king's confessor; with many princes, in- deed, he would be the more influential of the two, as being the most useful, and frequently the best informed, and in those times of fearful insecurity it might be within his power, like Mordecai, to avert some great calamity from his nation. SOUTHEY. The Doctor. THE GENIUS OF JUDAISM. In 1833 was published in London, anonymously, a work under this heading, which is generally considered as being the composition of the author of " Curiosities of Litera- ture." Had it been the production of one of a different faith, it might have been deemed a fair comment on our CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 133 faults and shortcomings ; but, " set in a note-book, learned and conn'd by rote," by a writer, howsoever talented, of the very religion whose practices and principles he so causti- cally criticises, it can only be said that it is in " bad form ;" or, to use a more vulgar expression, it may be added that "it is an ill bird that fouls its own nest." But it seems as if " He back recoiled, he knew not why, Even at the sound himself had made." The name of the author is by himself withheld from the title page. Cela va sans dire, that anything from the pen of a D'Israeli has, per se, a merit and an interest, and as the book is somewhat scarce, a few occasional extracts will be found in this collection bricks to show of what the wall was built and, e.g., I commence with Chapter I., which is headed, " With the Israelite everything is ancient and nothing is obsolete." P. A. The existence of the " peculiar people " professing the ancient Jewish faith has long been an object of religious conviction and of philosophical curiosity. The Hebrew, separated from the Christian at a period of the highest civilization, holds an anomalous position in society; and with some truth, it may be said, that he exists in a super- natural state. The genius of Judaism remains immutable, requiring every concession, but yielding none, perpetuating human institutions which from their very nature passed away, and still cherishing the prejudices of barbarous eras. But that the Christian of the nineteenth century should re- main for the Hebrew the Christian of the ninth is a moral anachronism. It will not be by taking a popular view of the manners of this singular people that we shall allay the fanaticism of the Jew or Christian. We must learn to feel like Jews 134 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. when we tell of their calamities, and to reason like Chris- tians when we detect their fatuity. Sects and even nations have had their dates prescribed ; and in their weakness at length dissolving into others, they lose their very name. But this obdurate and anomalous people are found in every state, extinct as a body politic, and yet unchanged, and perhaps unchangeable as a com- munity. Exiles even in their birthplace ; struck out of the number of nations, yet still a nation ; the chosen of God and the persecuted of man, looked on as sacred, and held as contemptible. For these dispersed hordes toleration or persecution have proved equally fatal. Toleration in a war of insult permits but an ignominious existence, and per- secution in a war of extermination immolates its victims. Stigmatised or proscribed, their very name has entailed on them a proverbial odium, and they are still enduring the anathema of their immortal legislator, that "they should become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by- word among all the nations whither the Lord should send them." Their code, their creed, and themselves as a people are now existing as they always existed. With the Israelite everything is ancient, but nothing is obsolete. The Hebrew, a vagrant or a captive amidst the famed cities of Greece or Rome, could hardly have imagined, even in the luxuriant hope of the Israelitish faith, that when their pomp and glories should be covered with sand and grass, the laws of Moses should govern races unborn and in climates unknown. MARVELLOUS CUPS. The Breton and Provencal fictions unite in bringing this mysterious vessel, the Graal, from the East, a quarter of the globe whose earliest records present us with a marvel- CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 135 lous cup as extraordinary in its powers as anything attri- buted to the Graal. Such a cup is well-known to have occupied a conspicuous place among the traditions of the Jews, and from the Patriarch Joseph, the chaste and pro- vident minister of Pharaoh, to have descended to the great object of Hebrew veneration and glory, the illustrious King Solomon. " Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby he divineth?" (Gen. xliv. 5.) In Norden's time the custom of divining by a cup was still continued. " Je sais," dit Baram Cashef de Derri, au Juif, qui servoit d'en- tremetteur aux voyageurs Europeens, " quelles gens vous etes ; fai consulte ma coupe, et j'y ai trouve, que vous etiez ceux, dont un de nos prophetes a dit, qu'il viendroit des Francs travestis, qui feroient venir un grand nombre d'autre Francs, qui feroient la conquete du pays, et exami- neroient tout." Voyage & Egypte et de Nubie, tome iii., 68. The " Clavicula Salamonis " contains a singular version respecting the cup of Solomon. His super- natural knowledge was recorded in a volume which Reho- boam enclosed in an ivory ewer, and deposited in his father's tomb. On repairing the royal sepulchre some wise men of Babylon discovered the cup, and having ex- tracted the volume, an angel revealed the key to its mys- terious writing to one Troes, a Greek; and hence the stream of occult science which has so beneficially unfolded the destinies of the West. In Persian fable the same mira- culous vessel has been bestowed upon the great Jemshid,* the pattern of perfect kings, in whose reign the golden age was renewed in Iran. RICHARD PRICE. Preface to Warton. Hist. Eng. Poetry. * " I know, too, where the genii hid The jewell'd cup of their King Jamshid With Life's Elixir sparkling high." THOMAS MOORE. Lalla Rookh, " Paradise and the Peri." 136 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. The figurative use of " the cup " in Scripture needs hardly to be referred to here, K".pK 'n DK>31 NK>K n W DID is only one of numerous passages that might be quoted. COUNCIL OF COLOGNE. At this council, held in 1452, by Cardinal Cusa, legate a latere for Germany, it was decreed that a provincial council should be held at Cologne every three years, so that a synod should be held every year in one of the three dioceses ; that all Jews of both sexes should have their dress marked with a circle in order to distinguish them. REV. EDWARD H. LANDOR. Manual of Councils of the Holy Catholic Church, p. 145. APHORISMS OF THE SAGES. The reliques of days of yore, and the meditations and aspirations of those mighty philosophers, the sages of Greece, Arabia, and other countries, upon whom shone the light of wisdom to recognize and acknowledge the One only God, the Lord of the universe. The chief and dis- tinguished philosophers and sages of our people who intro- duced them into the innermost sanctuary of Jewish literature exerted themselves in translating, collecting, and compiling them ; as, for instance, " The Book of the Morals of the Philosophers" D'BKDl'pBn TiD "IBD, or the "Choicest Pearls " D'J3Bn irQD, and some also the book " Improve- ment of the Attributes of the Soul " ^BJH mo |1pn, which the great Rabbi Solomon Ben Gabirol originally composed in the Arabic language, but were translated into Hebrew by other great scholars in Israel. Rabbi Joseph Kimchi, the father of the eminent Rabbi David Kimchi, joined these "golden tresses" unto the "pearls" in the book called " The Choicest Pearls," and he weighed them by the CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 137 Holy Shekel KHpn bp&, balancing them on the scale of metre to enhance their beauty and augment their attraction. H. EDELMAN. The Path of Good Men. APHORISMS OF THE SAGES. D H !93n TOPD. He is great whose failings can be numbered. The heart is the hidden treasure of man, the tongue is the gate to the treasure. Truth is heavy, few, therefore, can bear it. Money is robbery ! (r6w pDOJl.) (The Proletaire.) Borrowing is the mother of troubles. Old age is one of the deaths.* Ugliness is the guardian of women. f Woman is the handsomest in animal creation nSTI Writing is the language of the hand. A hero is only known in the time of misfortune. Water is the least valued among things existing, and most valued among things wanted. Beware of borrowing,:}: it brings care by night and dis- grace by day. There are no riches like health. The road to Eden is difficult, but the ways to Tophet (hell) are easy. Neither grieve over what is past, nor fret for the future. Be, with man, deaf and hearing ; silent and speaking. There are evils which, if compared to others, are benefits IT DJ. * "Cowards die many times before their death." SHAKESPEARE. f " The fatal gift of beauty." BYRON. J " Neither a borrower nor a lender be." Hamlet. " Facilis descensus Averno" 138 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Look upon this world as if thou shouldst live for ever, and on the future life as if thou shouldst die to-morrow. Let not even one enemy be little in thine eyes, and let not a thousand friends be many in thy sight. Love him who tells thee thy faults in private. Whose heart is narrow, his tongue is large. Selected. (To be continued.) THE MOTHER AND HER SEVEN SONS. A poor mother was, with her seven sons, dragged before the Roman Emperor ; an altar was brought forward, also the implements of torture, and the command given to the youths to adore the false gods. The eldest son was brought forward and told, " Pray, or you will be killed." He an- swered, " I find in my Law these words : ' I, the Eternal, I am thy God.' " He was immediately led to death. The second son was then brought forward. He an- swered, " My Law forbids me to worship any other than the Eternal God." He was carried away to torture. The third answered, " My God is the only God," and he fell under the blows of the executioner. So was it with the fourth, and the others to the seventh. And when the seventh was led forward, the poor mother asked to be allowed to embrace her son for the last time. This being granted, she pressed him tenderly to her bosom, kissed him, and said, " My children, go in peace, and say to the Lord that the Patriarch Abraham brought one son to the altar, and I have given seven sons for the glory of His name." Talmud Gitten, p. 57^. Another version says that when the seventh son, a mere youth, was brought forward, even the tyrant's heart was moved, and he proposed to drop a cloth before the image, so that in stooping to pick it up the child might seem to CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 139 perform an act of adoration. This was scornfully refused to be done, and he, like his brother, perished amid tor- tures. The mother, it is said, refusing to survive her chil- dren, threw herself from the rocks and was killed. COMPILATION OF THE TALMUD. The Talmud (teaching) comprises the Mishna and the Gemara. The Mishna (" learning " or " second law ") was, according to Jewish tradition, delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai. "Rabbi Levi, the son of Chama, says, Rabbi Simon, the son of Lakisch, says, What is that which is written, ' I will give thee tables of stone, and a law and a commandment which I have written, that thou alayst teach them?' The Tables, are the ten commandments ; the Law, is the written law ; and the commandment, is the Mishna ; ' which I have written,' means the prophets, and the sacred writings ; ' that thou mayst teach them,' means the Gemara. It teaches us that they were all given to Moses on Mount Sinai." From Moses the Mishna was transmitted, by oral tradition, through forty " Receivers " until the time of Rabbi Judah the Holy. These " Receivers " were qualified by ordination to hand it on from generation to generation. Abarbanel and Maimonides differ as to the names of these Receivers. While the Temple still stood as a centre of unity to the nation, it was considered unlawful to reduce these traditions to writing. But when the Temple was burned, and the Jews were dispersed among other people, it was considered politic to form them into a written code, which should serve as a bond of union and keep alive the spirit of patriotism. The Jewish leaders saw the effect of constitutions and pandects in consolidating nations, the advantage of written laws over arbitrary decisions. Num- berless precedents of case law, answering to our common 140 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. law, were already recorded ; and the teachings of the Hebrew jurisconsults, or " Respontia prudentium," which were held to be binding on the people, had been preserved from former ages. All these traditions Rabbi Judah the Holy undertook to reduce into one digest. And this laborious work he completed about the year 190, or more than a century after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. Rabbi Judah was born on the day that Rabbi Akiba died. Solomon is said to have foretold the event : " One sun ariseth, and- one sun goeth down." Akiba was the setting, and Judah the rising sun. The Mishna of Rabbi Judah, afterwards revised by Abba Areka, in Sura, is the text of the Babylon Talmud. The commentaries written on this text by various rabbis in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem until the close of the fifth century are called the Gemara (completion), and are published in twelve folio volumes called the Babylon Talmud the Talmud most esteemed by the Jews. The Jerusalem Talmud contains commentaries written partly by rabbis in Jamnia, and partly in Tiberias, where they were completed by Rabbi Jochanan in the beginning of the fourth century. As now published, it has only four out of the six books or orders of the Mishna, with treatise Niddah from the sixth. In the time of Maimonides it contained five orders. On twenty-six treatises it has no Gemara, though in the treatise on shekels the Gemara of Jerusalem is used for the Babylon Talmud. JOSEPH BAR- CLAY. The Talmud. 1878. MOSES CRETENSIS. In the time of Theodosius the younger an impostor arose called Moses Cretensis. He pretended to be a second CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 141 Moses sent to deliver the Jews who dwelt in Crete, and promised to divide the sea and give them a safe passage through it. They assembled together with their wives and children and followed him to a promontory. He there commanded them to throw themselves into the sea. Many of them obeyed and perished in the waters, and many were taken up and saved by fishermen. Upon this the deluded Jews would have torn the impostor to pieces, but he escaped them and was seen no more. Many of the Jews voluntarily embraced Christianity, likewise in the island of Minorca many persons abandoned Judaism. Yet their conversion does no great honour to the Chris- tians, for it was in consequence of great violence done to the Jews, of levelling their Synagogue with the ground, and taking away their sacred books. See the account of their conversion by the Bishop of the Balearic Islands. SEVERUS. Epist. Encyl. de Judcedrum, in hac insula, conversione et de miraculis ibidem factis ; published from a MS. in the Vatican library, by Boronius, in his Annales Eccles., A.D. 418, and abridged by Fleury. Hist, de I'Eglise, liv. xxiv. Yet it is certain that the Jews even in that age often im- posed on the Christians by pretending to have favourable views of Christianity. Socrates (" Hist. Eccles.," lib. viii. c. 17) mentions a Jew who received baptism with a con- siderable sum of money successively from the Arians and from the Macedonians, and finally applying to the Nova- tians for baptism, was detected by the disappearance of the water from the font. Although this miracle may be doubted, and the impostor may have been detected by an artifice of the Novatian bishop, yet it appears from the story that what is practised by many Jews at the present day is no new thing. MOSHEIM. Eccles. History, vol. i., edit. 1845. Note by Schlegel, p. 413. 142 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. CONVEESIONISTS AT JERUSALEM. Reserving a visit to Siloara for a future day, our tra- vellers rode up the steep path which led to the city walls, and making a circuit of the whole town, re-entered Jeru- salem by the Jaffa Gate. On their way they passed by the magnificent hospital built by Sir Moses Montefiore for the poor Jews. Nothing can be more abject and miserable than the position of the " chosen people " at Jerusalem. They are divided into two sects, the " Sephardim," or Spanish Jews, descendants of those expelled by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1497, and who still speak Spanish ; and the " Askenazim," or Polish and German Jews, almost the whole of whom are supported by charity. The efforts to convert them, tried by every Christian sect, have been singularly unsuccessful. Nominally a certain number come to the Christian schools or workshops, but they are, like the Irish "yellow male" converts, people driven by the stress of hunger to pretended objurations. Of course there are one or two noted exceptions ; but as a rule, every honest person must confess to the total failure of the efforts made in their behalf in a religious sense, in spite of the large sums yearly expended for this object. LADY ELIZA- BETH HERBERT. Cradle Lands, pp. 87, 88. PLACE OF WAILING. Our travellers proceeded to the " Place of Wailing " of the Jews, who assemble here every Friday to weep and pray for restoration to their own country. Here alone the Jews are permitted to approach the walls of their Temple, which they literally bathe with their tears. It is the most touching scene possible, from its intense reality, and it would be as inhuman to go to it as a mere sight, as it CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 143 would be to pay a visit of curiosity to a house of mourning which death had just visited. Jews of every age and country, and of both sexes, were there, leaning their heads against the sacred walls, now repeating verses of the Psalms, now sobbing as if their hearts would break ! The stones are large, bevelled, and perfect, except where they have been literally worn away by the kisses of the mourners. Ibid., p. 82. GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT. Some rich Hungarian Israelites wishing to celebrate the emancipation of their co-religionists, have collected among themselves the sum of 20,000 florins, and commissioned their countryman, the sculptor Engel, to execute a statue representing civil and religious Liberty. This statue will be placed in one of the Chambers of the Diet. Arch. Israel. April, 1868, p. 479. DOCTOR MEISEL. Doctor Meisel, chief rabbi of Pesth, who died recently (1868), and who was chief at Stettin before coming to Hungary, enjoyed a great reputation for eloquence and Israelitish zeal. A strange anecdote is related of his early years. His father had been influenced to embrace Chris- tianity. According to the then existing laws (he lived in Bohemia) the children of a proselyte were constrained to adopt the new religion of their father. The mother of Meisel, then still young, had scarcely been informed of the apostasy of her husband, than she took her two children, fled with them during the night an immense distance on foot till she reached Saxony. From there she went to Hamburg, thus escaping the Austrian power, and as an expiation for the act of her husband, brought up her son for the Jewish Ministry. Ibid., p. 491. 144 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. CAVE OF MACHPELAH. At page 172 of Lady Herbert's " Cradle Lands" may be found a plan of the mosque, which was originally a basilica, built by the Crusaders in the twelfth century. The plan is supplied by Lord Bute, who says that "it is quite faith- ful and made on the spot." Full details of the marquis's entrance into the mosque at Hebron will be found in the work in question ; it may suffice here to note that in the plan the tombs of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah are clearly indicated. " To the right and left were doors closed with ancient massive gates of silver bars. That on the right contains the cenotaph of Abraham, that on the left of Sarah. The doors were not open, but we looked through the bars. On the threshold were stands for lamps. From the ceilings hang canopies or sails of silk, which rest on the top. On the side of Abraham's cenotaph was a piece of black with the inscription in gold, 'This is the place of our Lord Abraham, the friend of God ;' and on Sarah's, ' This is the place of Sarah, the wife of Abraham, the friend of God.' The tombs of Isaac and Rebecca are ugly buildings, like low cottages, they have cenotaphs like Abraham and Sarah, but are not so handsome, and are without canopies." " There is a tradition that a certain pascha once had the temerity to enter the cave. He saw Sarah combing her hair, but became almost immediately blind." " I was asked not to enter the shrine of Leah out of deference to her sex, but looked in freely. A Muslim entered and pushed me aside from her black and gold inscription, which was thus : ' This is the place of Leah, the wife of Jacob. Let us pray our Lord that we may be with her in eternity.' " ZONARIA. About this time (723) there appeared an impostor in CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 145 Syria, named Zonaria, who gave himself the title of the Messiah, whom the Jews expected. At this news, all those who then inhabited Spain, of whom there were great num- bers, led on by blind superstition, stronger even than the love of riches, abandoned their landed possessions, their property, their homes, and without delay took the route for Syria. Ambisa (the then ruler) let them depart peaceably, but he confiscated all their property. JOSEPH CONDE. Hist. de la Domination des Arabes, etc. Transl. from the Spanish par M. De Marie's, torn, i,, p. 129. THE ARABS AND THE JEWS. Circa 960. Commerce, it is true, was almost entirely in the hands of the Jews, for the Arabs were rather agricul- turists than merchants ; while the Jews, who, whereso- ever their worship is proscribed, are a scourge for the people among whom they reside by the concentration of wealth in their hands, enjoying special protection from the Arabs, contributed to the prosperity of the State ; whether it was that they augmented its population and its strength, or because they added to its riches by undertaking the exportation of all the surplus of natural or industrial pro- ductions. Ibid, p. 470. JEWS AT LUCENA. In 1107, Jusuf, King of Morocco, visited his European dominions; on his route to Algeciras, passing through Lucena (a small town near Ecija), he was detained some days by a singular circumstance. There were several Jews in that town ; and a short time previously an ancient book of Aben Mucerra, of Cordova, had been discovered, in which was read that in the days of the Prophet, the Jews had promised to embrace Mahometanism in 500 years L 146 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. after the Hegira, if their Messiah had not appeared during that interval. That that promise either had or had not been fulfilled, and as they were now entering the appointed year, they reminded the Jews of their self-imposed obligation, and the Jews of Lucena had been condemned to assume the turban. They, therefore, availed themselves of the passing of the king through their town to implore his justice. The affair was ultimately arranged by the pay- ment of a large sum of money, which the Jews had to dis- burse, and the king continued his journey. Ibid., torn, ii., p. 292. HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANOURS. As a specimen of the virulence displayed against the Jews at the time of the projected Naturalization Bill (1752), the following is extracted : " We look upon the Jews who lived in the time of Christ as traitors, as rebels against God. The act of rebellion was rejecting Jesus for the Messiah, and crucifying him as a malefactor ; for this Jesus was the true God, and is still the God of the Christians. He is the King of all the world, and according to our laws he has all power in heaven and in earth. And was it not then by our laws rebellion to attempt to dethrone and murder this Sovereign Lord of the universe ? Doubtless it was the highest act of treason which man can commit. " The present Jews are guilty of the same treason by aiding and abetting traitors, for they defend their ancestors' rebellion; they justify the crucifying of the Son of God, and if they had him in their power they would crucify him again. Their books are full of the bitterest curses and blasphemies against Jesus Christ, and they say such shock- ing things about him as we dare not repeat. Now this we bring in high treason, because the aiders and abettors of CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 147 treason against God must be traitors of the blackest nature." A Modest (?) Apology for the Citizens, etc., of London. A NICE CHARACTER. From another brochure, published about the same time, I extract a n\Q$\. flattering character of the Jewish people: " The Jews are a people of whom God has given the fol- lowing most shocking description and character, even at the time when they were accounted His peculiar, chosen people. He complains that they were a most rebellious, disobedient, gainsaying, stiff-necked, impenitent, incorrigi- ble, adulterous, whorish, impudent, froward, shameless, perverse, treacherous, revolting, backsliding, idolatrous, wicked, sinful, stubborn, untoward, hard-hearted, hypocri- tical, foolish, sottish, brutish, stupid, ungrateful, Covenant- breaking nation of people ; a set of evil-doers, a generation of vipers, doing evil greedily with both hands, according to all the nations that were round about them ; as bad, nay worse, than Sodom and Gomorrah, casting all God's laws and ordinances behind them, trampling them under their feet, rejecting, forsaking, and despising God Himself; provoking Him continually to His face, grieving Him to His heart, forgetting Him days without number, always erring in their hearts and disobeying His voice, etc., etc. "And shall it be recorded that Britannia, the first amongst the Christian States, ever admitted such a nation or people as this to become one people, and to enjoy the privileges of a true born Englishman ? " An Appeal to the Throne, 1753- AU CONTRAIRE. REMARKABLE CHARACTER OF THE HEBREW PEOPLE. To the eye of mere philosophy nothing can appear more striking than the effects produced upon the world at large 148 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. by the opinions and events which originated among the Jewish people. A pastoral family, neither so numerous, so warlike, nor so well instructed in the arts of civilized life as many others in the same quarter of the globe, gra- dually increased into a powerful community, became dis- tinguished by a system of doctrines and usages different from those of all the surrounding tribes, retaining it, too, amid the numerous changes of fortune to which they were subject, and finally impressing its leading principles upon the most enlightened nations of Asia and Europe. At a remote period Abraham crosses the Euphrates, a solitary traveller, not knowing whither he went, but obeying a Divine voice, which called him from among idolaters to become the father of a new people and of a purer faith at a distance from his native country. His grandson Jacob, a " Syrian ready to perish," goes down into Egypt with a few individuals, where his descendants, although evil afflicted and illtreated, became a " nation, great, mighty, and populous," and whence they were delivered by the special interposition of heaven. In prosperity and in ad- versity they are still the objects of the same vigilant Pro- vidence, which reserved them for a great purpose to be accomplished in the latter days ; while the Israelites them- selves, as if conscious that their election was to be crowned with momentous results, still kept their thoughts fixed at the theatre of their glory not less than at the possession of their tribes. We accordingly see them at one period in bondage, the victims of a relentless tyranny, and menaced with complete extirpation ; but the hope of enjoying the land promised to their fathers never ceased to animate their hearts, for they trusted that God would surely visit them in the house of their affliction, and in His appointed time carry them into the inheritance of peace and rest. At a later period, we behold them swept away as captives CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 149 by the hands of idolaters, who used all the motives which spring from fear and from interest to secure their compli- ance with a foreign worship ; but rejecting all such induce- ments, they still continued a separate people, steadily resisting the operations of those causes, which, in almost every other instance, have been found sufficient to melt down a vanquished horde into the population and habits of their masters. REV. MICHAEL RUSSELL. Palestine; or, the Holy Land. TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. In a statement to be found in the " Calendar of State Papers," it is observed : "In the original text of the Holy Scriptures there is so great a depth, that it is only by degrees there is a progress of light towards attaining per- fection of knowledge in bettering the translation ; hence the most learned translators have found cause over and over again of revising and amending what they themselves translated, and this has been the commendable practice even of some Papists, and of sundry of the reformed re- ligion. It being now above forty years since our new translation was finished (the first being printed in 1612), divers of the heads of colleges and other learned persons, who, coming later, had the advantage of standing as on the heads of the former, in their public sermons, as also in print, have held out to their hearers and readers that the Hebrew or Greek may be better rendered than in our translation, some of the places seeming to be very material and crying aloud for their rectification if the truth be as it is affirmed by them. The translation by H. Ainsworth of Moses, the Psalms, and the Song of Solomon, is greatly commended by the learned as more agreeable to the Hebrew than ours ; and it is said there are MSS. of his 15 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. translations of the other Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament. "As it is our duty to endeavour to have the Bible trans- lated in all places as accurately and as agreeable with the Hebrew and Greek as we can attain to, and to remove the stumbling-blocks and offence of the weak, or the cavils of others when they hear in sermons or in treatises that the original bears it thus and thus," etc., etc. Domestic State Papers, vol. xxvi. 1652. And yet, in spite of this and other remonstrances, the AUTHORIZED VERSION remains as it was, with its fulsome and disgusting preface retained (a cause de quot), " To the Most High and Mighty Prince James " (than whom there was not a greater villain unhung). I believe there is not a more ready weapon for infidels than this Vulgate edition. One example may suffice. In Genesis, chap, ix., v. 13, it is said, "And God said, I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of remembrance," etc. Now, says the sceptic, about 1650 years had elapsed since the Creation, and surely the rainbow, which is the natural reflex of the sun and the rain, must have appeared many times previously ; and yet it appears as if it were a new and special production for the occasion. This cannot be right, and if this be wrong other parts of the Bible must be equally wrong. He argues, and apparently with justice, from the text in the AUTHORIZED VERSION. Any tyro in Hebrew could have told him that the past tense in that language has but one form for all the varia- tions of imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, etc., and that the word *nn3 signifies " I have given (set) my bow," etc., and that it was only referred to here, because that it might serve as a mnemonical sign of God's promise ; and so of many other misleading translations in the English Autho- rized Version we may repeat " ex uno disce omnes." P. A. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 151 A BAPTIZED JEW. October, 1553. " On Sunday a Jew was baptized at the court in presence of the king; he was named Catharinus, the queen* being his godmother. The Jew's father is a learned physician, formerly baptized, and was with his wife present at his son's christening ; he is now called Ludovicus Carrettus, and has written a small volume in Hebrew which has been translated into Latin. Cardinal Lorraine baptized him. Calendar of State Papers. Foreign Series. 1553. O. P. RIOT. The Rev. Solomon Herschell, high priest of the Jewish Synagogue, has caused one hundred itinerant Jews to be struck off the charity list for six months, for making a noise at Covent Garden Theatre. He has also warned them of excommunication in case they should be guilty of the like again (?) SOUTHEY. Characteristic Engl. Anecdotes. MANKIND IN ADAM. The Jews say that every individual of the human race actually existed in Adam, some in his nails, some in his toes, eyes, mouth, etc., and that in proportion to the proximity of the position of any person to the parts con- cerned in eating and digesting the forbidden fruit will be their measure of guilt and measure of punishment here. So they consider that Job had his place near the mouth. GROVE. Journal at Bagdad, p. 16. THE JEW AND THE ROMANIST. Yoke-fellows, indeed, are Jew and Romanist, above all people in the world, in a deluded fancying their own bravery and privilege above all the world besides. * Catherine de Medicis. 152 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. He that comes to read the Jewish writings, especially those that are of the nature of sermons, will find this to be the main stuffing of them, almost in every leaf and page. " How choice a people is Israel ! How dearly God is in love with Israel ! What a happy thing it is to be of the seed of Abraham ! How blessed the nation of the Jews above all other nations ! " And such stuff as this all along. And is not the style of the Romanists the very same tune 1 " How holy the Church of Rome ! What superiority and pre-eminence hath the Church above all churches ! and all the men of the world are heretics and apostates if they be not Romanists ! " Whereas, if both the nations would but impartially look upon themselves, they would see there are such brands upon them too as are upon no nation under heaven now extant. LIGHTFOOT. Vol. vi., p. 366. UBIQUITY OF JUDAISM. The divine origin of their laws, their immutability, their duration, and their supernatural influence, imbued the spirit of this sacerdotal people. Everywhere and at all hours was their law, or some symbol of their law, like the works of the Deity, kept in their sight. It was variously worn on their persons, it was nailed to the door-posts of their habitations ; it formed their daily occupations in the morning, the noon, and the evening sacrifice. All nature was consecrated to religion ; for the first fruits, a portion of the harvest, and certain animals were dedicated to its service. " The land is my own ! " was the decree of the Lord. Judaism was in their fields, in the unmixed seed and the ungrafted fruit, in the uncircumcised tree, in the ablu- tion of the stream, and in the separation of the pure from the impure. Their great festivals were connected with the CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 153 productions of every season. The Passover could not be kept till their flocks furnished the Paschal lamb ; the Pen- tecost till the wheat had ripened for the fresh loaves of propitiation ; and the thick boughs and branches could not cover their tabernacles till they had gathered in their vineyards and their olive grounds. The Israelites were reminded of their religious festivals by the living comme- morations of nature. The whole earth became one vast synagogue. ISAAC D'ISRAELI. Genius of Judaism. KISSING THE HAND. Job, anxious to clear himself of all imputation, declared, " If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand, this were also an iniquity to be punished by the judge,* for I should have denied the God that is above." To kiss the hand was an act of adoration among the Pagans, as " kissing the hand " is an act of homage to this day. The custom is Oriental, and the religious Jew when he touches the Pentateuch or the Mezuzzah still practises it, afterwards applying the hand to the lips. Compiled. THE BETROTHED. " The espousal of the Divinity with his people Israel," a frequent allusion in the Scriptures, is dwelt on by CARDOSO with all the orientalism of rabbinical fancy. He runs through the ceremonies of a Jewish marriage, unfolding the mystical analogies, always insisting that " this espousal " was neither temporary nor conditional, "but absolute and perpetual. On this topic, if Cardoso is too florid, SOUTH is far too * ("fin n yh UTS) 154 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. witty, who, as a Christian clergyman, has this remarkable passage on the apologist's vaunted " espousal of God's people." " The truth is, they (the Jews) were all along a cross, odd, untoward sort of people, and such as God seemed to have espoused to himself, upon the very same account that Socrates espoused Xanthippe only for her extreme ill-condition above all that he could find or pick out of that sex, and so the fittest argument both to exercise and declare his admirable patience to the world." I. D'ISRAELI. Genius of Judaism, A rare and elaborate volume is that of Cardoso, the full title of which is " Los Excellencias de los Hebreos, por et Doctor Isaac Cardoso, Amsterdam, 1679," 4 to - -The author was a learned physician, who, having practised with great reputation at Madrid, at length flew to Italy openly to profess his long concealed Judaism. Ibid. JEWISH PHYSICIANS. Nothing exposed them to greater obloquy than the general opinion that was entertained of their skill in medicine and of the flagitious practices with which it was accompanied. The conduct of the Romish Church tended to strengthen that obloquy, even if it did not directly accredit the ca- lumnies which exasperated it. Several councils denounced excommunication against any persons who should place themselves under the care of a Jewish physician, for it was pernicious and scandalous, they said, that Christians, who ought to despise and hold in horror the enemies of our holy religion, should have re- course to them for remedies in sickness. They affirmed that medicine administered by such impious persons be- came hurtful instead of helpful, and, moreover, that the familiarity this produced between a Jewish practitioner and CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 155 a Christian family gave occasion to great evil and to many crimes. The decree of the Lateran Council, by which physicians were enjoined under heavy penalties that their patients should confess and communicate before they ad- ministered any medicine, was designed as much against Jewish physicians as against heretical patients. SOUTHEY. ODIUM AND ESTEEM. Nothing exposed the Jews to more odium in ages when they were held most odious than the reputation which they possessed as physicians. There is a remarkable instance of the esteem in which they were held for their supposed superiority in this art so late as the middle of the i6th cen- tury. Francis the First, after a long illness, in which he found no benefit from his own physicians, dispatched a courier into Spain requesting Charles the Fifth to send him the most skilful Jewish practitioner in his kingdom. This afforded matter of merriment to the Spaniards ; the em- peror, however, gave orders to make enquiry for one, and when he could hear of none who would trust himself in that character, he sent a Neo-Christian with whom he hoped Francis would be equally satisfied. But when this person arrived in France, the king, by way of familiar discourse, sportively asked him if he were not yet tired of waiting for the Messiah. Such a question produced from the new convert a declaration that he was a Christian, upon which the king dismissed him immediately, without consulting him, and sent to Constantinople for a Jew. The one who came found it necessary to prescribe nothing more for his majesty than asses' milk. Ibid. CHARLES THE FIFTH. The College of Cardinals, writing to the emperor 156 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. (Charles V.), say, "The former emperors did not earn their great reputation by expelling the French, conquering the English, or subjugating Italy, but by subjecting the Jews, putting heretics to death, and reducing almost the whole of Africa to the obedience of the Christian religion; "non Gallo expulso, Anglo superato, Italic denuto, sed debellatis Judeis, nsecatis hereticis," etc. ARISTOTLE. There was once a great argument among the learned that the philosopher Aristotle was a Jew, owing, says CHAMBERS, to the misplacing of a comma in George of Trebizond's translation of Josephus. In the sentence, "Atque, ille inquit, Aristoteles Judseus erat," the comma was placed after " ille," hence the statement reads : " And he says, Aristotle was a Jew," instead of " And he, says Aristotle, was a Jew." A FEW RABBINICAL PROVERBS. Rather be the tail of the lion than the head of the fox. Better is a living dog than a dead lion. Violence in a house is as a worm in a pumpkin. Thy friend has an acquaintance, and the acquaintance of thy friend has also an acquaintance; be discreet. The unworthy child of a good father is called vinegar, the son of wine. If the opportunity fail the thief, he deems himself honest. The cock and the owl await together the morning dawn ; says the cock to the owl, " Light profits me, but how does it profit thee ? " Youth is a crown of roses, old age a crown of thorns. Men see every leprosy except their own. He who daily looks after his property finds a coin. The post does not honour a man, but the man the post. Every man is not so lucky as to have two tables. Not what thou sayest about thyself, but what thy companions say. The -salt of CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 157 money is almsgiving. The plague lasted seven years, and no man died before his time. Let a drunkard only go, he will fall of himself. Be rather the one cursed, than the one cursing. This world is like an inn ; but the world to come is the real home. The child loves its mother more than its father; it fears its father more than its mother. Repent one day before thy death. If your God is a friend to the poor, why does He not support them ? A wise man an- swered, " Their case is left in our hands, that we may thereby acquire merit and forgiveness of sin." The house that does not open to the poor shall open to the physician. Descend a step in choosing a wife, ascend a step in choosing a friend. An old woman in a house is a treasure. There is no likeness between him who has bread in his basket, and him who has none. Some preach well, but do not practise well. Many of the above may be found, sometimes in a varied form, among the proverbial philosophy of more modern nations. P. A. PENAL LAWS AGAINST THE JEWS. In the ninth year of the reign of King Edward the First, he caused the following penal laws to be established, all his own edicts, all over England. In those days the Jews were protected* (?) by the King's Prerogative, but after a very lame manner, considering the many slaughters and massacres to which they were still subjected : 1. No Jew shall come for, or depart England without licence, on pain of death. 2. No Jew shall walk or ride without a yellow badge upon his or her outward or upper garment, on pain of death. 3. No Jew shall condemn Jesus Christ, nor blaspheme His Divinity, on pain of being burnt. * " Such protection as vultures give to lambs." PIZARRO. 158 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 4. No Jew shall stir out of his house or lodging on Good Friday. 5. No Jew shall strike a Christian, on pain of having his right arm cut off. 6. No Jew shall kill a Christian, on pain that he be hanged alive on a gibbet, and be fed daily with bread and water till he dies upon the same gibbet. 7. If any Jew shall cheat a Christian and escape, all the rest of the Jews shall make satisfaction to the Christian so cheated. 8. All the synagogues of the Jews shall be suppressed, and if any of their rabbis or Jewish priests shall preach against the Christian religion in England, all such preachers and teachers shall be biirnt. 9. No Jew, on pain of hanging, shall transport any bullion or coin beyond the seas, nor deface, nor melt down any Christian coin. 10. The king's judges shall not hear the testimony of a Jew against a Christian. 11. No Jew shall be sworn upon the Evangelist. 12. The Jews shall have four judges, two whereof Chris- tians, and the other Jews, who shall try and determine all causes between Jews and Christians. 13. All the children of the Jews, as soon as born, the rector or vicar of the parish shall take from them ; put such to nurses, and bring them up in the Christian religion ; for which the Jews must pay all the charges. 14. In the Exchequer appointed for the Jews, there shall be half Christians and half Jews, and shall both have equal power, and different locks and keys to prevent fraud. 15. The Jews shall account for all the money they lay out, and for the profits and returns before the justiciaries over the Jews, as often as they shall be required. 1 6. If any Jews shall be converted to the Christian CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 159 faith, all his usurious acquisition to be converted to pious and charitable uses ; but all his goods, estate and move- ables, shall be his own, and not the king's as formerly accustomed. 17. The Jews shall go to hear Christian doctrine once a week, and as many English Jews as turn Christians shall be as free of England as if they were born of Christian parents. 1 8. No Jew shall cohabit with a Christian woman. 19. No Jew shall be buried in Christian ground. 20. No Jew shall correspond with any of the enemies of England. 21. No Jew's widow shall have any right of administra- tion ; but after the decease of her husband, all the Jew's effects and mpveables shall be vested in the king, and the king shall be executor and administrator to all the Jews in England. 22. No Jew shall sue for his own debts, but in the name of the king, and with the king's licence ; and if any Jew defrauds the king of his customs, or other rights, he shall forfeit his all to the king. [How thankful should we be in our present state of liberty when we contrast it with the above penal code to which our ancestors in England were subjected.] SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. It is related by Matthew Paris (" Hist. Angl.," page 990 ; also in Stowe, page 91) that a certain Jew/ called Solomon, in the year 1260, fell into a maison d 1 office at Lincoln, on a certain Saturday, and out of the reverence he bore to the Sabbath, would not have himself pulled out until the fol- lowing day, the Lord's Day ; whereupon Richard, Earl of Glocester, commanded him, in reverence to the Lord's l6o CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Day, to be kept there till Monday, at which time he was found dead. The following distich was made on the sub- ject, the first line being supposed to be spoken by a Jew, and the second by a Christian : Jew. Sabbatha nostra colo, de stercore surgere nolo. Christian. Sabbatha nostra quidem, Solomon survabes ibidem. Or, as we may render it Jew. To-day is our Sabbath, I'll not come out to-day. Christian. To-day it is our Sabbath, too; so there, you fool, you'll stay. THE Fox AND THE FISHES. During the tyrannical government of Adrian, the Jews were prohibited, under pain of death, from reading the Divine law among themselves. In spite of this prohibi- tion, Rabbi Akiba held assemblies, to whom he read these laws. Pappus heard of this, and said, "Akiba, do you not fear this cruel edict ? " "I will tell you a fable," re- plied the rabbi. " A fox was once walking on the banks of a stream, he saw the fishes gathered together with great fear at the bottom of the water ; ' Why are you so fright- ened ? ' said the fox. ' Men,' replied the fishes, ' are spreading their nets in the stream to catch us, and we are trying to escape.' ' I'll tell you what to do,' observed Rey- nard; 'go yonder upon the rocks, where the men cannot catch you.' ' Are you indeed the fox,' exclaimed the fishes, ' esteemed the most clever of all animals ? You must certainly be the most stupid, if you give us such advice. The water is our native element, and are we to quit it because danger threatens us 1 ' Pappus ! the appli- cation of the fable is easy ; religious doctrine is the source of all good, for that alone we exist. If men pursue us, CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. l6l even unto its bosom, we would not basely flee from peril by taking refuge in death." Talmud, Treatise Berachoth. TURKISH JEWS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. The Jews who have been driven from Spain and Por- tugal have so well increased their Judaism in Turkey, that they have translated almost all sorts of books into their Hebrew language, and now they have commenced printing at Constantinople without points. They print also in Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, and German ; but they do not print in Turkish or Arabic, as they are not permitted doing so. The Jews who are in Turkey know usually how to speak four or five languages, and there are several who understand ten or twelve. Those who come from Spain, Germany, Hungary, and Bohemia, have taught their language to their children, and the children have learned the language of the nations in which they have to converse, such as Greek, Sclavonian, Turkish, Arabian, Armenian, and Italian. There are but few who know how to speak French, for they have no traffic with France. The Jews were always great traffickers, and knew how to speak several kinds of languages, which can be easily proved from historians, and of which the Holy Scriptures make mention. PIERRE BELON. Obser- vations de plusieurs singularites. Le tiers livre, p. 180. IS53- JEWISH WARRIORS. The Emperor Adolph, of Nassau, had, in the war which he waged against France towards the end of the thirteenth century, nearly thirty thousand Israelites in his army. Cuspianus, chronicler of that period, and who relates this fact, adds, that the Emperor destined them to receive the M 162 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. first shock of the enemy, therefore he placed them in the front line. A Jew, Solomon ben Juhain, commanded in 1 1 90, with as much good fortune as talent, the Portuguese army, as general-in-chief. In the sixth century, the Jews bravely defended Naples against the attacks of Belisarius. They vigorously assisted the Christians to repulse the brigands from Bohemia, and their bravery was recompensed by the erection of a synagogue in Prague. In 1346 they fortified themselves in Burgos, and defended themselves with courage and success against the assassins of their king. We read in the work " De Jure et statu Judseorum in Republica Christianorium," that at the close of the thirteenth century, there were about 30,000 Jews in the French army of Philippe le Bel. Archiv. Israelites. ISOLATION OF THE JEWS. {From the French.) The ancient diversities of race exist no longer. Celts, Romans, Germans, have fused together to form one single people, the most homogeneous of all. Brittany, Provence, Normandy, Flanders, Alsace, and many other provinces, inhabited by populations erewhile enemies and rivals, have approached one another, have intermingled in every sense of the word ; and from this intimate amalgamation, has arisen the most united country, and which, as has been said, is the best organised in the world. The Jews alone have constantly refractorily repelled this power of assimi- lation which draws a nation together ; it alone has persisted in its obstinate isolation, and has held as an honour to remain such as the harsh and exclusive spirit of the ancient law has made them ; becoming still more harsh, and more exclusive, by the dispersion of the people of Israel among CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 163 modern nations. It is this fact which we deem it useful to notice ; it is this evil to which we would bring a remedy. Would that the barrier could be broken down, which still separates the Christians and the Jews, that the nationality of the Jews could disappear, that the emancipation which has been granted to them would induce them to adopt the obligations of other citizens, their duties and their manners in a word, that the Jews would cease to be Jews, and become Frenchmen; earnestly do we wish this might be the result of this our book. All who have had the opportunity of studying the state of the Jewish people in those provinces where their number affords facilities for the purpose, all, for example, who have been able to approach the Jews of Alsace, know that they have remained, not only strangers, but hostile to the mass of the population ; that they have preserved perfect, and without admixture, their character and their manners, as well as their physiognomy. Morally, as well as physically, the Jews have remained identical to themselves during thou- sands of years, and it is as easy to recognise them by their deeds as by their facial appearance. Some people, perhaps, admire this obstinacy and this persistence, but social life has other exigencies. To be admitted into a society, and to participate in its advantages, races, as well as individuals, must give up all that is too exclusive and too absolute in their individuality. Social union is composed of reciprocal concessions, and he who will not grant them, has no right to expect them. We can well understand that the religious element is greatly accessory to this ; it is, however, of no importance to us, excepting that it is the most immediate cause of that exclusive obstinacy which has always distinguished the Jewish race. Let the Jews continue to observe all the rites of the ancient law, let them persist in those super- 164 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. stitious practices which the rabbins have added to the pre- cepts of Moses ; let them continue to expect the Messiah, whom they crucified eighteen centuries ago ; let them cele- brate Saturday instead of Sunday all this concerns us not. But what does concern the whole nation is, that the religion of the Jews should not be an obstacle to national unity, that it should not retain a state of permanent hostility against a nation that has admitted them into its bosom. [After four or five pages of absolute abuse, the writer continues :] Is it true that the Israelites consider themselves always as a distinct people, exiled for an indefinite time among impious nations ? Is it true, that in their sight, a Christian Frenchman is always a stranger a Philistine; and that a German or a Russian Jew is considered as a compatriot and a brother ? Is it true, that the Jews themselves are the greatest obstacle to their fusion with the rest of the nation ? Such is the question, which we submit to all men of sin- cerity, and their answer cannot be doubtful. (There are in all thirty-five pages of vituperative writing similar to the above, which is extracted from HALLEZ. Des Juifs en France, 1815. Introduction.) AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM. (A Reply.} How shall I begin ? In the whole of this book we wit- ness the attack, we perceive in every page fanaticism, rising gloomy and terrible, to strangle us in its blood-stained arms. Yet boldly we enter the arena, armed with that courage that is granted by God, and can only be inspired by the Godhead himself. Do the Jews consider themselves as a distinct people ? do they consider themselves as an exclu- sive nation 1 (une nation a part.) Was the sanguinary CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 165 treatment, of which the Jews have been the victims, a good induction to their emancipation ? Have the Jews ever refused to unite in the works of the people ? Is it true, as you assert, that the Israelites consider themselves as a dis- tinct people, exiled for a time in the midst of impious nations? No! no! it is not true. An Israelite considers the nation in which he is born as his only and his native country. He has no other, he thinks of no other, than do you, than do all his compatriots. This I will prove. Is it true, say you again, that for them, a Christian Frenchman is always a stranger, a Philistine, and that a German or a Russian Jew is considered by them as a fellow-countryman or a brother ? No ! no ! a thousand times No ! It is not true. A Christian Frenchman is to them, as he is to you, a fellow- countryman ; a German or a Russian Israelite is to them what a Catholic of Ireland or of Syria would be to you ; he is a co-religionist, but not a co-patriot. The great San- hedrin has replied to this question. You know the answer.* It is false to say that a Jew considers himself a stranger in his native land it is his country. An English Jew has national prejudices, if any exist, against a French Jew, in the same way that a French Christian might chance to have against an English Christian neither more nor less. These two men belong to two nations, but they profess the same faith. You ask whether the Mosaical law can be adapted to the new conditions of society. The declaration of the Sanhedrin, in 1808, has already replied to this ques- tion. In times past, the Jews had not enjoyed the same advantages of education ; but even then they had divested * April, 1806. The question was addressed by the Imperial Govern- ment : the answer finished with the words : " Oui ! La France est notre patrie, tous les Fran^ais sont nos freres ; et ce litre glorieux, en nous relevant dans notre estime, est une sure garantie que nous ne cesserons jamais d'en etre dignes." 1 66 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. themselves of many of the prejudices which you assert still to influence them. (The nature of this little book prevents further quotation from an interesting brochure of 130 pages. It is entitled " Quelques Verites a Monsieur Theophile Hallez," par F. HENRI AVIGDOR, 1845. It is well worth perusal. It has a Dedicace a Mr. B. d'Israeli, Membre du Parlement.) THE JEWISH WAR UNDER TRAJAN AND HADRIAN. The protracted and bloody war carried on by the Jews and Romans under the Emperors Trajan and Hadrian, is a subject which has not yet been sufficiently explained. For a revolt repeatedly suppressed, and ever breaking out anew in which in all probability the whole Jewish nation took part; which continued either openly or secretly through a course of more than twenty years; in which several blooming provinces were laid waste, many hundred thou- sands perished by the sword and every other disaster of war, while countless numbers forfeited their possessions and their freedom ; such a revolt can surely not be reckoned among the minor calamities. Indeed, the second Jewish war would certainly not yield in historical importance to the first, did we possess as correct an account of its occur- rences as Josephus has left us in respect to the former. As it is, however, we can only determine from scattered historical fragments, as to its extent, duration, and import- ance. F. MUENTER. Translated by W. WADDEN TURNER. Bibliotheca Sacra, 1843. THE TAX TO JUPITER CAPITOLINUS. The Jewish war under Vespasian was brought to a close by the capture of Jerusalem and the destruction of the city and temple. The subjugated nation had now lost the CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 167 central point of their religion, and thus were long deprived of seeing their old expectations of a Messianic kingdom in the holy city fulfilled. The dislike and contempt entertained for them by the Romans had been greatly increased, and many thousands of Israelites who had survived the fortune of war, were deprived of their liberty, placed in the most wretched condition, and removed far away from their native land. But this last misfortune happened to those only who fell into the power of their conquerors with arms in their hands; for the many Jewish colonies which had settled before in the provinces of the Roman Empire, and which, at least apparently, had kept themselves quiet during the war, were not involved in the misfortunes of the Jews of Palestine, and retained the undisturbed enjoyment of their rights and liberties, although it may readily be supposed that the government watched them with greater strictness, and no longer favoured them in the same degree as formerly. One burden only they were all obliged to bear. The yearly tax of two drachmae, which every Israelite over twenty years of age paid to the Temple, as long as it stood in Jerusalem, they were now compelled, if they wished to preserve their religious freedom, to pay to the Temple of Jupiter Capito- linus ; and to what immense sums this tribute although not very oppressive to individuals must have amounted, may easily be imagined from the very remarkable populousness of the Jews, who certainly amounted to several millions.* Every one who knows the character of the Jewish people, their attachment to the religion of their fathers, and their bitter hatred against paganism, can imagine with what feel- ings they paid over this tax, held hitherto so sacred, to an impure idol temple. No wonder, then, that whoever could, sought to escape it. The universal contempt entertained * Michaelis estimates the whole population at from five to six mil- lions of souls. 1 68 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. for this unhappy people, together with the greediness of the officials connected with the revenue, may have given rise, under the tyrannical rule of Doraitian, to many oppressive acts, false accusations, and harsh exactions of the tribute. And this moved the noble Nerva to the edict, which, though it did not take off the tax, put an end to the mis- conduct that had been practised in its collection, and was regarded as so benevolent that the Senate sought to per- petuate the remembrance of it by a separate coin, bearing the legend, FISCI IVDAICI CALVMNIA SVBLATA. But that the government should hold the Israelites remaining in Palestine under a strict supervision was very natural, and it cannot be made a matter of reproach to Domitian, that on receiving information of the family of David, that were still living there, he had two relatives of Jesus, grandchildren of his brother Jacob, brought to Rome. He convinced him- self, however, of their innocence, and let them return to their homes in peace. ROBINSON. Bibliolhcca Sacra, pp. 395-6. ENFORCEMENT OF A Jewish woman in Alsace (A.D. 1768) having lost her husband, and wishing to be re-married in conformity with the well-known Mosaic law, asked her brother-in-law to espouse her, or, if he would not, that he should submit to the assigned penalty in such cases that he should see his shoe taken off (cracher au visage), and that she should spit at him. To neither of these two alternatives would he sub- mit. The rabbins judged the punishment necessary and indispensable, and the brother-in-law, to escape the de- gradation, appealed 'to the Parliament of Bordeaux. They, however, confirmed the decision of the rabbins, because it was a principle established in the ancient jurisprudence, CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 169 that everything relative to Jewish marriages should be entirely regulated by the Jewish laws. GUYOT. Repertoire. A RARE ENGRAVING. Mr. Philip Abraham informs the editor of the Jewish Chronicle that he is in possession of a very rare engraving by Romano de Hooghe, representing the Portuguese syna- gogue at Amsterdam, and bearing the following inscription : " El estamento, fuo a 10 de Menahem (Ab) 5435 ; 2 Agosto, 1675." Round the engraving, and on its margin, are medallions, containing the names of those of emi- nence connected with this edifice, several of which are of historical interest, and whose descendants occupy the most honourable positions in modern society. Archives Israel- ites, vol. xxvi., 1865. I still (1879) have this engraving, and shall be happy to show it to anyone taking an interest in the names it com- memorates, noticeable among which is that of " Espinosa." P. A. ijan jo 3313. " Stealing from a thief is no crime." In accordance with this dictum, we may understand why a merchant in the neighbourhood of Gottingen was, according to the Allg. Zeit. des Jud., the victim of numerous thefts, in 1865. At last, the robber was caught, and proved to be the wife of a workman. Being interrogated as to the cause of her turpitude, she declared that she had only acted at the instigation of her husband, who assured her that to plunder a Jew would be considered meritorious by Heaven, because the Jews wished to take everything from the Christians, and it was quite right to retaliate on them. It will scarcely be credited, that even, as was done in ancient times, there should be many in this enlightened age who, misled by the translation in the English Bible, " And each 170 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. man shall borrow," etc. (Exod. xii. 35), believe that the just God would counsel and sanction such a palpable act of robbery as borrowing without the intention of restoring. Besides, is it reasonable to believe that the lords and ladies of Egypt would have lent their valuables to the degraded slaves, even if they had tried to borrow them ? How pre- ferable it would be to render the word 1^>NK"1 " and they demanded." JEWS IN BOKHARA. They are but few in number, excepting at Bokhara, and at Samarkand ; in those cities they occupy two thousand houses, which would lead us to suppose a population of forty thousand individuals ; they live apart from the Bokhars, although enjoying perfect liberty. Each man pays a monthly tax of one tanga (about sixty centimes). The proceeds of this are the personal property of the Khan, who employs it for the maintenance of his court. The Jews exercise the rites of their religion without any control, carry on commerce, employ themselves in various trades, manufacture silk stuffs, and are celebrated fo'r their skill as goldsmiths, braziers, and blacksmiths ; with these excep- tions they are despised. Some few of them are very rich, although they do not enjoy either more privileges or more distinction than the others ; it is only on rare and extra- ordinary occasions that they obtain access to the Khan. They are not permitted to ride on horseback in the capital ; they may neither wear shawls nor silken garments. The Jews alone have the permission of making wine and brandy, which they vend in secret to the Bokhars, and which pro- duce them considerable profit. VAMBERY. Central Asia. SECESSION. Doctor de Castro, a Member of the Royal College of CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 17 1 Physicians, and Fellow of the Royal Society of London, separated himself from the community of the Jews by a letter which he wrote to the elders of the Synagogue in the following words : "Gentlemen, The different opinions and sentiments I have entertained long ago, entirely dissenting from those of the Synagogue, do not permit me any longer to keep the appearance of a member of your body ; I now, therefore, take my leave of you, hereby renouncing expressly that communion in which I have been considered with your- selves. I do not, however, renounce the intercourse I may have had with you in the general society of men of honour and probity, of which character I know many among you, and whom, as such, I shall always esteem. I have sent the key of my drawer, that you may dispose of my place. J. DE CASTRO SARMENTO." Annual Register, October, 1758. EXTRACT FROM THE MAGNA CHARTA. If any person have borrowed money of Jews, more or less, and die before they have paid their debt, the debt shall not grow while the heir is underage ; and if such debt become due to us, we will take no more than the goods expressed in the deed. And if any die and owe a debt to the Jews, his wife shall have her dower, and shall be charged with no part of the debt, and if the children of the deceased person be within age, their reasonable estovers shall be provided them, according to the value of the estate which their ancestors had, and the debt shall be paid out of the residue, saving the services due to the lord. In like manner shall it be done in cases of debts owing to other persons that are not Jews. LORD GEORGE GORDON. However tenacious the Jews may be of their creed, it is 172 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. not more surprising than where we find a Christian turning Jew, which did the famous Lord George Gordon. He sub- mitted to circumcision, and he carefully preserved the cor- poreal evidences of that fact. Lord George died in New- gate in the faith of Moses. Recreative Review. He had been committed to prison for a libel on Marie Antoinette. On January 18, 1793, the term of his lord- ship's imprisonment having expired, he was brought into the Court of King's Bench for the purpose of being admitted to bail ; he was accompanied by the keeper, two men as his bail, and several Jews. He had a large slouched hat on his head, and an enormous beard. He was ordered to take off his hat, which he refused. The court directed the crier to take it off, which he did accord- ingly. Lord George desired the court to take notice that his hat had been taken off by violence. He then deli- berately took out of his pocket a white cap, which he put upon his head, and tied a handkerchief over it ; after which he produced a paper, entitled, " The petition of Israel Abraham George Gordon, commonly called Lord George Gordon." He said the petition was an apology for appearing with his head covered, agreeably to the custom of the Jews he meant no disrespect to the court, as it arose purely from the tenderness of his conscience, since he had entered the holy covenant of circumcision," etc., etc. The Attorney-General objecting to the competency of the bail, Lord Gordon was remanded to prison, where he sub- sequently died. Annual Register, vol. xxxv., 1793. NOTHING BUT DEATH SHALL PART us. During the reign of Frederick the Great, a Jew, who had acquired great wealth, wished to quit Berlin, but dared not attempt it without the king's permission ; accordingly, CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 173 he made several applications from time to time, assigning one reason after another, but the principal was for the benefit of his health. At length he became particularly pressing, and received the following short reply : " Dear Ephraim, Nothing but death shall part us. FREDERICK." Recreative Review. TEMPTATION IN RUSSIA. The Emperor Alexander issued an ukase that all Jews embracing Christianity, no matter what sect, should have privileges granted to them, whatever profession they might adopt, suitable to their knowledge and abilities. In the northern and southern governments, lands were to be assigned to them gratis, and these settlements were to be hereditary property for ever. HISTORY OF A REMARKABLE COLONY. We are about rapidly to trace the history of a memorable colony, which preceded the Franks in Gaul, and which has perpetuated itself there even unto our own time. We can- not conceal that this subject abounds with difficulties, for two parties, opposed to each other by a constant religious animosity, have disfigured facts and misrepresented deeds. The one represents the Jewish people as a divine nation, the other as an impious race ; the first glorifies them for their attachment to the faith of their fathers ; the second reproaches them for their obstinacy in adhering to that belief; the latter party imputes to them the most odious vices, the former party holds them up as the model of all virtues. We should carefully guard ourselves against these two extremes. The Jews, like other people, have committed faults, but are not therefore more to be despised than others; they formed a distinguished nation, although 174 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. guilty of errors of which they themselves were the earliest victims. Originating from a feeble tribe of shepherds, they were soon overcome by a powerful people, who reduced them to slavery. A man, endowed with superior genius, a prophet, interpreting the divine Word, called them soon to liberty; he broke their chains, and endowed them with a legislation emanating from God Himself. This code of laws, by giving them a nationality and a unity which nothing has been able to subvert, rendered them odious to other people, who looked on them as bar- barians, because they had preserved their primitive cha- racter, because they had always preserved a homogeneity (semblables a eux-memes) amid the incessant changes of neighbouring nations. This has, in fact, been the principal cause of the misfortunes that without intermission have pursued the Israelites. This remark, which can scarcely escape the notice of an impartial historian, deserves great attention, it explains the continual reprobations to which- the Jews have been subject at all times and in every country. Let us consider the accusations that have been preferred against them, from the earliest period even to our own days. Haman, denouncing them to the King of Persia, said, "There is a people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your dominion, who have laws differing from those of others, and who obey not the laws of the king." Cicero, pleading against them for young Flaccus, exclaimed, " Every people has its mode of worship, as we have the adoration of our gods ; but the religion of the Jews is so much opposed to the splendour of this empire, the glory of our name, and the institutions of our ancestors, that it fills us with horror." Tacitus remarks, " The Jews consider as profane all that we consider sacred ; what we prohibit, they permit." What was the imputation of Saint Ambrose, when he accused CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 175 them before the Emperor Theodosius ? " The Jews," said he, " refuse to obey the Roman laws ; they look upon them as criminal." (Fifteen hundred years after this, it was asserted to Napoleon, " The Jews do not acknowledge the laws of France.") Roused by these clamours of universal reprobation, the people of Greece and of Rome, of Bagdad and of Cairo, Mussulmans and Christians, rose as one man to exterminate Israel. The Christians, in particular, in whose eyes the Jews were still a god-killing people (un peuple deicide\ pro- fessed against them the most profound hatred; and this implacable animosity engendered the most horrible impu- tations, the most unheard of atrocities. Cut off, besides, from all social advantages, deprived of giving an honour- able result to their active industry, their striving for emula- tion ; the victims of suspicions which policy and humanity alike would disavow; controlled by laws and regulations which, by perpetuating their isolation, left to them those customs and manners which oppression alone had created, but which it is falsely asserted were derived from the Faith and its dogmas, the Jewish people dragged on, in the bosom of strange nations, an existence truly exceptional in itself. There were no imputations, however outrageous, of which they were not the object. The charges of murders, of poisonings, of hosts pierced, of children massacred, repro- duced incessantly, were too often a pretext for avarice, and an auxiliary to fanaticism and to rapine. In the time of any public calamity, their chain became always the heaviest. Still more were their misfortunes increased by the zeal of proselytism. A thrill of horror seizes us when we think of the barbarous treatment to which they were subjected on the most frivolous pretexts, when their executioners, violating every form of justice, yielded them, without even examina- tion, to the arms of popular fanaticism, always ready to strike. 176 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Amid these atrocious persecutions, the Israelitish people, chosen and protected by God, far from doubting of itself, or believing in the forsaking of the Lord, prided itself at its some-time humiliation, comparing in its secret heart its future greatness with its present debasement. And then awoke, in all its fervour, a religious exaltation, supporting the nation with joy, amid all its miseries, and hopefully singing to itself, Post tenebras spero lucent. LE DR. CARMOLY. Biog. des Israelites en France. TURNING THE TABLES. A Portuguese, who was the king's secretary, perverted to Judaism (1530), and called Selomah Mo, ho (?), endea- voured to convert Charles V. and Francis I., and was burnt alive at Mantua in 1540. Ortellius seems to be referred to as authority for this. R. B. Memorable Remarks, etc. STUDY BY NIGHT. The traditions of the Jews did set a singular esteem and value upon the study of the law and divinity by night. Although the command, say they, be to learn by day and by night, yet a man learns the most of his wisdom by night. He that studies the law by night, a thread of mercy is drawn out for him by day. Every house in which they hear not the words of the law by night, fire devours it. LlGHTFOOT, VOl. V., p. 24. PROSELYTES. Before they (the Jews) received a proselyte, they inquired whether he had not set his eyes upon some maid of Israel : and of a woman, whether she had not set her eyes upon some young man of Israel. Ibid. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 177 I have heard that when any would-be convert came to the late Chief Rabbi, Herschel, professing his desire to embrace Judaism, the Rev. Doctor's first remark was, jocularly, " Well ! how much money has she ? " P. A. VlNDICI^E JUDiEORUM ; Or, A Letter in answer to certain Questions propounded by a noble and learned Gentleman, touching the reproaches cast on the nation of the Jews ; wherein all objections are candidly and yet fully cleared, by RABBI MANASSEH BEN ISRAEL, a Divine and a Physician, 1656, reprinted in the " Phoenix," vol. ii., No. 24. "This is a satisfactory refutation of the calumnies against the Jews, made by a liberal and learned man in an age when such a refutation was necessary." SOUTHEY. Com- mon Place Book. MARSHAL NEY. When, on the loth of November, 1806, Marshal Ney occupied Magdeburg, he received visits from the autho- rities and the chief men of the city. He had asked specially that the heads of every profession should be present. After they had all paid their respects, he asked, " Are there not here any representatives of the Israelitish community?" "The city of Magdeburg," replied one of the company, " enjoys the privilege of not having any Jews among its inhabitants ; there is only one here, and he is only tolerated for particular reasons." " You are speaking about the Israelites," rejoined the Marshal; "France knows nothing about Jews, it only recognises Israelites ; besides, sirs, wheresoever France rules, there are no more privileges, and from this time the equality of all religions is the only principle to be established at Magdeburg." " Die Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums " observes, in N 178 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. recording this anecdote, " There are now (1865) 15,000 of our co-religionists at Magdeburg, and one of them is a member of the Town Council." It has been stated that Ney, who was a native of Sarrelouis, was of Jewish extrac- tion. The same has been said of others of Napoleon's marshals, of Soult, Massena, etc. "CHRIST HAS RISEN." Horace Vernet, writing to his wife from St. Peters- burg, speaking of the celebration of Easter in that city, thus expresses himself: "This ceremony is one of the most curious that I have seen at the palace ; there were there only the persons belonging to the court, and a depu- tation from all the regimental officers of the guards. At midnight the royal family enter the chapel. After the Gospel, every individual advances to the emperor, who says, 'Jesus Christ has arisen;' and every one answers, 'Yes, he has arisen,' and kisses are given on the two cheeks; the empress gives her hands to be kissed. But what is most curious is, that after the saying of the mass, the emperor kisses the first person he meets, generally he embraces the sentinel on duty. Some years ago, the then reigning Emperor (Nicholas) addressed himself, according to custom, to a grenadier of the Preobajenski regiment, kissed him, and said to him, ' Jesus Christ has arisen ! ' 'No!' replied the soldier. He was a Jew. From that time all the Jews have been drafted into the navy, there are no more in the army." MADAME PASTA. The celebrated cantatrice, Madame Pasta, died on the 3rd of April, at her magnificent villa on the Lake of Como. Judith Pasta, who charmed London, Paris, and Peters- CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 179 burg, was born of a Jewish family at Sarrano, near Milan, in 1798 ; she had retired from the stage thirty years before her decease. Archives Israelites, 1865. JEWS IN POLAND. The greatest accumulation of them on any one point in Europe is in the countries of ancient Poland, now forming Russian, Austrian, and Prussian Poland, and the modern kingdom of Poland, under the sceptre of the Emperor of Russia. It is stated by Beer,* that many centuries ago, a considerable body of Jews migrated from France into Ger- many, whence many of their descendants passed into Poland ; but they must have remained long in Ger- many before this second swarm hived itself in Poland, as the language of the Polish Jews, called Jewish-German (3ubifd^$eiitfcfy), though written in the rabbinical characters, is fundamentally a German dialect, with a slight inter- mixture of Hebrew and other elements, and particularly of Polish, in proportion as you travel farther north. The colony obtained several privileges of Casimir the Great, who married the beautiful Jewess Esther, f and from this stock, as their language proves, must have descended the great mass of the Polish Jews. There are great numbers of Jews in the parts of Turkey contiguous to Poland ; but there they literally swarm ; they are innkeepers, merchants, distillers of brandy, brewers, horse-dealers, money-changers, usurers, as everywhere else ; * " Geschichte, Leben und Meinungen der Juden," von Peter Beer, Leipzig, 8vo, 1825. t It is a curious proof of this monarch's spirit of toleration, or defer- ence to his wife, that while he educated as Christians two sons whom he had by her, he allowed their sister to be brought up in the faith of her mother, whom, however, he afterwards murdered in a fit of frenzy. l8o CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. some very few of them are farmers of the soil. Their numbers have increased of late years so rapidly as to alarm and embarrass the governments of countries which afford but slender resources for a population so averse to be engaged in tillage. The evil of this immense accumulation of such a people having one common interest and feeling, both of which are foreign to the interests and feelings of the citizens of the State, is felt especially by the Russian Government. Quarterly Review, vol. xxxviii. 1828. MENTAL DEVELOPMENT. Their mental development and civilization greatly exceed those of the lower order of Poles, because they have an education, however perverted. They are described as being in general physically a fine and active people, such as would contrast most advantageously with the ricketty figures which, formerly, at least, were seen in the public walks in Holland. The comeliness of the Jewesses in Warsaw is much celebrated, and Bishop James described the Volhinian Jews as a particularly fine race of men, and their women as remarkable for beauty in figure, features, and complexion. In general, the Jews in Poland affect no external show, except in the dress of their women ; but as of old, those of them who are wealthy, live at home in considerable splen- dour. Ibid.,}). 1 1 6. UNION OF GOD WITH ISRAEL. God has inseparably united His name with that of Israel. Even so does a prince, who fears to lose a small key belong- ing to his costly treasures, fasten it to a chain which he secures to his own person. So may we assume, that the Supreme may have considered that this small nation, Israel, might easily be lost in the sea of many nations. " But I CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. l8l will fasten them to my Holy Name, and then they will never be lost." Talmud Jerusal. Tr. Taanith. SOME TALMUDICAL APHORISMS. In your own country, your name ; in other countries, your appearance. Wisdom, confined to one's-self, is like a myrtle in the wilderness, which gladdens no one. When the wine 's in the secret 's out. Anger renders the wise man insane and the prophet dumb. Pride is the mask of one's own faults. Speech is silver, silence is golden. At the door of the rich are many friends, at the door of the poor man, none. A myrtle, although amid thorns, remains still a myrtle, and is called a myrtle. When a rogue kisses you, count your teeth. JOSEPHUS. True it is, that an interpolated passage, found in all the printed editions of Josephus, makes him take a special and a respectful notice of our Saviour. But this passage has long been given up as a forgery by all scholars. And in another essay on the Epichristian era, which we shall have occasion to write, some facts will be laid before the reader, exposing a deeper folly in this forgery than is apparent at first sight. True it is, that Whiston makes the astounding discovery that Joseph was himself an Ebionite Christian. Josephus a Christian ! In reality, we shall show that so far from being a Christian, Josephus was not even a Jew, in any con- scientious or religious sense. He had never taken the first step in the direction of Christianity, but was, as many other Jews in that age, essentially a Pagan, as little impressed with the true nature of God whom his country worshipped, with His ineffable purity and holiness, as any idolatrous Athenian whatsoever. Blackwood's Magazine, vol. xlvii., p. 107. 1 82 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. MERCY. That mercy I to others show, That mercy show to me, is illustrated in the following apologue from the Talmud. Rabbi, surnamed the Holy, was once going through the street, as a calf was being led to slaughter. The poor animal moaned piteously, and crouched under the garment of the sage ; he, however, drove it off and said, " Away ! away ! you were created for that purpose." A voice was then heard from Heaven, saying, " Thou hast no pity for my creatures, thyself also deservest no pity." And thence- forward, from that day, the body of the sage was covered with wounds. Another day, his servant was cleaning the house ; in the corner of a room she saw some young weasels, and was about to drive them away. " Poor crea- tures," said the rabbi, " let them remain." A voice was heard from Heaven, saying, " Thou hast pity for my crea- tures, thyself also deservest pity." And thenceforward, from that day, the holy man was restored to perfect health. Talmud, Baba Mezia, p. 85A. CONTENTS OF THE MISHNA. The six books of the Mishna are subdivided into sixty- three treatises in the following manner : BOOK I. This book, called ORDER OF SEEDS, D*jnt TlD, contains the following treatises : 1. Blessings. Ttt3~\l, together with prayers and thanks- givings, with the times and places in which they were to be used. 2. A Corner of the Field. HXB (Lev. xxiii. 22; Deut. xxiv. 19) treats of the corners of the field to be left for the poor to glean them the forgotten sheaves, olives, and grapes and of giving alms, etc. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 183 3. Doubtful. ^XDl treats of the doubt about the tithes being paid, as the Jews were not allowed to eat anything without its being first tithed. 4. Diversities. D^N^D (Lev. xix. 19; Deut. xxii. 9 n) treats of the unlawful mixing or joining together things of a different nature or kind of sowing seeds of a different species in one bed grafting a scion on a stock of a different kind, suffering cattle of different kinds to come together. 5. The Sabbatical Year. WIW (Exodus xxiii. n ; Lev. xxv. 4) treats of the laws which regulated the land as it lay fallow and rested on the sabbatical year. 6. Heave Offerings. mccnn (Num. xviii. 8) treats of separating the heave offering who may eat it, and who may not eat it of its pollutions, etc. 7. The first Tithes. |lB>&n "KPJJD (Lev. xxvii. 30 ; Num. xviii. 28) treats of the law of tithes for the Levites. 8. The Second Tithes. W ">K>y (Deut. xiv. 22; xxvi. 14) treats of those things which were to be carried to Jeru- salem and there eaten, or to be redeemed, and the money spent in Jerusalem in peace offerings, also of the tithes which the Levites had to pay to the priests. 9. Cake of Dough. iT>n (Num. xv. 20) treats of setting apart a cake of dough for the priests ; also from what kind of dough the cake must be separated. 10. Uncircitmcised Fruit. i"6~iy (Lev. xix. 23) treats of the unlawfulness of eating the fruit of any tree till the fifth year. The first three years it is considered as impure and uncircumcised ; the fourth year it is holy to the Lord ; the fifth year it may be eaten. 11. First Fruits. D^~I132 (Exod. xxiii. 19; Deut. xxvi. 6) treats of what fruits are to be offered in the Temple, and in what manner ; also the baskets in which they were to be carried. 184 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. BOOK II. THE ORDER OF THE FESTIVALS 1JJ10 TID. 1. Sabbath. rat? treats of the laws relating to the seventh day ; its privileges and its sacredness. 2. Mixtures or Combinations. fOliy treats of the exten- sion of boundaries, whereby all the inhabitants of the Court, or entry, where the mixture is made, are counted as one family inhabiting one domicile, and are thereby allowed to carry victuals from one house to another. It also treats of the mixtures for a Sabbath-day's journey, whereby the dis- tance may be extended for an additional 2,000 cubits. 3. Passover. DTIDS treats of all rites and ceremonies relating to the Paschal lamb and celebration of the Pass- over. 4. Shekels. D^p^ (Exod. xxx. 13) treats of the half- shekel, which every Jew, rich or poor, was obliged to pay every year to the daily sacrifice. 5. Day of Atonement. KBI* treats of the solemnities peculiar to it. 6. Tabernacles. rO1D teaches how they are to be built and how used. 7. The Egg laid on a Festival. -1113 01 or KTO treats of the works which may or may not be done on any of the festivals, which are called days of holy convocation, on which no servile work may be done. 8. New Year. nJKTi {5>fcO treats of the laws and solem- nities of the Feast of the New Year, as also of the Feasts of the New Moon. 9. Fasts. JVjyn treats of the various fasts throughout the year, and the manner they should be observed. 10. The Roll. rp}D treats of the Feast of Purim, and gives instructions how and in what manner the Book of Esther and other lessons are to be read. 11. Minor Feasts. JBp **1X?1D treats of the works that may and that may not be lawfully done on the second, third, CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 185 fourth, fifth, and sixth days, when the first and seventh are holy ; these intermediate days being lesser festivals. 12. Sacrifices on Festivals. rwan treats of the great festivals, when all the males were obliged to appear before the Lord, and of the sacrifices which they were to bring (Exod. xxiii. 17). It also lays down rules for the disso- lution of vows. JOSEPH BARCLAY. The Talmud. 1878. KITTO, etc. (See further on for continuation of " Contents of the Mishna.") CRABBE'S TIRADE. Jews are with us, but far unlike to those, Who, led by David, warr'd with Israel's foes ; Unlike to those whom his imperial son Taught truths divine the Preacher Solomon ; Nor war nor wisdom yield our Jews delight ; They will not study, and they dare not fight. These are, with us, a slavish, knavish crew, Shame and dishonour to the name of Jew ; The poorest masters of the meanest arts, With cunning heads, and cold and cautious hearts ; They grope their dirty way to petty gains, While poorly paid for their nefarious pains. Amazing race ! deprived of land and laws, A general language, and a public cause ; With a religion none can now obey, With a reproach that none can take away : A people still, whose common ties are gone, Who mixed with every race, are lost in none. ""A part there are, whom doubtless man might trust, Worthy as wealthy, pure, religious, just; 1 86 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. They who with patience, yet with rapture, look On the strong promise of the Sacred Book ; As unfulfilled th' endearing words they view, And blind to truth, yet own their prophets true ; Well pleased they look for Sion's coming state Nor think of Julian's boast and Julian's fate. (It being the intention of the compiler to give the various opinions of writers on the subject, he inserts the calum- nious lines above quoted from The Borough, by the Rev. GEORGE CRABBE. 1810.) THE BOAST OF JULIAN. His boast was, that he would rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem, his fate (whatever becomes of the miraculous part of the story), that he died before the foundations were laid. CRABBE. An edict was issued by Julian for the rebuilding of the Temple on Mount Moriah, and the restoration of the Jewish worship in its original splendour. The whole Jewish world was in commotion ; they crowded from the most distant quarters to be present and assist in the great national work. Their wealth was poured forth in lavish profusion. Men cheerfully surrendered the hard won treasures of their avarice ; women offered up the ornaments of their vanity. Already was the work commenced, already had they dug down to a considerable depth, and were preparing to lay the foundation, when suddenly flames of fire came bursting from the centre of the hills, accompanied with terrific explosions. The affrighted workmen fled on all sides, and the labours were suspended at once by this unforeseen and awful sign. The discomfiture of the Jews was completed ; and the resumption of their labours, could they have reco- CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 187 vered from their panic, was broken off by the death of Julian. MILMAN. History of the Jews. THE SINS OF FATHERS. When I turn my thoughts to the past and present situation of this peculiar people, I do not see how any Christian nation, according to the spirit of their religion, can refuse admission to the Jews, who, in completion of those very prophecies on which Christianity rests, are to be scattered and disseminated amongst all people and nations over the face of the earth. The sin and obduracy of their fore- fathers are amongst the undoubted records of our Gospel ; but I doubt if this can be a sufficient reason why we should hold them in such general odium through so many ages ; seeing how naturally the son follows the faith of the father ; and how much too general it is amongst mankind to profess any particular form of religion that devolves upon them by inheritance, rather than by free election and conviction of reason, founded upon examination. CUMBERLAND. A Learned JEWISH TEACHER. .... And this would be sufficiently analogous to the course of Providence in other known cases, e.g., the com- municating all religious knowledge to mankind through the Jewish people, and all intellectual civilisation through the Greeks ; no people having ever yet possessed that activity of mind and that power of reflection and questioning of things which are the marks of intellectual advancement, without having derived them mediately or immediately from the Greeks. I had occasion in the winter to observe this in a Jew, of whom I took a few lessons in Hebrew, and who was learned in the writings of the rabbis, but totally ignorant of all the literature of the West, ancient and 1 88 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. modern. He was consequently just like a child, his mind being without the habit of criticism or analysis, whether as applied to words or to things ; wholly ignorant, for instance, of the analysis of language, whether grammatical or logical, or of the analysis of a narrative of facts, according to any rules of probability, external or internal. I never so felt the debt which the human race owes to Pythagoras, or who- ever it was that was the first founder of Greek philosophy. A. P. STANLEY. Life, etc., of Thomas Arnold. Sixth Edition, p. 328. LEO MODENA. A book was published in Venice in 1637, purporting to be " The History of the Rites, Customs, and Manner of Life of the present Jews throughout the World," written in Italian by Leo Modena, a rabbine of Venice. It was translated by Edmund Chilmead, Master of Arts, and pub- lished in London, in the year 1650. It is in many places incorrect, and in most places a record solely of old-time usages and rabbinical dicta, and presents but few features of interest. PROPORTION OF THE SEXES. It is a singular fact that with Jews, the proportion of male births is decidedly larger than with Christians ; thus, in Prussia it is as 113, in Breslau as 114, and in Livonia as 1 20, to 100 ; the Christian births in those countries being the same as usual; for instance, in Livonia as 104 males to 100 females. DARWIN. The Descent of Man. TATTOOING. Dr. Darwin says, " This practice was followed by the Jews of old and by the ancient Britons." As regards the Jews, I presume his assertion is based on Lev. xix. 28 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 189 D33 linn vh ypyp nnnrji Dm&jan unn vh wzb \yw\, " Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you." But is it not rather a reductio ad absurdam to say that because a thing is forbidden to be done, it therefore assumes that it has been done ? Yet it must be admitted that it is also an oriental custom, and that too among nations whose proximity to the Hebrews affords a reason for the interdiction. (See some interesting notes in the "Pictorial Bible," p. 352.) POLYGAMY. Polygamy is permitted to the Jews, yet none of them practise it in those countries where it is not in vogue. The Sanhedrin decided, that in that, as in other respects, sub- mission must be given to the laws of the country in which we reside. The Synod of Worms (ann. 1030) went further, it pronounced anathemas against those who married more than one wife at the same time. MIXED MARRIAGES. One of the laws of Theodosius asserts, " Ne quis mulierem in matrimonium Judaeus accipiat, neque Judaeus Chris- tianus conjugium sortiatur. Nam si quis aliquid hujus modi admiserit, adulterii vicem commissi hujus crimen obtinebit." Whereby we see, that for a Christian man or woman to marry with one of the Jewish faith, was reputed the same thing as commiting adultery, and made the offending party liable to the same punishment. THE HEBREW ALPHABET. Verse 21, chapter vii. of Ezra, contains every letter of the English alphabet. It is perhaps not so well known, that verse 8, chapter iii. of Zephaniah, contains every letter, 190 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. including finals, of the Hebrew, as well as every vowel sound, and also the different forms of the sheva, the metheg, and all other grammatical marks : ty 1 ? "dtp cv 1 ? rttrr-aKa V-^n P^ 5 - *-i j- ' i: T : \: * - U-T 3 *sx fnn "p *< *"" *J~ PAST AND PRESENT. The name of Jew is now but another name for humilia- tion. Who that sees that fallen thing with his counte- nance bent to the ground, and his form withered of its comeliness, tottering through the proud cities of Europe in some degrading occupation, and clothed in the robes of the beggared and the despised, could imagine the bold figures and gallant bearing of the lion-hunters with whom I spurred up my barb on the mountain paths of Galilee ! Yet, fallen as he is, the physiognomy of the Jew retains a share of its original beauty, sufficient to establish the claim of the people to have been the handsomest race on earth. Individuals of superior comeliness may often be found among the multitudes of mankind. But no nation, nor distinct part of any nation, can rival an equal number of the unhappy exiles of Israel, in the original impress of that hand which made man only a little lower than the angels. To conceive the Jew as he was, we should conceive the stern and watchful contraction of the dark eye expanded ; the fierce and ridgy brow, lowering no more ; the lip, no longer gathered in habitual fear or scorn; the cheek, no longer sallow with want or pining; and the whole man renovated by the returning consciousness that he has a rank among nations. All his deformities have been the work of his misfortunes. What beauty can we demand from the dungeon? what dignity of aspect from the hewers of wood and drawers of water for mankind ? Where shall CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 191 we seek the magnificent form and illumined countenance of the hero and the sage ? From the heart cankered by the chain, from the plundered, the enslaved, the persecuted of two thousand years ? Of the daughters of my country I have never seen the equals in beauty.* Our blood was Arab, softened down by various changes of state and climate, till it was finally brought to perfection in the most genial air, and the most generous soil of the globe. The vivid features of the Arab countenance, no longer attenuated by the desert, assumed in the plenty of Egypt, that fulness and fine proportion which still belongs to the dwellers by the Nile ; but the true change was on our entrance to the promised land. Peace, the possession of property, days spent among the pleasant and healthful occupations of rural life, are in themselves productive of the finer developments of the human form a form whose natural tendency is to beauty. But our nation had an additional source of nobleness of aspect ; it was free ! The state of man in the most unfettered republic of the ancient world was slavery, compared with the magnanimous and secure establishment of the Jewish commonwealth. During the three hundred golden years, from Moses to Samuel before, for our sins, we were given over to the madness of innovation, and the demand of an earthly diadem the Jew was free, in the loftiest sense of free- dom, free to do all good, restricted only from evil, every man pursuing the unobstructed course pointed out by his * Benjamin West frequently declared that the first study in life he made in England was from a Jewish fruit woman, and that he never in after-life met with a countenance wherein beauty and dignity were so amply combined. And those who may have studied the " Human Face Divine," will agree with me in asserting that there are more elements of beauty in an aggregate number of Jewish women, than in a proportionate amount of any other class. P. A. 192 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. genius or his fortune, every man protected by laws inviolable, or whose violation was instantly visited with punishment by the Eternal Sovereign alike of ruler and people. The daughters of our nation, sharing in the rights of its sons, bore the lofty impression that virtuous freedom always stamps on the human features. But they had the softer graces of their sex in a degree unequalled in the ancient world. While the woman of the East was immured within bolts and bars, from time immemorial a prisoner ; and the woman of the West was a toy, a savage, or a slave ; our wives and maidens enjoyed the intercourses of society which their talents were well calculated to cheer and adorn. They were skilled on the harp, their sweet voices were attuned to the richest strains of earth, they were grace- ful in the dance, the writings of our bards were in their hands, and what nation ever possessed such illustrious founts of thought and virtue? REV. GEORGE CROLY, Salathiel, vol. i., pp. 59 67 (condensed). THE PROPERTY OF THE KING. " Omnes Judei ubicunque en Regno sunt sub tutela et defensione Regia legia debent esse, nee quilibet eorum alicui diviti se potest subdere sine Regis licentia. Judei enim et omnia sua Regis sunt. Quod si quispiam deti- nuerit eos, vel pecuniam eorum, perqui Rex (si vult) tan- quam suum proprium."* Which being translated, is, " All the Jews, wheresoever they are within the kingdom, ought to be under the king's lawful guard and protection ; nor can any one of them put himself under any rich person without the king's licence. For the Jews, and all they have, belong to the king ; and if any person shall detain * 4 Co. Inst. 254 inter Leges Edw. I., Lamb, cap. xxi., fol. 133. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 193 them, or any of their money, the king may demand them (if he pleases) as his own property." BISHOP OF THE JEWS. In the 5 [year of] King John, Simon de Kyme owed the king twenty marks for having a jury of lawful Christians and Jews,* to inquire whether Philip de Kyme, father of the aforesaid Simon, owed, on the day of his death, to Deodonatus, Bishop of the Jews,f and to Isaac, son of Rabi, and to Abraham, son of Rabi, and to James, the Jew of Lincoln, that debt which the same Jews demand of the said Simon by the carts (cartis] or bonds which they say they have of the aforesaid Philip, father of the afore- said Simon. PECK. Desiderata Curiosa. THE NATURALISATION OF THE JEWS. It is scarcely possible, in this age of enlightenment, to conceive the virulent malignity that was excited in almost every state of society at this measure, in the years 1752 and I 753- The Press teemed with pamphlets, each more violent than the other. Selections will be made from these, and from newspapers of the period, so that, gratified with our present position, and the respect we now elicit, we may "look on this picture and on that." * Viz., " Sex probus et legales homines et sex legales Judasos." f There was one among the Jews who had the office of Presbyteratus omnium Judizorum totius Anglia. We also find in Rot. Cart. I. Johannes, " Sciates nos concessisse et praesente carta nostra confirmasse Jacobo Judeo de Londoniis presbytero presbyteratum omnium Judseorum totius Anglise habend et tenend, quamdiu vexerit," etc. The presby- teratus and the episcopatus were probably much the same. Deodonatus is most likely a Latinised rendering of JflDliV, similar to Theodore, a gift of God. By-the-bye, it is rather curious to find Jewish parents giving the name Isidore (the gift of Jesus) to their children. P. A. 1 94 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. "As I am now satisfied that, notwithstanding the incre- dibility of the thing, there is a bill in the House for natu- ralising people professing the Jewish religion, I must, through the canal (sic) of your paper, beg leave further to set forth the horrid consequences of its passing into a law a law that may justly give us more dreadful apprehensions than if our late earthquakes were again felt in every country of the kingdom. For with God there is mercy, and His judgments, however terrible, may always be averted by penitence and humility under them; but with the Jews there is no mercy, and they have seventeen hundred years' punishment to revenge upon that Christian kingdom that first falls into their hands. "Awake, therefore, my fellow Britons, Christians, and Protestants ! it is not Hannibal at your gates, but the Jews, that are coming for the keys of your church doors. . . . Let us, if we have zeal and love for our king and country ; let us one and all use all humble address and meek suppli- cation, that we may not, by a Statute of the Kingdom, be made ripe for the severest strokes of divine vengeance, and delivered up to the merciless will of Jews who know no goodness, but that which blasphemed and murdered the Lord from heaven, nor desire any glory, but that of putting an end to all Christian churches, kings, and kingdoms." London Evening Post, May 24, 1753. CALUMNIOUS ASSERTIONS. How truly they were doomed to " become a bye-word and a reproach," the following, from various tracts of the period, will testify, teeming as they do with malignity and absurdity : " Certainly every one must allow that the crime of the 'Jews, in shedding the innocent blood of our Saviour, and CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISlVf. 1 95 putting the Lord of Life to an ignominious death, was infinitely a more flagrant offence against God than the Amalekites, laying in wait for the children of Israel in their passage out of Egypt, for which Saul was ordered to inflict on them a heavy punishment.". . . . "I know not whether an attempt to impede God's wrath (against the Jews) may not properly be called Rebellion against Him." " The City of London, apprehensive of the fatai conse- quences which might arise from incorporating such a set of people, assembled together in Common Council, and with great unanimity, resolved to address the House of Commons against the Bill." " I believe the Jews themselves will never be prevailed upon to become manufacturers, no more than seamen, for honest labour is not so easy to their hands, nor so estimable in their eyes, as the indolent way of selling trinkets, buying stolen goods, and deceiving all mankind in these articles, as well as in the superior branches of stock-jobbing and usury ; but they may screw our working-people down in their commodities, so as to starve the one and destroy the other." Westminster Journal, June, 9, 1753. "It is a matter of fact, that the Jews do live in con- tinual uneasiness, tormented and haunted like murderers, with a legion of horrors ; their crimes deserve severe lashes of conscience, and how severe they are, you may read in their very faces. You know a._/ew at first sight. And what then are his distinguishing features 1 Examine what it is peculiar that strikes you. It is not his dirty skin, for there are other people as nasty ; neither is it the make of his body, for the Dutch are every whit as odd, awkward figures as the Jews. But look at his eyes. Don't you see a malignant blackness underneath them, which gives them such a cast as bespeaks guilt and murder ? You can never mistake a Jew by this mark, it throws such a dead, livid 196 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. aspect over all his features, that he carries evidence enough in his face to convict him of being a crucifier." For the present these extracts may suffice, they could be continued usque ad nauseam. 11 HEP." " Hep " is supposed to be the contraction of Hierosolyma est perdita. This was the cri de guerre used on the Rhine, and particularly at Metz, in a rising against the Jews, accompanied by extensive massacres and spoliations, in the twelfth century. THE ONLY COSMOPOLITAN PEOPLE. Dispersed among all nations, and in every portion of the earth, far from Judea, unmixed and immutable (incroise et incroisable), having its own maladies and its own patholo- gical immunities, acclimatised everywhere, the only people truly cosmopolitan, the Jew represents in time and in space, physically and morally, the most surprising historical and ethnographical phenomena. He has remained everywhere " himself," preserving his traditions, his rites, his charac- teristics, his nationality, and his peculiar type ; like the Rhone, which, passing through the Lake of Geneva, retains its course, and the original qualities of its waters. Tacitus has said, " Profana illis omnia quse apud nos sacra ; rursum concessa apud illos quae nobis incesta." This expression characterises the contrast which has already been admitted eighteen centuries. In later times, M. Israeli (sic}, in his spiritual romance " Coningsby," has endeavoured to demonstrate the superiority of his race, not only intellectually but also morally. The French revolu- tion (qui n'y allait cependant pas de main morte) was con- tent with decreeing Liberty, Fraternity, Equality. The honourable member of .the House of Commons, although a CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 197 convert (renegat) is not so easily contented. Among Jewish illustrations, he cites Rossini, Madame Pasta, and two French Marshals unfortunately he forgets to give authorities for his assertions. "Dispersi, palabundi, et coeli et soli sui extorres, vaguntur per orbem, sine homine, sine Deo et rege, quibus nee advenarum jure terram patriam saltern vestigeo salu- tare conceditur." Tertullian, " Apolog. adv. Gentes," c. xvi. BOUDIN. Geographic et Statistique Medicates, torn, ii., p. 128. SKILL AND INDUSTRY. In the great synagogue at Alexandria in Egypt, sat in separate rows the goldworkers, the silverworkers, the weavers, the smiths. If a poor man came in, t he went to the artisans of his own trade, and received relief from them. In Jeru- salem, every company of workmen, such as metalworkers and others, had each its special benches. Sons were directed to follow the employment of their father. The family Garmi were celebrated for the manufacture of shew bread for the Temple ; several men who had come from Egypt having failed to make it properly. The family Abtinos was also renowned for perfumery and frankincense. Talmud. Various. THE LAW OF MOSES. The Law of Moses can never fall into neglect while the principle of Judaism acts on its people ; for it possesses a self-regenerating power. This law is not locked up in a clasped volume, to be consulted only by the administrators of the law, but is thrown open among the people, who themselves deliver it one to another. It is one of the " Thoughts " of Pascal to show the distinction between a true and a false revelation, that Mahomet, in order that 198 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. his own code might exist, prohibited the reading; but Moses, that his own should subsist, ordered that all the world should read it. It is decreed in the Laws of Moses that children shall be taught it ; and to this day, the child's first accents are almost formed by the " holy language," as the Hebrews emphatically call theirs, till they acquire the holy language itself, at least by rote.* The Law of Moses inculcates that it should form the subject of their conversations, walking or sitting; and so familiar is this knowledge to the Jewish ear, that whenever their law is quoted in conversation, which it frequently is, it is usual with an auditor to chime in with the close of the passage, like a chant often repeated. Never have human efforts, mere human efforts, been so marvellously directed to obtain a perpetuity, as have been exemplified in the preservation of their code; an immaculate condition was designed to equal the sanctity which it inspired. The verses, the words, and the letters, have been counted by the Massorites, in a martyrdom of learned and re- ligious diligence. A redundant or a deficient letter, or the space between each distinct letter, not duly preserved, or the quality of the" skin on which it is written, or the strings which bind it, would render the scroll corrupt and the scribe infamous. No word must be written by heart, or without having first been orally pronounced by the writer. The caligraphy of the Sepher Torah, that is, The Book of the Law, is unparalleled for the beauty of its character; and the Hebrews still testify their veneration for the code in a manner which might be considered, by any but an Israelite, as partaking largely of the most superstitious idolatry. A silken bandage protects the roll of the law from any pol- luting touch ; the transit of a mouse across the holy text, or any crumbs found in a Sepher Torah, require a public act * CARDOSA. Excellencias de los Hebreos : part i., p. 134. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 199 of expiation, and that the polluted roll should be committed to the flames. The public reader of the Pentateuch holds the holy code, a little unrolled, suspended over the heads of the people, turning it towards the four quarters of the universe. Amid their acclamations, they proclaim that "this is the law which God Himself gave to Moses." On its return to the ark, a gorgeous embroidered mantle covers the sacred roll, and the silver bells in its golden diadem are joyfully rung by the honoured Israelite, who on that day has been called to bear it in his arms. The mantled law scatters a benedic- tion in its passage; but happier those near it, who can kiss the finger which has touched the holy code. I. D'IsRAELi. Genius of Judaism, pp. 69, 70. RABBINICAL ANIMOSITY. The school of Hillel and that of Shamai, by their religious differences, divided Israel into two parties, one siding with the former, and the other with the latter.- One school con- sidered as " clean " things which the other school held to be " unclean ; " one forbade marriages in certain cases of relationship, which the other permitted. And from this the two parties became so inveterate against each other, that they would not eat together in the same house, nor make any matrimonial alliance with one of the opposite party. TALMUD Jebamoth, p. I4A. CLASSICAL ALLUSIONS TO THE JEWS. On this subject, B. H. A. writes (in No. 234, vol. ix., Series L, of "Notes and Queries"): In answer to your correspondent, B. H. C., I beg to say that I have found out the following passages in classic authors bearing on Judea and the Jews, all of which I have authenticated my- 200 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. self, except where I had not the book at hand : Tacitus, " Annales," ii., 85 ; xii., 23, 54 ; xv., 44 ; " Historian," i., 10; ii., i, 4, 5, 78, 79, 81 ; \.fassim. Horace, "Satires," i., 4, 143 ; i., 5, 100 ; i., 9, 70. Juvenal, "Satires," ii., 14; vi., 158 160, 537 547; xiv., 96 106. Persius, "Satires," v., 180 189. Martial, iv., 4. Suetonius, " Tiberius," 36 ; " Augustus," 76 ; "Claudius," 25; "Vespasian," 5, etc.; "Julius Caesar," 84. Pliny, v., 14, 15, 16, etc.; vii., 15; xxviii., 7. Dio Cassius, lx., 6; xxvii. 17. Lucan, ii. Fr. Carolus Meier has most of these authors, as well as some others, in a work published by him at Jena, 1832, under the title, "Judaica, seu, Veterum Scriptorum Pro- fanorum, De Rebus Judaicis Fragmenta." In addition to the authors cited by B. H. A., he mentions (with an elaborate index of reference) Herodotus, lib. ii., c. 104; lib. iii., c. 5; vii., c. 89. Lysimachus and Mane- thon with references to Josephus ; Polybius, " Histor.," lib. v., c. 70 (ed. Schweigh, torn. II., p. 364) ; xvi. (ed. Schw., torn. III., p. 642). Cicero, " Orat. de Provinciis Consularibus," c. 5 ; " Pro Flacco," c. 28. A slight allu- sion in Ovid, "De Art. Amat.," i., 75. Strabo, lib. xvi. Diodorus Siculus, " Bibl. Hist.," torn. I., lib. i., p. 32 (ed. Wess, p. 17 ; ed. Rhodomani, p. 64 or 35, according to the respective editions 105 or 59) ; lib. ii., p. 92 (ed. Rhod.); torn. II., Eclog. xxxiv., i, 524 or 901 ; Eclog. xl., torn. II., 542 or 921. Martial (in addition) lib. vii., ep. 29, 34, 54. Plutarch, "Sympos.," lib. iv., quaest 5, torn. II. Petronius, " Catal.," p. 683 (ed. Burin). Justin, lib. xxxvi., c. i ; c. 2. There are also quotations from Celsus, p. 63, in loco ; from Minucius Felix, p. 65, ditto ; as also details of the various decrees by the emperors against the Jews, " Impera- torum de Judaeis decreta," with many references to Pro- copius, Suidas, etc. Compiled. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 2OI THE APOCRYPHA. The books termed the Apocrypha (airoKpvfya) were origin- ally written, some of them in the Greek, but most of them in the Hebrew or Chaldee. They were all, or nearly all composed before the Christian era. Several of the pieces contain authentic narratives of events, and are highly valu- able in supplying the historical deficiencies of the canonical books, and illustrating the circumstances of the age to which they refer. A large number must be considered as mere historical fictions, having perhaps their foundation in matters of fact, but embellished according to the fancy of the author, often ingenious and amusing ; yet framed only for moral and religious purposes. Some of the books are more purely and directly didactic in character, consisting of proverbial reflections and maxims of prudence and wisdom. " The Song of the Three Children " is the only one which can be justly called poetical ; in form and structure it almost exactly resembles the Psalms of David. What interest these apochryphal writings excited, or to what extent they were circulated among the Greek literati, it may be impossible now to determine; but it is manifest from the reply of Josephus to the attack of Apion, that about the commencement of the Christian era, the antiquities and historical records of the Jews had become interesting subjects of enquiry among pagan scholars. At first, the Greeks very generally looked upon the Jews with profound contempt, classing them without distinction under the levelling epithet of barbarians. Occasionally they honoured them with a tribute of derision for their proud claims as a nation favoured of heaven, and their bigoted adherence to a system of burdensome ceremonies. But at length the Greeks became more acquainted with their sacred books, and conversion from paganism to Juda- 2O2 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. ism was not an uncommon occurrence. Synagogues, com- posed in great part of proselytes, existed in many of the Grecian cities at the beginning of the Christian era. ESCHENBURG. Manual of Classical Literature. Transl. by N. W. FISKE, 4th ed., p. 541. GOOD SENSE OF THE TALMUD. The inhabitants of the town of Ninive put a question to a Talmudical rabbi : " We have here the Jerusalem liturgy ; but in our locality, when we pray for rain, we, in fact, re- quire dry weather, and when we pray for the cessation of rain, it is then we most require it. How must we act ? " The doctor replied, " Arrange the liturgy according to your climate. Ask for rain, or ask for dry weather, just as you may require it." It is, in fact, a principle advanced in the Talmud, that we must not solicit the intervention of Pro- vidence except for such things as are rationally possible. For example, if you see at a distance a house on fire, the Talmud forbids your. praying to God that it may not be your house that is burning. The fact being already existing, nothing can prevent it. For the same reason, it is for- bidden to a pregnant woman to pray that her child may be of either sex she desires. Another Talmudic dictum is, that if a man become a convert to Judaism, having at the time infant children, when they arrive at the years of reason and judgment, he must give them the choice of either remaining in the Jewish faith, or of reverting to the ancient following of their father. O. TERQUEM. Arch. Israel., torn, xxii., p. 78, 1861. THE REFORMED JEWS. A feeling of dissatisfaction with the Talmudical system, and the antiquated ceremonies of the old rabbinical service, has led to many recent attempts at reform. In the year 1796, CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 203 some of the Amsterdam Jews formed themselves into a new community called Adath Jeshurun, and organised a con- sistory, which sent deputies to the Sanhedrin at Paris in 1 806 ; but this society has since been dissolved, and its members have rejoined the old synagogues. -During the short-lived kingdom of Westphalia, a wealthy and eminent Jew, named Jacobson, was appointed president of a Judaic consistory, by whom a new arrangement of the liturgy and synagogue service was enacted, and other reforms pro- jected; and a new synagogue was opened at Cassel, in 1810, upon these principles, to which was attached a public school or college. Similar attempts at reform have been made by the Jews of Berlin, Copenhagen and Hamburg. In the service adopted by the reformed Jews of the latter city, the principal daily prayers are retained, with the exception of those im- ploring a speedy return to Jerusalem, as well as all impre- cations upon their enemies. All the poetical or mystical prayers or rhapsodies introduced by the later rabbins, which occupy a considerable portion of the festival services are banished, the old method is modernised, hymns are sung, accompanied on the organ ; the reading of the Scrip- tures is sub-divided into smaller portions, so that the public reading of the Pentateuch occupies three years, in- stead of being completed in one ; and a sermon on moral or religious subjects is preached in German. Upon this plan new synagogues (called temples) have .been opened at Berlin, Leipsic, Vienna, Carlsruhe, Breslau, Koenigsberg and other places. By the general mass of Jews these inno- vations are naturally regarded with disdain and animosity ; and the sentiments of these reformers are not without reason considered as anti-Judaical, involving a renunciation of the hope of Israel. JOSIAH CONDER. View of all Re- ligions, p. 605, 1838. 204 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Since the publication of the above, the rise and progress of the reformed synagogue, entitled the " West London Synagogue of British Jews," has been sufficiently well- known to the community in general. "A BYE-WORD AND A REPROACH." Dupes of the most absurd superstitions, and destitute of those principles which alone are able to curb human de- pravity, the Jews are naturally abandoned to the perpetra- tion of crimes, the turpitude and demerit of which are modified or palliated by rabbinical sophistries, and the powerful influence of cupidity and pride. HENDERSON. Bibl, Researches in Russia, p. 228. NAMES OF THE HEBREW MONTHS. It may not be generally known that the names given to the Hebrew months are entirely of Assyrian or Babylonian origin. The following extract will sufficiently prove this: The monthly prognosticators of whom Isaiah speaks (xlvii., 12 13), .were probably representatives of the gods to whom the months were dedicated, as may be gathered from a list of the months, and their patron deities. The cuneiform text, contained in the inscriptions published by the Trustees of the British Museum, was translated by the late G. Smith, and is appended by Mr. Sayce to his " Baby- lonian Saints' Calendar." ("Records of the Past," vol. vii., p. 169.) 1. The month of Nissan to Anu and Bel. 2. The month lyyar to Hea, the lord of mankind. 3. The month Sivan to the moon-god, the eldest son of Bel. 4. The month Tammuz to the warrior Adar. 5. The month Ab to Allat, the mistress of the wood of the right hand. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 2O$ 6. The month Elul to Istar, the lady of battle. 7. The month Tisri to the sun-god, the warrior of the world. 8. The month Marchesvan to the lord, the prince of the gods, Merodach. 9. The month Chislev to the mighty hero Nergal. 10. The month Tebet to Pap-Succal, the messenger of Anu and Istar. 11. The month Sebat to Rimmon, the minister of heaven and earth. 1 2 . The month Adar to the seven great gods. 13. The month Ve-Adar to Assur, the father of the gods. RULE. Oriental Records, Historical, p. 46. The Subject Continued. The Hebrew names for "month" and "moon" BH*n, rnj, have a relative connection not only in Hebrew, but in most of the Indo-European languages, instance the Greek fifiv and /Jir)vfj,, and the Latin mensis, the German 2Roni> and SKoriat, etc. Limiting the subject to the consideration of their respective names, we may observe that at the early period of Jewish history they are only mentioned as the " first month," the second month, etc. The only exception in the Pentateuch is in the use of the word T2Nn (ears of corn) ; but it is questionable if this be not rather significant of the productiveness of the season, as the Vulgate renders it mensis novarum frugum. In i Kings, chapters vi. 37, 38; viii. 2., we find the second, eighth, and seventh months named respectively VT Ziv, "?U Bool, and Q^JVK Ethaneem. These names were probably superseded. Seven other names appear in various parts of the later books, including " Maccabees." The subject is treated /// extenso in " Smith's Dictionary 206 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. of the Bible." KITTO. Cyclop, of Bibl. Literature; WENER. Biblisch Real Worterbuch, etc., etc. THE PEACOCK. That the rabbins can teach to evade the law as well as to observe it, that on theological points and in scholastic subtilty, they are not inferior to the artifices of Jesuitical casuistry ; would not be difficult to demonstrate. If one affirms and the other denies ; if this distinction binds and the other looses ; if one blesses and the other curses, they have their choice at hand ; if Rabbi Johannan says this, and Rabbi Eliezar says that, a third may contrive to believe both, accepting which suits for the nonce. A remarkable circumstance of the rabbinical opinionists, which came authentically to my knowledge, may illustrate our subject. A Jewish gentleman, well-known to the scientific world, and moreover a lover of ancient romances,* had often luxuriated in the description of the splendid banquet of the " Peacock," so celebrated in the " Romances of Chivalry." In an hour of fancy he had a peacock killed ; the skin was carefully taken whole from the body, and when the bird was roasted and richly farced with aromatic spices, the skin was nicely replaced, and it was served up with its gorgeous plumage. A religious scruple suddenly haunted his mind that the demon Trefo sat on the peacock, and that its flesh was for- bidden aliment. The Israelite despatched the brilliant fowl to the house of a neighbour, the chief rabbin, for his inspection. He told his tale, the rabbin alternately looking on the gentleman and on the peacock at length the oracle ! First, he solemnly observed that there were some things of 'a doubtful nature among which was the eating of pea- * Query Himself. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 2O"J cocks. He opined that this bird was among the forbidden meats. " Be it so ! " exclaimed the romantic Ritualist ; " it was the fancy of a moment, and I have only lost a splendid bird ; I have not transgressed ; I will send it as a curious dish to my neighbour, who, being a Christian, is not perplexed by so difficult a ritual as our own. He may par- take of the feast of the peacock." " I would thank you for it myself," said the rabbin. " For what purpose ? " inter- rogated the Ritualist. " To eat it !" rejoined the master of sentences. " How ! If forbidden meat for me ? You understand the consequence?" The rabbin, fixing his eyes on the Ritualist, and holding his finger up, as we mark our interjections in writing to prepare the reader for the notable wisdom forthcoming, and with an emphatic distinguis ! thus opined the opinionist. " Eating the peacock is, as I told you, among the doubtful things. One rabbin is of one opinion, and another of another. You have required my opinion as your rabbin ; you are bound to abide by it. I opine that it is unlawful to be eaten. My father was of a different opinion, and therefore it may be eaten by me, be- cause I act on my father's opinion. I accept the peacock, but I must not ask you to participate it." I. D'ISRAELI. Genius of Judaism, pp. 169 173. BILLS OF EXCHANGE. The invention of bills of exchange has been generally ascribed, since the time of Montesquieu, to the Jews. " It is a known fact," says this eminent writer, " that under Philip Augustus, and Philip the Long, the Jews, who were chased from France, took refuge in Lombardy, and that they there gave to foreign merchants and travellers secret letters drawn upon those to whom they had entrusted their effects in France, which letters were accordingly accepted by their correspondents. Commerce," he adds, " by this 208 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. means became capable of eluding violence, and of main- taining everywhere its ground ; the richest merchant having nothing but invisible effects which he could convey imper- ceptively wherever he pleased." Esprit des Loix, lib. xxi., c. 16. THE MATERNAL IMPULSE. The maternal passion is a sacred mystery to me. What one sees symbolised in the Roman churches in the image of the Virgin Mother with a bosom bleeding with love, I think one may witness (and admire the Almighty bounty for) every day. I saw a Jewish lady, only yesterday, with a child at her knee, and from whose face towards the child there shone a sweetness so angelical, that it seemed to form a sort of glory around both. I protest I could have knelt before her too, and adored in her the Divine beneficence in endowing us with the maternal storge which began with our race and sanctifies the history of mankind. THACKERAY. Pendennis. EFFECTS OF PREJUDICE. A painful reminiscence would come over my mind when- ever I heard or saw the word Jew. About this time I became fond of reading, and I never saw the word Jew in any page of any book which I happened to open, without immediately stopping to read the passage. And here I must observe that not only in the old story books, where the characters of Jews are as well fixed to be wicked, as the bad fairies, or bad genii, or allegorical personifications of the devils and the vices in the old emblems, mysteries, moralities, etc. ; but in every work of fiction I found the Jews represented as hateful beings; nay, even in modern tales of very late years. Since I have come to man's estate, I have met with books by authors professing candour CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 209 and toleration, and even in these, wherever the Jews are introduced, I find they are invariably represented as beings of a mean, avaricious, unprincipled, treacherous character. Even the peculiarity of their persons, the errors of their foreign dialect and pronunciation were mimicked and cari- catured as if to render them objects of perpetual derision and detestation. Miss EDGEWORTH. Harrington. See also " The Jew," a play, by Cumberland : " Sheva. We have no abiding place on earth, no country, no home ; everybody rails at us, everybody flouts us, everybody points us out for their may-game and their mockery. If your play-writers want a butt or a buffoon, or a knave to make sport of, out comes a Jew to be baited and buffeted through five long acts for the amusement of all good Christians." OBSERVANCE OF THE PASSOVER. During the epoch of " The Terror," when it was con- sidered a glorious act to repudiate every religious observ- ance, the Israelites of Metz could not dispense with the unleavened bread appertaining to the celebration of the Passover. Consequently it was prepared, but they feared the denunciations so frequent at that time should they ven- ture to use the prescribed food. However, a lady, Madame Lambert, went boldly to the representative of the people. "What dost thou want, citizen?" asked the pro-consul of Metz. "Permission to celebrate our Passover," was the reply. " What ! do you still uphold those absurdities, when the sun of reason shines in the horizon!" "The unleavened bread is ready ; it is a custom dear to our hearts, it is a souvenir of liberty," replied she, undismayed. " Ah, well ! since the wine is broached, I suppose you must drink it." Archiv. Israel., 1843. 210 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. JEWISH INFLUENCE. At the present day the Jews exercise no perceptible re- ligious influence on the Christian communities among which they dwell. Their religion has no advantage over Christianity, either as regards its accordance with reason, its adaptation to human wants, or the evidence on which it rests. Not improbably the absence of modern conversions to it has blinded prominent writers to its influence on the heathens of antiquity. That the Jews in eastern countries made numerous con- verts to the main points of their faith is obvious from the frequent mention of such converts in the New Testament, and from addresses and allusions to them, which imply their existence as a well-recognised class. In the course of this work, it will become evident, that in Syria, and portions of Asia Minor, and perhaps even to the eastwards of those countries, they had, at the Christian era, largely displaced the ancient religions. In north Egypt, they were nume- rous and influential, and their views, before the Christian era, were gaining rapid foothold at Rome. Multitudes of Gentiles must, without adopting Judaism, have adopted Monotheism. Wherever belief in a moral ruler of the universe was diffused, civilisation received an impetus. Belief in such a ruler gave encouragement to, and sense of responsibility for, a right use of life. Intellectual and social development became most marked in those Gentile communities where Jewish influence was greatest. F. HUIDEKOPER. Judaism at Rome, pp. i, 2. THE WORD "GoD." A difficulty experienced by modern missionaries in heathen lands evidently confronted the Jews in their first efforts. The Greek and Latin languages contained no term CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM.' 211 for the One Supreme Being. The word " God " was a common noun, as is our word man. If we say that man is of limited capacity, or liable to err, or mortal, the expression is readily understood as meaning that human nature is limited, or is liable to err, or that all men are mortal. The heathen use of the word god was analogous. We say, Man proposes, God disposes. By man, we mean any mortal. A Greek or Roman would equally have understood the word god as meaning any divine being. In order to meet this difficulty, the Jews were forced to con- nect with the word God, or to substitute for it, adjectives which would partially, at least, convey their meaning. Ibid., pp.2 4. Several interesting and elaborate notes may be found in loco. In addition, I would ask, do not we Jews also sanction a similar confusion when we admit the translation of D'fPK as God, DwX run 11 the Lord God, or in the command, *J3 hy Dnnx &rbK "f? rprv h, " Thou shalt have no other gods before me," seemingly admitting the existence of such gods, with whom Jehovah will not permit any association or participation. If DTPX were rendered here " powers," as its root 7N implies, all difficulty or obscurity would at once be dispelled. Generally speaking, DTI7X, when referring to the Supreme, should be translated Omnipotent, God being a concentration of all power, and nin, as its grammatical signification implies, eternal P. A. EXCERPTA FROM HuiDEKOPER. Judaism was, prior to Christianity, the only religion known at Rome which appealed to moral sense, and inte- rested itself with man's moral improvement. p. 5. The Jewish teaching, imposed in B.C. 76 upon the Senate, implies either that the Senate did not know the nature of what it was obtaining, or that public attention had not 212 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. previously been called to the dispute with Judaism. The former of these is the more probable supposition. p. 6. Not long before the accession to power of the popular party under Julius Caesar, we find Cicero advocating that no one should be permitted the exercise of any religion, either publicly or privately, except what had been sanc- tioned by the Senate. Ibid. When Caesar attained to power, we find a procession annually of Roman dignitaries on the first day of Passover, for the purpose of throwing away idol images, and at his funeral Jews were conspicuous. In the year 19, the reactionary Senate, during a fierce conflict against Tiberius and the popular party, undertook to put Cicero's suggestion in practice. They drove the Jews out of Rome, prohibited, under severe penalties, any Jewish teaching, and searched houses for its converts. From this date forward, no Gentile, while residing at Rome, could legally profess Judaism. p. 7. The re-expulsion of the Jews took place in the reign of Claudius, anno 52. p. 9. A bitter state of feeling existed in the reign of Trajan between his government and the Jews. p. 10. Judaism at Rome, B.C. 76 to A.D. 140. ARE THERE JEWS IN CORNWALL? There is scarcely a book on Cornish history or anti- quities in which we are not seriously informed that at some time or other the Jews migrated to Cornwall, or worked as slaves in Cornish mines. Some writers state this as a fact requiring no further confirmation ; others support it by that kind of evidence which Herodotus, no doubt, would have considered sufficient for establishing the former presence of Pelasgians in different parts of Greece, but which would have hardly satisfied Niebuhr, still less Sir G. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 213 C. Lewis. Old smelting houses, they tell us, are still called Jews' houses in Cornwall, and if, even after that, any body could be so sceptical as to doubt that the Jews, after the destruction of Jerusalem, were sent in large numbers to work as slaves in the Cornish mines, he is silenced at once by an appeal to the name of Marazion, the well-known town opposite to St. Michael's Mount, which means the " bitterness of Zion," and is also called Market Jew. Many a traveller has no doubt shaken his unbelieving head, and asked himself how it is that no real historian should ever have mentioned the migration of the Jews to the far west, whether it took place under Nero or under one of the later Flavian emperors. Yet all the Cornish guides are positive on this subject, and the prima facie evidence is certainly so startling, that we can hardly wonder if certain anthropologists discovered even the sharply-marked features of the Jewish race among the sturdy fishermen of Mount's Bay. (Here follows a long and extended dissertation on the subject of dialects.) Returning to the Jews in their Cornish exile, we find no doubt, as mentioned before, that even in the ordnance maps, the little town opposite St. Michael's Mount is called Marazion and Market Jew. Marazion sounds decidedly like Hebrew, and might signify Mdrdh, " bitterness, grief," Zion, " of Zion." M. Esquiros, a believer in Cornish Jews, thinks that Mara might be a corruption of the Latin Amara, bitter ; but he forgets that his etymology would really defeat its very object, and destroy the Hebrew origin of the name. The next question, therefore, is what is the real origin of the name Marazion, and of its alias Market Jew. It cannot be too often repeated that inquiries into the origin of local names are in the first place historical, and only in the second place philological. 214 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. An interesting resume follows here (vol. iii., pp. 305 329), the gist of which is, that the presence of Jews in Cornwall is altogether a myth. As there is however much to be said on the other side of the question, a few extracts/^ contra will be subsequently quoted, leaving the readers to form their own conclusions. Condensed. MAX MULLER. Chips from a German Workshop. AHASUERUS AND ESTHER. Chapter clxxvii. of the " Gesta Romanorum " (a Latin and Greek story book formerly much in request) contains a tale called " The Feast of King Ahasuerus and Esther," on which Warton observes, " I have mentioned a metrical romance on this subject, and I have before observed that Thomas of Elmham, the chronicler, calls the coronation feast of King Henry VI., a second feast of Ahasuerus. Hence also Chaucer's allusion, at the marriage of January and May, while they were at the solemnity of the wedding dinner, which is very splendid, " Quene Esther loked ner with soch an eye On Assuere, so meke a loke hath sche." WARTON. Hist. English Poetry, Hazlitt ed., vol. i., p. cxci. TAPESTRY IN THE TOWER. It is rather amusing to notice the melange as depicted in tapestry of the Tower of London the original and most ancient seat of our monarchs there are recited Godfrey of Bulloigne, .the Three Kings of Cologne, the Emperor Constantine, Saint George, King Erkenwald, the History of Hercules, Fame and Honour, the Triumph of Divinity, Esther and Ahasuerus, Jupiter and Juno, Saint John, the Eight Kings, the Ten Kings of France, the Birth of Our Lord, Duke Joshua, the Rich History of King David, the CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 215 Seven Deadly Sins, the Rich History of the Passion, the Stem of Jesse, our Lady and Son, King Solomon, the Woman of Canony, Meleager, and the Dance of Maccabre. Ibid., vol. i., p. 204. "THE SEVEN SAGES." The romance of the " Seven Sages," is one of the most remarkable of the mediaeval collection of stories, and be- longs to the same class as the celebrated " Thousand and One Nights of the Arabs," in Avhich one simple story is employed as a means for stringing together a multitude of subsidiary tales. The title of the Indian romance was "Sinabud," and it appears to have been composed at a very remote, though unknown period. The Arabian historian, Massoudi, who died in 956, says this book was composed by an Indian philosopher named Sendabad. From the Indian original were derived three works founded on the same plot, but differing a little in details, one of which was the Hebrew romance of the " Parables of Sende- bar." The Hebrew version of this work is at least as old as the 1 2th century. The alteration in the last letter of the word has probably arisen from confounding the two Hebrew letters 1 and 1. This Hebrew version is still preserved in manuscript. The Latin " Historia Septem Sapientum Romas," appears to have been translated directly from the Hebrew, and to have served as a groundwork for all the other mediaeval versions. Condensed from a dissertation by THOMAS WRIGHT, M.A., Percy Society's Series. JEWS IN GERMANY. The state of Germany, as to commerce and civilisation, has been very beneficial to the Jews: their wealth in its 2l6 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. leading cities has been long well known, and of late has attracted more attention than they would perhaps have wished. Since the time of Mendelsohn, many of them have studied with much success in its universities. Of these, Professor Neander, now a Christian, may be cited as a very creditable specimen ; and many young Jews fought in the armies which delivered Germany from the yoke of Buonaparte, with a courage and intelligence, of which several of them bear the honourable records in the decorations they have earned. Many Jews have studied and practised medicine with success. The distresses of the noble holders of land, occasioned by French occupa- tion and contributions, and the preceding and subsequent wars, all of which bore with peculiar weight upon Prussia, caused permission to be granted there to the Jews, the great holders of ready money, whose property too is the least tangible and exposed to spoliation, to purchase manors (Sflitterguter), which conferred a new splendour and consist- ence on their existence. But when these feudal properties, besides many of the finest houses in the German capitals, passed into Israelitish hands, it was in the course of things that the people should view with envy and indignation these foreign un- believing money-changers, climbing up on the pedestals from which the statues of Christian knights and barons of ancient race had been hurled down by the storms which shook their native land to its centre. Besides this, cir- cumstanced as the Jews were, it was to be expected that they would enter largely into the contracts made by the French Government for the prosecution of its military enterprises, and that this conduct of theirs would be highly offensive to the German patriots. These causes, therefore, and somewhat here and there of that ostentation and indis- cretion which seem to be almost inseparable from the enjoy- CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 217 ment of suddenly acquired wealth, had indisposed the minds of men against them; and this more so than any one was aware of until riotous proceedings against them broke out, first at Meiningen, and then at Wiirzburg in 1820, and spread to the Rhine. These were, however, soon suppressed, and their extension prevented, by the vigilance of the governments of the North of Germany. It is curious that the old cry of " Hep, Hep," was at this time revived against the Jews, after a disuse of so many centuries. " On the Present State of the Jews," Quarterly Review, vol. xxxviii., 1828. A CENTURY AGO IN BRUSSELS. The magistrates at Brussels have issued orders that all Jews settling in that city for the future shall pay 300 florins yearly to the receivers of the Empress Queen's revenue, or be banished ; and that if any Jews should, under pretence of being travellers, stay there above forty-eight hours, they shall be obliged to pay the same sum. Annual Register, 1775- CONSISTORY AT ROME. It appears by letters from Rome (August 31, 1811) that in pursuance of a decree issued by Buonaparte, the Con- sistory of Israelites was established there in that month. The extreme novelty of this spectacle attracted an immense crowd of spectators ; but no insult was offered. M. Leoni de Leoni was proclaimed Grand Rabbi. Ibid., 1811. NINE HUNDRED AND THREE DOORS OUT OF THE WORLD. An inquiry on this subject in " Notes and Queries," is answered by Mr. Leopold Dukes, who mentions that the authority for the expression, " The Jews reckon 903 kinds 2l8 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. of death or ways out of the world is to be found in the Babylonian Talmud, and in Jalkut Shimoni on Psalm Ixviii. 21, DID? niK^in, "the issues to death," the nume- rical value of niNVin being 903. ERRORS OF GREAT WRITERS. Shakespeare has made a great mistake with reference to the restrictive customs of the Israelites respecting their food ; for although he represents Shylock as saying (in The Merchant of Venice, Act i., scene 3) in answer to Bassanio's, " If it please you to dine with us ? " " Yes, to smell pork, to eat of the habitation which your prophet the Nazarite,* conjured the devil into ! (Matt. viii. 28 34.) I will buy with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you ; " we yet find him saying (Act ii., scene 5) : " I am bid forth to supper, Jessica, There are my keys ; but wherefore should I go ? I am not bid for love ; they flatter me ; But yet I'll go in hate, to feed upon The prodigal Christian." And further, to leave no doubt of his intention of partaking the repast, he says : " By Jacob's staff I swear, I have no mind of feasting forth to-night ; But I will go." Sir Walter Scott has fallen into a similar error, in " Ivan- hoe," chap. v. : " But the abbot had at this moment engaged him in a most interesting discussion on the breed and character of his favourite hounds, which he would not interrupt for matters of much greater importance than that of a Jew going supperless to bed. While Isaac thus stood .an outcast to the present society, like his people among * " Nazarite," in error for " Nazarene." CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 2 19 the nations, looking in vain for welcome or resting-place, the pilgrim who sate by the chimney took compassion upon him, and resigned his seat, saying briefly, ' Old man, my garments are dried, my hunger is appeased, thou art both wet and fasting.' So saying, he gathered together, and and brought to a flame the decaying brands which lay scattered on the ample hearth ; took from the larger board a mess of pottage and seethed kid, placed it upon the small table at which he himself had supped, and without waiting the Jew's thanks, went to the other end of the hall The Jew bent his withered form over the fire, and having dispelled the cold, turned eagerly to the smoking mess which was placed before him, and ate with a haste and an apparent relish that seemed to betoken long abstinence from food." It must be self-apparent that neither would Shylock have partaken of Bassanio's festal banquet, nor would the punctilious Jew of York have eaten of the Christian's pottage and "seethed kid," even to have averted the most bitter pangs of hunger. But " even Jove nods sometimes." It may be deemed hypercritical to point out blots in the bright sun of the author of " Waverley." I will, therefore, limit my remarks under this head ; and first, I would ask, if it be not somewhat of a misnomer to speak of " the rich Jew of Leicester," as " Kirjath Jairam of Lombardy," Kirjath Jairam (or the city of forests) being evidently the name of a locality. Also when Zacharias Yoglan (!) (see " Kenilworth," chap, xiii.) speaks of having been a chemist in London forty years, although the very reverse of a Jew in appearance, we might be tempted to ask how one of that hated race con- trived to live unharmed during the reign of Philip and Mary ? It would be, however, ungracious to notice other anachronisms among so much of sterling merit. P. A. 220 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. " BOYS AND GIRLS PLAYING IN THE STREETS." I have a notion that were the question asked, Does the Bible contain a sentence in which such an expression is included ? most people would hesitate before answering. It so happens that I heard a sermon preached from this text, which may be found in Zechariah viii. 5. J. BEALE. Notes and Queries, 1867. INTEGRITY. Rabbi Phineas, son of Jair, entertained two of his acquaintances as guests in his house. One day they gave him two measures of barley to save for them. But in the hurry of their departure they forgot to ask for them. When the rabbi noticed this, he was for a long time uncertain what to do with the corn. At length he resolved to sow the barley, and it produced a plentiful crop ; this he sowed again, and so continued for seven years, and still with the same productive result, until at length he was enabled to fill an entire granary. At the end of the seven years, the two friends returned from their travels. They went to the rabbi's house, and remembering their barley, they asked for its return. He led them to the well-filled store-house, and simply said, " This belongs to you."* Rabbi Simeon gave also a remarkable example of integrity. He had bought an ass from an Arab, and found a precious stone in its head-gear. His scholars said, " How fortunate for you, Master, this will make you rich." But he answered, " I bought the ass, and not the jewel." So, sending for the Arab, he restored it to him. Rabb., p. 2 92 A. * Is there not a similar act of integrity recorded of the early career of the Rothschilds the deposit and product the return, however, not corn, but coin ? CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 221 CONTENTS OF THE MISHNA. ( Continued from page 184.) BOOK III. ON WOMEN D^J Y1D. i. Brother's Widow. nioa 11 (Deut. xxv. 5 u) treats of the law obliging a brother to marry the relict of his deceased brother ; also when the obligation is to take place, and the ceremonies to be used at its performance. 2. Marriage Settlements. JIUirD treats of dowries, and women who happen to obtain estates, either real or per- sonal. 3. Vows. 0^113 (Num. xxx. 4 16) shows when vows are binding, and when null and void. When a married woman makes a vow, the husband can confirm it or annul it. This tract points out what vows fall under his cogni- sance and what do not. 4. The Nazarite. JTHti (Num. vi. 21) treats of the laws relating to the different sorts of Nazarites. 5. Trial of Jealousy . nt31D (Num. v. n 31) treats of the mode of trial and punishment of conjugal infidelity of a woman, the bitter water, etc. 6. Divorces. }0^ treats of the laws relating to divorces ; also the formalities to be observed both before and after they are given. 7. Betrothing. J*B>np treats of the law of espousals and some other previous rites of marriage. It enjoins that sons should be taught suitable trades. BOOK IV. ON DAMAGES |pW TJD. 1. The First Gate. KDp N33, so-called, because in the East, law is often administered in the gateway of a city. It treats of all such damages as may be received from man or beast. 2. The Middle Gafe.WXD $12 treats of laws of usury 222 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. and trusts, of letting out on hire, of landlord and tenant, etc. 3. The Last Gate, N103 N33 treats of the laws of com- merce and co-partnership, of buying and selling, of the laws of inheritance and the right of succession. 4. Sanhedrin. pinJD treats of the great national Senate, its various judges and witnesses. 5. Stripes. JTGD treats of false witnesses, of the law of the forty stripes save one, of those who were bound to fly to the cities of refuge. 6. Oaths. niJ?UB> explains the laws for administering oaths. 7. Evidences. niHV are a collection of many important decisions gathered from the testimonies of different rabbis respecting witnesses, etc. CAUSES OF JEWISH INFLUENCE. Jewish views of God and of religious duties, especially as advocated by the thoughtfully liberal, commended them- selves infinitely more to common sense and moral sense than did those of the heathens. These views of God encouraged right effort, and strengthened conscience, so that the character of Jews and their converts was elevated to a higher average than that of heathens. Judaism alone, among religions on earth, prior to Christianity, taught the existence of a Divine Being, who took interest in the moral education of mankind. This Being was represented as supreme in power, wisdom, and goodness, as having, be- cause of his interest in man, made a revelation which was addressed to his moral sense. Heathenism had a multitude of discordant deities, not one of whom was supposed to have shown interest in man's moral improvement or moral encouragement Their own characters as depicted, not merely by tradition and popular CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 223 belief, but by some intelligent men, would have rendered them unfit associates in a decent family. If we now consider religious duties, we shall find between heathens and Jews a difference equally marked. The weekly services at the Jewish synagogue included teachings concerning God and human duty. These services must have been imperfect, for they were conducted by human beings; yet the heathen who entered when a thoughtful Jew was reading, might listen to views which the range of heathen literature nowhere presented to the idea that God was to be served by justice and kindness towards our fellows, and by maintaining a right frame of mind, that this was the service which he most desired. If the heathen listened to a judiciously selected psalm or hymn, he heard what might strengthen moral purpose, quicken right affec- tions, or aid divine aspirations. Heathen literature con- tained nothing that resembled it. HUIDEKOPER. Judaism at Rome, pp. 16 24. AVERAGE CHARACTER. To infer that the average character of Jews surpassed that of heathens, is merely to assume that the laws of human nature were not in their case suspended. Those who can look up to, commune with, and derive encourage- ment from superior benevolence and moral worth, whether human or divine, must, as a rule, rise above those who have no such privilege. The sense of responsibility to an all- seeing eye, felt by sincere Jews, for wrong done, or good left undone, must have strengthened their consciences, whilst the total, or almost total, absence among heathens of any such sense, must have produced its natural effect upon their characters. Ibid., pp. 27, 28. 224 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. EXCERPTA FROM HUIDEKOPER. (Continued?) We have the testimony of Cicero whose political preju- dices were against the Jews that the section of the republic wherein reason and industry were of most account, was one in which we know Jewish influence to have been especially strong. Tacitus, a defamer of Judaism, testifies uninten- tionally to the fact that in Syria where the heathen religion had been rooted out by Jewish teaching military force was superfluous and industry prosperous. Pliny, in his " Panegyric," whilst stating that indecencies customary at heathen entertainments, were excluded from Trajan's table, enables us to perceive that Jewish enter- tainments were conducted yet more strictly than the Emperor's. The marriage relation must have been better observed among Jews than among heathens. The loose views and practices of the latter are well known. THE HEBREW AND THE STRANGER. One of the surest tests of a people's character and aspi- rations is the attitude it assumes to other nations in con- trasts, and points of contact. These relations, if well under- stood, will be found to reflect a large portion of its destinies and moral education, and conclusively to prove how far it has advanced towards the final goal of universal sympathy. Such an inquiry is of singular interest with regard to the Hebrews, who have so constantly been described by them- selves and others as " a peculiar people," and yet long to unite one day all the races of the earth ; who, even in their wide and lasting dispersion, desire and believe themselves to be faithful to the ancient principles of their fathers, and yet are anxious to feel themselves in completest harmony CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 225 with the Gentile populations among whom they live as citi- zens ; and who, by teaching and example, have exercised the most decisive influence upon the course of civilisation. But what are the ancient principles? To many the reply will appear exceedingly simple and easy. And yet the subject embraces questions of Hebrew antiquities hardly more momentous than complicated. It has called forth two extreme views also in diametrical opposition, for while some glorify the Hebrew law and practice respecting strangers as the ideal of enlightenment and humanity, others find, both in the law and the practice, clear evidence of the narrowest intolerance and the harshest cruelty. And yet it would be as unjust to charge the former with servile reverence as to reproach the other with blind preju- dice. How is it possible, between these contradictions, to discover the truth ? Solely by the application of that his- torical method which, in all similar investigations, alone ensures safe conclusions, by recognising stages of develop- ment, and by separating periods. The conduct of Hebrews towards aliens has a history, which the present state of biblical science fortunately enables us to trace with a con- siderable degree of accuracy, and which is the more remarkable, because, as we hope to establish, it forms an organic part of the Hebrew people's general history, of which it reproduces nearly every shade and phase. Dr. M. KALISCH. Bibl. Studies. Part II. THE JEWS DO NOT PROSELYTISE. The Jews, particularly in ancient times, never thought of spreading their religion. Their religion was to them a treasure, a privilege, a blessing, something to distinguish them, as the chosen people of God, from all the rest of the world. A Jew must be of the seed of Abraham, and when in later times, owing chiefly to political circumstances, the Q 226 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Jews had to admit strangers to some of the privileges of their theocracy, they looked upon them, not as souls that had been gained, saved, born again into a new brotherhood, but as strangers (D^i3), as proselytes (Trpoo-// \vroi), which means men who have come to them as aliens, not to be trusted, as their saying was, until the twenty-fourth gene- ration. " Proselyti ne fidas usque ad vigesimam quartam generationem." Jalkut {Ruth, fol. 163. MAX MULLER. Chips from a German Workshop, vol. iv., p. 254. Further on this (p. 319) the learned philologist remarks : " Till very lately, an orthodox Jew was rather proud of the fact that he and his people had never condescended to spread their religion among Christians by such means as Christians use for the conversion of Jews. Suddenly, however, all this has changed. The Chief Rabbi in London, stung to the quick by the reproach of the absence of the missionary spirit in Judaism, has delivered a sermon to show that I had maligned his people, and that though they never had missionaries, they had been the most prosely- tising people in the world. 'As the facts and arguments advanced by the Jewish advocates did not modify my judgment of the historical character of Judaism, I did not think it necessary to reply. I am informed, however, that the discussion thus originated will not remain without practical results, and that something like a Jewish mis- sionary society is actually forming (?) in London, to prove that, if missionary zeal is a test of life, the Jewish religion will not shrink from such a test.* BURYING OF THE LAW. A great ceremony, called the "Burying of the Law," * Published in 1875. As yet, in 1879, the supposed Jewish Mis- sionary Society is in embryo, or rather, I should say, in nubibus. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 227 lately took place in the Spanish Synagogue of Jerusalem. It happens once in every eight or ten years, and is accom- panied with the following ceremonies : There is in the " Talmud Torah " synagogue a subterranean cave, wherein any old leaf torn out of any holy book, every old worn-out Bible, Phylactery, and Gemara, is deposited by all the Jewish inhabitants in Jerusalem of. every Minhag. After eight or ten years, when the cave is full, these old papers and books are brought out and made into bales. This done, the Jews begin to assemble at a given time in the afternoon. A kosher, or faultless Sepher Torah, richly ornamented and jewelled, is brought by the Cacham Bashi, and carried by him and the other rabbis in turn at the head of the procession. He is followed by the other rabbis ; next come the bales, about seventy or eighty in number, each carried by a Jew, and then the rest of the people. The procession winds its way slowly out of the Zion gate for some distance along the city wall, and then descends into the valley of Jehoshaphat, where the burial-ground is situated. Here is a very deep well, where the bales are finally thrown, amidst the singing of the joyous crowd. Jewish World, April 18, 1873. THE KABBALAH. A system of religious philosophy, or more properly of theosophy, which has not only exercised for hundreds of years an extraordinary influence on the mental develop- ment of so shrewd a people as the Jews, but has captivated the minds of some of the greatest thinkers of Christendom in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, claims the greatest attention both of the philosopher and the theolo- gian. When it is added that among its captives were Ray- mond Lully, the celebrated scholastic metaphysician and 228 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. chemist (died 1315); John Reuchlin, the renewed scholar and reviver of oriental literature in Europe (born 1455, died 1522); of John Picus de Mirandola, the famous philosopher and classical scholar (1463 1494); Cornelius Henry Agrippa, the distinguished philosopher, divine, and physician (1486 1535); John Baptist von Helmont, a remarkable chemist and physician (1577 1644); as well as our own countryman, Robert Fludd, the famous phy- sician and philosopher (1574 1637); and Dr. Henry More (1614 1687); and that these men, after restlessly searching for a scientific system which should disclose to them "the deepest depths" of the Divine nature, and show them the real tie which binds all things together, found the cravings of their minds satisfied by this theosophy, the claims of the Kabbalah on the attention of students in literature and philosophy will readily be admitted. The claims of the Kabbalah, however, are not restricted to the literary man and the philosopher ; the poet, too, will find in it ample materials for the exercise of his lofty genius. How can it be otherwise with a theosophy which we are assured was born of God in Paradise, was nursed and reared by the choicest of the angelic hosts in heaven, who only held converse with the holiest of man's children upon earth. Listen to the story of its birth, growth, and maturity, as told by its followers. The Kabbalah was first taught by God himself to a select company of angels, who formed a theosophic school in Paradise. After the fall, the angels graciously communi- cated this heavenly doctrine to the disobedient child of earth, to furnish the protoplasts with the means of return- ing to their pristine nobility and felicity. From Adam it passed over to Noah, and then to Abraham, the friend of God, who emigrated with it to Egypt, where the patriarch allowed a portion of this mysterious doctrine to ooze out. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 229 It was in this way that the Egyptians obtained some know- ledge of it, and the other Eastern nations could introduce it into their philosophical systems. Moses, who was learned in all the wisdom of the East, was first initiated into it in the land of his birth, but became most proficient in it during his wanderings in the wilderness, when he not only devoted to it the leisure hours of the whole forty years, but received lessons in it from one of the angels. By the aid of this mysterious science, the lawgiver was enabled to solve the difficulties which arose during his management of the Israelites, in spite of the pilgrimages, wars, and the frequent miseries of the nation. Moses also initiated the seventy elders into the secrets of this doctrine, and they again trans- mitted them from hand to hand. Of all who formed the unbroken line of tradition, David and Solomon were most deeply acquainted with the Kabbalah. No one, however, dared to write it down, till Simon Ben Jochai, who lived at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple. (Here follows a marvellous account of the subsequent adventures and death of the said Simon.) His son, R. Eliezer, and his secretary, R. Abba, as well as his disciples, then collated R. Simon Ben Jochai's trea- tises, and out of these composed the celebrated work called Sohar (int), i.e., splendour, which is the grand store- house of Kabbalism. From what has been stated, it will be seen that the followers of this secret doctrine claim for it a pre-Adamite existence, and maintain that, ever since the creation of the first man, it has been received unin- terruptedly from the hands of the patriarchs, prophets, etc. It is for this reason that it is called Kabbalah (rtap from ^3p, to receive), which primarily denotes reception, and then a doctrine received by oral tradition. The Kabbalah is also called by some (mnw noan), because it was only handed down by tradition through the initiated. The 230 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. difference between the word Kabbalah (n?3p>, receptio\ and the cognate term Massorah (miDO, traditio, from "IDD, to transmit}, which denotes the traditionally transmitted various readings of the Holy Scriptures is, that the former expresses the act of receiving, which, in its technical sense, could only be on the part of one who has reached a certain period of life as well as a certain degree of sanctity, imply- ing also a degree of secrecy ; whilst the latter signifies the act of giving -over, surrendering without premising any peculiar age, stage of holiness, or degree of secrecy. GINS- BURG. The Kabbalah. An Essay. 1865. PAPAL CONVERSION OF THE JEWS. The day before Easter Sunday at Rome, two or more Jews are procured to be baptised. An eye-witness of a couple of these converts, thus writes : " The two devoted Israelites prepared for this occasion, attired in dirty yellow silk gowns, were seated on a bench within the marble front of the baptistery, which resembles a large bath, both in form and shape, conning their prayers out of a book, with most rueful visages. Fast to their sides stuck their destined godfathers, as if to guard and secure their spiritual captives. The ancient vase at the bottom of the font, (in which, according to an absurd legend, Constantine was healed of his leprosy by St. Sylvester,) stood before them filled with water. The cardinal bishop, who had been employed ever since six o'clock, in the benediction of fire, water, oil, wax, and flowers, now appeared, followed by a long procession of priests and crucifixes. He descended into the font, re- peated a great many prayers in Latin over the water, occa- sionally dipping his hand into it. Then a large flaming wax taper, about six feet high and of proportionate thick- ness, painted with images of the Virgin and Christ, which CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 231 had been previously blessed, was set upright in the vase ; more Latin prayers were mumbled, one of the Jews was brought, the bishop cut the sign of the cross in the hair at the crown of his head, then, with a silver blade, poured some of the water on the part, baptising him in the usual forms, both the godfathers and he having agreed to all that was required of them. The second Jew was then brought, upon whom the same ceremonies were performed. This poor little fellow wore a wig, and when the cold water was poured on his bare skull, he winced exceedingly, and made many wry faces. They were then conveyed to a neighbour- ing chapel, where they were confirmed and repeated the creed. The bishop then made the sign of the cross upon upon their foreheads with holy oil, over which white fillets were immediately tied to secure it. He then preached a long exhortation, in the course of which he frightened them so, that the little one with a wig began to cry most bitterly, and would not be comforted. This being over, the Jews were conducted from the baptistery to the door of the church, where they stopped, and after some chanting by the bishop, they were allowed to pass the threshold. They were then seated within the very pale of the altar, in order that they might witness a succession of various ceremonies." Rome in the Nineteenth Century. The above is extracted from a book published in 1852. Mais le temps a bien change tout cela. CROMWELL AND THE JEWS. For the guidance of those who may wish to investigate the relations said to have been existing between the Pro- tector and the Jews, I submit the subjoined list, which I might have much extended : i. Francis, "History of Bank of England," p. 24. 232 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 2. Egan, " Status of Jews in England." 3. Monteith, " History of Great Britain," p. 473. 4. Thurlow, " State Papers," vol. ii., p. 652. 5. Goodwin, " History of the Commonwealth," vol. iv., p. 17. 6. Sir Henry Ellis, " Original Letters," Series 2, vol. iv., pp. 322. 7. "Huetiana," p. 225. 8. Tovey, " Anglia Judaica," pp. 273, 4. 9. Pocock, Translation of " De Termino Vitae." 10. Manasseh Ben Israel, " Hope of Israel." IT. Manasseh Ben Israel, " Vindiciae Judeorum," etc., etc. 12. " Mercurius Politicus," Dec. 24, 1655. 13. Echard, "Critical History of England." 14. Spence, "Anecdotes," p. 77. 15. Violet, "Petition to King and Parliament," p. 7. 16. Burnet, " History," vol. i., p. 71. 17. "Harleian Miscellany," vol. vii. Etc., etc., etc. RABBINICAL JUDAISM. The religious Judaism of the Theocracy degenerated into rabbinical Judaism by fabulous traditions and enslaving customs. Dictators of the human intellect, the rabbins, like their successors, the papal Christians, attempted to raise a spurious Theocracy of their own. A race of dream- ing schoolmen contrived to place an avowed collection of mere human decisions among the hallowed verities and the duties of devotion, to graft opinions of men on the scion of divine institution; nay, even to prefer the gloss in direct opposition to the divine precept, whenever, as they express it, " the tradition is not favoured," that is, when the oral CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 233 tradition absolutely contradicts the written law. The Jews live according to their laws, and according to their tradi- tions and their customs ; for their traditions have become an integral part of their written law, and their customs have been converted into rites. The Judaic superstitions have been substituted for the code of revelation. We may ask, by what enthralling witchcraft, by what perverse ingenu- ity, has such a revolution been brought about ? An artifice, or rather the marvellous imposture of a bold and obscure fiction, one which admitted of no evidence, and which allowed of no denial, whose airy nature eluded the grasp, while it charmed the eye, was the legend of the rabbins, by which they assumed that their supplement to the law of Moses was co-existent with the law itself. They maintained the existence of a "chain of traditions" which had never been broken from the foundation of Judaism. Whenever they refer to a Talmudical authority, they exult- ingly exclaim, " This comes from Moses and Mount Sinai." The truth is, that Judaism had found its last asylum in its numerous academies or colleges, which boasted of a race of Mishnaical doctors residing at different places. A strange and wondrous spectacle was now exhibited to the universe. A conquered nation had changed their military leaders into rabbins, and their hosts into armies of students. We have accounts of these pale-cheeked squadrons, covered only with the dust of the schools ; but where ten and twenty thousand disciples were practising their tactics under some able chieftain of the traditions. In accordance with my avowed intention to give opinions of all shades, I insert the above from The Genius of Judaism, by ISAAC D'!SRAELI. The argument is advanced in extenso pp. 78 1 06. The following, per contra, is, however, also from the same writer : 234 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. AUTHORITY OF TRADITION. To divest all tradition of authority, would be depriving human life of a necessary instrument of knowledge and of practice. This, it has been observed, would be setting up ourselves for the first of our race ; and to refuse all com- merce with our forefathers would reduce us to a very in- experienced state. In the arts, there are many secrets which have been transmitted by tradition ; and in Egypt, to this day, many practices are traditionally handed down, which, were many such collected, Napoleon observed, might lead lo the recovery of some of the lost arts of antiquity. Without the aid of tradition, say the rabbins, we should not have been able to know which was the first month of the year, and which was the seventh day of the week. A Caraite, rejecting traditions, tauntingly interro- gated Hillel, the greatest of the rabbins, on what evidence they rested ? The sage, pausing for a moment, desired the sceptic would repeat the first three letters of the alphabet. This done, that advocate for traditions, in his turn, asked, " How do you know how to pronounce these letters in that way, and no other?" " I learnt them from my father," re- plied the Caraite. " And your son will learn them from you," rejoined Hillel ; " and this is tradition." Ibid., p. 107, continued to p. 114. ZENOBIA, QUEEN OF PALMYRA. Zenobia is said to be "gente Judaica," in Hoffman's " Lexicon Universale et Faccilate," ed. Bailey, Appendix, voc. Zenobia. M. Crevier, in his " History of the Roman Emperors," also remarks, " To conclude here what I have to say of this princess, I shall add, after M. de Settemont, that St. Athanasius took her to be a Jewess, meaning with- out doubt in respect of her religion, and that according to CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 235 Theodoret, it was to please her that Paul of Samosata, whom she patronised, professed opinions very like those of the Jews, concerning the person of Jesus Christ, saying that he was only a man, who had nothing in his nature superior to other men, nor was he distinguished from them any otherwise than by a more abundant participation of divine grace. Notes and Queries, vol. i., Series i. APPLICATION TO CHARLES THE SECOND. The Jews having departed out of this realm in the year 1290, or being expelled by the authority of Parliament (it matters not which), made no efforts to return, till the Pro- tectorship of Oliver Cromwell ; but the negotiation is known to have proved unsuccessful (?). However, the affair was not dropped; for the next application was to King Charles himself, then in his exile at Bruges, as appears by a copy of a commission, dated the 24th of September, 1656, granted to Lieutenant-General Middleton to treat with the Jews of Amsterdam; " That whereas the Lieutenant -General had represented to his Majesty their good affection to him, and disowned the application lately made to Cromwell on their behalf by some persons of their nation, as absolutely with- out their consent, the king empowers the Lieutenant-General to treat with them. That if in that conjuncture they shall assist his Majesty by any money, arms, or ammunition, they shall find, when God restores him, that he would extend his protection to them which they could reasonably, expect, and abate that rigour of the law which was against them in his several dominions, and repay them." DEAN TUCKER, Second Letter, pp. 29-30. A WEALTHY TURKISH JEW. There died at Constantinople, in September, 1814, of 236 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. the plague, Solomon Lipman Begender, supposed to be one of the most wealthy Jews in the Turkish dominions. He was a great favourite with the late and present sovereigns, to both of whom he acted as banker and farmer of the revenue. During the viziership of Mustaphi Bairachar, he made him a present of gold and jewels equal to ;i 50,000 sterling, for his protection. In consequence of the tumults that took place on the downfall of that chief- tain, Begender's house was plundered by the populace, and his loss was estimated at half-a-million. During a period of scarcity, 8,000 of his countrymen owed their support entirely to his bounty. His immense wealth has, since his death, been seized by the Ottoman Porte for its own use. Annual Register, 1814. TOLERATION IN WESTPHALIA. Cassel, February 16, 1808. A deputation of the Jews in the kingdom of Westphalia has assembled here, consist- ing partly of rabbins, partly of elders. On being introduced to King Jerome, Mr. Jacobson addressed his Majesty in a short speech, and the following is part of the reply which was made : "I am satisfied with your speech. That article in the constitution of my kingdom which establishes the equality of all religions, is in perfect unison with the feel- ings of my heart. The law ought to interrupt no man in the exercise of his worship ; each subject is as much at liberty to exercise the rules of his faith, as the king is to follow his religion. The duties of the citizen are the only objects which the laws of government can regulate." FURTHER ON THE KABBALAH. THE BOOK JETZIRA nao. The perplexing and esoteric doctrine of this system is of CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 237 that peculiar nature, that it would require a lifetime to com- prehend it, and when attained (I hope I am not irreverent in saying), Cui bono ? It is positively one of the " Curiosi- ties of Judaism," that men of some attainments should have devoted so much of their mental energy to such a chimerical study as the commerce of men with angels, the inscrutable properties of PpD px En Soph (literally, " without end "), and in language obscure, mystical, and intensely vague, " making confusion worse confounded." Deducing from the combinations and permutations of letters and words, anagrams and cryptograms, which would puzzle CEdipus himself, they have interwoven such a web of sophistical theories and abstruse deductions, that even the most astute special pleader now-a-days would in vain seek for remote contingencies to justify the assertions advanced. But as the subject seems, like other fancies, to have attracted attention in many centuries, I have compiled a few more remarks on that which may not inaptly be termed a separate system within the precincts of Judaism. Taking the ex. parte statement for what it is worth, that the secret doctrine is of pre-Adamite date, and that God himself propounded it to the angels in Paradise, I shall summarise briefly some memoranda, leaving untouched the intricately mystical doctrines advanced and elaborated by the votaries of the science. The most important books of the Kabbalists are, first, HTX 1DD (Sepher J'tzira), The Book of Creation. This pretends to be a monologue of the patriarch Abraham, and the doctrines which it propounds, purporting to be the dicta of Abraham, are laid down very dogmatically. One sen- tence only is quoted here : " The twenty-two letters, by means of which God, having drawn, hewn, and weighed them, and having variously changed and put them to- gether, formed the souls of everything that has been 238 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. made, that is made, and that shall be made." (Chap, ii., Mishna 2.)* (Continued at p. 245.) MORTIFYING CEREMONY. At the time of theflossesso, the Jews in Rome are sub- ject to a very mortifying ceremony, but one strictly kept up. Near Titus's triumphal arch, the rabbis and elders of the Ghetto stand in a place fitted up at their expense. As the Pope is on his solemn procession to St. John de Lateran, they step forth, and on their knees offer to him the Penta- teuch in a basin full of gold and silver coins. The pope, making a stop, touches the basin with a wand, and performs the like ceremony on the head of the chief rabbi, in token that he accepts of the Jews' homage, and allows them to remain in Rome during his pontificate. Ann. Regist., 1769. CHRISTIAN EVIDENCE. If it can be shown that Christ and the apostles, as the commissioned messengers of God to establish Christianity, did receive, regard, and treat the Scriptures of the Jews as obligatory and of divine authority, and also that these Scriptures were the same books which belong to our present Old Testament, these two consequences must follow from the establishment of these propositions. The first is, that whatever doubts or difficulties any one may have about the critical history or origin of particular books of the Old Testament, still he must now acknowledge that they have received the sanction of an authority from which there is no appeal. The second is, that the man who admits the divine origin and authority of the Christian religion, and that the New Testament contains a credible and authentic * Ginsburg, in his " Essay," p. 77, gives a long list of writers on this metaphysical book. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 239 account of the development of it by Christ and the apostles, must be altogether inconsistent with himself and inconse- quent in his reasonings, if he rejects the divine origin and authority of the Old Testament Scriptures. MOSES STUART. Critical History and Defence of the Old Testament Canon. HOWELL ON THE JEWS. They are to be found in all mercantile towns and great marts both of Afric, Asia, and Europe, the dominions of England, the Spaniard and French excepted, and as their persons, so their profession is despicable, being for the most part but brokers everywhere. Among other places they are allowed to be in Rome herself near St. Peter's Chair, for they advance trade wheresoever they come, and so are permitted as necessary evils. But put the case, the whole nation of the Jews now living were united into one collective body, yet, according to the best computation that I could hear made by the knowingest men, they would not be able to people a country bigger than the Seventeen Pro- vinces. J. HOWELL, Ho Eleana, 1635. SILENT PRAYER. As it is impossible for mortal, imperfect, and perishable man to comprehend the immortal, perfect, and eternal, we cannot expect that he should be able to express in praise the fulness of God's attributes. The Talmud relates of a rabbi, who did not consider the terms, " the great, mighty, and awful God," which occur in the daily prayer, as being sufficient, but added some more attributes : " What ! " exclaimed another rabbi, who was present, " imaginest thou to exhaust the praise of God? Thy praise is blasphemy. Thou hadst better be quiet." Hence 240 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. the Psalmist's exclamation, after finding that the praises of God are inexhaustible, n?nn !Tn "p, " Silence is praise to Thee." M. H. BRESLAU. Quoted in Confessions of Saint Augustine, by Rev. MARCUS DOD. CONTENTS OF THE MISHNA. ( Continued from page 222.) BOOK V. ON HOLY THINGS D^np mo. 1. Sacrifices. D^rGT treats of the nature and quality of the offerings ; the time, the place, and the persons by whom they ought to be killed, prepared, and offered. 2. Meat Offerings. nirUD treats of the flour, oil, and wine, and the wave loaves. 3. Unconsecrated Things. p?in (Deut. xxii. 6) treats of what is clean and unclean, of not eating the sinew which shrank, and not killing the dam and her young in one day. 4. First Born. 7111132 treats of their redemption by money ; and their being offered in sacrifice, also of the tithes of all manner of cattle. 5. Estimations. p:ny (Lev. xxvii. 2) treats of the way in which things devoted to the Lord are to be valued, in order to be redeemed for ordinary use ; also, how a priest is to value a field which a person has sanctified. 6. Exchanges. mion (Lev. xxvii. 10, 33) treats of the way exchanges are to be effected between sacred things. 7. Cutting Off. niJVO treats of offenders being cut off from the Lord ; thirty-six kinds of this excision are men- tioned. 8. Trespass. n?*y (Num. v. 6, 8) treats of things par- taking of the nature of sacrilege. 9. The Daily Sacrifice. Ton treats of the morning and evening sacrifice. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 241 10. The Measurements. ni*lD treats of the measurements of the Temple. 11. Birds' Nests. D'Op treats of the mistakes about doves and beasts brought into the Temple for sacrifice. BOOK VI. ON PURIFICATIONS JTnno YiD. 1. Vessels. D*73 (Lev. xi. 33) treats of household furni- ture, clothing, etc., and their purification. 2. Tents. ni?nx (Num. xix. 14) treats of tents and houses retaining uncleanness, how they become unclean, and how they may be purified. 3. Plagues of Leprosy. D'tyji treats of leprosy of men, garments, or dwellings, how they incur pollution, and how they may be purified. 4. The R ed Heifer. i"i"lQ (Num. xix.) directs how she is to be burned, and how the ashes are used in purifying. 5. Cleansing. nnnB treats how purifications are to be effected. 6. Pools of Water. niJOpD treats of their construction and of baths for cleansing persons or utensils. 7. Separation. ITJJ treats of the periodical separation of women. 8. Purifications. |*TCJ>3O, of issues and their purifica- tion. 9. Fluxes. D^T, issues that cause pollution. 10. Ablutions. DV 71313 (Lev. xxii. 6) relates to purify- ing ablution on the day when uncleanness has been con- tracted. n. Hands. DH\ regulations for purifying the hands. 12. Stalks of Fruit. |'XpW, of fruits and stalks that may convey pollution by contact. THE PRESENT STATE (1675) OF THE JEWS. In the Gentleman 's Magazine, April 1815, a correspondent R 242 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. calls attention to some passages in Buxtorff's "Synagoga Judaica," a work published in 1675, by Launcelot Addi- son (father of Addison of the " Spectator"). The writer thinks that an accurate account of the cere- monies of the modern Jews would be a great desideratum, and suggests among things, singularly enough, that the com- piler should converse with some well-informed Jew who has lately embraced Christianity. As to Buxtorff's work, it has often been remarked that he wrote in such an acrimonious spirit as if he intended to irritate rather than conciliate the Jewish people. Of him, Scaliger is reported to have said " Mirum quomodo Bux- torfius ametur a Judaeis : in ilia tamen Synagoga Judaica illos valde perstringit." The book in question, like the one of Leon di Modena, is mostly a collection of the Jewish customs practised in Barbary ; and, as we might expect, a recapitulation of old words, forms, and superstitious prac- tices, which time and improved civilization have greatly modified, if not entirely abrogated. THE CRUCIAL TEST. The next author (Weever) whom I quote asserts that The Conquerour William brought with him from Roane in Normandy certaine Jewes, whose posterity here inhabiting within the prime cities of the kingdome, did use sometimes to steale away, circumcise, crowne with thornes, whip, tor- ture and crucifix some one of their neighbours' male children in mockery, despite, scorne, and derision of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, crucified by the Jewes in Jerusalem. In the yeare 1235, trie X 9 f Hen. the third, seven Jewes were brought before the king at Westminster, which at Norwich had stolne a boy and kept him from the sight of CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 243 Christian people, for the space of one whole yeare, and had circumcised him, minding also to have crucified him at the solemn itie of Easter, as themselves confessed before the king, whereof they were convicted, their bodies and goods remaining at the king's pleasure. (Before instancing more of these groundless assertions, we may as well notice what Dr. Tovey observes in his "Anglia Judaica," p. n, "That they were never said to have practised it but at such times as the king was mani- festly in want of money.") Returning to Weever, we find a statement that in the 39th of the said king's reign, upon the 2 2nd day of November, one hundred and two Jews were brought from Lincoln to Westminster, and there accused for the crucify- ing of a child of eight years old, named Hugh. Eighteen of them were hanged, the others remained long in prison. These specimens will suffice. WEEVER. Ancient Funerall Monuments, 1631. Matthew Paris, Stowe, Hovedon, and all the early Eng- lish historians, teem with such details. Fabyan's " New Chronicles," 1516, will supply additional examples to some extent, as may be seen in the following tit-bits from the index, (ed. 1811) by Sir Henry Ellis: Jews crucify a child at Norwich, 267, 329 ; Jews crucify a child at Bury, 280; Jews of Lincoln crucify a child, 339. CONVERSION OF A JEW. In this, XXVIII. yere of King Henry, a Jewe dyggedthe grounde in a place in Spayne, called Tholeet, to the entente to make hym a more larger vyneyerde; where in tyme of his dyggynge he fande a stone, closyd on all partyes ; but for he percyved it to be holowe, he brake the stone, and founde therein a boke as bygge as a sawtyr, w' levys all of 244 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. tree. This boke was wryten in iii. dyverse languagys, in Greke, in Ebrewe, and in Latyne, and the mater thereof was, of iii. worldys that shulde come, of the whyche he poyntyd the comynge of Cryste to the begynnynge of thyrde worlde, which was expressyd in this manner of wyse, " In y e begyn- nynge of the thyrde worlde Goddys sone shall be borne of a mayde." When the Jewe had well beholdyn the con- tentys of the boke, and sawe that it coteyned so longe tyme, as from Adam to Antecryste, and shewed many prophecies that were fulfullyd and paste, he soone renouncyd his Judaisme of Moysen lawe, and was christenyd, and lyved after as a cristen man." FABYAN. New Chronicles, ed. 1811, p. 334. PERSECUTIONS IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE. The index of the same Chronicles denotes: Jews punished for their usuries in France, 272 ; exiled from France, 282 ; again driven from France for their cruelties, 283 ; * persecuted in England at the time of Richard the First's Coronation, 299; slain in London, 348; robbed and spoiled in London, 353, 386; slain at Winchester, 357 ; assessed in England at great sums, 394 ; exiled the king- dom, ib. ; persecutions in Languedoc, 434 ; robbed and spoiled at Paris, 553, etc. EARLIEST SETTLEMENT IN ENGLAND. Enough, perhaps, has been advanced, if not to induce general conviction, yet at least to justify the assertion, that some portion of the Jews had settled themselves here an- terior to the Norman Conquest. About the year 833, Witlaf, King of the Mercians, granted a charter to the monks of * " The Wolf and the Lamb." CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 245 Croyland, wherein he confirmed to them not only such lands as had at any time been given to the monastery by the kings of Mercia, but also all possessions whatever, whether they were originally bestowed on them by Chris- tians or Jews. " Omnes terras, et tenementa, et eorum peculia, quae reges Merciorum, et eorum proceres, vel alii fideles, Christiani, \&Jud NT 1 mx, " Man should ever have the fear of God, in secret as well as in public." THE EXAMPLE OF PHARAOH. It is observable that Pharaoh, tyrant and persecutor as he was, never compelled the Hebrews to forsake the religion of their fathers and to adopt that of the Egyptians. Such improvements in persecution were reserved for Christians. DR. JORTIN. OF JEWISH EXTRACTION. As recently as the close of the last century, it is related of Pombal, that Joseph I., king of Portugal, proposed to issue an edict that all who were descended from Jewish ancestry should be designated by a yellow cap. At the next council, Pombal made his appearance with three yellow caps. Upon being asked by the king why he had brought them there, he answered, "One is for your majesty, one for the chief inquisitor, and one is for myself." 248 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. FIRST PRINTED. The first printed edition of the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures was executed by Abraham ben Chaim, at Son- cino, in Italy, in two volumes folio, ornamented with initial letters and words from engravings in wood. It is at pre- sent of such extreme rarity that only nine copies of it are known to be in existence. One of these is in the library of Exeter College, Oxford. At the end of the Pentateuch there is a long Hebrew inscription, indicating the name of the editor, the place where it was printed, and the date of the edition. Critica Biblica, vol. i., p. 95. TALMUDICAL APHORISMS. ( Continued.'} When the pitcher falls upon the stone, woe unto the pitcher ; when the stone falls upon the pitcher, woe unto the pitcher ; whatever befalls, woe unto the pitcher. Youth is a garland of roses, age is a crown of thorns. Teach thy tongue to say, " I do not know." He who walks daily over his estates finds a coin each time. Commit a sin twice, you will think it allowable. The cock and the owl both await the daylight. " The light," the cock says, " brings delight to me, but what are you waiting for ? " The camel wanted to have horns, and they cut away his ears. The soldiers fight, and the kings are heroes. When the ox is down, many are the butchers. If there's anything bad about you, say it yourself. The sun will go down all by himself, without your assist- ance. Rather eat onions and sit in the shadow, and do not eat geese and poultry if it makes thy heart sad within thee. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 249 A small coin in a big jar makes a great noise. Even when the gates of prayer are shut in heaven, those of tears are open. Bless'd tears of soul -felt penitence In whose benign, redeeming flow Is felt the first, the only sense Of guiltless joy that guilt can know. MOORE. Paradise and the Peri. HEBREW NAMES. With regard to Hebrew names, I have not been rigor- ously exact in spelling them in their original forms, because the Jews themselves have departed from that principle in their ordinary practice. But it may be remarked that in a translation of the Old Testament Scriptures, that principle should never be given up. It is a subject of regret that in our English translation, the proper names have been so defectively represented. The patriarchs, prophets, saints, and kings, who once bore them, would scarcely recognise their own names in the way we pronounce them ; for example Moses for Mosheh, Enoch for Chanok, Solomon for Shelomo, Re- becca for Rivkah, Nehemiah for Nechem'ya, Ezekiel for Jechezekel, Isaiah for Yeshayah. It is true some of these metamorphoses are countenanced by the Septuagint, and even by the practice of the New Testament writers who referred to it ; but in making a professed literal translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew documents, I submit that our translators were bound to follow the Hebrew orthoepy. What right have we to alter them ? DR. ETHE- RIDGE. Jerusalem and Tiberias, vii. The learned doctor seems to forget that in the Greek language (the medium of the current translation) there exists no sound equisonant with our V sh (see " Shibboleth," 250 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. p. 22). There is also some difficulty in expressing correctly in English sounds for n and I?. This has been the probable cause of the incongruity of which Dr. Etheridge com- plains. P. A. MIRACULOUS HAIL. 1240. At Cremorne there happened a very heavy storm, and on the monastery of Saint Gabriel there fell a piece of hail on which was the representation of the cross and the image of the Saviour, with these words written in letters of gold " Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." While this piece of hail, returning to its original state, melted into water, the monks of the above monastery washed with this water the eyes of a certain one of their brethren (dont la vue s'dclaircit aussitot), who immediately recovered his sight GUIZOT. Collect, des Memoir es, tome xiii., p. 149. HEADINGS OF THE PSALMS. All the Psalms, with the exception of 34, have titles which either designate the authors, or the subject, or the historical connection with it, or the style of the poetry, or of the music. The genuineness of these titles is a matter of doubt. By many they are all uncondi- tionally rejected, by others in part. The Talmud calls those without heading orphan psalms, NDirV NIIBfB. Avoda, Zora, 64, c. 2. DE WETTE. Commentar Uber die Psalmen. THE LAST JEWISH REVOLT. What really placed arms in the hands of the Israelites was the horror occasioned them by the transformation of Jeru- salem, or, in other words, the progress of the building of ^Elia Capitolina. The contemplation of a pagan tower rising on the ruins of the Holy City, of the site of the Temple profaned, of pagan sacrifices, of theatres built with the very stones of the venerated edifice, of strangers dwel- CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 251 ling in the city that God had given to the Jews, all this seemed to them the very climax of sacrilege and defiance. Far from wishing to return to this new and profaned Jerusalem, they shunned it as an abomination. The south of Judea, on the contrary, was more than ever Jewish land. There, a number of large villages had grown up, all capable of defending themselves, thanks to the arrangement of the houses, which were crowded by a compact mass on the summits of the hills. Bether had become for the Israelites of these districts a second Holy City, an equivalent for Sion. The fanatical population procured themselves arms by a singular stratagem. They were bound to furnish the Romans with a certain quantity of warlike weapons ; these they made badly, so as to ensure their being rejected, and the condemned arms remained at their own disposal. In default of visible fortifications, they constructed immense subterranean works, and the defences of Bether were com- pleted by advanced works in small stones. The Jews left in Egypt and Libya, hastened thither to swell the mass of the rebels. ERNEST RENAN. Contemp. Rev., July, 1879, p. 597. THE WAR. The war* was long and terrible. It lasted over two years, and the best generals seem to have been worn out by it. Turnus Rufus, finding himself outnumbered, asked for help. His colleague, Publicius Marcellus, legate of Syria, joined him in all haste, but both were baffled. In order to crush the insurrection, it was necessary to summon from his command in Britain the first captain of the day, Sextus Julius Severus. The rebels never showed them- selves in the open plain, but they were masters of the * Called in the Talmud "The War of Extermination." 252 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. heights, where they raised fortifications, hollowing out between these crenelated villages of theirs covered ways and subterranean communications, lighted from above by openings admitting the air. These secret tunnels served them as places of refuge when driven back, and enabled them to go and defend another position. Poor race ! Chased from its own soil, it would fain sink into the bowels of the earth rather than quit it, or suffer it to be profaned. This mole-like warfare was a very bloody one. Jewish fanaticism equalled in intensity its outbreak in 70. Julius Severus never ventured to come to an engagement with his foes; seeing their numbers and their despair, he feared to expose the heavy Roman masses to the dangers of a war of barricades and fortified mounds. He attacked the rebels separately, and thanks to the numbers of his soldiers, and the skill of his lieutenants, he almost always succeeded in hemming them in their trenches and starving them. Ibid., p. 601. THE DEFEAT. Rome, as always, ended by overcoming. Each centre of resistance fell in turn. Fifty of the improvised fortresses that the rebels had built for themselves, and nine hundred and fifty-five villages were taken and destroyed. Beth Rimmon, on the frontiers of Idumea, retained the memory of a fearful slaughter of fugitives. The siege of Bether was particularly long and difficult ; the last extremities of hunger and thirst were there endured. Bar Coziba* * Bar Coziba, or Bar-Kokaba (" the son of a star," see Numbers xxiv. 17) the self-declared Messiah, was, singularly enough, acknow- ledged by. Rabbi Akiba, who in fact went so far as to hold his stirrup when he mounted his war-horse to inaugurate his reign as Messiah. After his failure he was called son of a lie XS'pS "13 instead of N3 *T3 13 as previously. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 253 perished there, but nothing is known of the circumstances of his death. The massacre was horrible. One hundred and eighty thousand Jews were killed in the several encounters. As to the number that perished by hunger, fire, and disease, it is incalculable. Women and children were slaughtered in cold blood. Judea literally became a desert ; wolves and hyenas entered its dwellings howling. Many of the towns of the Darom were ruined for ever, and the desolate aspect that the country presents at this . day is the living witness of a catastrophe that took place seventeen and a-half centuries ago. Ibid., p. 602.. THE ISRAELITES OF MALABAR. The progress of geography and of navigation have spread great light on particulars of nations, and the more these new discoveries are increased, the more they have com- bined the links which should unite all mankind. By means of these discoveries the Israelites of Europe have had the satisfaction of knowing the existence and origin of those of their brethren who have established themselves on the coast of Malabar. The first notice concerning them reached Europe about the end of the seventeenth century, as detailed by Moses Pereyra de Paiva,* of Amsterdam. This Israelite, having undertaken a voyage to the East Indies, arrived at Cochin, November 21, 1686, where he was well received by his brethren. He sent this relation to Amsterdam, where it was printed in Portuguese. In this he treats of the origin of the Jewish families residing on the coast of Malabar, whose number he names as 460. He recites also a diploma said to have been given to them by Scharam Perumal, an * "Noticias dos Judeos de Cochin," mandadas, por Mosseh Pfereyra de Paiva, Amsterdam, 5447 (1696). 254 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Indian Prince, which was signed by seven rajahs, and which differs but little from the translation given by Buchanan.* Pereyra relates the particulars of the emigration of the Israelites of Cochin from the Holy Land, until the arrival of the Portuguese, and of the loss of Cranganor, and other details. His account ends with a recital of the questions he put to his brethren at Cochin, and of their replies, respecting their ceremonies and religious practices, which he found to be entirely in accordance with those of the European Jews. The celebrated Orientalist, Baron Syl- vestre de Sacy, after diligent research, remarks in No. 17 of the " Annals of Voyages," by Malte-Brun, " Several writers have treated of the Jews settled on the coast of Malabar, at Cranganor and Cochin, who are distinguished as White Jews and Black Jews. The Jews who inhabit these places descend from families who have settled there at epochs more or less remote : the black Jews seem to owe their origin to black slaves who were converted to Judaism by their masters, the white Jews." The limits of this publication forbidding further details, the reader is referred to "LTsraelite Frangais," tomei., p. 14 27. Among references therein cited, he will find, "The Relation of Pereyra ; " " The History of the Works of the Learned," March, 1699 ; Hamilton's " East India Gazeteer," London, 1815; Anquetil, "Zend Avezta," tome i., p. 119, etc.; "Annual Register," 1808, pp. 31 and 234, 235; Buchanan (already noticed) ; " Eichhorn Allgem. Bibl.," tome ii., p. 567. A letter from Ezekiel Rachby, of Cochin, to M. Tobie Boaz, at the Hague, 25th Tishri, 5528, corresponding with September 6, 1767, may be found containing full details, pp. 21 28, of " L' Israelite." It is very interesting. The * Buchanan's "Christian Researches in Asia," London, 1814. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 255 subject of the Jewish community in the far-off East has received some notice from the Jewish press, etc., but its further development is well worthy the attention of philan- thropists among ourselves. Condensed and Compiled. JEWS IN HOLLAND. When we contemplate the history of the vicissitudes which the Israelites have experienced since the period of their dispersion, we cannot fail to notice and admire the noble and generous conduct which the Dutch pursued towards them. During more than three centuries the Hebrews received in Holland the benefit of hospitality. The wisdom of the Government, and the amenity of the inhabitants, banished from their hearts mistrust and fear ; and whilst in every country in Europe fanaticism and cupidity provoked against these scattered remnants of the tribes of Israel, despair, exile, and death, Holland presented the touching spectacle of perfect toleration. This benefit was not without its results. The Israelites, whom oppres- sion had for a long time debarred from the practice of agri- culture and mechanical employments, carried to that country not only their treasures but also their active commercial industry. Public schools and synagogues rose up in the prin- cipal towns of the kingdom. A superb synagogue (see page 169), a monument of their piety and gratitude, was conse- crated in the year 1674 at Amsterdam, and the Christian poet Burlaeus refers to this inauguration in a congratulatory poem wherein he says that the terrors of fire, of imprison- ment, and of exile have pursued the race ; that they had been repulsed from the banks of the Seine and the Tagus ; but that more wise Amsterdam had seen with pride their temple arise in glory ; that at the sound of this gladsome reception, Zion had exclaimed, "This is the people of God ! this is the Holy City." 256 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Since that time things have changed for the better with the Israelites. Proscriptions have ceased. The coasts of the Tagus have become approachable by them ; the smiling districts watered by the Seine offer them a welcome recep- tion ; but Holland does not the less preserve the honour of having sheltered them when elsewhere they were repulsed on all sides. The liberty which they enjoyed in that hos- pitable land attracted many distinguished scholars, among whom may be remarked the celebrated rabbi Menasseh. J. Athias received from the States General a chain of gold and a medal for his editorship of a Hebrew Bible, much valued even now-a-days. The Stadtholder himself, Prince of Orange, gave the Israelites of Amsterdam a signal mark of goodwill in the answer he made respecting their brethren at Curagao. This tolerance became a great spur to the Jews. Many of them became distinguished in various professions, some filled the academical chairs, and, as perfect protection was granted to all religious classes, the Israelites did not fail to avail themselves of all social advantages. The only draw- back they had to encounter was the use of a sort of bastard German mixed with many Jiidisch phrases, but this has since been in a great measure discontinued, and pure Dutch or Hebrew is now the universal medium of commu- nication or instruction. The rights of citizenship were not limited to those in the Low Countries ; the same advantages were granted to Surinam, Berbice, Demerara, etc., wheresoever the Dutch had dominion. There progressed among them not only profitable handicrafts, such as watchmaking, jewellery, etc., but also agriculture, for they cultivated many kinds of dye- woods, and their coffee was pronounced equal to that of Moka, of which, indeed, it was the original. The forests which some possessed were of considerable benefit. In- CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 257 deed, all were animated with the same spirit, and justified by their conduct and intelligence the liberal protection which they and their ancestors had received. Compiled from E Israelite Franqaise, 1817. PATRIOTISM. Without travelling back to remote periods of history, ample testimony might be furnished of the local patriotism of the Jews where their feelings are consulted, or their interests incorporated with those of the country, in a refer- ence to the military enrolments in France and Germany, and perhaps with better effect to the War of Independence in Poland. From these it would appear that time has neither damped their courage nor destroyed their vigour, that the sword may be wielded by as firm a hand, and as resistless a force, when the sympathy of the Jew flows in the same channel with that of the Christian, and that the most ennobling feelings now, as of yore, have been sanctified at the shrine of national and domestic independence. An Appeal to the Public by a Christian, 1834. THE MASORAH. After the destruction of Jerusalem, and the consequent dispersion of the Jews into various countries of the Roman empire, some of those who were settled, in the East applied themselves to the cultivation of literature, and opened various schools, in which they taught the Scriptures. One of the most distinguished of these academies was that established at Tiberias in Palestine, which Jerome men- tions as existing in the fifth century. The doctors of this school, from the sixth century, were accustomed to collect all the scattered critical and grammatical observations they could obtain, which appeared likely to contribute towards s 258 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. fixing both the reading and the interpretation of the Scrip- tures. This collection they called miDD, that is, tradition, because it consisted of remarks they had received from others. The Masoretic notes and criticisms comprise cor- rections of the text, and observations on it, and relate to the books, verses, words, letters, vowel-points, and accents. The Masorites, as the inventors of this system were called, were the first who distinguished the books and sections of books into verses. They adopted and enlarged the critical remarks contained in the Talmud, and introduced conjec- tures PTQD of their own, explanatory, grammatical, and orthographical. We find also in the Masorah D'HDID Pi"vn corrections of the scribes, referring to sixteen places in which corrections were made. The Masorites, moreover, marked the number of all the verses of each book and section, and placed the amount at the end of each in numeral letters, or in some symbolical word formed out of them, and they also marked the middle word of each book. Further, they noticed the verses in which something was supposed to be forgotten, the words which they believed to be changed, the letters which they deemed to be superfluous, the repetitions of the same verses, the different readings of the words which are redundant or defective, the number of times that the same word is found at the beginning, middle, or end of a verse, the different significations of the same word, what letters are pronounced, and what are inverted, together with what hang perpendicularly, and they took the number of each ; for the Jews cherish the sacred books with such reverence, that they made a scruple of changing the situation of a letter which is evidently misplaced, sup- posing that some mystery has occasioned it. T. H. HORNE. Introd. to Criticism of the Old Testament, ed. 1860, p. 24. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 259 LETTERS IN THE HERREW SCRIPTURES. The Masorites also reckoned which is the middle letter of the Pentateuch, which is the middle clause in each book, and how many times each letter of the alphabet occurs in all the Hebrew Scriptures. The following table from Fuerst and from Bishop Walton, will give an idea of their laborious minuteness in these researches : K 24,973 D 3 32,977 3 J 8,719 ... 1 ... T 13,580 ... D n 20,175 ... y i 20,750 ... a T i,975 *1 n 16,950 ... x B 4,872 ... r 22,972 ... P 3 22,147 i T 32,148 ... V h 59*343 n ... D 52,805 The total number of letters is thus 815,280. But, as Bishop Walton observes, this calculation is evidently not strictly to be depended on, though no doubt it is sufficient to give an approximate notion of the subject. This calculation, first printed by Elias Levita *W3C?K in^K in his compendium, was originally made by R. Saadi Gaon, who, as an assistance to the memory, composed also a poem, the initial letters of whose words will coincide with the numerical value of each letter itself. As he humbly ex- presses m 33 PB nsn^ snpBn ^33 rws?n nan "?3 nx 260 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Or, as we might paraphrase it, To know how oft each sign is found, Which blest in Holy Writ abound, This song will show in sense and sound. He has accordingly arranged most ingeniously some Hebrew verses, which both in the numerical value of the letters, and afterwards bywords, express the amount of each component letter. One example must suffice. Of course the Hebrew scholar knows that every letter is a numeral, thus 42,377 = tjpj ,tjy Q p w p 3 : V2 wa rmnrt nar^i ya*ip ivy 1p3 P'JjbDD P3f5l D'DDI mf>P DiD P'pif> PUT Wlf" : PDPP COD '53 P'D33 rDPP P'71JU> PDP? P'i'f 1 P'JU The second line, besides helping to the rhyme of the first, is a reference to selected scriptural passages succeeding, in which, by adding together the words expressing number, the same result as in line i is produced, thus D131 JOIN, 40,000; Wth*, 2,000; niKD uhv, 300; DtPB>, 60; D'3^, 2; nc^on, three times repeated, 15 ; total, 42,377 ; and so with every letter of the alphabet. When we state that this chronographical arrangement is adopted with all the letters of the alphabet, and think of the immense time it must have taken the rabbi to perfect it (while admiring his patient perseverance), one cannot help thinking that his acknowledged talent might perhaps have been more profitably employed. WRITERS ON THE MASORAH. It must, however, be observed that whilst there is much in the Masorah that can be regarded in no other light than as laborious trifling, it is far from deserving the scorn CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 261 which has sometimes been poured upon it. There can be no doubt that it preserves to us much valuable traditional information concerning the constitution and the meaning of the sacred text. It is a source whence materials for a critical revision of the Old Testament can now alone be derived. KITTO. Encyclop. ofBibl. Literature; Alexander's ed., vol. iii. The Masorah was originally preserved in distinct books by itself. Afterwards parts of it were transferred to the margins of the Bible, as may be found in the present Hebrew editions at the side or foot of the page. There is, however, a distinction; the n^HJ miDO, or Masorah Magna, comprehends the entire body of critical notations, but a more curt and abridged form is generally adopted in printed Hebrew Scripture, and this is denominated nitOp miDD Masorah Parva. The principal writers on this subject have been Elias Levita, who is said to have spent twenty years in the study of it, his great work m^DDD miDO was printed at Venice, 1538, there is a German version of this by Semler, 1730. (There were, of course, many previous MSS., few, if any, of which remain.) R. Jacob ben Chajim, who with immense labour prepared and arranged the Masoretic notation for the " Bomberg Rabbinical Bible," Venice, 1526; Buxtorf's "Tiberias," Basil, '1620; Bishop Walton, and numerous others for which I refer the enquiring student to "Fuerstius Veteris Testament! Concordantiae," page 1383, as also his own remarks, 1382 87; Kitto, p. 104; Smith, "Diet, of the Bible," p. 600 603 ; Steinschneider, Wolf, Bartolocci, the Hebrew Catalogue at the British Museum, etc., etc. Compiled. "GoD SAVE THE KING." It is so inserted in the English Bible, as occurring in the 262 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. original of the following Scripture passages: i Samuel x. 24; 2 Samuel xvi. 16 ; 2 Kings xi. 12, and 2 Chron. xxiii. 1 1, and the use of it is said to have originated our pecu- liar expression of loyalty. Those who will take the trouble to look to the Bible will find the Hebrew in all these texts to be, *pon TP, as is correctly translated in Greek, ?jr:m "Lo ! three men stood by him " (Gen. xviii. 2), it is deduced that these three angels were Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, because TVihw mm "andlo! three" (men) and 'PXQTI ^Knaa ^K3D l^, these are Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, are of the same numerical value, as will be seen from the following reduction by addition of both these phrases : ntJ^t? nni amounting to 701, and the other phrase numerically to the same amount. This rule is called xnDOJ=N > L:rD1J, which is a metathesis of the Greek word ypa^a'a or ypa/x/zara'a, in the sense of numbers as represented by letters. 2. Every letter of a word is taken as an initial, or abbreviation of a word. Thus, every letter of the word n v k?K"U, the first word in Genesis, is made the initial of a word ; and we read min ^"!B 266 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. " In the beginning God saw that Israel would accept the law." This rule is denominated \\^'C^=notaricon ) from Notaries, a short-hand writer, one who among the Romans belonged to that class of writers who abbreviated and used single letters to signify whole words. 3. The initial and final letters of certain words are respec- tively formed into several other words. Thus from the be- ginnings and ends of the words n'E^n vS !"&?* *ft, " Who shall go up for us to heaven?" (Deut. xxx. 12) are ob- tained ; J"l T^JD, circumcision, and D^PP, Jehovah ; and it is hence inferred that God ordered circumcision as the way to heaven. 4. Two words occurring in the same verse are joined to- gether and made into one, thus *D, "who," and ri^N, "these" are made into DWK by transposing the * and ID. A profound mystery and the true import of these words in Isaiah xl. 25, 26, is asserted to have been imparted by revelation to R. Simon ben Jochai, who was a great master in Kabbalistic dogmas. There is also another way of reading passages which are supposed to have some recondite meaning. This method causes the words to be arranged in a sort of diagram something like a cryptographical scale, in which the words are to read from right to left, from left to right, horizontally, perpendicularly, angularly, boustrophedonally,* circumlo- cutorally, till some hidden and estoric sense is squeezed out to form the essence of the Kabbalah. Trivial and per- plexing as the study of this theosophy must seem to many, yet it has had at all times, and doubtless has. yet, its earnest votaries. " The Literature of the Kabbalists," says Dr. Etheridge, " is a subject which would require a treatise by itself. Of the authors in this department their name is legion." * povffrptQfTog, the stepping of an ox at the plough ; forwards and back again. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 267 Luzzato and Gabirol employed this science in their poetry. The best modern books on the subject are : " Systeme de la Kabbale, ou la Philosophic Religieuse des Juifs;" the German translation by Jelinck, ,/Dte Cabbala, obet bte OWtgtonS-ptHlofopfHe ber -e6raer." 2. Beer, Peter, ,,e= fcfncfyte u. f. ic. ber Suben unb ber efyeimle^re, ober Jtab&ala." 3. Hallenberg, ,,2)ie @et)eimle^re ber Suben." Other modern writers may be mentioned who have written more or less on this subject. Basnage, in his " Histoire des Juifs," has a long dissertation on the subject; Buddei, " Introductio ad Historiam Philosophise Hebrseorum ; Wolf, in his " Biblioth. Hebrse," tomeii.; Simon, " Histoire Criti- que du Vet. Testament," liv. i. More valuable are the pro- ductions of Reuchlin ; " De Arte Cabbalistia ; " Pico de Mirandula "Conclusiones Cabbalisticse;" and the "Kabbala Denudata " of Knorrius, in which a large portion of the Zohar is translated, with commentaries, glossaries, and a large mass of information. Steinschneider's " Jewish Liter- ature," 104 122, and 249 309 is replete with information on this subject. Munk, Jost, Graetz, M. H. Landauer, may also be referred to with safety, as well as many others to whom my limits will not admit further allusion. Com- piled and Condensed. CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS OF THE TWELVE TRIBES. As an instance of the fraud, falsehood, and folly of those who sway the minds of the lower classes in Spain, the following example is quoted from the "Centinela contra Judeos," a work of great popularity, introduced by several pages of inquisitorial phrases. It gives the following account of the Crimes and Punishments of the Twelve Tribes : The tribe of Judah treacherously delivered up our Lord, and thirty of them die by treason every year. The tribe of 268 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Reuben seized our Lord in the garden, and therefore the curse of barrenness is upon all they sow or plant, and no green thing can flourish over their graves. The tribe of Gad put on the crown of thorns, and on every 25th of March, their bodies are covered with blood from deep and painful wounds. Those of Ashur buffeted Jesus, and their right hand is always nearly a palm shorter than the left. Those of Naphthali jested with Christ about a herd of swine, since when, they are all born with tusks like wild boars. The tribe of Manasseh cried out, " His blood be upon us and upon our children," and at every new moon they are tormented by bloody sores. The tribe of Simeon nailed our Lord to the cross, and on the 25th of March, four deep and dreadful wounds are inflicted on their hands and feet. Those of Levi, spat on the Saviour, and the wind always blows back their saliva in their faces, so that they are habitually covered with filth. The tribe of Issachar scourged Christ, and on the 2"5th of March, blood streams forth from their shoulders. The tribe of Zebulon cast lots for the garments, and on the same day the roof of their mouth is tortured by deep wounds. The tribe of Joseph made the nails for crucifying Jesus, and blunted them to increase the sufferings, and therefore their hands and feet are covered with gashes and blood. Those of Benjamin gave vinegar to Jesus ; they all squint and are palsied, and have their mouths filled with little nauseous worms, which in truth (adds our author) is the case with all Jewish women after the age of twenty-five, because it was a woman who entreated the tribe of Joseph not to sharpen the nails for the cru- cifixion. This is a fair specimen of a book of 220 pages. EPOCHS OF JEWISH LEARNING. Dr. Zunz makes seven epochs in the history of Jewish CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 269 learning : the first two from Ezra to the establishment of the Sanhedrin, 300 years; the third, 200 years, to the destruction of the Temple ; thence to the compilation of the Mishna, 150; 250 more to the conclusion of the Gemara ; 270 to the renewed activity of the Geonim; and lastly 230 years to rabbis Sheriva and Kalir. Considering this period in a more general point of view, he distinguishes three great periods : ist. That of the Scribes or Sopherim; 2nd. The Mishnic and Talmudic period ; 3rd. That of the Geonic period. In addition to the last books of the Canon, he reckons as the products of the first period the sayings of the men of the Great Syna- gogue, the most ancient of the Jewish prayers, and many Hagadahs and interpretations preserved in later compila- tions. To the second period he ascribes the most impor- tant of the apocryphal books, numerous hagadahs in the works of Philo, Josephus, and the more ancient Baraithas, the eldest Targums, the sayings of the heads of the San- hedrin, the allegories of the Therapeutae, the elements of the Oral Law, the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, and fragments of poetry and interpretation preserved in more modern books ; the orderings of the prayers and benedic- tions, the Mishna and the chief contents of the Tosephtas, and the elder Midrashim ; the books Juchasin and Megil- loth Chasidim, the elder Megilloth Taaneth, Seder Olam, the thirty-two Middoth, the forty-nine Middoth, the eldest Masorah, and the first attempts at astrology and Cabbala. The third great period is subdivided into the sixth and seventh epochs. To the former are given the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud, the Avoth of R. Nathan, the further prosecution of the Masorah, the present Targum to the Hagiographae, the Palestine Targum, Bereshith Rabba, Midrash Echu, Vayikra Rabba, Pesikta, and portions of younger collections, e.g., Midrash Esther. To the seventh 270 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. period belong the greater portion of the late Midrashim, and numerous Hagadahs of all classes, the eldest writers of Cabbala. The tract Sopherim, the renewed study of the Halachah by the Gaons, the activity of the Peitanas, the elder order of prayers, the recommencement of scientific activity, the oldest commentaries, the perfection and gradual introduction of the system of vowels and accents, and the completion of our Masorah. Thus, he concludes, the space between the conclusion of the Canon and the beginning of European Jewish Literature is not a desert wherein the appearance of the Talmud, Midrash, Targum, Masora, and Cabbala, rather frighten than guide the wanderer, but an immense course of gradual development, covered with numerous works and ruins, the witnesses of ardent pas- sions, conflicting interests, and soul-inspiring thoughts. DR. McCAUL. Compiled. THE EXCHEQUER OF THE JEWS. A considerable revenue was drawn from the Jews by tal- lages, fines relating to law proceedings, amerciaments im- posed upon them for misdemeanours, and by fines, ransoms, and confiscations, which they were forced to pay for having the king's benevolence, for protection, license to trade, etc. The king would tallage the whole community of them at pleasure, and make them answer the tallages for one another, and if they did not keep their days of payment, they were charged with great fines or compositions. As the Jews fleeced the king's subjects, so the king fleeced them. The receipt or place appointed for the management of this revenue was called Scaccarium Judaeorum or Judaismi ; it was a part or member of the Great Exchequer, and they had there rolls or records, wherein the writs and proceedings were entered, and summonses issued out from CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 2? I the Exchequer of the Jews, like those out of the Great Exchequer. There were certain persons who were assigned to be curators of this revenue, usually styled Custodes and Justiciarii Judaeorum ; in the more ancient times they were Christians and Jews appointed to act together ; afterwards they were mostly Christians. These justices exercised jurisdiction in the affairs of the Jews, viz., in the accounts of that revenue, in pleas upon contracts made with Jews, in causes touching their lands, tallages, fines, etc. The Jewish deeds or charters, like others, were called Chartae and Chirographa ; some of them were called Starra (Stars), a name of Hebraical origin. When the Jews made any charter or contract, one part of it was laid up in a public chest, called the Chest of the Chirographs, or of the Chirographers ; this part of the Chi- rograph was called Pes Chirographi. The Chirographers were anciently Christians and Jews acting together, and were placed in those towns where there were a considerable number of Jews, as at Lincoln, Oxford, London, etc. One part of these Chirographs was wont to be placed in the chest of the place where it was made, and afterwards (in case the king seized the chattels of the Jews as forfeited) brought into the Exchequer, and there laid ^ pro commodo Regis. Although the Exchequer of the Jews was distinct for some purposes, yet both that Exchequer and the acts and proceedings of the justices and Chirographers were subject to the control and authority of the chief justicier, and the treasurer and barons of the Exchequer. About the year 1290 (18 Edw. I.) ; the revenue of Judaism ceased, the Jews having about that time been expelled out of England. F. S.THOMAS. The Ancient Exchequer of England. 272 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. JEWISH ERA AND CALENDAR. The Jews usually employed the era of the Seleucidae until the fifteenth century, when a new method of computing was adopted. They date from the Creation, which they consider to have been 3760 years and three months before the commencement of our era. To reduce Jewish time to ours, subtract 3761.* The Jewish year consists of either twelve or thirteen months, of twenty-nine or thirty days ; the civil year commencing with the month Tishri, imme- diately after the new moon following the autumnal equinox ; the ecclesiastical year begins with Nisan. HAYDN'S Book of Dates. THE PSALMS. The number of Hebrew radical words is 1867 ; of these, 1184 occur in the Psalms. It follows, then, that a thorough knowledge of this book very nearly amounts to a thorough knowledge of the language. The word Selah (n?D) occurs seventy-one times in the Psalms and three times in chapter iii. of Habbakuk, being the only times it is met with in the Bible. Compiled. SYNAGOGUE AT ALEXANDRIA. The Great Synagogue, or Temple, at Alexandria, was so remarkably extensive, that when the precentors pronounced the 1312, a flag was raised on the almemmar (reading-desk) as a signal to the members of the congregation at the further ends of the building, so that they might be prepared for that solemn part of the service. HEBREW MELODIES. When Meyerbeer brought out his opera Les Huguenots, * Thus their present date 5640 would answer to 1879. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 273 Jews, well acquainted with Hebrew melodies, discovered in the opera reminiscences of a certain solemn synagogal chant, which may have lingered in the memory of the great composer from his childhood, when his God-fearing parents took him to the place of worship. Similar remarks have been made respecting Offenbach, whose works contain occasional reminders of Polish Jewish airs. JEWISH COLONIES. One distinctive trait is noticeable among the Jewish people, it is the reconciling with an ardent attachment to their native land, a marked tendency to overspread the world with colonies. This dispersion, contrary to the spirit of the law, was long opposed by the most severe decrees, but internal revolutions, the tyranny of foreign conquerors, the attractions of more genial climates, caused them gradually to forget their ancient maxims, which had fallen into such discredit, that at the advent of Christianity, the Jews were found located in every place on earth ; the testimony of Philo on this head is confirmed by Strabo and by the Acts (ii. 5). Their colonies in Egypt and Assyria formed redoubtable nations ; in Alexandria, two-fifths of the city did not suffice them, they covered with a million of men the land of the Pharaohs. In the commercial cities of Asia Minor they could be numbered by tens of thousands ; thence they spread to the Archipelago, then to the conti- nent of Greece, Athens, Argos, Corinth. They had synagogues in Ethiopia and in Lybia, on the borders of the Caspian Sea, and even unto China. The Jewish prisoners who followed to Rome the army of Pompey and that of Gabinus, when freed, inhabited one of the lower quarters of the city near to the Tiber. It is probable that Israelitish commerce explored Gaul and Spain ; at least we T 274 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. see two sons of Herod exiled by Augustus to the banks of the Rhone. In spite of their expatriation, all the dis- persed members of Hebrew society were attached by close bonds to Palestine ; national unity was upheld by principles and by hope. Every year, at the great holidays, Jerusalem was filled with pilgrims, flocking from alien lands to the Holy Mount ; their offerings formed the revenue of the Temple, and those children which its bosom had not nourished, yet recognised it as their mother. A distinction, however, did not fail to appear between the resident Jews of Palestine and the Jews of the dis- persion ; the former spoke the Hebrew of the times, and the latter the Greek ; the one then retained the name of Hebrews, and the others styled themselves Hellenists. This was but a formal distinction, and did not affect the entire resemblance of manners, and the community of sen- timents. We must also observe that the greater part of the Hellenists were acquainted with Hebrew, as testified by Saint Paul. The only privilege which the inhabitants of Palestine secured was the legitimate pride which they retained of having remained faithful to the Land of Pro- mise, to the tombs of their ancestors, to the time-honoured sanctuary, and of still living under the shadow of the Temple, and so more near to God himself. That, however, did not prevent their often associating Greek or Roman names with their Hebrew appellations, even as their ancestors had occasionally borne Assyrian designations. . Day by day strange terms, Greek and Latin, became intermixed with the language spoken in Jerusalem, and, in fact, the Jewish people, surrounded by the civilisation of the Gentiles, received contentedly their rule, their language and their riches but they obstinately rejected all else. C. AUBERTIN. Seneque et Saint Paul, 90 92. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 275 THE KARAITE JEWS. They are a people honourably known by faithful main- tenance of the principle of submission to acknowledged authority, and also by firmness in exercising their own reason in order to ascertain the sufficiency of that which seems to be authoritative. Nothing with them is authorita- tive which is not Divine God only to them is the Fountain of authority. They profess willingness to submit to Him, and to submit at any cost. This is the normal principle of Karaism. Submission to human authority in matters of faith and religious duty, unless that authority be manifestly supported by Divine Revelation, they justly consider no better than blind and servile superstition. They pay unbounded reverence to the written law of God, contained in the Old Testament. They utterly reject what is called the Oral Law, apd which is now contained in the Talmud. The trans-Caucasian region, where the sons of the Reading (X~ip) found hospitable treatment among the pagan Chozars long before the great Karaite revival of the eighth century, now part of the great Russian empire, has ever since been a land of refuge to their children. It is now chiefly in Russia that their worship flourishes. The above two extracts are from the History of the Karaite Jews, by W. H. RULE, D.D., 1870, pp. 232. As the author observes, " The book now presented to English readers is the first volume in our language that has been entirely devoted to the history of the Karaite Jews." It is an interesting book, and well worth attention ; and although occasionally with a Christian bias, is replete with informa- tion. A JEW'S EYE. " Worth a Jew's eye " is a common proverbial expression, 276 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. and a popular simile for anything valuable, and was familiar in the time of Shakspeare, see " Merchant of Venice," ii. 5 : "There will come a Christian bye, Will be worth a Jewess' eye. " That worth was the price which the persecuted Jews paid for the immunity from mutilation and death. When our rapacious king John extorted an enormous sum from the Jew of Bristol by drawing his teeth, the threat of putting out an eye would have the same effect upon other Jews. Notes and Queries, 4th Series, vol. iii., 265. THE TEN TRIBES. It is a beautiful circumstance in the symbology of the Jewish ritual, where all -is symbolic and all is significant, where all, in Milton's language, " was meant mysteriously," that the ten tribes were not blotted out from the breastplate of the High Priest after their revolt ; no, nor after their idolatrous lapse, nor after their captivity, nor after their supposed utter dispersion. Their names still burned on the breastplate, though their earthly place knew them no more. Blackwood's Magazine, vol. xlvii., p. 144. ARE THERE JEWS IN CORNWALL? (See page 212.) Having promised some arguments in favour of the question, they are subjoined : There is hardly a book on Cornish history or antiquities in which we are not seriously informed that at some time or other the Jews migrated to Cornwall, or worked in Cornish mines. Old smelting houses, they tell us, are still called " Jews' houses " in Cornwall. Marazion, the well-known town opposite St. Michael's Mount, which means the CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 277 "bitterness of Zion" (}VV mo), is also called "Market Jew." So even they are still marked in the Ordnance Maps. M. Esquiroz, in his work " Cornwall and its Coasts," strongly advocates the affirmative side of the question. Should any of my readers be desirous of investigating the subject, they will find exhaustive remarks in the various notices, to which space will only permit my referring them : 1. Max Miiller, in loco, " Chips from a German Workshop," vol. iii. 2. Carew, " Survey of Cornwall." 4to. 3. Giddy (afterwards Gilbert), "Historical and Topo- graphical Survey of the County of Cornwall," 1817-20. 4. Hals, "The Comply/ History of Cornwall," 1750. 5. Matthew Paris, Opera, ed. Wats., p. 902. 6. Reymor's " Fcedera," torn, i., p. 543. 7. Merivale, H. J., "Historical Sketches," 1865. 8. Borlase, Dr., " Observations on the Antiquities, &c., of the County of Cornwall." Oxford, 1754. 9. Bannister, Dr., "Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall," 1867. Various Encyclopedias, Gazetteers, dw., &c. PHILOSOPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. Of the theologians who philosophised on the basis of human reason, the earliest belonged to the sect of the Kareans or Karaites who rejected the Talmud (the sect was founded about 761 by Anan ben David). The most notice- able among these was David ben Merwan al Mokammez (about 900). More worthy of mention is the Rabbinist Saadja ben Joseph al Fajjumi (892-942), the rationalistic defender of the Talmud and opponent of the Karaites, who undertook to demonstrate the reasonableness of the Mosaic and post-Mosaic articles of the Jewish faith. 278 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. Solomon Ibn Gebirol, who lived about 1050 in Spain, is the representative of a class of Jewish thinkers who wrote under the influence of the Neo-Platonic philosophy. He was looked upon by the Christian Scholastics as an Arabian philosopher, and he was cited by them under the name of Avicebron. His doctrines exerted a material influence on the later development of the Cabala as contained in the Sohar. Near the end of the eleventh century Bahja ben Joseph composed an ethical work on the duties of the heart, in which more stress was laid on internal morality than on mere legality. A direct re-action against philosophy was encouraged by the poet Juda-ha-Levi (about 1140), in his book called Khosari. In this book the author represents first, Greek philosophy, and then Christian and Mahommedan theology, as vanquished by the doctrines of Judaism, and develops the grounds on which Rabbinic Judaism was founded ; he lauds the secret doctrine of the Jezirah, which book he ascribes to the patriarch Abraham. A reconciliation of Jewish theology with Aristotelian philosophy was attempted about the middle of the twelfth century by Abraham ben David, of Toledo ; soon after him the solution of the same problem was undertaken with far greater success by the most celebrated of the Jewish philo- sophers of the Middle Ages, Moses ben Maimun (Moses Maimonides, 1135 1204). In his "Guide of the Doubt- ing" Maimonides ascribed to Aristotle unconditional authority in the essence of sublunary things, but limited it in the science of heavenly and divine things by asserting the greater authority of revelation. By giving prominence to the spiritual and moral ideas of Judaism, he exerted on all Jewish theology (even on that of the Karaites) a salutary, and, in spite of violent reactions, a permanent influence. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the philosophy of the Arabian Aristotelians, being proscribed by the Ma- CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 279 hommedan rulers, found an asylum in Spain and France, especially in Provence, their writings being translated from Arabic into Hebrew, and in some cases made the subject of new commentaries. As a commentator of the Para- phrases and Commentaries of Averroes, and also as the author of independent works, Levi ben Gerson is especially distinguished : his writings fall in the first half of the fourteenth century. Through the agency of Jews, Arabic translations of (genuine and spurious) works of Aristotle and Aristotelians were made into Latin. In this way the entire of this philosophy was brought to the knowledge of the Scholastics, who were thus inspired soon afterward to procure for themselves other translations of the works of Aristotle, which were founded immediately on the Greek text. UEBERWEG. Hist, of Philosophy, vol. i., pp. 418, 419. WRITERS ON JEWISH PHILOSOPHY. A survey of the entire philosophy of the Jews is given by Sal. Munk in his "Melanges de Philosophic Tuive et Arabe," pp. 461-511 ("Esquisse Historique de la Philosophie chez les Juifs"). A German translation of this sketch was pub- lished at Leipsic in 1852. A. Schmiedl has an article on the conceptions of substance and accidents in the philo- sophy of the Jews in the Middle Ages, in the " Monatsschr., fur Gesch. u. Wiss. des Judenthums," ed. by Frankel, Breslau, 1864. Cf. J. M. Jost, H. Gratz, and Abr. Geiger, in their histories of Judaism, and Julius Fiirst, " Bibliotheca Judaica, Bibliographisches Handbuch der gesammelten Jiidischen Litteratur," Leipsic, 1849-63, and Steinschneider, "Jiidische Litteratur," in " Ersch und Griiber's Encyklo- psedie," Sect, ii., vol. 27. Ibid. 280 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. SPINOZA. Baruch Despinoza, born at Amsterdam on the 24th of November, 1632, was descended from one of the Jewish families who, in order to avoid the persecutions directed against them in Spain and Portugal, had emigrated to the Netherlands. He received his first training under the celebrated Talmudist, Saul Levi Morteira, and became acquainted, among other works, with those of Maimonides, of whom he had a high opinion, and with cabalistic Avorks, of which, however, he speaks rarely and always disparag- ingly. On the 6th of August, 1656, he was fully expelled from the Jewish communion for his "frightful heresies." Before this time he had been instructed in Latin by Franz von den Ende, a learned physician of naturalistic sym- pathies. From 1650 to 1660 or 1661, Spinoza resided in the vicinity of Amsterdam, in the family of an Arminian friend, being occupied with the study of the Cartesian, and the development of his own philosophy. He lived next at Rhynsburg, the head quarters of the sect of Collegiants ; then from 1664 to 1669 at Voorburg, near the Hague ; then at the Hague, and afterwards, from 1671 till his death, which occurred on the 2ist of February, 1677, with Van der Spyck, the painter. Those who would wish to study the peculiar doctrines of Spinoza will find elaborate details in UEBERWEG, Hist, of Philosophy, transl. by G. S. Morris and Noah Porter, vol. ii., PP- 55-79- EVIDENCES OF REVEALED RELIGION. All other nations that have been conquered have been absorbed in the nations that conquered them, or they have swallowed up their conquerors. The Normans have be- come Frenchmen, the French in England have become CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 281 Britons, the Tartars have become Chinese, Greece was lost in the Roman name, and now the Roman name is oblite- rated by the Gauls, the Franks, the Germans ; and the nations of the East are lost among the barbarous people whom they civilized and polished ; while the degraded in- habitants of Judea, though dispersed among all nations, thus still continue a distinct people, governed by their own laws, and subject to their own religion. I call upon the Deist to show me any other people, from the beginning of the world to the present day, who, under such circumstances, have not been wholly extirpated or absorbed in the general mass of the people by whom they were conquered or among whom they lived ; and if he cannot do this, I ask him to produce an adequate cause for this fact, for this exception to a universal consequence this fact which seems so much like a miracle, and out of the general order of nature, and which contradicts the general tenor of history and expe- rience. The Jews say it is the hand of God. Here, then, is a sufficient cause to account for the effect a cause not only adequate, but, I am bold to say, the only adequate cause that is capable of accounting for such an extraordinary state of things. But the Jews not only say that it is God that has done this, but that he foretold it by his servant Moses, four thousand years ago. And they say, with great propriety, that circumstances so extraordinary could only have been known to a certainty by Him who governs all things, and who can bring to pass whatever He foretells. CHRISTOPHILUS (?) Evidences of Revealed Religion, 1814. JEWS IN PORTUGAL. I recollect my astonishment, on looking over the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Lisbon, of modern date, to find a considerable portion occupied by subjects of Jewish erudi- 282 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. tion, and on Jewish writers in the first age of the Portuguese monarchy, to the seventeenth century. The memoirs of no other national academy display this recondite knowledge and this great delight in Jewish authors. The philosophical physician of the embassy enlightened me ; he assured me that the tenderness for the religion of their fathers was exces- sive, and that many public characters, in the agony of their religious consciences, had often flown to the synagogues of England and Holland. It was this feeling which, notwith- standing their Autos da Fe, the government itself could no longer disguise. Several edicts are now before me, the last issued in 1773. Here is formally abolished the odious distinction of Christianas Novos and Christianas Velhos, new and old Christians, which had so long tormented the half-Judaized Portuguese. It even allows the children of Moses to hold their festivals ; it prohibits the compulsion of baptism, it relieves them from any tribute or tax hitherto levied on Jews, and it makes honourable mention, by name, of certain officers of state who were Jews, yet had been prime ministers and treasurers ; and finally, it de- clares that " the blood of the Hebrews is the blood of our apostles, our deans, our presbyters, and our bishops." All this may be confirmed by a recent casual observation of Madame Junot, the Duchess of Abrantes. " The Portu- guese nation," she writes, "though three parts Jewish, are extremely tenacious of admitting amongst them any persons who do not bring good proofs of the purity of their blood." I. DTsRAELi. Genius of Judaism, pp. 242 5. PORTUGUESE JEWS IN ENGLAND. It was this race which formed the first general settlement of Jews in England Spanish and Portuguese fugitives from the infernal fires of the Auto da Fe, and the living graves of CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 283 the Inquisition. Ships freighted with Jewish families and Jewish property, landed on the shores of Holland and England. Many escaped without any preparation to save their lives by a day. They were composed of all ranks : noblemen, officers, learned physicians, and opulent mer- chants ; many conveyed great wealth, and there were individuals who maintained in England a ducal establish- ment. The first names of the Portuguese nation may still be traced in their present descendants, who occupy very different situations. The Villa Reals, the Alvarez, the Francos, the Mendez, the Rebellos, the De Silvas, the Garcias, the D'Aguilars, the Souzas, the De Castros, the Salvadors, and a long list, betray their Lusitanian lineage. These distinguished persons for many years constituted what is called the community of Spanish and Portuguese Jews of London. The nobler families who brought wealth assumed their rank in society ; the mercantile classes opened new sources of commerce, and unquestionably the Lisbon trade must have flourished. Their origin here is still attested by the circumstance that their translated prayers and their Bible are in Spanish, and all their bye- laws and judicial and other civil documents, are still issued in the Portuguese language. Many of their physicians obtained great practice in England and in Holland. In the science of medicine the Jews had been eminent from very remote eras. The physi- cian of Henry IV., of France, was a Jew, and at his desire his bones were carried to the Holy Land. Voltaire in- scribed an epistle to the Jewish physician, Isaac de Silva. Ibid. LOYALTY. The first and second generation of the Portuguese Jews resided in retired quarters in the city ; then its mansions 284 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. were not deserted even by our own merchants. As foreigners and as Hebrews such a locality was preferred, and their language and their habits continued to be Portuguese. Their sons would become more familiar with our own. A third generation were natives. A fourth were purely English. About the time of the first George this foreign race were zealously national, firm adherents to the Pro- testant succession. A Romanist on the throne for them would have been reviving the terror their relatives had flown from, and even as late as this period fresh fugitives landed on our coasts. It is evident that the Jews, for every protecting govern- ment, became the most zealous patriots. The Hebrew identifies his interests with those of the country ; their wealth is his wealth ; their victories secure his prosperity. On several trying occasions, both in England and in Holland, they have laid on the altar of public safety noble sacrifices of their lives and their fortunes. In recent times, faithful to a paternal government, they have marched in the armies of European sovereigns'. Prussia has many Jewish officers ; France, since her regeneration, has counted many Israelites in her Ecole Polytechnique, and the blood of Israel flowed profusely in the field of Waterloo. The King of Holland has a complete regiment of gallant Hebrews. All this confirms what I have already asserted, that every native Jew, as a political being, becomes distinct from the Jew of any other nation. If the Jewish military under the King of Holland were to encounter the French Israelites, the combat would be between the Dutch and the French. The Hebrew adopts the hostilities and the alliances of the land where he was born he calls himself by the name of his country. Genius of Judaism, pp. 249 252. CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 285 CHAPTERS OF THE BIBLE. The present division into chapters, which the Jews have adopted, is of Christian origin, and does not occur before the thirteenth century. The capitula of Hieronymus, the Tituli and Breves in the Latin, the DHTD or plTD -orders, and D'OOD (<7/7/ma) marks of the Masorites, were so fluctua- ting, that before the introduction of the present chapters and verses, the quotations were very vague. The Penta- teuch alone was in ancient times divided into fifty-four (sections) JTPBHB, according to the number of the Sab- baths in the Jewish leap-year. The Parashioth, which in regularly written manuscripts commenced a line, are called ninina open, and are marked in printed Hebrew Bibles, SSD or S. Those which commence in the middle of a line are called niDIDD closed or shut up, and are marked ODD or D ; but in printed Bibles D stands sometimes at the commencement, and D in the middle of a line. Penny Cyclop, vol. iv. page 369. I think a better reason can be assigned for the use of the letters Q and D, viz., that wheresoever the 3 occurs, it intimates that it was an open space in the original MS., though the connection of a subject might seem not to necessitate it, and where the letter D is found, it intimates that no words have been interpolated to fill up a hiatus a practice but too frequent in the manipulation (for special purposes) of some early MSS. P. A. HEBREW CHARACTERS. Before the Babylonian exile, the Biblical books were written in the characters still extant on the legends of the Asmonean coins. Instead of the antique Hebrew cha- racter, which is nearly allied to the Samaritan, there was employed, after the Babylonian captivity, a sort of Aramaic 286 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. alphabet, which was gradually changed by transcribers into the present square character, of which the Spanish, the German, and the intermediate or Italian are three modifi- cations found in Hebrew manuscripts. The characters printed in modern editions of the Hebrew Old Testament are formed according to the Spanish MSS., which are the most beautiful. Those employed in the publications of Sebastianus Miinster at Basel, about 1530, are imitations of German manuscripts. The Italian and French Jews wrote in a middle style, between the Spanish and the German. The Rashi, rabbinical, and cursive Hebrew characters represent the gradual changes of the square characters to a Hebrew running hand, which are also occasionally found in manuscripts written for private use, and are therefore less accurately revised, and consequently of less authority than those written for public use in synagogues. The most ancient MSS. had neither vowels nor diacritical marks, nor were the words always divided. Ibid. vol. v., page 369. THE SACRED MANUSCRIPTS. The synagogue rolls contain the Pentateuch, the appointed sections of the Prophets (?) or the book of Esther, which last is only read at the feast of Purim. These are never put together, but are written on separate rolls. They are in the Chaldee or square Hebrew character, without vowels and accents, accompanied with the puncta exiraor- dinaria (?), and having the unusual forms of certain con- sonants. The parchment is prepared in a particular manner by the hands of Jews only, and made from the hides of clean animals, which, when duly wrought, are joined together by thongs made out of the same material. They are then divided into columns, the breadth of which must not exceed half their length. These columns, whose CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 287 number is prescribed, must be of equal length and breadth among themselves, and contain a certain number of lines. The Talmud contains strict rules concerning the material, the colour, the ink, letters, divisions, writing instruments, etc., which are closely followed, especially in copying the Pentateuch. The minuteness of such regulations renders it a most irksome task for the sopher or scribe to write out a synagogue roll. The revision of the Torah, as the synagogue roll is often called, must be undertaken within thirty days after its transcription, else it is unfit for use. Three mistakes on one side or skin are allowable, but should there be four, or should there happen to be an error in the open and close sections of the law, in the position of the songs in Exod. xv. and Num. xxi., which are the only portions of the Pentateuch written in poetical lines, then the whole copy is worthless. The great beauty of penmanship exhibited in their synagogue copies has. been always admired. They are taken from authentic exemplars, without the slightest deviation or correction. Seldom do they come into the hands of Christians, since as soon as they cease to be employed in the synagogue, they are either buried or carefully laid aside. KITTO. Cyclop. BibL Literature, ed. Alexander, vol. ii., page 56. THE GUIDE OF THE PERPLEXED D'313J This religio-philosophical work, by Maimonides, origi- nally written in Arabic, and entitled pfttnfoil rhvbl, created a new epoch in the philosophy of the Middle Ages. It was first read in Hebrew in the translation of Ibn Tibbon, first published about 1480, then in Venice 1551, Sabionetta 1553, Berlin 1791 96, Salzbach 1828, etc. It was trans- lated into Latin by Justinian, Bishop of Nebis, " R. Moses ^Egyptii, Dux sive Director dubitandum," Paris, 1520 : 288 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. then, again, by Buxtorf, jun., " Doctor Perplexorum," Basel, 1629. The first part was translated into German by Fiirstenthal, Krotoschin, 1839; tne second by M. E. Stein, Vienna, 1864; and the third by Scheyer, Frankfort-on-the- Maine, 1838. Part III., 26 49, has been translated into English by Dr. Townley, " The Reasons of the Laws of Moses," London, 1827. The original Arabic of the first and second parts has, for the first time, been published, with a French translation, and elaborate notes, by Munk, Paris, 1856 61. Comp. Geiger, " Moses ben Maimon," Bres- lau, 1850; "Fiirst Bibliotheca Judaica," ii. 290 316; Steinschneider, Catalogus Lit. Heb. in Bibliotheca Bod- leiana, col. 1861, 1942; Jost, "Geschichte des Juden- thums," Leipzig, 1858, vol. ii., page 428 ; etc., Frankel, " Hodegetica en Mischnam," Leipzig, 1854, page 320; " Die Religions Philosophic des Moses ben Maimon," in " Jahrsbericht des Judisch-theologischen Seminars," Bres- lau, 1859 ; Graetz, " Geschichte der Juden," vol. iii., Leipzig, 1864, etc. Dr. GINSBURG in Kitto's Cycl. Bib. Liter. LAST AUTO DA F IN PORTUGAL. Antonio Jose, a Portuguese dramatist, was by birth a Jew. He wrote some comic operas, which, though coarse in style, had a vein of humour and gaiety, and gave the first promise of an original Portuguese drama. From 1730 to 1740 they drew crowds to the theatre. Jose was seized as a Jew, imprisoned in the dungeons of the Inquisition, and was burnt alive at the last Auto da Fe in 1745. SOUTHEY? JEWISH DISABILITIES. Sir Robert Grant's Bill for releasing the Jews from civil CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 289 disabilities, was rejected by the Lords, August i, 1833 ; another, introduced by Lord John Russell, after passing the Commons, was also rejected by the Upper House, May 25, 1848; a third, which also received the sanction of the Lower House, was thrown out by the Lords, July 17, 1851. Similar Bills were rejected in 1853 and 1857. By the 21 and 22 Viet. c. 49 (July, 23, 1858), the House of Commons was empowered to modify the oaths in such a manner that they could be taken by Jews ; and by the 23 and 24 Viet. c. 63, the words " upon the faith of a Chris- tian " were expunged permanently in the case of a Jewish member. An Act to relieve Jews elected to municipal offices from taking oaths, etc., had been passed in the 9th of Victoria. Compiled from HADYN'S Book and TOWN- SEND'S Manual of Dates. ASSYRIAN IDEAS. When the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity, they brought with them a multitude of new opinions and superstitions which had not been known in former times, and also some much purer doctrines, among which was a belief in the immortality of the soul, which, after the cap- tivity, was universally received, except by the Sadducees, who rejected it. I have already given some proofs from the Tablets that this doctrine was held by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, and that the Jews adopted this belief and retained it ever after. At the same time they accepted many other opinions which they found prevalent in the land of their captivity. The Assyrians believed most strongly in demoniacal possession, in the power of exorcism, in charms, talismans, and holy water ; in the con- stant presence of good and evil angels and demons, some merely fantastic, others very hurtful and malignant. Among other things, the Jews brought from Babylon the 290 CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. names of the twelve months, which are foreign, and not Hebrew words. H. T. TALBOT. Trans. Bibl. Archeology. PRIVILEGES GRANTED BY JOSEPH II. The Jewish nation or people, who through a long course of centuries had so often been doomed to lament the caprices or rapacity of monarchs, and to become victims to the revolutions of States, were now (1780) among the first to experience the benefit of living under a government where the prince had sufficient comprehension to discover that his own interests are in a less or greater degree in- separably connected with the security and prosperity of every class and order of his subjects. Among other immu- nities and privileges granted by the Emperor to that people, they were particularly admitted to the right of exercising all kinds of arts and trades, of applying themselves to agri- culture, and to the invaluable privilege of freely pursuing their studies in the universities without any impediment whatsoever on the score of religion ; so that upon the whole they seem now to possess in general the same advan- tages with other citizens. Besides the signal benefits which he before conferred on the Jews, he engaged (1782) so warmly in their favour, as to write letters himself to the different trading and handi- craft corporations of Vienna, requesting that their youth might be received as apprentices in the various trades and callings of that city. Ann. Regis., vols. xxvii., xxix. ABBREVIATIONS. The writings of the later Hebrews teem with abbreviations, a knowledge of which is essential to all students of Rab- CURIOSITIES OF JUDAISM. 29 1 binical literature. Limited space precludes more than this allusion to them. One instance only will be cited, with with which the pious writers were wont to terminate their labours, and which the compiler of this work also adopts. In full, it reads D^iyn K-Q hxb rat? thw\ Dn. " It is finished and completed, praise be to God, the Creator of the Universe" ; and it is herein symbolized by its initial letters "n "3 "^ "V "1 "n. INDEX. A. Abarbanel, see Avravenel, 40. Abbreviations, 290. Aben Ezra, early Jewish Gram- marian, 48. Abhorrence, by Christians, 83. Abraham, tactics, 5 ; tomb, 99, 144 ; tent, 108. Abraham, son of David, celebrated rabbi, 2, 278. Abrogation of oath, More Judaico, 38. Academy, first Jewish in Spain, 91. Acknowledgment of Hungarian Jews, 143. Adam, all mankind in him, 151. Adaptation to changes of climate, 20. Address to George II., 59. Adler, Dr., nationality of, 34 ; ex- tract from sermon, 62. Adolph of Nassau, Israelites in his army, 161. Adrian, see Hadrian, 166. Advice to Charles V., 153; of R. Jochanan, 247. Aguilar, signification of (?), 55- Ahasuerus and Esther, 214. Akiba, R., assemblies of, 160. Alexandria, synagogue there, 272. Allusions, classical, 199, 264. Alonso VI. at Toledo, 124. Alphabet, see Zephaniah, 189. Alteration of commandments, 75. Amsterdam, engraving of syna- gogue, 169; erection of syna- gogue, 255. Anecdote, humorous, 80 ; of the peacock, 206. Angel of Song, 112. Animosity at Lubec, 10 ; between Jews and Christians, 57; rabbini- cal, 199. Anan ben David, a Karaite, 277. Anne, Queen, gift of, 33. Apes, see Ceylon, 115; transforma- tion to, 117. Aphorisms of Sages, 136; Talmudi- cal, 248. Apocrypha, 201. Application to Henry VII., 86 ; to Charles II., 235. Aptitude for music, 8. Arabs, early translators, 3 ; their language, 10; protect the Jews, 1 20, 145 ; their philosophy, 278. Aristotle, philosophy, 3, 45 ; a Jew (?), 156, 245. Aries, congregation there, 3. Arnold, Dr., quotation from, 188. Arrest of Hamburg Jews, 84. Art, Hebrew, 76. Arthur, King, Hebrew MS. his- ' tory, 128. Assertions, calumnious, 194. Assyrian ideas, 289. "Audi alteram partem, " 164. Authority of tradition, 234. Auto da fe, offered as diversion, 28 ; last in Portugal, 288. Averroes, instructor of Matmonides, 46; curious sentence on him, ibid., translated, 279. Avicebron, 278. Avigdor, H., reply to Hallez, 164. B. Bacon eaten at Easter, 24. Bacon, Sir Francis, taunts Gonde- mar, 28. 294 INDEX. Bacon, Roger, purchases Hebrew books, 33. Bahya ben Joseph, 278. Banishment of Jews, 49. Baptism, hasty, 41 ; coercion, 64, 85 ; fraudulent, 141 ; a royal god- mother, 151. Bar Cocheba, or Coziba, 252, note. Bath of Pharaoh, 127. Beaconsfield, Earl of, see D'Israeli. Beard, a good reproof, 47. Beecher, H. W., on Jewish endur- ance, 17. Beer, Peter, history referred to, 179. Belisarius defeated by Jews, 162. Benas, B. L., Proverbs quoted by him, 35. Benediction of the sun, 262. Benjamin of Tudela, travels, I, 51* IS*- Ben Jochai, Simon, a Kabbalist, 228. Berlin, restriction of residence, 33 ; permission to Mendelssohn, 34. Bether, siege of, 251. Betrothment of the Deity with Israel, 153. Bible, headings of chapters, 114; new translation, 149 ; errors in authorised version, 15; chapters of the, 285. Bills of exchange, 207. Biography, writers on Jewish, 42. Bishop of the Jews, 193. Bitterness of death, 102. Boast of Julian, 186. Bokhara, Jews there, 170. Book of Judah, mi.T B2B>, 21. Books, Hebrew, of genealogy, 21 ; many sold, 32. " Boys and girls playing in the streets," 220. Branch of David, 1H HDX, 21. Broughton, Hugh, disputes with R. Elias, 26 ; his writings, ibid. Brussels a century ago, 217. Builders' Hall, apt quotation, 86. Burial charges, decision, 82. Burying of the law, 226. Buxtorff, works referred to, 48. " Bye- word and reproach," 204. Byron, Lord, and the Motsos, 73. C. Calumnious assertions, 194. Cassimir, King of Poland, 179. Cemetery, inscription on, 24. Ceremony, mortifying, 238. Ceylon, Jews there, 74 ; Tamul language, 115. Chalitza, enforcement of, 168. Chanina, R., martyrdom of, 109. Chapters of the Bible, 285. Character, a nice one, 147 ; aver- age, 223. Characters, Hebrew, 285. Charles II., application to, 235. Charles V., ad vice to, 155; attempt to convert, 176. Charlemagne, cruel custom, 19 ; embassy to, 42 Charter of Whitglaff, 99. Chaucer quoted, 31, 49, 214. Chayyug, early grammarian, 48. Chester, Mary, a Jewess (?), in. Child, voice of, 19. Cholera, superstitious practices, 1 08. Christians, obligations of, 4 ; aver- sion of Roman, 16; animosity, 57 ; abhorrence, 83 ; 'evidence, 238. Church, glory of, 104. Civilisation, Hebrew, 65. Classical allusions, 199, 264. Clement, St., quoted on Tactics, 5. Colony, a remarkable, 173; Jewish colonies, 273. Commandments to Noah, 23 ; alte- ration, 75 5 i n ten lines, 84. Concordance, Hebrew, 130. Congregation at Aries, 3. Consistory at Rome, 217. Contents of Mishna, 182, 22 1, 240. Conversion, fallacy of, 18; legen- dary account, 29 ; failure of at- tempt, 142 : Papal, 230 ; of a Jew, 243. Converts, petition of, 71. Cordova, former importance, 55. INDEX. 295 Cornwall, Jews there, 212, 276. Cosmopolitan people, 196. Council of Cologne, 156. Crabbe, tirade of, 185. Cretensis, Moses, 140. Crimes attributed to Jews, 142 ; of the Twelve Tribes, 267. Croly, Rev. George, quoted, 190. Cromwell, the Messiah (?), 6 ; ad- dress to, 27 ; transactions with Jews, references, 231. Crucial test, 242. Cumberland, quotations from, 187, 209. Cups, marvellous, 134; Solomon's, US- Customs, cruel, 19; permanency of Jewish, 56; history of, 188. D. D'Argens, intercession for Men- delssohn, 34. Darwin, on proportion of sexes, 1 88 ; tattooing, ibid. Death, bitterness of, 102. De Castro, secession from syna- gogue, 170. Defeat by Severus, 252. Denization, grants of, 72, 95. Denys Marchant, 103. Dialogues of love, 12. Diego di Storia, 87. Disabilities, Jewish, 288. Disclaimer of French Jews, 80. D'Israeli, Jewish origin, 37 ; me- moirs, 67 81. D'Israeli, Isaac, see Genius of Ju- daism, 132, 206, 232-4. Dogs, see Frankfort, 34 ; hanged with Jews, 91. Doors out of the world, 217. E. Easter, bacon eating, 24 ; at Saint Petersburg, see Vernet, 178. Edgeworth, Miss, quoted, 209. Education, advance of, 122. Edward I., penal laws, 157. Effects of prejudice, 209. Elia Capitolana, 250. Elias, R., disputation with Brough- ton, 26. Emancipation at Wurtemburg, 24 ; in Sweden, 60. Embassy of Charlemagne, 42 ; to the Pope, 101. Endurance, see Beecher, 17. English Jews first mentioned, 98. Engraving, a rare one, 169. Epochs of Jewish learning, 268. Era and Calendar, 272. Errors of great writers, 218. Esther, a beautiful Jewess, 179. Etheridge, Dr., quoted, 249. Evidence, Christian, 238; of re- vealed religion, 280. Example of Pharaoh, 247. Exchequer of the Jews, 270. Executioner, refusal of, 262. Extraction, Jewish, 247. Eye, a Jew's, 275. F. Fair of the turpentine tree, 107. Families in England, 68. " Fear of God," misunderstood, 1 6, 247. Fourfold sense of the law, 265. Fox and the Fishes, 160. Fragment from a sermon, 87. France, schools in the south, I. _ Francis I., attempted conversion, 176. Frankfort, insulting inscription, 34. Frederick the Great, favours Men- delssohn, 34 ; refuses permission, 172. Freedom, 24 ; freedom of con- science, 15. G. Gates of Heaven, 129. Gebiral, Solomon ben, 41. Genealogy, books on, 21, 278. Genius of Judaism, 132, 206, 232-4. George II., address to him, 59. Germany, persecution, 9; Jews there, 215. Gesenius, writings of, 61, Gideon, Sir Sampson, 263. 296 INDEX. Gileadites, their test word, 22. Ginsburg on the Kabbalah, 227. God, the fear of, 16, 247; the word " God," 210. "God save the King," quotation, 261. Golden Legend, 29. Gondemar and Bacon, 28. Gordon, Lord George, 171. Governments, their object, 5. Grammarians, Hebrew, 48. Great Synagogue, dedication, 54. Gregory of Huntingdon, 32. Grostete, Bishop, Hebrew scholar, 3. 1 - Guide of the Perplexed, 287. Guimenee (properly Guine'e), letters to Voltaire, 4. H. Hadrian, war with Jews, 166. Hagar, estimation by Mussulmans, "5- Hail, miraculous, 250. Hallez, isolation, 162 ; see Avigdor, 164. Hand, kissing of, 153. Hart, Professor S. A., on Hebrew Art, 76. Head, shaking, 123. Headings of the Psalms, 258. Heaven, gates of, 129. Hebrew, read backwards, 6 ; simi- larity with Arabic, 10; books, 32 ; melodies, 34 ; versions from Arabic, 45 ; art, 76 ; language of prayer, 76, 127 ; alphabet, 189 ; and stranger, 224 ; names, 248 ; characters, 285. Helena, Empress, holy sepulchre, 15. Henry IV. of France, freedom of conscience, 15; his physician, 283. Henry VII., application to him, 86. "Hep," origin of word, 217. Herbert, Lady, "Cradle Lands," 144. Heretics, proceedings against, 88 90. Herschell, Rev. Solomon, nation- ality, 34; witty remark, 177. Hindoo, monstrous statues, 75. Holland, Jews there, 255. Howell, remarks, 239. Huidekoper, extracts from, 2IO, 211, 222 4. Hungarian Jews, gratitude of, 143. Hurwitz, Professor, on the Talmud, 36. I. Ideas, Assyrian, 289. Idleness reprehended, 130. Impostor, 141. Industry commended, 130. Infidelity, see Authorised Version, 150. Influence, Jewish, 210, 222. Information, extraordinary, 15. Ingratitude, filial, 53. Inquisition established, 13. Inscription on cemetery, 24 ; at Frankfort, 34. Integrity of R. Phineas, 220. Intelligence of rabbins, 3. Intolerance, against Jews, 13; Chris- tian, 1 6. Isaac and Ishmael, 97. Isolation, see Hallez, 162. Israelites at Malabar, 125, 253. Jarchi, or Rashi, 2. Jetzira (iTV^ "IDD), book of, 236. Jewe, the surname, 98. Jews, see Cross references, passim. Jephtha's daughter, 117; classical resemblance, 118. Jewish maiden, a poem, 117. Jewish disabilities, 288. Jochannan, R., his advice, 247. Joseph II. grants privileges, 290. Josephus, notice of the Saviour (?), 181. Juda-Ha-Levi, 278. Judaism at Rome, 222. Julian, his boast, 186. K. Kabbalah, Ginsburg on, 227, 236, 245 ; writers on, 267. Karaite Jews, 275. INDEX. 297 " Killing no murder," 262. Kimchi, 48. " King of the Jews," 73, 104, 250. King, property of, 191; "God save the King," 261. Lamartine, view from Zion, 116. Language of prayer, 104, 127. Laws, object of, 5 ; peculiar, 56 ; restrictive, 67 ; of Visigoths, IOI ; penal, 157; of Moses, 197; bury- ing of, 226 ; fourfold sense, 265. Lecky on Naturalisation Bill, 50. Leo of Modena, history of rites, etc., 1 88. Letters to Voltaire, 4 ; in Hebrew scriptures, 239. Levi ben Gerson, 279. Lion, the Hebrew, 12. Locke, on obligations of Christians, 4- Loyalty of the Jews, 58, 283. Lubec, animosity at, 10. Lucena, visit of King Jusuf, 145. Lunel, schools there, 2. M. Machpelah, visit to cave, 144, Magdeburg, privilege of, 177. Magna Charta, extract from, 171. Maimonides, works of, 2 ; opposi- tion to, ibid. ; a pupil of Averroes, 46; D'DUJ mi!D, 287. Malabar Jews, 125, 253. Manasseh ben Israel, solicitation to Cromwell, 6 ; pass for him, 96 ; a Portuguese Jew (?) 98 ; "Vindi- ciae Judaeorum, " 177. Mankind in Adam, 151. Manuscripts, sacred, 286. Marchant, Denys, 103. Marcus Aurelius, virtue of, 54. Marriages, mixed, 189. Marsh, Bishop, on the Pentateuch, 56. Martyrdom of R. Chanina, 109; mother and sons, 138. Majry, Queen of Scots, relics of, 46. Masorah, 257 261 ; principal writers, 261. Maternal impulse, 208. Meisel, Dr., 145. Melodies, Hebrew, 34, 272. Mental development, 180. Mendelssohn, F. B., Jewish extrac- tion, 8. Mendelssohn, Moses, house, 64 ; works, 69. Mercy illustrated, 182. Messulam, R., 2. Meyerbeer, 5, n, 272. Middle ages, literary agents, 3 ; progress, 45. Minyan, 112. Miracles, see Bolingbroke, 44. Mishna, second law, 1395 contents of, 182, 221, 240. Mocatta, Abraham, see Loyalty, 59. Modern Jews, 105. Montalto, a Jewish physician, 14. Montefiore, the name, 35. Montesquieu, on governments, 5 ; filial ingratitude, 53. Months, names of, 204. Montpellier, schools there, I. More Judaico repealed, 25 ; form of oath, 38 40. Mortifying ceremony, 258. Moses, character of, 105; lawof, 197. Moses Cretensis, an impostor, 139. Moshe Haddarshan, 83. Mother and seven sons, 138. Motsos, see Byron, 73. Music, aptitude for it, 8. Mystical sense of Talmud, 12. N. Nails, tradition, 79 ; humorous anecdote, 80. Names of Hebrew months, 204 ; orthography of, 249. Naples defended by Jews, 162. Napoleon at Frankfort, 34 ; Sanhe- drin, origin of, 92. Narbonne, schools at, I, 2. Naturalization Bill, see Lecky, 50 ; pamphlets, 7, 4851, 146, 193, 194. 298 INDEX. Nerva, amelioration of tax, 168. Ney, Marshal, at Magdeburg, 177. Noah, commandments to, 23 ; and his wife, 38. Noms de Guerre, of popes, 24. O. Oath, see More Judaico, 25, 38-40. Obi, 31K, 128. Obligations of Christians, 4. Odium and esteem, 155. Oppression, universal, 1 2 1. O. P. Riot, 151. Oral law, 91 93. P. Palindrome, 82. Papal conversion, 230. Papers, burnt, 6 ; French, 90. Parables of Sendebar, 215 ; from the Zohar, 246. Parliament, Jewish, 63. Pass for Manasseh ben Israel, 96. Passover, observance of, 209. Past artd present, 191. Pasta, Madame, 179. Patriotism, 257. Paul IV., strange contradiction, 44. Paul, St., his learning, 101, and Seneca, 274. Peacock, an anecdote, 206. Peculiar people, 24. Penal laws, 151. Pentateuch, authenticity of, 55 ; writings of Persecution in Germany, 9 ; of heretics, 87, in England and France, 244. Pesth, Jews of, 148. Petachia, R., Travels of, 78. Petition of converts, 71 ; for protec- tion, 72 ; for a pass, 73. Pharaoh, his bath, 127 ; example of, 247. Philosophy of Aristotle, 245 ; of Middle Ages, 277. Phineas, R. , integrity of, 220. Physicians, 'Montalto, 14; obloquy, 154- Plato, his learning, 110. Poland, Jews resident there, 179. Polygamy prohibited, 189. Poona, synagogue there, 25. Poor, "Treasure of," 132. Pope, embassy to, 101. Portugal, Jews there, 281 ; in Eng- land, 282. Portuguese synagogue, gift to 33 ; engraving of, 169. Posquieres, school at, 2. Power in the land, 103. Prayer, shortening, 8 ; language of, 104, 127 ; silent, 239. Prejudice, effects of,- 208. Present state (1675) of Jews, 241. Pretender, whimsical argument, 7 ; see also Loyalty, 59 ; Gideon, 263. Printing, dread of, 100 ; in Turkey, 161 ; Hebrew Scriptures, 248. Privileges granted by Joseph II., 290. Prohibition of usury, 10. Property of the King, 192. Prophecy, verification of, see Adler, 62. Proselytes questioned, 1 76 ; objec- tion to, 225. Prosperity of Jews, 44. Proverbs quoted, 35 ; of Rabbis, 156- Prynne, " Short Demurrer, 5. Psalms, headings of, 250 ; orphan, ibid. ; roots in, 272. Q- "Quid pro quo," .Elizabeth, a con- vert, 28. Quotations of Talmudisis, 60. R. Rabbinical Judaism, 232. Rabbis, early French, 2 ; nation- ality of, 34 ; sceptic and Rabbi, 96 ; animosity, 199. Races of Jews, 125. Racine, "Crainte de Dieu," 16, note. Radical words in Psalms. Reading rooms, fllTK", in Pales- tine, 129. Reformed Jews, 202. INDEX. 2 99 Rejected stone, 86. Relics of Mary, Queen of Scots, 46. Remarks, prejudicial, 19, 48 51, 162. Remonstrance against Jews, 71. Respect for the Jewish nation, 37. Revolt, last Jewish, 250. " Rich as a Jew," 104. River, Sabbatical, sand of, 129. Romanist and Jew, i^o. Rome, Jews in Imperial, 52 ; Con- sistory, 217. S. Saadji, R., Gaon, early gram- marian, 48 ; Masorah, 259. Sacred manuscripts, 286. Sages, aphorisms of, 136, 248 ; the seven, 215. Sancho Panza, judgments of, 30, note. Sand of Sabbatical river, 119. Saturday and Sunday : a dilemma, 159- Scholar, female Hebrew, 63. Schools, early French, I 3. Scotland, Jews there, 45. Scott, Sir Walter, errors of, 218. Scriptures, printed, 248. Selah, 272. Selden quoted, 45. Sendebar, parables of, 215. Sepulchre, " the Holy," 14. Sermon by Dr. Adler, 62 ; at Zara- gossa, 87. Severus defeats the Jews, 25 1 . Sexes, proportion of, 188. Sh, ?, no equivalent in Greek, 22. Shakespeare, mention of Jews, 52 ; errors of, 218. Shibboleth, the Gileadites' test, 22. " Sins of fathers," see Cumberland, 187. Skill and industry, 197. Simon, St., charge of crucifixion, 107. Solomon, his fleet, 16; cup, 135. Song, angel of, 112. South, Dr., singular remark, 153. Spain, first Jewish academy, 91. Spanish intolerance, 13. Spinoza, 280. Stage play, early Jewish, 107. Star, "lt3B>, note 6, 371. Statues, Hindoo, 75. Stealing justified, 170. Stone, the rejected, 86. Stowe, scraps from, 115. Study by night, 176. Stuttgard, Chamber of Deputies, 25. Sun, benediction of, 262. Superstition, see Cholera, 108. Surnames, Jewe, 99; adopted, 113. Swedish Jews, 60. Synagogue at Poona, 25 ; ancient Portuguese, 33 ; at Metz, 43 ; first Russian, 44 ; Great, 54 ; New, 85 ; Amsterdam, 169, 255 ; Alexandria, 272. T. Tachk'moni, 102. Tacitus quoted, 174. Talmud, estimation, 36 ; quoted, 93 ; mystical sense, 94 ; compila- tion, 139 ; good sense of, 202 ; aphorisms, 248. Tapestry in the Tower, 214. Tapeworm, Jews not affected by it, 47- Tattooing, see Darwin, 188. Tax, obnoxious, 168. Temptation in Russia, 173. Tent of Abraham, 108. Tirade, see Crabbe, 185. Toleration, duty of, see Talleyrand, 100. Tomb of Abraham, 99, 144. Tradition, curious, 16 ; defined, 91 ; oral law, 93. Trajan, war of, 166. Translation, see Bible, 149. Travels, Benjamin of Tudela, I, 51, 131 ; R. Petachia, 78. " Treasure of the poor," 132. Tribes, the Ten, 270 ; crimes and punishments of the Twelve, 267. Turks outside Paradise, 123. Turkish Jews, 161. Turpentine tree, fair of, 107. 300 INDEX. Types of Judaism, 20. U. Ubiquity of Judaism, 20, 152. Union of God with Israel, 180. Usury, prohibition of, 10. V. Vaubert, school there, 2. Veiled prophet, 54- Venetian Jew, young, see D'Israeli, 5. Vergas, Simon ben, author, 21. Vernet, Horace, letter from him, 178. Version, Authorized, 45, 150. Vespasian, war, 166. Vindiciae Judseorum, 177. Virtue, Hebrew, 54- Visigoths, laws of, 119. Vitality of the Nation, 20. Voice of child, 1^ *?!? "?1p, 18. Voltaire, letters to, 4. W. Wailing, wall of, 142. War of Hadrian, 166. Warriors, Jewish, 161. Wax, miraculous drop, 105. West, Benjamin, 191, note. Westphalia, toleration, 236. Whitglaff or Wittlaf, 98. Wilkes, humorous anecdote, 171. William the Conqueror, 32, 107. Worms of the grave, 1 6. Writers, great, errors of, 218. Wurtemburg, 24. Y. Yellow caps, three, 247. Z. Zacuto, genealogist, 21. Zenobia a Jewess (?), 234. Zephaniah, a curious verse, 189. Zion, view from, 1 1 5. Zonaria, impostor, 144. Zuleika, 87. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 3 1158010450905 A 000120052 6