the Law Sacred or Introduced The Form of Cherem or Anathema BY the Decree of Cities Command of the Holy we Anathematize Adjure Exterminate Excommunicate Curse and Execrate God being willing his Church by the Book of this Law by the 600 Precepts therein written by the Anathema with which Josua Anathematized Hiericho by the Curse wherewith Elisha cursed the young men by the Curse wherewith Gehezi cursed his Boy and by the Excommunication with which Barach Excommunicated Meroz and by the Excommunication which Rab. Jehuda Son of Rabbi Jehezkiel used in this matter and by all the Anathemata Imprecations Curses Excommunications and Exterminations which have been made from the time of our Master Moses and since by the name of Acetheriel Jah the Lord of Hosts by the name of Michael the Great Prince by the name of Mittatron whose name is as the name of his Master by the name of Sandalipon who tieth the hands of his Lord by the name of forty two Letters by his name who appeared to Moses in the Bush by the name with which Moses divided the Sea by the name I am what I am by the Mystery of the name Tetragrammaton by the Scripture that was written upon the Tables by the name of the Lord of Armies the God of Israel sitting upon the Cherubin by the name of the Sphears and Circles and living Creatures Saints and ministring Angels by the name of all the Angels which wait upon the most High God every Israelite and every Israelitess who willingly and knowingly violates any of those which are now denounced to be observed let him be Cursed of the God of Israel who sitteth upon the Cherubin Let him be cursed by the bright and glorious name which the High-Priest in the day of Expiations expresseth with his mouth Let him be cursed by Heaven and Earth Let him be cursed from God Almighty Let him be cursed of Michael that Great Prince Let him be cursed of Mittatron whose name is as the name of his Master Let him be cursed of Acetheriel Jah the Lord of Hosts Cursed be he of the Seraphin and the Orbs of the holy Animals and Angels who wait before the most High God of Israel in holiness and purity If he was born in the month Nisan which the Angel Vriel as the Prince of the Classes under which it is governeth Let him be cursed of him and of all his Order And if he was born in the month Ijar which the Angel Tzephaniel governeth Let him be cursed of him and his whole Order And if he was born in the month Sivan c. The like imprecation is made in the same words by the Angel of this month and so forward by the Angel of every month Let him be cursed of the seven Angels set over the seven Weeks and of all their Order and helping Power Let him be cursed of the four Angels which govern the four Seasons of the Year and of their Order and helping Power Let him be cursed of the seven Palaces Let him be cursed of the Princes of the Law by the Name of the Crown and the Name of the Seal Let him be cursed of the Great God Strong and Bright Let him receive confusion from his Embraces Let him fall with swift Ruine Let the God the God of Spirits destroy him to all Flesh Let the God the God of Spirits put him under all Flesh Let God the God of Spirits lay him prostrate to all Flesh Let God the God of Spirits cut him off from all Flesh Let the Wrath of the Lord and violent Whirlwinde fall upon the Head of the Wicked Let the destroying Angels run upon him Let him be cursed in every thing he puts his Hand unto Let his Soul depart in terrour Let him die of the Quinsie Let not his Breath come or go Let him be smitten with a Feaver Driness the Sword Rottenness the Jaundise Neither let him be delivered from them before Destruction Let his Sword enter his own heart and let his Bows be broken Let him be as the dust before the wind and let the Angel of the Lord drive him away Let his ways be darknesses and slipperiness and let the Angel of the Lord persecute him Let sudden desolation come upon him and his net which he hath laid let it catch himself They shall drive him from light to darkness and exterminate him from the habitable World Tribulation and anguish shall make him afraid and his eyes shall see his destruction and he shall drink the fury of the Lord. He shall cloth himself with cursing as with a garment Let him eat the strength of his skin God shall scatter him for ever and pull him out of his Tabernacle The Lord will not rest that he may be propitious to him but the Wrath of the Lord and his Zeal shall smoak against him and upon him shall rest all the Maledictions written in the Book of this Law and the Lord shall blot out his name from under Heaven Also the Lord shall separate him to mischief out of all the tribes of Israel according to all the Curses of the Covenant which are written in the Book of this Law But you who adhere to the Lord your God are all alive this day He that blessed Abraham Isaac Jacob and Moses and Aaron David and Solomon and the Prophets of Israel and those who were pious among the Nations let him bless all this Holy Congregation with all Holy Congregations except the man onely who hath violated this Anathema God of his mercie keep them make them safe and deliver them from all evil misery and affliction and prolong their daies and years and send his blessing and happie success to every work of their hands and avenge them quickly with all other Israelites And so let it be his will and decree Amen CHAP. XXIV Concerning the present Judicature among the Jews COncerning the Ecclesiastical and Civil Consistories among the present Jews little of moment is now observable And though the Synedrion of old related to Civil Matters as the Synagogue to Ecclesiastical Yet the affairs of Religion and the World now do both fall under the cognizance of one and the same Court But that which is the subject of the present remark is the manner of legal proceeding in the case of Meum and Tuum which is plainly and compendiously thus When any contest ariseth among them concerning Debts Bargains Contracts c. a Juncto of Sabios Chachams or Masters are appointed to hear and determine in the Cause This Court of Chachams consists of 11 9 7 5. and can never be of fewer than three To these the party promovent makes his address in a short and plain Allegation of the Case which the Judges examine by Witnesses who must be persons well reported of and very sober For so much is required by their 212 Precept In case of want of Witnesses the bare Oath of the party producent is sufficient if he be a man of
Zizith is an observation of the whole Law Credat Judaeus Now as to the form and matter of the Zizith it is a quadrangular piece of Linnen-cloth or Silk c. with Fringes worn next the Shirt hanging down upon the Breast and Shoulders At the putting of it on they use these words Bendito tu A. N. B. Rey del mundo c. Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the World who hast sanctified us with thy Precepts and commanded us to wear the Zizith To this Religious Utensil no fewer Miracles are ascribed then to the Cowle of St. Francis for the Jews say it can deliver from sin and make Proselytes to their Faith And that it is an Amulet against Sorceries and preserves those from receiving any hurt from evil Angels who constantly put it on But all are not admitted to the honour of wearing this Holy Ornament for it being a part of the habit to be worn at the Synagogue the women are totally forbid it as being excluded the publick Service Their next Prayer-Ornament is the Tephillim which are Scrowles of Parchment written with several Sentences of the Law and tyed upon their Fore-heads and left-Arms And this they observe upon the account of the sixth of Deut. the sixth and eighth Verses The Sentences wherewith the Phylacteries were antiently inscribed are conjectured to have been Exod. 13. from verse the 11 th to the 17 th Exod. 13.2 to the 11 th Deut. 6. from verse 4. to the 10 th and Deut. 11. from the 13 th to the 22. Others are of Opinion that the Phylacteries were written with the Decalogue But for mine own part I believe the Inscription to be concealed for the Jews with whom I have practised in this particular would not be moved either to show or explain their Phylacteries At the putting them on they say this Eucharist Bendito tu c. Blessed be thou O God our Lord Governour of the Universe who hast hallowed us with thy Law and commanded us to wear the Tephillim i. e. Phylacteries The Phylactery worn upon the Fore-head is folded up and hangs between the brows so as they may see it and thereby be minded of walking according to Gods Statutes There has been no small dispute among the Criticks and Interpreters concerning the Name and Office of the Tephillim but if they will acquiesce in the meaning which the Modern Jews give thereof they signifie no more than Ornaments to be worn at publick Prayer in which such Sentences of Scripture are written as they deem most proper to remember them of their Duties according to the first appointment hereof Exod. 13.16 Deut. 6.8 'T is true the first plain and wholesome intent thereof has in course of time been much corrupted chiefly by the Schismatical Pharisees who in stead of binding them for a sign upon their hands and as Frontlets between their Eyes hung them as Charms about their Necks supposing in them a secret Power to defend them from Dangers Out of which corruption 't is probable did arise that superstitious Custom of some women in St. Hierom's time of wearing their Parvula Evangelia or short Sentences of the Gospel to keep them from Inchantments and other Mischiefs And at this day the Papists permit the wearing about their Necks the beginning of St. John's Gospel as a Defensative from Evil. That the wearing hereof was not unlawful some produce Christs wearing them for a convincing Argument St. Luke 8.44 but the Fringe or Border of the Garment there mention'd may belong to the Zizith but no way to the Tephillim However the Jews were not condemn'd by our Saviour for the use but superstition of this Ornament and because they made their Phylacteries larger and broader than commanded and this too to the end that they might appear more holy than others And we may conceive the whole matter to be briefly thus Tephillim or Phylacteries are with the later Jews become a great part of their Religion which they ground upon the last mention'd Texts taking them in a literal which were intended in a figurative sense according to their explication Deut. 6.7 But this carnal people which have ever been apt to turn all inward Piety into outward form and to make that matter of Ambition and Ostentation which was designed for humility and holiness understand the Precept concerning the Phylacteries meerly according to the Letter And therefore make them Scrowles of Parchment in which they write the four Sections of the Pentateuch which were named before and wear them on their Arms and Foreheads As we have said already In preparing these Scrowles these Ceremonies are still in use first the skins whereof they are made must be of Beasts which the Law has pronounced clean Secondly none but a Jew must kill the Beast and dress the skin for this purpose for if a Christian or in their Language any other Edomite have a hand therein it is wolly polluted and unserviceable Thirdly the Ink wherewith the Sections of the Law are writ must not be black nor of the ordinary confection Fourthly they must be writ with the right hand without interlining These with other niceties concerning columning and cutting the Parchments are used about the Phylacteries And being thus Canonically made they sit and apply them to their Foreheads and Hand-wrists and call them Tephillim because they are especially used in Praying The Greek Phylacteria relates to the end hereof namely to keep the Law in memory Though there is a present superstition which layes claim to the Phylacteries because they keep those that wear them from Sorceries and Diseases and the Malus Genius Now what is principally blameable herein is their affixing on God their own carnal observation and frivolous Ceremonies of these Tephillim as if they were his own Institution and Appointment And it was the peculiar fault of the Pharisees to wear the Tephillim of a greater breadth than any other Jews that they might be looked upon as persons of a greater Sanctity than the rest CHAP. XIV Of the Jews hastening to Morning-Prayer Their Manner of Entrance into and Deportment in the Synagogue c. THrice every day as we have said the Jews repair to the Synagogue and herein they express a great chearfulness and delight For they leave their houses in a hasty posture and with great willingness and seem to strive who shall be first at the Synagogue But they return thence in a far different manner For when they leave the Synagogue they go backward and use a very slow pace therein By which they testifie their delight in Gods publick Worship and their unwillingness to go from it And they interpret Hosea 6.3 of that dispatch readyness and alacrity wherewith they ought to come unto Gods House And to those who are backward and come late to the Synagogue they apply that of Esay 50.2 Wherefore when I came was there no man when I called was there no man to answer And of him who comes not to Prayers at all
Priesthood for any has liberty to Circumcise who has skill therein The Rich admit none to perform this office upon their children who have not been bred thereunto and long make it their Profession And it is usual to serve a sort of Apprenticeship to gain the Art and Credit of a skilful Mohel To this end those who herein intend to be Artists deal with the indigent Jews to Circumcise their Sons giving their Fathers money for so doing and having gain'd a competent skill and experience they set up for Circumcisers Who are easily discerned to be of that Profession by their Thumb-nails which they keep sharp and long as a badge of their Calling And from one of these Mohels I received this following account of Circumcision according to the Use of the Synagogue in Fez the place of his Practice and Abode The time intervening between the Childs Birth and Circumcision is spent in frequent bathing it which with more than ordinary Circumspection is washt at the time it is presented to this Sacrament Of which it is altogether incapable if the least filth be left about it So that if any natural Evacuation happen as it is brought to the Mohel or before the Prepuce be taken away he cannot proceed in his Office till the Child be new washed The morning is the usual time of Circumcising out of this supposal that the flux of blood is then least and the child will be most patient but this they do not by the advice of the Rabbi but Physician it being no rite of their Religion but a rule in their Dispensatory Upon the day when Circumcision is celebrated there are two seats set close by the Ark in the Synagogue the one for Elias whose presence they still expect at this Solemnity and another for the Baal-Berith or Godfather By these two Seats stand the Mohel and the Jews that are invited Then the child is brought in Parade with several boys whereof one carries a Torch of twelve lights denoting the twelve Tribes of Israel another brings a dish of Sand another the Circumcising Instrument which is of Wood Stone Iron c. Oyl soft Linnen Rags In some places they have a Cordial ready in case the Child should faint And when the Men in the Synagogue have sung the Song of Moses as it is extant Exod. 15. and have Notice that the Women have brought the Child to the Door of the Synagogue the whole Company stands up and the Baal-Berith goes to receive and bring in the Child to the Congregation who receive him with this Acclamation Blessed is he that cometh which they understand either of the Child who is so happy as to come to Circumcision or of Elias whom they believe to come along with the Child and to take his place by the Godfather to observe and testifie that all things concerning Circumcision were duly administer'd When the Congregation are setled in good order the Godfather holds the Child to the Mohel who gives God thanks that in Abraham he gave them this Sacrament and thereby signed and sealed them for his peculiar people Then he takes away the Foreskin and in the interim the Father praiseth the Lord that he gave Abraham a heart to fulfil the Law of Circumcision and preserved him to see this his Son Circumcised The Foreskin being cut off the Mohel casts it into the dish of Sand with no less mystical intimation than that the Seed of the Child should be numerous as the grains of that Sand and that the Nation of the Jews to whom God gave this Sacrament might still verifie what was observed of them Numb 23.10 But I rather think it to reflect upon Abraham's blessing Gen. 22.17 When the Mohel has thus disposed of the Prepuce he prays that the Child may live and see his Sons thus initiated into the Covenant may keep the Law and do good works Then he takes a cup of Wine and blesseth God that he hath created the Vine and given it a power to exhilarate and nourish then he dips the little finger of his left hand thrice in the Wine and lets it drop into the Childs mouth and having tasted of it himself reaches it to the Congregation This done the Mohel again gives thanks that God sanctified the child in the Womb and has brought it to the Foederal Sacrament He prayes likewise that the children of this child may obey the Law Then he takes the Infant from the Baal-Berith and delivering it to the Father giveth it a Name praying for him that by that Name there given him he may quickly be healed live prosperously be a joy to his Parents and beget children who may be zealous Assertors of the Law And thus far I have transcribed my old Mohel who assured me that the whole Ritual of Circumcision was summarily contain'd in what is now set down They have such a great esteem for this Sacrament that they still enjoyn it under its old penalty That Soul shall be cut off from his people Gen. 17. Which some interpret of Excommunication or the bodily death of the Parents who out of contempt or neglect of the Institution omit the Circumcision of their Males and others understand it of those who at years of Maturity took not care to perform that themselves which through their Parents negligence was omitted in their infancy And though the party delinquent herein incur this penalty yet these Jews do not so expound the precept of Circumcising the eighth day as if it admitted of no relaxation For in case of the childs sickness they generally hold that its Circumcision may be put off till seven daies after its recovery And those likewise who are born where there is no Toleration of their Rites do not incur this censure if they take care to be Circumcisied when they come where their Religion is Tolerated And they prove from the first Institution of Circumcision that Age can priviledge none from undergoing it Abraham being ninety years old and nine when he was Circumcised in the flesh of his Foreskin Gen. 17.24 And I knew one Jacob Israel Belgara who being born in Spain and a long time Student 〈◊〉 Physick at Saragosa coming to Barbary Anno Dom. 1667. was Circumcised in the fortieth year of his Age. And they are careful not to delay the first occasion of being Circumcised because every moment of such delay is a distinct breach of the Commandment 'T is true instances of the Parents negligence in this particular is very unusual they being so far from omitting this Sacrament that they are but too rigorous in exacting it But if any omission happen herein through the Parents default then the Masters of the Synagogue have power to convene and Excommunicate or to cut off from the Communion of the Synagogue the offending party and to take and Circumcise the child If a child die ere the eighth day it is Circumcised at the place of burial but without any furder Ceremonies than giving a Name and praying
There are some Jews who to be esteemed Devout rise very early every morning to lament the ruines of Hierusalem and the Temple and they hope by the merit of so doing to move God to hasten their reparation and the restoring of the Kingdom to Israel And there are those who believe that the Planets and Stars weep with those who in the night shed tears for the City and that when they run down their cheeks God puts the tears in a bottle and keeps them to blot out all the Edicts which at any time shall be made by their Enemies for their Destruction But to return to their Mattens There is a general Tradition among the Jews That at night the Gates of Heaven are shut up and that the good Angels sit silent by them and that the Evil Spirits are then at liberty to wander up and down to effect their projects And that a little after Midnight the Gates of Heaven are opened with so great a noise that the Cocks here below are therewith awaken'd and Crow to awaken them to their Prayers And that this might not be thought to be the melancholy of some few imagining Jews they have put it into their general Lyturgie wherein for this good Office of the Cock they thus give thanks Bendito tu Adonai nuestro Dio Rey del Mundo dâ—n al Gallo distinto para entender entre dia y noche Blessed be thou Adonai our God King of the World who hast given understanding to the Cock to distinguish the night from the day But the Oraisons we have now been speaking of relate to their private Devotions which are preparative to the publick To which later they are not suffer'd to repair till they have dressed their bodies according to prescription And to a stranger they seem herein very antick and humoursom For beginning with their Shirt that must not be put on but after such a secret manner that the very beams of the house must not be privy to their Nakedness and therefore they creep under the Counterpane or Coverlet while they put on their Mutands And for this they cite and praise the Example of one Master Jose who upon his Death-bed gave God thanks that through the whole course of his life the timber of his Bed never discovered his Natural retirements Much of this stuff might be set down relating to their present manner of dressing themselves as how that the left-foot-shooe must be put on before the right c. But the love of brevity has prevailed with me to omit them When they have accoutred themselves for the Synagogue at the leaving of their Apartments they are commanded moderately to bow down their Heads to express thereby their great sadness for the desolation of the Temple Before they go to publick Prayers they use all manner of needful Evacuations of the Body and when for this purpose they enter their Retraits the Devouter beseech the Angels to stay at door till they come out whom they thus accost Most Holy and most Glorious Ministers of the most High I beseech you keep preserve and help me wait till I go in and come out for this is the custom and way of all men They account it a hainous Sin to retard the Natural Purgations of the Body because thereby they may incur Distempers And to this unsavoury purpose they alledge Levit. 20.25 but for what reason is not so easily to be comprehended But their chiefest bodily preparation consists in washing which is a Ceremony bestowed on all those parts of the body that are more notoriously liable to be unclean And the hands which according to their Masters after sleep are venemous and impure by reason of the noxious spirits lodged as they opine in the palms thereof when they are asleep are first of all to be punctually washt For they hold that if a Jew should touch his eyes nose ears or mouth with unwasht hands he should be troubled with dimness of Sight Catarrhs Deafness and a stinking Breath In washing their hands they hold them up that the water may run down to their Elbows Which elevation of their hands Ceremony of washings help to explain the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Mark 7.3 which has made so much stir among Criticks At the time of this preparative washing the Jews say this Hymn Bendito tu Adonai Nuestro Dio Rey del Mundo que nos Santificò en sus en comendancas y en comendò sobre limpieza de Manos Blessed be thou O Lord our God King of the World who hast sanctified us with thy Commandments and enjoyned us cleanness of hands Where by Commandments must not be understood any strict Law of Moses in this particular but of the Tradition of their Elders or injunctions of their Antient Sanhedrim by which they are bound to wash not only when they go to the Synagogue but also whensoever they eat To which Custom that passage of Saint John 11.6 has an unquestionable reference For the water-pots which were set ready at the Feast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were for the Jews to wash in before they did eat But we speak not here of their every-dayes washing but of that which they now use in order of preparation to their publick Devotion which is the last thing they do before they go to the Synagogue And if any occasional defilement happen as they go as the touching of a dead Carkass the killing of a Flea for a small thing will defile a Jew they presently wash their hands before they appear in the solemn Worship There were other sorts of washing of old among the Jews as that of the Priests when they went to the Temple to officiate in imitation whereof arose the washings and lustrations among the Gentiles There was also another sort of washing belonged to their Proselytes at their reception into the Church of the Jews of which we have already spoken something in their Proselytism CHAP. XIII Of the Jews Zizith and Tephillim or Phylactery or Prayer-Ornaments WHen the Jews prepare for Morning-Service they with singular circumspection put on their Zizith and Tephillim which are properly their Prayer-Ornaments and so necessary an accoutrement for the Synagogue that they are the chief Cognizances and badges of Religion without which they cannot hope that their Church-Services should be accepted The wearing of the Zizith or Fringe they collect from Exodus 15.37 And they very confidently assert that a careful observation of the Commandment concerning the Zizith is a fulfilling of the whole Law And they ground this peremptory position upon a Mystery which their Gemalria has found in the word and manner of its making For say they the Zizith hath five knots representing the five Books of Moses and the eight threds added thereunto make thirteen which together with the Numeral Letters in the word it self amount to six hundred and thirteen which is the number of all the Commandments contained in the Law And therefore they conclude that the right wearing of the
they understand Esay 50.10 11. At the Entrance of the Synagogue they either make clean or put off their shooes in obedience to Eccles 4.17 and Exod. 3.5 Put off thy shooes c. And this saves them the uncovering of their Heads for their little black brimless Caps are never moved all the time they stay in the Synagogue At their stepping into the Synagogue they first spend a few minutes in the meditation of his Attributes whom they come to invoke which is to beget in them a Deportment humble and reverend And when they have duly possessed their minds with an awful reverence of Gods Majesty they repeat to themselves Numb 24.5 How goodly are thy Tents O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel And Psalm 26.8 O Lord I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honour dwelleth And the 6 th Verse of Psalm 95. O come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord our Maker This Meditation being ended they lay the right hand upon the heart and bowing their bodies toward the Chest where the Law is laid up they begin the publick Service with the 7 th of the fifth Psalm I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies and humble my self with fear in the Temple of thy Holiness So it is Verbatim in an old Spanish Translation of the Jewish Lyturgie They Pray standing girt with their faces toward Canaan their heads moderately bowed down and hands upon their heart They utter their Prayers in a sort of Plain-Song sometimes straining their Voices to a very harsh and unpleasant Note and then on a sudden letting it fall into a kind of whisper Their bodies are always in a wagging unsteddy posture which they say expresses joy and satisfaction in Devotion But to him that knows not the intent hereof this wavering and sometime exulting of the body will seem very careless and negligent and that they Pray with none or very little intention and devotion of mind Those which cannot read the Service in Hebrew who are but few are bound to learn when to say Amen A thing the more easily attain'd unto because they have a prescript Form And how heedless soever they may appear in other parts of Prayer yet they use a signal diligence in the right timing and pronouncing of the Amen Because whosoever saith it with all his might the Gate of the Garden of Eden is open'd to him In time of Prayers none are permitted openly to spit belch yawn or blow the Nose All which they do with great Secrecy in the Synagogue when they have occasion Neither may they spit or any such thing to the right hand or before them because of the Angels which have made those places their Situation in the Synagogue And from this short Account of the Jews entering and behaviour in the Synagogue we come to take a general view of the Prayers made therein And here we shall follow the Breviary in present use with the Jews in Barbary which was Printed at Venice in the 1622 Year of Grace And first of all they begin the Morning-Service with the eighteen Benedictions of which saith Moses Maimon Ezra was the Author For when the Israelites returned from the Captivity their Native Language was so corrupted with that of their Bondage that they were not able to praise or serve God in a continued Speech And upon this occasion Ezra is thought to have composed eighteen short Benedictions wherein they might praise God and beg at his hands the supply of his dayly blessings But others are of opinion that these eighteen Benedictions were composed as a Directory whereby they might guide themselves both in the private and publick Service of God to which purpose they are imployed at this day After the Benedictions follows a large Office for Sacrifice and Oblations which begins with the History of Abraham's going to Offer up his Son To this succeeds a long course of Psalms then a tedious Thanksgiving Then a Confession of Sins at the saying whereof they throw themselves prostrate and express a great sense of their own vileness and misery and that they have no strength but in the Almighty Then all on the sudden they start up and comfort themselves with the Oath God made unto Ahraham when he went to Sacrifice his only Son And now with great chearfulness they bless their Lot that God has chosen them for his Heritage and the people of his Covenant But besides all this they have in this Office a peculiar Thanksgiving for the Delivery of the Law and a Prayer which they say with a low voice for the restauration of the Temple That in their dayes God would rebuild the House of his Sanctuary which they hourly hope for And they shut all with praying that God would lead them in his righteousness and make plain his way before them And this is the sum of their dayly Morning-Service for whose more regular Celebration there are Rubricks intermingled with it directing them to the Responses Praises and how every part must come in course This Morning-Office as was said is very long for which they make sufficient amends in the brevity of the other two In some places they have a Custom for those to shut the Prayer-Book who are at Variance with their Neighbours thereby signifying that they will not Pray at all because they cannot pray aright till the difference be reconciled At the saying of Give Ear O Israel the Lord our God is one God they turn themselves East and North at the pronouncing of Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabbath they jump up three times They dare not turn their Backs on the Chest where the Law is deposit and lest they should do otherwise they go backward out of the Synagogue having their eyes always fixed thereon They are very careful that nothing may interrupt them in their Devotions at which if they sneeze they account it a lucky token of being therein accepted but to break wind preposterously is a very unhappy abodement I have omitted in the former Paragraph to observe that after the appointed course of Psalms they have two Lessons the first out of the Law which is always read by the Chasán or some eminent Jew The second Lesson is taken out of the Prophets and is read by any ordinary Jew who is able to read distinctly And in the difference of the persons imployed in these Lessons they show the great value and esteem which they have for the Law above the Prophets There is an universal Agreement among the Jews of all Countries that they ought every day to repeat a hundred Benedictions which they thus compute At wâ—shing in the Morning twenty three At their Entrance into the Synagogue six At putting on of the Zizith or Fringes one At putting on the Tephillim one At every one of the three Offices in the Synagogue eighteen Three after dinner and two before night At going to sleep two and as many at
dinner and supper Which if they reckon right make up the sum At the saying of the Benediction for Gods giving them the Law they stand up with their heels joyn'd together and their toes opened bowing their heads toward Hierusalem They have also a Prayer which is said by the Priest alone wherein he desires God that he would be pleased to pardon all those who have been negligent and unattentive at the time of Prayer But I could not finde this Prayer in their Breviary though with some curiosity I perused it to that purpose Besides the Sabbath they keep Monday and Thursday as weekly Holy days On each of which they read three Sections of the Law the first by a Koên whom they suppose to be descended of Aaron the second by a Reputed Levite and the third Section by a Common Jew As concerning the keeping of Monday and Thursday Holy and reading the Law thereon as well as on the Sabbath after a more Solemn manner the Vulgar Jews give no other account thereof but Custom and the Pleasure of the Masters But those who pretend to give a Rationale of their Rites refer it to an Institution of Ezdras grounded upon the peoples wandring three dayes without water in the Desart of Sur in memory whereof he appointed the Law to be thrice solemnly read every week Now to be without water say they is to be without the Law for which interpretation they bring Esay 55.1 Others think that Thursday and Monday are set apart for the solemn Lesson of the Law in memory of Moses's going the second time into the Mountain to renew the Tables of the Law which hapned say the favourers of this Opinion upon a Thursday and to have returned thence upon a Monday Upon which dayes some of the preciser sort keep a strict Fast like those in St. Luke 18. and in all probability for the same end On these two dayes they have besides the usual Office a proper Prayer which from the first words thereof bears the title of Vehu-rachum which is said with singular attention Of old this Prayer used to work Miracles but by reason of some great delinquency in the present Jews it has lost this Efficacy CHAP. XV. Their Ceremonies about the Book of the Law Their Manner of Celebrating the Sabbath The Offices which thereon are Solemniz'd c. IT is a Canon strictly observed by the Jews That a Book of the Law is necessary to the Constitution of a Synagogue And therefore the first thing they provide in order to set up a Synagogue is a Copy of the Law and a Chest or Ark wherein to lay it up Now that which is called the Book of the Law is The Pentateuch written in a large Character on Parchment which is dressed according to the manner of the Phylacteries The Parchment is rolled up upon two staves to make it the more convenient to be carried in Procession It is also usually wrapt up in a covering of Linnen Silk Tissue c. As for the piece of Tapistry pictured with divers Birds which was the old-fashion'd Covering of the Ark the Jews in Barbary use no such thing for they abhor all manner of Imagery in their Service as minding them of the Idolatry of their Fathers for which they conceive themselves to be still punished and also out of an averseness to be thought to imitate those Christians who have offensively introduced Pictures into their Oratories not only for Ornament but Veneration But to return to the Law The Jews pay the five Books of Moses so great a Reverence that they never suffer them to be taken out of the Chest or looked upon but on three dayes namely Monday Thursday and Sunday when they are read and this too in the Morning because it is esteemed the purest part of the day 'T is true they use also to show the Law to the people on the Sabbath-night but it is because the whole day is hallowed The taking out of the Law belongs to a Noted Rabbi or in his absence to one of the more ancient and Devouter Jews But to carry it in Procession within the Synagogue is sold to him who is able to give most for the Place As we have observed in the Officers of the Synagogue At the taking out of the Law the Officer turns himself to the people and repeats this Versicle Come and extol God with me and let us praise his Name together And at the Elevation of the Law the people bow their Faces toward it and make a long Respond wherein they declare their own vileness and magnifie the Majesty of God And when the Rabbi holds up the Law and opens it he speaks these words This is the Law which Moses laid before the Children of Israel and which proceeded from God whose ways are all just The word of the Lord is pure and a defence to all those who believe it When the Law is carried from the Ark to the place where it is appointed to be read all the people there present sing the Hymn of Moses Numb 10.35 Rise up Lord and let thine Enemies be scatter'd and let them that hate thee flee before thee By which they wish and pray for the Destruction of all those who are not of their Religion When they carry the Law either to the Reading-place or in Procession there is always one who steps up to him that carries it and kisseth the Covering thereof for it were to defile the Law to kiss either the Letters thereof or the Parchment whereon they are written And he who doth this with a Voice moderately elevated blesseth God for having made the Jews his peculiar people and that he hath given them his Law When the Book returns from Procession and has put on its Coverings all the Males in the Synagogue kiss it in Order as the Papists do their Pax and when they have done the Officer gives the Book an Elevation and so lays it up in the Chest And as it returns thither they say the words of Moses at the resting of the Ark Numb 10.36 Return O Lord unto the ten thousand thousands of Israel The Pentateuch is divided into fifty two Sections to the end that it may be read over upon the fifty two Sundaies in the Year And in reading it they are bound to be very plain audible and articulate Because every tittle thereof is of singular weight and moment The last Lesson constantly falls upon September the twenty fifth which immediately follows the Feast of Tabernacles And when this Section is read over the Chasans or those who read the Law declare a great joy and satisfaction that they lived to make an end of the Annual Lesson They also praise God that notwithstanding the many Miserie 's befaln them they are still in possession of the Law in which all other Blessings are abridg'd On the day when this last Section is read all the Copies of the Law are brought forth of the Ark about which the people dance in
fear of transgressing the Sabbath And they have an usual saying Paligro del alma quaebra el Sabbato That the hazard of loosing a mans life dispenseth with the Sabbath They have a Custom in some places on the Friday to put water into little pits and to draw no place dry to the end that the Souls in Purgatory may therein cool and refresh them For on the time that is over and above added to the Sabbath they suppose the Souls in Purgatory have liberty to recreate There are many other Rites belonging hereunto the most whereof will fall in with the Offices which are now to be accounted for Upon the Arvit or Eve of the Sabbath they have a peculiar Office which begins with the twenty ninth Psalm Give unto the Lord ye sons of the mighty give unto the Lord honour and strength Give unto the Lord the honour of his Name and bow your selves to the Lord with the beauty of Holiness The voice of the Lord is upon the waters The God of honour hath made it thunder The Lord is upon much waters The voice of the Lord is with strength the voice of the Lord is with beauty The voice of the Lord breaketh the Cedars and hath broken the Cedars of Libanus And he hath made them leap as a Calf Libanus and Sirion like the sons of Elephants The voice of the Lord cutteth the flames of fire the voice of the Lord vexeth the Wilderness he vexeth the Wilderness of Cades The voice of the Lord maketh the Hinds to be in pain and discovereth the Forests and in his Palace every thing speaketh honour The Lord hath been upon the water and the Lord hath sate King for ever The Lord will give strength unto his people the Lord will bless his people with peace The Translation I have here given of this Psalm which begins the Office of the Sabbaths Arvit is Verbatim out of the old Spanish wherein the Jewish Liturgy is extant And it is here inserted for no other purpose but to show how it differs from our present Translation Where the Reader may observe that the word Adonai is here and through all their Liturgy used for Lord it being altogether unlawful for them to mention even in their Devotions the word Jehovah After this Psalm immediately follows in their Liturgy a very large Expostulation concerning the oyl and weke and whole confection of the Sabbath-Lamps Where the Opinions of several antient Masters are recited concerning this matter as the Opinions of Rabbi Ismael Rabbi Tarphon Rabbi Elihezer Rabbi Aquiba Rabbi Jehudah Which 〈◊〉 Master gives them leave to put out their Lamps on the Sabbath-night for fear the Nations those that are not Jews and evil Spirits should do hurt therewith On the Arvit they make confession of the three sins for which as hath been said women die in Child-bed And among these three deadly sins the want of due lighting the Sabbath-Lamps is none of the least On the Arvit likewise when it grows dark they are bound to propound and answer these three Questions Hast thou paid Tythes Hast thou made the Hirub Hast thou lighted a Candle After this they repeat such Hymns and Psalms out of Holy Writ as commemorate Gods gracious Promises to Israel of which they make a comfortable application to themselves There are likewise repeated some short periods of Scripture relating to the Season of the year as in the Spring He shall make his dew to fall and in Autumn Thou makest the winde to blow and the rain to descend c. Having done this they use a Thanksgiving unto God for that he refresheth the dead with his mercies and confirms his Truth to those that sleep in the dust that he punisheth Apostates looseth the imprison'd redeemeth the captive provideth Medicines for and healeth the sick And at the end of this long Thanksgiving follows this Benediction for the Institution of the Sabbath Blessed be the Lord our God the Holy Thou hast Sanctified the seventh day for thy Glory having first finished the Heavens and the Earth and hast blessed it above all dayes and sanctified it above all times as it is written in the Law And here the Institution of the Sabbath out of Genesis is distinctly repeated These things with the rest of the Office of the Sabbath Arvit which is very long is concluded with a thankful recapitulation of Gods favours toward them especially in that he has made them his peculiar people given them his Law and promised that it shall never be changed nor they deprived of it Then they most humbly implore the Almighty that at last he would fulfil his promise retarded so long by reason of their sins and send them their desired Messias The next Office is that of the Sabbath-Morning where the Rubrick directs them to rise before the Sun and to read the ordinary course of Psalms till they come to the nineteenth And then to begin their Mattins Which for the most part are collected out of the Scriptures some portions wherof are said by the Cazan alone and others by the Kahal and Kohen as the Rubrick all along directs them This day the Law has always a solemn Procession and is openly shown to the people When it is brought to be laid up in the Hehal or Chest he that bears it saith these words Turn again to thy resting place and to the house of thy desire that every Mouth and Tongue may give praise and glory to thy Kingdom And turn unto the million of the thousands of Israel and O Lord turn us unto thee and we shall be turned renew our dayes as in former time And with this Prayer they conclude the Morning-Office for the Sabbath The third Office is the Musaf or Afternoon-Service which begins thus O Lord thou shalt open our lips and our mouth shall shew forth thy praise After they have said this they bless and laud God for the continuance of his favours both to quick and dead Next they recount how God gave their Great Master Moses the Commandment for the Sabbath After this they make a gratulatory Oration unto God for that he has been pleased to assist and accept their Services And the whole Office is shut up with a distinct enumeration of the Divine attributes and recommending themselves unto the Divine Protection beseeching God to take the safeguard of them both when they sleep and watch Their fourth Office is that of the Minha or Sabbath-night which being of the same tenor with the last we but now mention'd there needs no more but to name it At the determination of the Sabbath they have an additional Service at which though none are bound to be yet all are present to show their Devotion to the Sabbath and how loath they are to part therewith But others hold that they ought to protract this Rest as long as they can possible for the sake of the Souls in Purgatory especially for such as were condemn'd thither for the violation of the
with such offensive creatures and it was agreed that those creatures which were generated by natural coition should not be hurt and therefore Flies were free but those which were bred of corrupt putrified matter were to be killed and therefore Lice They are forbidden to climb trees lest they should break the boughs He who feeds his Hen and Chickens in any open place where the rain may fall with any Corn must not give them more than they can eat lest when it rains it should grow and so he might be said to sow on the Sabbath which is a sin unpardonable They must not knock at the dore with the iron hammer lest they may seem to drive a nail and therefore Chassan the Sexton doth knock with his fist They may not knock with the fingers on the table nor write on sand or ashes but they may in the Air. No Picture either in paper or wax is to be defaced The sum of all that they are forbidden is contained in 39 Articles to which all lesser matters are reducible The First Article concerns Plowing under which is comprehended dressing of Gardens removing Herbs setting Trees planting Vines digging pruning c. whereby the growth of any thing may be improved and because it is not lawful to fill Ditches the Rabbies have thought fit that the Chambers should be sprinkled with water that the dust might not arise but sweeping is forbidden lest thereby any little chink in the Chamber should be filled and for this reason they would not throw nutshels towards the Ditch lest peradventure they might fall into it The Second Article concerns Reaping under which is contained gathering any kinde of Fruit which they are forbidden as also to take honey from the Bees and such-like They may on the Sabbath eat any Fruit as it hangs on the stalk but not break the stalk they may not go over a Corn-field newly sown lest the Corn should stick to their shoos which is as if they had purposed to take it And it seems that the Jews were offended with our Saviour for the breach of this Article when his Disciples pluckt off the ears of Corn on the Sabbath Mat. 12. The Third Article respects Thrashing to which pertaineth beating of Hemp or Flax to press any moist Fruits as Grapes and such-like Milking is also contained under this Article but the Rabbies don't as yet agree about it You may judge of the other Articles accordingly The difference betwixt the general ones and those contained under them is not great He who beareth false witness against another is to be stoned and he who willingly sins him God shall judge and root out of the Land of the Living These are explained in the Talmud in Tractatu de Sabbatho Chapter 7. with many more but they are too tedious to be named And though the Jews think that they rightly observe the Sabbath yet they may be convinced of the contrary from their own Conscience For we read in the Talmud that he who observeth all the Ceremonies of the Sabbath to do them shall have free pardon of all sins yea though he be an Idolater as Enoch in whose time they say this sin had its Original According to Gen. 4.26 Then began men to call upon the Name of the Lord And Esay the 56.2 Blessed is the man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it Rabbi Juda said If the Israelites had kept the first Sabbath aright immediately after the Law was given no Nation would ever have overcome them And another Rabbi said If they had kept the two first Sabbaths aright they had soon been set at liberty according to Esay 56.4 They that keep my Sabbaths aright them will I bring back into my holy Mountain that is Jerusalem But seeing they are not neither are like to be set at liberty it must needs be because they have not kept the Sabbath aright as they confessed while the Temple stood at Jerusalem As the Talmud expresly speaketh For no other reason was the Temple at Jerusalem destroyed but because the Jews observed not the Sabbath aright As it is written Ezek. 22.27 They have hid their eyes from my Sabbath and I am polluted among them The Jews celebrate the Sabbath with Wine Fish and Flesh and all kinde of Delights they abstain from work and are not at any time desirous to do any thing but only command the poor Christians and therefore boast that they are Lords over them I shall conclude this Chapt. with the complaint which God made to Israel by the Prophet Esay Esay 1.13 Incense is an abomination unto me the new Moons and Sabbaths the calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even the solemn meetings Your new Moons and your appointed Seasons my Soul hateth they are a trouble unto me I am weary to bear them CHAP. XVIII Of the Jews Feasts The manner of their Celebration IN the Order of Prayers according to the Hebrew Use the Offices for the Festivals immediately follow those of the Sabbath though the Service-book doth not yield Offices for every Feast which are in present observation with them For besides a peculiar Order for the Purim there is but one general Office for all the rest Now besides what occurs in Holy Writ concerning the institution and reason of the Jewish Festivals there are some modern Customs chiefly therein to be considered which we shall refer to the several Feasts and only give them a naked enumeration The chief both of the Antient and Modern Jewish Festivals are the Passover the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles The Passover is the first both in time and dignity and the Divine Scriptures exhibit enough in testimony both of its Institution and Designe So that we shall only succinctly set down the usual Rites of its present observation And in the first place the Jews esteem the Passover of so great moment that their preparation for its solemnity is much more great than to all the other Festivals For the Wealthier and Devouter sort spend above a Lunar Month in preparing for its coming But their preparations consist not in any Spiritual exercise but in a carnal providing for the body Where they use no small curiosity and diligence in getting the finest Wheat for the unleavened bread which by Divine appointment is thereon to be eaten And what is very commendable the Richer are careful to provide the Poorer with fine Wheat for the same purpose gratis out of their own Store For they account it a great Scandal to their Religion that any Jew should be unprovided of things requisite to so sacred a celebration The two or three daies before the Passover are spent in cleansing their houses and washing their Furniture of brass pewter and iron On the Eve of the Feast the First-born of the Family always fasts and the rest of the houshold are imployed in searching every corner that not a crum of leaven'd bread may remain till the Passover And because
and sing an Hymn wherein they commemorate their deliverance And having past the afternoon and part of the night in liberal refreshment they eat the third Cake and drink a glass of Wine Then the Father of the Family saith Grace and with the fourth cup of Wine in his hand repeats the 6 verse of the 79 Psalm and the last verse of Lamentations the 3. and utters most direful Execrations against all that are not of their Religion And immediately upon this they go to sleep On the night of the Passover they think themselves so safe from danger that they let the doors stand open which at other times are bolted and locked with all imaginable security But some tell us that they leave their doors open upon the night of the Passover that there may be nothing to hinder the entrance of Elias whose coming on that night is expected As for the rationale of the four Cups of Wine the number of the Cakes time of Execration and other mysterious Rites of this Festival it is to be learned out of their Masters whither the Curious are remitted All that I have here to take notice of is their Custom of showing the Paschal Cakes to their Children and instructing them in the Institution and Ceremonies of the Passover Wherein they pretend to be very faithful observers of Exod. 12.26 27. As for the other daies of this Feast there is little to be observed concerning them except that thereon the Jews eat better and go finer than at other times CHAP. XIX Of their Pentecost or Feast of weeks THe meaning and institution of this Festival may partly be learned from its name For Pentecost denotes the time of its observation which was the fiftieth day reckoning from the second of the Passover It was also called the Feast of Harvest and of First-fruits because the Jews then began their Harvest and offered the first Fruits of the Earth Exod. 23.16 And seeing they cannot keep this Feast according to its first Institution they spend the time allotted thereunto in praying for their Restauration that God would hasten their return to Canaan and the rebuilding of the Temple For which they use this form Let it be thy good pleasure O Lord our God and the God of our Fathers that the house of thy Sanctuary may speedily be rebuilt in our daies and give us our portion in thy Law And indeed this Feast may well bear the Title of the Feast of Harvest because it contain'd the weeks usual for that season which were bounded with two remarkable daies whereof the one began and the other ended the Harvest The former was called the second of the Passover and the later the Pentecost And from this second day of the Passover they number their Sabbaths which Custom explains the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Sabbatum used in the Gospel At this Festival the present Ceremonies are but few only they carry the Law twice in Procession and read out of it such portions as concern the Oblations which were of old accustomed to be offered And these parcels of the Law are after a most solemn manner read by five select Jews Their entertainments likewise are at this time very plain and frugal using little flesh-diet though they are bound to use some that they may not contradict their own rule A Feast without flesh is without joy But still white meats and confection of milks are their prime Delicacies And this sort of Viand is at this time made use of out of no less mystery than that by its colour and dulcour they might be remember'd of the purity and delightfulness of the Law To which they allude the 10 verse of the 19 Psalm They have a Custom at this Feast to strow the Synagogues their dwelling Houses and the Streets if they have leave with Greens and to wear some upon their heads out of no deeper mystery than to commemorate that pleasant Verdure which was upon Mount Sinai when the Law was there given unto their great Master Moses A Custom they have likewise to bake a Cake of seven folds to signifie say they the seven Heavens into which God ascended when he went up from the Mount At the beginning of this Feast the Jews with great Devotion make this Prayer Blessed art thou O Lord our God the King of the World who hast sanctified us with thy Precepts and hast inabled us rightly to number the days as thou hast commanded us this being the first day Thus they proceed to number until the whole fifty daies be expired every day using the same Benediction CHAP. XX. Of the Feast of Tabernacles THis is the third Capital Feast of Divine appointment among the Jews which those of Barbary keep at present as their Fathers did antiently in Booths which being made of green Canes it is now generally known among them by the Spanish name of Fiesta de las writing as it is pronounced Caunias or the Feast of Reeds And the end of this Feast is to preserve the memory of their Ancestors long Pilgrimage in the Wilderness and it lasts eight daies The Institution hereof is to be met with Deut. 16. and Exod. 23 and 34. Now as of old the chief Solemnity and observation of this Festival is confined to the first and second day thereof In that Liturgie of the Jews which I have so often named there is no proper Office for this Feast so that thereon they do no more but go to the Synagogue and there solemnize the Vsual Service and thence hasten home to their Booths Bowers Tents or Tabernacles which they finde furnished as richly as their Estate and Fortunes will make them During the whole eight daies of this Festival they live in their Booths and adorn them with the Furniture of their houses and constantly lodge therein unless it fall out that the rains which in Barbary often begin in September the time of this Feast force them into more comfortable lodgings Paulus Fagius on Levit. 23. reports out of the Rabbins that every man was bound every morning to bring a burden of Cittern Palm Mirtle or Willow-boughs toward the making of these Booths And this burden was called Hosanna And the cutting down of the Boughs and strowing them in the way and crying Hosanna to Christ as he rode to Hierusalem is thought to have been in allusion to this Custom And the Jews in Barbary are wont at this Festival to take any sort of boughs in their hands and to shake them toward the four Cardinal Points of Heaven beginning at the East And by this action they foretel and threaten destruction to all the ends of the Earth that oppose them With these Boughs also they make a great noise in allusion to the 12 verse of the 69 Psalm and also to terrifie the Devil and triumph over sin At the shaking of these Boughs they use these words Blessed art thou O Lord our God King of the World who hast sanctified us with thy Precepts and commanded
For on that day shall the Priest make an Atonement for you to cleanse you that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. In obedience unto which Law the Jews upon the 10 of Tizri repair to their Synagogues and in places of open Toleration carry wax-lights in their hands which when they have lighted they begin in a very dismal note to lament their sins and continue fasting and praying for ten daies which are called the daies of Contrition for which their Liturgy has a proper Office Every morning during this Feast of Expiation they thrice repeat this Confession O Lord thy people the house of Israel they have sin'd they have done wickedly they have transgressed before thee I beseech thee now O Lord pardon the sins iniquities and transgressions with which the people the house of Israel have sin'd done wickedly and transgressed before thee as it is written in the Law of thy Servant Moses That in that day he shall make an Atonement for you that he might cleanse you and that you might be clean from all your iniquities before the Lord. This Confession saith P. Fagius is of very great Antiquity and was made by the High-Priest when he disburden'd the sins of the whole Congregation upon the Head of the Scape-goat Since the destruction of their City the Jews have no place for a proper Sacrifice and therefore instead thereof when they come from the Synagogue every Father of a Family takes a Cock a white one if possible upon the 9th day of the Feast and calling his Household about him repeats several Sentences of Scripture among which the principal are the 17 vers of Psalm 107. Fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities are afflicted And 23 vers of Job 13. How many are mine iniquities and sins Make me to know my transgression and my sin After the repetition of these Scriptures he waves the Cock three times about his head at each of which he useth these or the like words Let this Cock be a Commutation for me Let it be my substitute Let it be an Expiation for me Let the Bird die but let life and happiness be to me and to all Israel Amen Then he again swings the Cock thrice about his head once for himself once for his Sons and once for the Strangers that are with him Then he kills the Cock and saith I have deserved thus to die The Woman takes a Hen and doth the like for those of her Sex In Barbary where the Houses are flat-roofed they cast the Garbage thereon to be devoured by some ravenous Birds in token that their sins are removed as the Entrails they cast out Now the reason why they chuse a Cock for the Expiatory is drawn from the ambiguous word in the Talmud which may signifie either Man or Cock So that they repute the death of a Cock as much as that of a Man and to this Domestick bird the 53 of Esay with many other Passages of Holy Writ are prophanely and ridiculously applied But however they may at this Feast greatly extol the Merits of the Cock and imagine all their sins to be atoned by his death yet when themselves come to die they acknowledge no Commutation but skin for skin according to this saying of one of their Masters when he was a dying Let my own death be the Expiation and Satisfaction for all my sins When they have done with the Cock they repair to the Sepulchres where they repeat enlarge and enforce their Prayers and Confessions They bestow the value of their Cocks upon the Poor to whom formerly they gave their Carkasses which they now keep to furnish out their own Tables Besides that form of publick Confession which we mentioned before they use private Confession one to another which they thus perform About the middle of the Service they make an interruption and two by two step aside in the Synagogue and confess their sins to each other During the time of Confession he that confesseth turns his face Northward and with great seeming Contrition bows his body beats his brest and readily submits his back to such stripes as his friend will inflict who yet never exceeds the number of 39. And the first having thus made Confession the second goes upon the same duty This Feast as it has the name of Expiation because according to its first Institution the High-Priest did then confess his own sins and the sins of the people and by certain Rites did expiate and make atonement to God for them so is it likewise called the Feast of Reconciliation because at this time they endeavour a general Amnesty and Pardon For they labour that no quarrel among them remain unreconciled He that seeks to be at peace with his Neighbour though he be refused is looked upon as innocent They hold this Reconciliation so necessary that if the offended die without it the offender must go to his Grâ—â—e and in the presence and hearing of ten Witnesses confess his trespass Upon the Even of the 9th of this Feast they repair to the Synagogue where they trim and encrease the number of their Lamps The women do the like at home If the Lamps burn cleer it is a good signe that their sins are pardoned and that they shall live chearful and happy But if the Lamps burn dim it is a sad abodement their trespasses are not expiated Whereupon some of them renew their penances and use several abstinences and remain restless till the Omen alter Some are reported at this time to bribe the Devil that he may not accuse them and some again are so confident of their Expiation that they bid the Devil do his worst That the Expiation Reconcilement might be extended unto all upon the Eve of the 9th of this Feast they absolve all Offenders restore the Excommunicate and admit to the Prayers and Communion of the Synagogue even the stubborn and refractary At last the Chasan blesseth the people stretching out his hands toward them which hands the people dare not stedfastly look upon while they are elevate because they suppose them for that time to be full of the Holy Ghost After the Expiation is thus ended they continue a space fasting at the Synagogue and then return home to feast and to testifie their mutual Peace and Reconcilement Their next Feast is that of Dedication whose Institution we meet with in 1 Maccab. 4.59 Moreover Judas and his brethren c. And this our Saviour honour'd with his presence S. John 10.22 not to countenance the abuses but to own its appointment and to approve the Consecration and Dedication of times and places to Gods service This Feast in the N. T. is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Renovations or a Feast wherein something is renewed and is in memory of second Dedications It continues 8 daies during which time the Synagogues are full of Candles which may be the reason that the Spanish Jews call it Fiesta de
us to carry a bundle of Palm At this time also the Law is brought to the Reading-place about which they walk with great state and nothing but threatning and victory appear in their looks This they do seven times in memory of their Fathers compassing the walls of Hiericho But others say That this compassing of the Reading-place seven times is in prediction of the certain ruine of their Enemies And this notice of the Ceremonie is very agreeable to the Execratory which is now used by them Wherein they profoundly curse the Christians desiring that God would smite them as he did the First-born of Egypt And though this Direful Prayer is not found in that Liturgie printed at Venice as I above-mentioned yet I am assured by a good Author that it is extant in the Machsor of the Cracovian Impression Upon the last day of this Festival the last Section of the Law is constantly read and the first Section begun For they begin and end the Lesson of the Law on the same day to declare their joy therein This last day of the Feast of Tents is called the Great day of the Feast S. John 7.37 where Tremelius observes that on the last of Tabernacles the antient Jews used to incompass the Altar as the modern Jews now the Reading-place with Palms in their hands crying Hosanna that is Preserve us we beseech thee Whence it was called Hasanna Rabba or the Great Hosanna or the Chief of the Feast And that on the same day they drew water from the Well of Shiloah at the foot of Mount Sion and brought it to the Temple where the Priests mingled it with the best Wine and poured it on the Altar and that the people sang these words of Esay With joy shall they draw water out of the Wells of Salvation To which our Saviour is thought to have alluded in that speech which on this day he made use of S. John 7.38 Every one that believeth in me out of his belly shall flow living waters When they have built their Tabernacles they may not use them till the Father of the Family hath consecrated both them and all the Utensils of the Feast wherein he gives God thanks that he hath chosen and sanctified the Jews above all other Nations and that to them only belongs the habitation in Tents At the expiration of the Feast when they come out of their Tabernacles the Chief of the Family saith these words God grant that the following year we may dwell in the Tent of the Leviathan The mystery of which Prayer depends upon the Opinion that the Jews have of eating with their Messias of the great Fish called a Leviathan which they imagine to be of a Poetical Magnitude and preserved on purpose for that great Entertainment to which they shall all be invited by Messias at his coming And the Prayer above-named has respect to this Opinion and designes no more than their desires that their King may have a speedy advent And having now taken this short view of the present Rites wherewith the Jews celebrate their three Cardinal Feasts their Minor Festivals come next to be considered Among which their Purim or Feast of Lots merits the first remembrance For to it is allotted a proper Office which honour is not granted to any of the rest CHAP. XXI Of the Jews Purim or Feast of Lots THe word Purim is Persick and signifies Lots and the Feast bears this name from the occasion of its Institution which without the trouble of transcribing is to be seen at large in the Book of Esther The Mischiefs plotted against the Jews falling upon their Enemies and those being killed by them who designed their destruction and all this happening upon the 13 of the Month Adar answering to our February and ending upon the 14 of the same Month in memory of their own deliverance and the destruction of their Enemies the Jews keep those two daies Festival whereon they both happened In the Celebration of this Feast they at present use these Ceremonies First they light up great store of Lamps that thereby they may testifie their joy and read over the Book of Esther At which both the women and children are bound to be present Who at the naming of Haman make an hideous noise beating with their hands and stamping with their feet and at the same time pronounce these words Let his name be blotted out Let the name of the ungodly come to naught Cursed be Haman blessed be Mordachee Cursed be Zeresch but blessed be Esther Cursed be all Idolaters and blessed be all Israelites Which Maledictions are now applied to the Christians And when they come to that passage concerning the death of Haman's Sons they huddle it over without pause or distinction intimating that they were all killed in a moment and that they hate to be long mentioning them When they come out of the Synagogue they fall to eating and drinking and are therein much more liberal at this than any other time And they have a Rule that at the Feast of Purim they should drink till they cannot distinguish between Cursed be Haman and blessed be Mordachee At this Feast the Rich supply the Poor with Wine and Viands and for two daies none undertake any Servile work The women especially are to keep Holy-day in honour of her who was the occasion of their Deliverance At this Feast also they salute one another with presents and bestow large Alms upon the Needy in compliance with what their Great Patriot commanded Esther 9 20 21 22. Where he established the Institution of the Feast of Lots The Mattins of this Feast begin with extolling Gods mercie and power in their Deliverance After which follow the Proper Lessons out of Esther When those are finished the Chasan leaves the Pulpit and saith part of the Dayly Service Their Vespers they begin with this Psalm My God my God why hast thou forsaken me c. and then again a Lesson is read out of Esther and after that the ordinary Evening-Service Then follow four Benedictions and all is concluded with select Psalms Purim is the last of their Anniversary Festivals for happening in Adar there is none between it and Easter which alwaies falls in Nisan the Month that began the Year when the Hebrews came out of Egypt and which still keeps that place in the Computation of their Greater Feasts Besides their Purim and the three Capital Feasts which we have already considered the Jews have other Minor Festivals as that of Reconciliation Dedication Church-Officers New year and Lunar Mutations of which take this short account in their Order And beginning with their Feast of Reconcilement or Expiation we finde the ground thereof in Lev. 16. and an express Statute for its Celebration v. 29. In the seventh month on the tenth day of the month ye shall afflict your souls and do no work at all whether he be one of your own Country or a stranger ihat sojourneth among you v. 30.