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also to be understood and believed according to the literal signification of the terms in which they are expressed.* An eminent rabbi,+ after having applied all these things to spiritual benefits, immediately subjoins; 'But let no person suppose, that 'I therefore deny or call in question these repre'sentations of our rabbies respecting the banquet ' of Messiah. Far be it from us! We only maintain, that the design of those dainties will be, 'not to satiate the appetite, as some weak and 'foolish people imagine, but to enlarge the under'standing, and capacitate it for the attainment and comprehension of those things which will 'then be the objects of its pursuit. There are, ' undoubtedly, some of these descriptions which have both an open and a hidden sense; and both are true. Our rabbies do not always express 'themselves in simple terms; but necessity some'times constrains them to use an enigmatical and

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figurative phraseology: as when they treat of

things which are not suited to the capacity and use of the common people, but are designed for 'the learned and intelligent.' I

Rabbi Bechai says: We are absolutely required 'to believe those things which are declared respect'ing the corporeal banquet, in a literal sense, to 'the exclusion of all intellectual excellence.-Our 'rabbies of blessed memory have walked according

* Shulchan Arba, port. iv. apud Buxtorf. ibid. p. 746.

+ R. Meir Aldabi, in Sheveleh Emunah, f. 113. apud Buxtorf. ibid. p. 746, 747.

Videatur et R. Moses Ben Maimon. in Hilcoth Teshuvah, cap. viii. et Hilcoth Melachim, cap. ult. Buxtorf. Synag. Jud. c, l. p. 747.

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'to the sense of the law; in the same manner as, in the law, one thing is permitted to be eaten, ' and another is prohibited.-Now it cannot be pretended that these things were spoken in an allegorical or parabolical way: they are, without 'doubt, to be understood strictly and literally. 'So when our doctors have spoken of eating the 'flesh of Leviathan, we must maintain that they have spoken truly; not parabolically, but strictly ' and literally.' This writer proceeds to apply the same principle of interpretation to various transactions of the times of the Messiah. Among other prognostications, he introduces the following passage from the prophecy of Isaiah, which he contends, is addressed by God to the Gentiles, and contains a literal description of the contrast which will then be exhibited between them and the people of Israel: "Behold, my servants shall "eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my ser"vants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty:

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behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall "be ashamed: behold, my servants shall sing "for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow "of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.” Isaiah lxv. 13, 14.*

With these prospects it would seem that the members of the synagogue have consoled themselves, under the various humiliations and oppressions, exactions and cruelties, which have

* Shulchan Arba, p. ix. c. 3. apud Bartoloc. Bib. Rab. tom. i. p. 521, 522.

afflicted them age after age; always ready to say,

with the poet,

—Τις ἐλπὶς ἐστ' ἐφ ̓ ἧς ὀχούμεθα.

Aristophan. Equit. iv. 1. 94.

Some hope remains on which our hearts recline.

But are these scenes of national glory and sensual delight the mighty benefits which they have been expecting from their Messiah, to which they have been looking forward as the consummation of their fondest hopes, and the splendours of which have blinded them to their real condition? What a grovelling taste for intellectual and immortal beings! What deplorable fatuity, to be deluded by such a baseless fabric of non-entities!

Φεῦ, ἡ πολὺ με δόξης ἐξέπαισαν ἐλπίδες,
Ην πατρὸς ἡμῶν ἐκ λόγων ποτ' η ήλπισα.

Euripid. Hercul. Fur. 460.

From sire to son they're taught to entertain
Hopes, all, alas! illusory and vain.

281

CHAPTER XVI.

Birth.-Circumcision. - Purification.-Redemption of First-born.-Nursing.-Education.-Age of Majority.

*

WHEN a Jewish woman is pregnant, and the period of her delivery is at hand, her chamber is to be decently prepared and furnished with all things necessary for the occasion. The husband, or some other Jew of approved character, takes a piece of chalk, and describes a circle upon each of the walls or partitions around the bed, and upon the door both inside and outside: upon each wall or partition, and about the bed, he also inscribes, in Hebrew characters, the words Adam, Chava, Chuts, Lilith; that is, Adam, Eve; Begone, Lilith: by which they signify, that if the woman be pregnant with a boy, they wish God to give him a wife like Eve, and not like Lilith; but if of a girl, that she may hereafter be a helpmate to her husband, as Eve was to Adam, and not refractory and disobedient, like Lilith. On the inside of the door are likewise written the names, as is alleged, of three angels, which are supposed to defend the child from the injuries of Lilith; who is said to have been transformed into a female demon, and to take delight in debilitating and destroying young infants. By these methods the room is believed

אדם חוה חוץ לילית

For the story of Lilith, see p. 164, 165.

Elias Levita in verbum Lilith, apud Bartoloc. Bib. Rab. tom. i. p. 71-73.

to be sufficiently protected against the intrusion of all evil spirits.

Leo Modena, who wrote at the commencement of the seventeenth century, represents the use of anti-demoniacal charms on these occasions, as a vain superstition, not very general at that time among his brethren in Italy:* but Buxtorf, who wrote about the middle of that century, states it to be commonly practised by the Jews in Germany; and Addison, towards the end of the same century, mentions it as a general custom of the Jews in Barbary. Among the German Jews it still I

continues.

The Jewish canon has strictly forbidden the employment of a Christian midwife, except in cases of necessity, which has no law, or unless such Christian midwife be surrounded by several Jewesses. This prohibition and caution are founded on a professed apprehension, that a Christian midwife may dislocate some of the infant's limbs, or murder it in the birth. The following is the express language of the Talmud on this subject:

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Our doctors have taught that a woman of any ' other nation cannot act as a midwife to a daughter ' of Israel; because, according to Rabbi Meir, they are suspected of shedding blood. Our wise men, however, say that such a woman may perform 'this office when other women (Jewesses) are present, but not alone. But Rabbi Meir has 'said: They cannot be admitted even when others

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* Rites and Customs of Jews, Part iv. c. 8.

+ Synag. Jud. c. iv. p. 80.

State of the Jews, p. 55, 56.

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