Alms. The object of the later are Orphans Widows Synagogues and the Holy house for so they call the Temple which they expect shall be rebuilt at the coming of their Messiah And therefore toward the structure thereof every dying Jew that is able contributes something For they have erected a Treasury to this purpose which is managed by the Masters and carefully improved by them The rest of the Estate is divided among the Wives and Children The Wives first taking out their Dowries doubled If the Children of the dying person be very young the Master is to be their Guardian who with a signal care labours to improve their Fortunes The Alms likewise are deposite in the Rabbies hands who out of them disposeth of some Females every year in Marriage When the sick man has set his house in order and is under evident indications of Death He makes confession of his Faith and in a short Oraison is recommended to Mercie And the breath is no sooner out of his Nostrils but they prepare for his Funeral which is always within the natural day of his Departure And first the Corps is washed in clean water or if he be rich in water of Roses Orange-flowers or any thing that is Aromatick While the Corps is thus making clean they pray that God would cleanse the Soul from all the defilements that it had contracted in the body This ceremony of washing being finished they put the Corps in a clean Shirt and Drawers and then a Strip of linnen resembling the Zizith and after all they sow him in a very white Sheet and put him into a Coffin The relations of the Deceased for seven daies after the Interment stir not abroad or if by some extraordinary occasion they are forced to go out of doors it is without Shoos which is a token with them that they have lost a dear Friend For the seven daies that they stay within the Neighbours come to the house to pray with them and their Mourning habit is either a black Ganiphe or the same clothes they wore when the party died The Corps is born by four to the place of Burial in this procession In the first rank march the Chachams or Priests next to them the kindred of the Deceased after whom come those that are Invited to the Funeral and all singing in a sort of plain-song the 49th Psalm And if it last not till they come to the Grave they begin it again At the Grave ten Rabbies or so many old Jews in their room say over some certain Psalms composed by the Rabbins for that purpose And when they are ended the Corps is laid in the Grave and covered with Earth and the Rabbies compassing the Grave seven times say From the Earth thou camest and to the Earth thou art returned After this is done they return from the Grave to the house of the Deceased where one who as chief Mourner receives them with his Jaws tied up with a linnen Cloth after the same manner that they binde up the Dead And by this the Mourner is said to testifie that he was ready to die with his Friend And thus muffled the Mourner goes for seven daies during which time the rest of his Friends come twice every twenty four hours to pray with him At the end of these seven daies the Friends of the Deceased repair to his Grave which they cover with a black Cloth and say this Prayer Vide Syracides 22.23 Judge of the Truth who Judgest truly be Judge of the Truth for all thy Judgements are Justice and Truth And then the Kindred of the Dead wish one another good health and Comfort And the same Ceremonie is repeated precisely that day twelvemonth till which time the Obsequies are incompleat If the Friends of the Deceased be devout they often every Week repair to his Grave where they make great Lamentation and bitter Weeping over him they pray at the same time That God would pardon his Sins and receive him into the Garden Meaning the Garden out of which Adam was cast when he became disobedient In the Funeral-Rites of the Jews the same order is observed for both Sexes only with this Decorum that the Women meddle not with the Men nor the Men with the Women but each Wash and Shrowd those of their own Sex They never bury their Dead promiscuously with those of another Faith but have purchased distinct Burying-places where they reside which they very much respect and to which they often resort both in contemplation of their own Mortality and to lament and pray for those who are dead already It may not be unfit to observe that though the Modern Ceremonies of Burial are neither so numerous nor costly as those of old among the Jews yet they do not much varie from them For the washing of the Body was in use at the time of Tabitha's death and the Chief Mourner spoken of before as also the Weekly Lamenting of the Dead refers to the Women hired to lament at Burials And which the Scripture calls Mourning-Women Jerem. 9.17 the same with the Praeficae among the Romans They likewise agree in the places of Burial which are now as formerly without the Towns or Cities where they live except that in Fez they have a Burying-place within the City adjoyning to the Juderia or the part where they live as was said in the entrance of this Discourse Enquiring after Inscriptions or Epitaphs and though often in the Burying-place for that end I could see none nor any other State about the Graves than Green Turf and Boughs But this remark respects the Jews in Barbary whom I conceive to come far short of those of other Countries in this sort of Funeral Pomp. But we are told that they were not without Inscriptions upon their Sepulchers as Hic jacet N. Memoria ejus sit in Benedictione Though this I confess be now used rather as an honourable Commemoration when any Author of worth being dead is cited by the Masters than as a common Epitaph But when they use Sepulchral Inscriptions they are usually a Prayer for the Dead such as Let his Soul be received into the Garden of Eden Or Let his Soul be bound in the bundle of Life with the rest of the Just The Confession of Sins made by the Sick upon his Death-bed I Acknowledge and confess before thee O Lord my God and the God of my Fathers the Mighty God of the Spirits of all flesh that both my Health and Death are in thy hands Restore me I beseech thee to my former health be mindful of me and hear my Prayers as in the time of King Ezechias when he also was grievously sick But if the time of my Visitation be come that I must die let my death be an Expiation for all my sins iniquities and transgressions whether I have committed them ignorantly or knowingly from the day that I first drew in the light Grant I beseech thee that I may have my Portion in Paradise
they ought to make the contrary for while they place so much confidence in Deut. 18.15 it is wonder to see them believing so contrary to their hope ARTICLE VIII I believe with a perfect faith that all the Law which at this day is found in our hands was delivered by God himself to our Master Moses Gods peace be with him On this Article they build the Divine Authority of the Law But much dispute about the manner of its delivery whether God gave it Moses in writing or he writ it from Gods mouth ARTICLE IX I believe with a perfect faith that the same Law is never to be changed nor any other to be given us of God whose Name be blessed And it is upon the supposed immutability of the Law that they hope for the rebuilding of the Temple and Hierusalem their return to Canaan and the restauration of all the Mosaical Ritual which is the chief Pillar of Judaism The latter part of this Article is wholly to decry the Gospel or the Law of Christ ARTICLE X. I believe with a perfect heart that God whose Name be blessed understandeth all the works and thoughts of Men As it is written in the Prophets He fashioneth their hearts alike he understandeth all their works ARTICLE XI I believe with a perfect faith that God will recempence good to those who keep his Commandments and will punish those who transgress them In this they believe a final retribution of good and evil works That every one shall have as he deserves ARTICLE XII I believe with a perfect faith that Messiah is yet to come and although he retard his coming yet I will wait for him till he come In this Article the Jews declare their assurance of the coming of the Messiah That there is no set time for his coming And upon this account they forbid all curious inquiring concerning the hour of his Appearance And they still use that old Rabbinical Execration Let their Spirit burst who count the times ARTICLE XIII I believe with a perfect faith that the dead shall be restored to life when it shall seem fit unto God the Creator whose Name be blessed and Memory celebrated world without end Amen I do not find that they strive much to crook this Article to any evil purpose against Christianity but that it is a bare affirmation of the Resurrection Of which the Jews retain very extravagant Opinions as will shortly be discoursed In these thirteen Articles are comprised the Jews Credenda wherein they exhort and oblige all of their Communion to live and die as they hope for any comfort in the future State And notwithstanding that many of these Articles may be capable of a good construction yet according to the present received interpretation thereof among the Jews they are not so much a system of Judaism as a cuning and malitious contradiction of Christianity And the suttle Rambam who is said to have first committed them to writing seems rather to have designed the Jews confirmation in an ill opinion of the Christian than any instruction in their own Religion And that they might imbibe a more implacable hatred against the Christian Faith the crafty Rabbi so composed for he is thought to have been the Author thereof the Jews Creed that it might one way or other wholly confront the Christians Not doubting but that they would hardly be induced to embrace a Religion which they saw was so greatly opposite to that of their first Catechism and wherein from their infancy they had been taught to expect an happy immortality Now this which we may suppose was but the Design of Maimonides is become the general practice of the Jews in Barbary For I have heard from one whose understanding in their Religion had got him the Title of a Master That there was not an Article of their Faith which they did not understand in a sense wholly opposite to Christianity And taking a freedom to rail at our Religion in which they are all well gifted he instanced in the Eleventh Article as seeming to bear the least ill-will to Christianity and from thence warmly beat down all thoughts of Redemption with great assurance protesting That he would have none to pay his debts nor any but himself to satisfy divine justice for his sins That he did not expect the felicity of the next world upon the account of any Merits but his own That he was certain whosoever lived piously and kept the Law could not miss of being happy or arriving the bliss to come upon his own leggs With a deal more of the like stuff even too hainous to be inserted But wishing this poor obstinate people an happy rescue from such impious thoughts I shall close up this Chapter with observing that the Jews give their Creed a double note of Respect above any other part of their Religion For though I do not find this Creed set down in their Common Service-book yet in honour thereof they begin their Mattins with it and utter it in a hollow tone differing from that wherein the rest of the Office is chanted CHAP. III. The Barbary-Jews Opinion of the Trinity Angels several States of the Soul the Law Merit Purgatory Resurrection last Judgment end of the World c. NOtwithstanding that the Jews are very unanimous in the literal Profession of the same Fundamentals yet they are not so well agreed in any Exposition thereof as that which most opposeth Christianity That the Jews in Barbary are in many things differing from the sentiments of the Jews in other parts of the world and that too in points of no inferiour concernment may be seen in the following particulars And in the first place both the Jews and Moors accord in exploding the Trinity which they look upon as an Hypochondriacal imagination of the Christians whom they accuse of Polytheism out of an ignorant conceit that we make every Person of the blessed Trinity a distinct Deity Nor are they more malitious and blind in the utter denyal of the blessed Trinity than extravagant in their opinions concerning the Angels 'T is true they all accord in dividing them according to their Natures and Imployments into good and bad The good Angels they say are imployed in Messages of Comfort as were those who brought Abraham the glad Tydings of his Wives Conception and time of Childbirth Other Angels they hold are sent upon Errands of Destruction and they commonly place the instance in those who came to Sodom They likewise opine that there is another rank of Angels to whom is committed the protection and safeguard of particular persons and they give an example in the Angel which appeared with the three Children in the Babylonian Furnace But beside these more general Objects of the Angels Imployment the Jews allot two of them to every individual person of their own Nation Whereof one is a good Angel and stands at the right hand of every Jew to register his good Actions and to set down the
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
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