"his brother a name in Israel; he will not perform "the duty of my husband's brother." Then the brother says: "I like not to take her." The woman next, with her right hand, unties the shoe, takes it off, throws it upon the ground, and spits before him, saying: "So shall it be done unto "that man that will not build up his brother's "house and his name shall be called in Israel, "The house of him that hath his shoe loosed." The persons present then exclaim three times: "His shoe is loosed." The business is concluded by the chief rabbi declaring the woman at liberty to marry any other man, and giving her a certificate to that effect.*

* David Levi, ibid. p. 138, 139. Leo Modena, ibid. P. iv. c. 7. s. 4.

419

CHAPTER XXIV.

Sickness.-Death.-Burial.-Mourning.

THE Jewish liturgies include prayers for the sick. One circumstance of this ceremonial is too curious to be overlooked. When a person is believed to be dangerously ill, it is customary to change his name, with the professed hope of evading or averting the sentence of death which it is apprehended may have been issued against him in the court of heaven. One of their prayer books contains the following

FORM OF CHANGE OF NAME.

After mentioning the name of the sick person, say:

By permission of the Supreme King of kings; ' with the knowledge of the blessed God; with 'the approbation of the celestial tribunal; we change, alter, overturn, and supersede, the name of this sick person, whose name heretofore was 'A-. And from this day forward, his name 'shall no more be A-: but B- his name shall 'be called. And by the name of B- shall he 'be known, mentioned, called, spoken of, and ' named.

• Then say:

May the Supreme King of kings, through his infinite mercy, compassionate him, &c.'*

In a note at the end of this prayer book, the

* Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Prayer Book, p. 229.

members of the synagogue are taught by their rabbies, that four things annul an evil sentence against a man: charity, prayer, change of name, ' and change of actions, all of which are founded ' on scripture.' The passage of scripture alleged as attributing this efficacy to change of name, is Genesis xvii. 15. And God said unto Abra"ham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call "her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. "And I will bless her, and give thee a son also "of her."*

Another of their prayer books has the following Form. God be merciful unto A-, and restore him to life and wonted health. Let his name henceforth be called B-: let him rejoice in this 'his name, and let it be confirmed upon him. 'Let it please thee, O God, that this change of 'his name may annul all hard and evil decrees, and reverse the sentence which has been passed If death has been decreed upon against him. A-, yet it is not decreed upon B-. If an evil 'decree has been issued against A-, it is not 'issued against B-. Behold, he is at this hour " as it were another man, as a new creature, as an 'infant just born to a good life and length of days.'+†

When a Jew dies, all the water in the same and adjoining houses is instantly thrown away, and no priest must, upon any account, remain in either of those houses till the corpse is removed. Immediately on his decease, the body is stripped

* Ibid. Notes, p. 19.

+ Italian Jews' Prayer Book, cited by Buxtorf. ibid. c. xlix. p. 696,

697.

and laid upon the floor, with clean straw under it; and it remains in that state, watched by a Jew, until the ceremony of cleansing with warm water is performed: part of which ceremony is, to hold up the body erect, and pour over it three successive ablutions, accompanied by a recital of the following passage of scripture, in Hebrew: "Then "will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye "shall be clean from all your filthiness." During this operation some one is to place his hand on the mouth of the corpse, that no water may enter it.*

Near the body are placed a lighted taper, a bason of water, and a clean towel; that the soul of the deceased may have an opportunity of cleansing itself from the defilements it had contracted during life: for which purpose it is supposed to return to the place every night for a month. These things are kept in the room for thirty days and nights, and the water is changed every morning.+ -This ordinance is esteemed peculiarly sacred; and some members of the synagogue being too poor to purchase these trifling articles, a society was established about six years ago, among the Jews in London, to defray these expenses and perform other services, in cases of sickness and death, for their indigent brethren. A copy of a paper published by this society soon after its formation will be found in the note below.I

* Obligations of Christians, &c. p. 33. David Levi, ibid. p. 163, 164. + Obligations of Christians, &c. p. 34, 35.

With the sanction of the chief Rabbi.

• God has left us a remnant in the superb city of London; may he 'thus continue to add to us, until Shiloh come. Amen.

'We

The Jews do not use close coffins, but usually four plain boards, loosely joined together; and the rabbies say, the bottom should only consist of laths, in order that the worms may destroy the body so much the sooner.* When the corpse is laid in the coffin, over the other sepulchral garments is put the Talleth, or the square garment with fringes, which the deceased had been accustomed to wear in the synagogue.+

We hereby make known, that we, being seventy in number, have ' undertaken to establish an important matter for the sake of heaven, and for the benefit of that class of poor, who often die in the streets, 'through some illness, or infirmities of age, having no friend, much 'less family, to take care of them at such a time. An instance of 'this happened on Wednesday, Parshath Vayearah. One of the above ' mentioned class had been ill for many days, unknown to any body; 'but it came at last miraculously to the knowledge of some of our brethren, the seed of Abraham, and we immediately adopted that 'measure, whereby we are distinguished from other nations, viz. bestowing charity. We maintained him to the day of his death, ' which happened a few days after our discovery; and after his death we went to his funeral; said prayers for his soul for the first seven <days, and had likewise a light burning for him. From that period, we 'joined in forming a society for the relief of such. It happened, moreover, on Friday the 11th of Adar the first, that we were 'informed of a pious man, called Rabbi Jacob, who had lain many 'nights in the street, before the door of Mr. Cox, Petticoat Lane. We ordered him to be taken into a room, which we had hired for 'that purpose, where he had all due attendance till his death, which ⚫ happened on Wednesday, the 15th of Adar the second, when he was • buried in due form. Therefore, we hope that this will be taken into 'consideration, and will tend to strengthen our Institution. Surely by doing so we shall keep the following command-“ After the Lord your God shall ye walk. Then will the Lord comfort Zion, and send 'the true Redeemer. Amen.'

* For an account of transactions said to take place after death, and the pain which a dead body is supposed to suffer from worms,see pages 128-131.

+ David Levi, ibid. p. 164. Buxtorf. ibid. c. xlix. p. 700.