JEWISH FUNERAL RITES.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3318, 9 August 1879, Page 4

JEWISH FUNERAL RITES.

The barjal,must,be, l if. possible, within twenty-four libttrs After death. ■ The body is,n»yer, left J;a jjight la placed at the head, of it and a basm with clean water and a towel by the side. The water and. fowel are left there .for seven days; and the iicandle or lamp for thirty 'days. A " learner " is appointed to watch oveiMhe <*bbdy day and night, studying the Talmud as he does so. The inhabitants of the house" in which' a man has ; died, as well as those in the three c next houses'on either side, pour away every, drop of water that is there at the laopient, for in the notion of the Kabbis ( the angel of death spills a drop, of blood .with his sword into the vacant space, and "this, blood may possibly have dropped into the water m .these houses ! Another rite must be observed by all the Jews 1 Vhp claim to be Coliariim, or descendants, ofAaron ; they must not enter the house in which a corpse is lying; and should they 'happen to live ins the same house, Hheyjnust move away until the corpse has been'removed andl ihe'houße disinfected, •for every contact with a dead body would -defile" "them; The- dead body of "a; Je^^musfe^be^cjiptlied^ in^fij^n articles ofs dr efc'i; respectively* 'or s cap ; pjrnichnesayim, ; jor f ne|her» garment •' Tcessori.es, 'or m\vi'\'sergenis t '6x frock;. a^d.! §iddin,.>QV«c\oak..T jThe,, three, Jastrjaamed! y|r|^B^"areandisp l en?.ab|e,, and the njijie! t^eiiuortuary garments, as a whole i p f) <a^/t^{pA^»,jorihuriat;cloth. They;are; olLmadeof whit^ linen, which ought to f fees ther* same nfor rich, or poor. -Asnjall: *|)a^ful;bf?iearthr;isisupposed to comefroih; Jerusalem, but' as «a r; rule this is : a'mere i fiction, .rlttbiespe'cially the,pious Jew! wbxo(jsT miost '"anxious: tdfi3httveT/s6mei mould' itova.£ iHblye Landwplaced in his coffin^; ipv he beiieves this will cause his ; \iodj ,to, rise at the, resurrection-day in; £trerttß4i,e j m'|Wiiji.'al^tne Sji^ Israel"; '' otherwi^e,!hij97bodj,'.w,puld' ;hay,e to rolljthrougE tlieijigrpund; ,fpr?,that purpose. ■ jThe coffia.must be made by Jews, and. in the moat.Bimpleißtylei.rlt only;coiißistsdf ideal boards, merely smoothed and screwed together: without* any;'adoinment "^hatcter.' Prom the"*barbh o^finaface down to . the pooreit''pedlar,^ four' boards- are all that incloses 1" "-'Hie "■'* dead "Mbody, in such a way" that the back liei^bji'*!the%'grdutid":*in ea^th-tbiearth !fa%liferi. "'Alid} hb^eyer'ia^iplace'd "above ' '^Eesi'fovti MardS, and sup6n .thisi lid; the earthy is heaped^ Previous to jihe JrenipVai »-of lHlitici^il^itKe place!oflinterment,^he relatipqs;apd fnepds of; the? deceased are admitted to pa^-; it] their: ; Jast visit. The face and feet are uncovered, and one after another * takes hold of the large'toes of Jtqfe feet,,and irqplores'bis; pardohf for! all offences they had committed against, him in his lifetime'J also not to report evil agajnst; them, in .the -other, world,.' but rather to' make',,favourable mention of them. —Sunday ai iforrie.