DEATH IN JEWISH SUPERSTITION.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 294, 28 May 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

DEATH IN JEWISH SUPERSTITION.

♦ CURIOUS DETAILS. There are undoubtedly vast numbers of intelligent Jews who have not a particle of faith in the fables we are about to relate, nevertheless the superstitious ideas contained in this paper are strictly Jewish ones, and have an immense influence upon the lives of millions of Israelites. In Jewish superstition devils are fearfully and wonderfully abundant, and all evil things come about through their personal agency and intervention. . . . One of the great problems of life among superstitious Jews is how to subdue and get rid of these evil spirits. Especially at the time of burial these creatures are likely to be present in large numbers, tor they are said to be generated out of the effusions of man, and it is claimed that when a man dies they assemble in order to touch and pollute him. In order to disperse these evil spirits the Jews walk around the newly-made grave seven times, uttering certain words which are uncongenial to the devils, and by this mystical walk and the adjurations the spirits are expelled from the neighbourhood of the erave and put to flight, and the dead man is saved. . . . It is hard chit the society of ladies should ever become perilous, but it is usually believed that it may become so, and it will startle many persons to learn that the company cf women is specially dangerous at the time of a tuncral. Why the Angel of Death should do such a thing does not appear, but we are assured that at a burial he mingles with the women and dances among them. If, therefore, a man does not keep himself apart from the ladies and walk home in the companionship of persons of his own sex he is liable to expose lr.mself to the destroying touch of that terrible angel. There are also other times when men must be specially on their guard against this spirit. When there is a famine in a city men should take care not to be seen, and should avoid vvalkiug by themselves, because of the Angel of Death who is present. When there is a plague men should lock themselves up and Dot be seen. The superstition of the howling of dogs as a presage, of death, although now almost universal, was first believed in by the Jews, so far as is known. Thoy say that when dogs howl the Angel of Death comes into the city, but when dogs play Elias comes. The Jews believe that the Angel of Death is full of eyes, and that when a sick person is dying he stands at his head and holds in his hand his naked sword, on which hangs a drop of gall. When the sick person sees the same, he trembles and opens his mouth. The Angel of Death causes the drop of gall to fall into his mouth, by means of which he dies. When one dies, the Jews empty the water from all vessels in the house and the neighbouring ones, because the Angel of Death washes his sword in the water contained in them. It is also said that when the soul departs from the body it cries out aloud, and that the sound of it is what we call echo. For the voice passes from one end of the world to the other, and wanders about till it enters the hollows and cliffs, and there hides itself.—Cat/tin* Dill Wilson.