Chapter I.

The very interesting details of various
Missionaries, sent into Poland by the London
Society for the Conversion of the Jews,
within the last few years, to the children of
Israel inhabiting that country, have, in a peculiar
manner, attracted towards them the
sympathy and attention of the friends of
God’s ancient people in England, and excited
a spirit of prayer in their behalf.

The bigotry of the Polish Jews,—their enmity
to Christianity,—their strict adherence B B1v 2
to traditions and legends,—and their blind
devotion, and servile submission to, their presiding
Rabbins and eminent men,—form a
melancholy and affecting portrait of this
“peeled nation,” who, cleaving with inconceivable
tenacity to their cherished fables,
customs, and religious observances, drawn,
not from the “written word,” but from that
blind guide the Talmud, imbibe, from their
very cradles, an abhorrence of Christianity;
so inveterate, so decided, and so powerful,
that it is not too much to assert, nothing
short of the almighty influence of the Eternal
Spirit can soften and subjugate their
rocky hearts and adamantine prejudices.

Christians, who have only observed or
communed with English Jews, can hardly
conceive of the contrast between the animated
Polish Jew, zealous, devout, and devoted
to, what he firmly holds to be the only
way of salvation, and his degenerate apathetic
English brethren. The difference
must be seen to be fully or properly appreciated.
Perhaps the detached manner in
which Jews reside in England, and their
more frequent and familiar association with B2r 3
their Gentile neighbours, may have contributed
to destroy much of their original character
and locality, without removing their
hereditary aversion to Christianity; but in
Poland, where the Jews inhabit their own
quarter, and only mix with Gentiles for commerce,
their distinct character is more clearly
defined, and the peculiar spectacle they there
present of “a nation within a nation” is at
once plainly distinguished and acknowledged.

The Jews of Poland, however, though still
powerful, exhibit but a very faint shadow of
what they were before Poland ceased to be a
distinct monarchy.

In those days, they enjoyed privileges so
great, that they were enabled to govern their
respective communities with despotic sway;
and their unbounded influence with the nobility
and local authorities invested the presiding
Rabbins and elders with the power of
life and death, in many cases, among their
brethren. In this plentitude of power, therefore,
any bias towards apostacy was vigilantly
observed, and silently, but effectually, extinguished,
without regard either to the endearing
ties of nature or the common rights B2 B2v 4
of humanity; and the decisions of the Jewish
vestry never failed to be allowed and sanctioned
by the higher powers, if any were
hardy enough to dispute with, or appeal
from them. How many tragic scenes of this
description, though enacted in secresy and
veiled in darkness, will the last day reveal!

The true church has had her martyrs, even
among the Polish Jews; who, though they
were not made manifest on earth, are, without
doubt, enrolled in the holy list of the
“noble armies of martyrs” now in glory.
Some of them are, however, recorded among
men; and the following authentic narrative
is extracted from the journals of a departed
relative. It is a faithful and affecting delineation
of intolerance and cruelty, aided by
power. Happily, in these more auspicious
days, though this spirit of intolerance and
bigotry is almost, if not altogether, as prevalent,
it is no longer strengthened by power
so unlimited; and the Christian philanthropist
rejoices to see that, even among a people
so decidedly hostile to the adorable Redeemer,
here and there is gathered a berry from “the
topmost bough,” as a precious and delightful B3r 5
earnest of the glorious epoch when captive
Israel shall find favour, and Jew and Gentile
be for ever united in one holy fold, under one
great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, the
alone Saviour. May God, of his infinite
compassion and goodness, hasten the time
predicted by the prophet Amos. Chap ix,
verse 11. “In that day will I raise up the
tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close
up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his
ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old.”

In the early part of the last century, the
populous town of Lissau, (or, as some write
it, Lissa), situated in the then palatinate of
Posnania, was visited by an epidemic disease
of the most destructive description. Whole
families and districts were swept away by it
in rapid succession; but no where was its devastating
fury so awfully manifested as in
the extended and crowded Jewish quarter.
The number of families residing beneath the
same roof, and not unfrequently in the same
chamber, their neglect of cleanliness, and the
miserable state of their close, narrow streets,
in many parts utterly impassable, except on B3 B3v 6
planks thrown at intervals across them, gave
a fearful impetus to the surrounding contagion,
and its progress was truly appalling!

At first, medical assistance, such as could
be procured among themselves, was called in
to arrest the calamity, but the Jewish physicians
were among its early victims. Religious
rites were next resorted to, in addition
to the usual medicines; and such Rabbins as
either presided over communities, or were
eminent for personal sanctity, the practice of
austere fasts, or the possession of mystic
learning, were applied to. They refused not
the perilous employ, and might be seen passing
from house to house, amidst the sick and
the dying, using the spells and singular exorcisms
of the Cabala, suspending about the
persons of the infected, and on the doors and
walls of their habitations, vellum scrolls, on
which were inscribed mysterious hieroglyphics,
designed by cabalistic rules, and firmly
believed on as possessing power to arrest or
avert the continued progress of either fire,
pestilence, or famine!

Perhaps no view taken of the Jews can
place them in a more debasing light, than B4r 7
the subjugation of their minds to a reliance
on the wild magical pretensions of cabalistic
powers, or the no less absurd belief in, and
preference of, Rabbinical legends, to the
pure written word. It may indeed be said,
“How has the fine gold become dim?” But
the hand of the Lord is visible in it, of a
truth. They will not receive the miracles of
Jesus, himself a miracle of love, grace, and
mercy. They are therefore for a time “given
up to strong delusions, that they may believe
a lie.” But though at present led captive
by Satan at his will, Jehovah will send
them a “Saviour, and a great one,” who will
break the bands from the neck of Sion, and
she shall worship her Lord “in the beauty
of holiness” for ever and ever!

What a striking scene did the Jewish district
of Lissau present at this calamitous period!
The synagogue filled with mourners
of each sex, and every age and description,
weeping before the veil in the bitterness of
despair, and keeping the seven days of
mourning for their departed relatives within
its walls,—the chief rabbins and elders, attenuated
by fasting, and pale with grief and B4v 8
fatigue; their garments rent; their beards and
hair neglected; their phylacteries constantly
bound about their foreheads and on their
hands; the long white Taleth, or outer garment
of fringes, flowing over their heads and
round their persons in disorder, giving them
an air wild and unearthly,—the wailing of
the sick,—the continually reiterated death-
cry of “Hear, O Israel!” about the beds of
the dying,—the agonizing shrieks of the
heart-stricken survivors,—messengers of the
synagogue bearing the dead in indiscriminate
heaps to the almost overflowing cemetery,
without any attempt to perform the funeral
rites, held so sacred by this people on all
other occasions,—altogether combined to
form a picture of desolation and terror indescribable!

These scenes, so faintly depicted, continued
several weeks, without any prospect of abatement.
At length, the miserable survivors,
whose number was daily decreasing, held
a solemn council with the elders still spared
to them. The whole assembly fasted, and,
after repeating some of the prayers appropriated
to the day of atonement, proceeded to B5r 9
consider the matter, and unanimously decided
to abandon the devoted town, and take up
their temporary abode in an immense forest,
not very distant, yet sufficiently so, to be free
from infection, where they could construct
tents for immediate use, and patiently await
the assuagement of an evil which, the elders
declared, was indicative of the fierce indignation
of Jehovah for their iniquities, seeing
the frightful malady would neither yield to
“prayer, penitence, nor alms giving, generally
propitiatory in their effects; and was
even unconquerable by the potent adjurations
of the sacred Cabala!”

The day following this decision, all the
Jews able to bear the journey quitted Lissau.
Without its walls were stationed the light
covered waggons destined to convey them to
the appointed spot, with their moveables,
collected in haste, and consisting only of
such as were absolutely indispensable.

Rabbi Samuel ben David, their chief
Rabbi, with his wife Ella, and their daughter
Clara, led the melancholy cavalcade.
The men wore their burial garments, in token
of deep humiliation; the women were B5v 10
clothed in white, without ornaments, as on
the day of atonement, when they lay them
aside with scrupulous care;Open note 1Back to note ¹ their garments
were rent, and mourning veils concealed their
faces. A solemn silence reigned throughout
this sad procession, except as it was occasionally
broken by the suppressed sobs and
wailing of those among them who were widows,
orphans, or childless. It was, in truth,
a touching spectacle of human misery, unmitigated
by those divine consolations of the
Holy Spirit, that not only soften the most
terrible earthly events to Christian believers,
but also makes them “more than conquerors,
through Him that hath loved them.”
For the grace, love, and compassion of the
Lord Jesus are always most magnified, and
abound to his glory, amidst scenes of creature
weakness and suffering. This was the B6r 11
experience of St. Paul. 2 Corinthians xii,
9, 10; and it is verified to all the family of
faith, when called to glorify God in the fires.

In a few days the poor fugitives were settled
in their temporary encampment, in a
very tolerable manner, and felt their present
situation more endurable, as it was the very
height of the summer season—a fleeting, but
most delightful period, in northern climes.
The forest afforded much that was useful in
their isolated state, particularly excellent
wild honey, with which it abounded.

Chapter II.

As soon as the little community had completed
their arrangements, they devoted themselves
to the most extraordinary acts of supererogatory
austerities, among which were
fasts, continued until nature all but sunk
under their protracted rigor. Neither sex
nor age were allowed to be exceptions from
these severe observances, as in ordinary cases;
and, as the fearful malady entirely ceased
from among them, the Rabbins encouraged,
both by precept and example, a steady perseverance
in acts which, they asserted, were
evidently accepted as propitiatory sacrifices C1r 13
well pleasing to the Holy One of Israel, whom
they had so greatly provoked by their manifold
iniquities!

The presiding Rabbi had partaken largely
of the sorrows of the people, whom he governed
with equity and paternal mildness.
Of twelve dutiful and affectionate children,
his daughter alone had survived the epidemic
scourge. In one week he had seen
eleven sons, and their families, buried in the
deep pits, or places where the infected bodies
were then cast, in the state they had departed.
The husband of his only daughter was
also among the victims of this dreadful visitation;
and when they reached the forest,
she approached the period of her confinement
in a state of health, mental and personal,
that gave little reason to expect she
would long survive the partner of her affections.

This young widow was an object of interest
and sympathy to the whole encampment.
Many of the people seemed to forget, for a
time, their own sorrows, in their generous
anxiety to alleviate those of Clara, and procure
for her every possible accommodation C C1v 14
and comfort. Her father, Rabbi Samuel,
was indeed highly esteemed and beloved by
the whole community; and his wife, the
daughter of one of the most eminent Rabbins
and Cabalists of Prague, was classed
among the holiest women of her day, and
no less valued for the benevolence of her
character. This afflicted pair bore their affecting
bereavements with singular equanimity,
though devotedly attached to their
children; and set before the people, in their
own persons, an example of resignation and
fortitude, worthy of imitation, had it originated
in a higher source.

As the interesting moment of Clara’s fate
drew near, her tender father passed whole
nights alone, in a retired part of the forest,
in fervent prayer for the preservation of this
last, and most beloved child. Ella also observed
rigorous fasts; and the whole assembly,
touched by the paternal piety of their
chief, set apart a day for strict abstinence
and solemn prayer for the same purpose.

The accuser of the brethren is never a
more dangerous opponent than when, to
work his guileful purposes of soul destruction, C2r 15
he is transformed as an angel of light!
Open and avowed sin cannot veil its native
deformity from the eye, even while the ensnared
heart falls by it. How frequently
error, while wearing the garb of truth, has
led the believer in Jesus astray, let his own
experience testify.

One of the great means by which Satan is
permitted to blind the eyes, and delude the
hearts of the Jewish nation, and shut them
up in unbelief until the appointed time, is the
stedfast reliance they place on the efficacy of
prayer in averting evil, atoning for transgression,
either original or actual, and as one
great mean of accelerating, and even securing,
salvation, and possessing power to open
the gates of heaven to such as have not attained
perfect purity in this life, and are
therefore detained in an intermediate state,
or purgatory! The prayer termed Caudish,
and repeated by sons eleven months for their
deceased parents, has its origin in a traditionary
legend, grounded on the latter statement.

It is, however, an undoubted and awful
truth, and the Jewish nation would do well
to give it their most serious consideration, C2 C2v 16
that there is neither spirit, life, nor power,
in what they call prayer. They do, indeed,
daily, and often during the day, recite a form
of prayer, but yet they pray not. Prayer is
a spiritual act, and, to deserve the name,
and be acceptable to, and accepted of, the
Majesty of Heaven, must be offered according
to His revealed will, under the teaching
of the Holy Spirit, and in the all prevalent
name of Christ Jesus the Lord. But the
Jews have not obeyed the will of God, as it
is revealed in the face of His Anointed; the
veil is not removed from their hearts; they
are not, therefore, under the Spirit’s gracious
teaching,—believe not in the all prevailing
name of the Lord Jesus;—they cannot, in
consequence of their state of alienation from
the truth, offer acceptable prayer, though
they may recite forms, which, in the ears of
Jehovah, are as the howling of dogs, and
shall profit them nothing. May the Lord,
in his infinite mercy, open their eyes to behold
the vanity and fruitless toil of their
wearisome will-worship, and purify and renew
their hearts, to serve Him in spirit and
in truth!

Christian reader! you who are, through
grace, renewed by the Spirit, and have a
saving interest in the great Redeemer, when
you approach the mercy seat, see that you
use not a vain form, but make your supplications
to your heavenly Father by Christ
Jesus, in godly simplicity, sincerity, and
truth.

Notwithstanding the sincere, though mistaken,
means resorted to for procuring the recovery
of Clara, the fiat had gone forth from
Him with whom are the issues of life and
death; she lingered till the first day of the
solemn festival of the Jewish new year, and
then expired, after giving birth to a female
infant, which, with her dying breath, she
named—Gertrude.

The lone nook in the forest, which so often
witnessed the prayers of Rabbi Samuel on
behalf of his daughter, was the spot selected
for her grave, and she was buried there with
great solemnity. Her infant, which gave
promise of being a healthy babe, was caressed
and cherished by all the community; and
the amiable Rabbi and his wife received her C3 C3v 18
as a gift from heaven, to be the solace of
their declining days.

The seven days of mourning for Clara had
just closed, when a similar catastrophe occurred
in this afflicted community. Isola,
the sister of Clara’s husband, had also lost
her parents, husband, and two children, in
the late calamity; but the death of Clara affected
her more deeply than any other bereavement.
They had been tenderly attached
to each other from earliest infancy; born
under the same roof, they had continued to
reside together even after their respective
marriages, and were seldom apart a single
day. While Clara still continued to exist,
Isola watched over her with intense interest,
though unfit for the anxious duty, being also
near her own confinement; and when this
beloved friend expired, Isola calmly expressed
her conviction that she should soon follow
her. As if to fulfil her own prediction,
she only survived the birth of a son three
days.

When Isola found her dissolution approaching,
she requested to see Rabbi Samuel and
his wife Ella. The venerable pair promptly C4r 19
compiled with the affecting summons. Their
garments were rent, in token of their late
loss, and their tears streamed afresh, as they
drew near the deathbed of one whom they
had loved next to their own Clara. After a
few words of consolation to her afflicted
friends, Isola, in solemn and pathetic terms,
commended to their immediate protection her
infant son; and earnestly besought them,
should the orphan babes survive, to unite
her son, whom she named Raphael, to the
daughter of Clara, as a memorial of the perfect
friendship that had ever subsisted between
their departed mothers.

“And bury me,” she added, “close to the
grave of Clara, that, as in life we were united,
so even in death we may not be divided.”

The requests, so affectingly preferred by
the dying young mother, were at once acceded
to; and, delivering her child to his adopted
parents, she was left, by her own desire,
to perform the last ceremonies of a Jewish
deathbed; adding another to the sad number
of those deluded souls who pass into eternity
clothed in their own miserable rags of self-
righteousness, and looking for salvation to their C4v 20
own corrupt works. Oh! for the time when
“He that was, and is, and is to come,” shall
shine into the benighted hearts of the ancient
people, and give them the Christ-discerning
eye and ear; and the unbelieving Jew and
nominal Christian be renewed in their souls,
to worship the Lord and his Christ, “from
the rising of the sun to the going down thereof,”
even for evermore.

The day after Isola’s interview with the
chief Rabbi, her mortal remains were deposited
in a grave close to that of Clara. When
the funeral rites had been duly observed, the
orphan babes were solemnly betrothed to
each other than on that sad spot, and in the presence
of the congregation. It was a singular
and affecting scene; congratulations and
the voice of weeping mingling together, and
seemed prophetic of the events that chequered
the destiny of the babes thus united.

At the close of autumn, the welcome news
arrived that the epidemic disease had entirely
ceased at Lissau, and the people prepared to
return. A day of thanksgiving was celebrated
in the forest, previous to their removal;
and a rude monument of wood, on which C5r 21
was carved the names, ages, and premature
fate of Isola and Clara, placed over the spot
that covered their ashes.

The entry of the Jewish exiles into Lissau
formed a striking contrast to the manner in
which they had abandoned it. Alighting
from their waggons at its entrance, they
walked, as before, in procession, with the
chief Rabbi at their head; but now they
wore their festival garments, of fine velvet
or rich silk, and sang Hosanna, bearing in
their hands the branches of palm and myrtle,
and the costly citrons recently used at the
feast of tabernacles. There was not a family
among them that had not lost one or more
of its members; and there were many widows
and orphans in the gay train; but private
grief seemed to be merged, for the moment,
in public joy, and sorrow seemed to wear its
semblance amidst the excitement of the present
scene. Rabbi Samuel, ever ready to indulge
his flock, named the first day of the approaching
new moon as a kind of jubilee, to celebrate
this memorable time of healing mercy.
It was observed by the people in the synagogue,
with every possible demonstration of joy, C5v 22
zeal, and devotion. Musical instrumentsOpen note 2Back to note ²
were admitted on this peculiar occasion, and
allowed to accompany the voices of the
singers, which gave more effect to the beautiful
national melodies. Innumerable wax
tapers, the gifts of female devotees, blazed
in all directions, and especially before the
splendid veil, embroidered by the same hands,
and used only on high festivals. The rolls
of the law, clad in their most splendid vestments,
were carried round the synagogue in
triumphal procession by chosen elders, while
the whole assembly joined in singing praises
to the Most High. At the close of the service,
and after the solemn benediction of
the priests, Rabbi Samuel requested the
people would adjourn to the vestry, where C6r 23
he distributed money and raiment to all who
needed it. He then granted to the whole
community a dispensation, for a certain period,
from several religious observances, not
considered essential, to which he added a
license, allowing the free use of cards for
one week!Open note 3Back to note ³ On announcing the latter indulgence,
the joy of the females, in particular,
became almost ungovernable; the vestry
resounded with their lively acclamations,—
that vestry in which, in after times, more than
one sorrowful scene was enacted, and where
an assembly was convened, not as now, for
purposes of charity or kindness, but to perpetrate
deeds of bigotry, unavenged indeed
on earth, but not unnoted by the Majesty of
Heaven.

Chapter III.

The betrothed orphans remained together,
under the care of Rabbi Samuel and his wife
Ella, until they had completed their third
year. Seldom had two lovelier infants been
seen, though in person and disposition entirely
dissimilar. The strongly marked, animated
features, and sparkling black eyes of
Raphael, were indicative of that spirit and
energy which afterwards characterised him,
and had already began to develope itself.
Gertrude was unusually fair and delicate,
with pale auburn hair, and soft blue eyes;
contrasting strongly with the dark and vivacious
character usual to Jewish female beauty.
In manner, she was gentle, retiring, and D1r 25
thoughtful, even to melancholy; and her
light and noiseless step, as she glided about
the house, seemed to make the wild, riotous,
bounding of Raphael more conspicuous.
Nevertheless, the children loved each other
tenderly; and almost the first tears of sorrow
Gertrude shed were when separated from
Raphael, who, after the repeated solicitations
of a near relative, presiding Rabbi at Thorn,
was sent by Rabbi Samuel to him to educate;
stipulating only, that he should return,
at the age of sixteen, to espouse his affianced
bride, according to the habits of the Polish
Jews, who encourage early marriage, though
the custom is very frequently productive of
much poverty and connubial infelicity among
them.

After the departure of Isola’s son, Ella
devoted herself, in an especial manner, to
the religious education of Gertrude; if that
could be termed religious instruction, in
which the written word of God formed no
part. Female observances, apportioned to
them by traditional law, (that intolerable
yoke!) formed the basis of Gertrude’s acquirements.
Her docile mind received Ella’s D D1v 26
lessons with submission, and the ascetic
austerities practised by her venerable grandmother
made a great impression on her feelings,
which naturally tended to superstitious
enthusiasm; and she began, at a very early
period, to evince in her conduct the effect of
Ella’s example.

As Gertrude advanced in years, her knowledge
of this description, and the practical
use she made of it, was the admiration of
all who observed her; and she was considered
a bright model of devotion, piety, and
zeal, for the young women of Lissau, who
looked up to her as a superior being, and,
influenced by her persuasions, imitated, in a
degree, the number and fervour of her supererogatory
devotional acts.

At twelve years of age, instead of sharing
in the usual recreations of her sex and youth,
Gertrude might be constantly seen among
the aged and devout matrons, sharing their
religious employments; which, however trivial
or varied, were of importance, as they
had degrees of merit attached to them, of
which they were assured of receiving the
earnest, even in this life, and the full wages D2r 27
in a blissful eternity. Reading or hearing
the sacred Scriptures formed no part of
these sanctified works, which, indeed, were
of a very different description; such as
beating out, on little wooden blocks, with
small metal hammers, the veins of clean animals,
duly killed according to Rabbinical
law, and forming them into thread, indispensable
in sewing the phylacteries, and
joining the skins used to form the rolls for
the pentateuch, and prophetical writings for
synagogue worship,—tying the mystic knots
in the worsted threads attached to the Arba,
ConfusArba
Canfus, or four cornered garment worn under
the vest, and in daily use at morning prayers
among the men,—making the Taleth, or
garment of fringes, bordered with blue, and
necessary in all public worship,—embroidering
in flowers of silk, and gold, and silver
phylactery bags, covers for the Sabbath
bread, veils for the synagogue, circumcision
mantles, and splendid robes, edged with
silver bells, for the rolls of the law,—making
shrouds for the dead, and burial robes, curiously
embroidered, to be worn by devout
Rabbins in the synagogue, at all solemn festivals.D2 D2v 28
Great importance is attached to the
voluntary performance of these acts, which
are not obligatory, as are the female observances
of ablutions, making Sabbath bread,
separating its tythe, lighting the Sabbath
lamps, with many others.

Gertrude was also frequently employed in
what were deemed minor acts of mercy; such
as attending the sick, working for the poor,
visiting the mourners, drawing water, and
carrying burdens for the aged, or lighting
memorial lamps for such as died childless.

In the long winter evenings, so severe in
that country, Gertrude used to assemble her
young companions around the stove in her
grandmother’s apartment, and while Ella and
the ancient matrons who resorted there beguiled
the time by reciting Jewish legends of
the most marvellous and romantic description,
and the still more marvellous tales of
cabalistic miracles, rivalling in their nature
the magic records of Arabian enchantments,
the maidens, as they listened, stripped, with
dexterity and speed, the down from goose-
feathers, and laid it in heaps, to fill beds, on
which a prince need not disdain to repose.

This employment, though in itself so homely
and uninviting, was also among works of
merit. The beds, thus prepared, were distributed
by Ella to such couples, on the eve
of marriage, as were in indigent circumstances,
and required her benevolent assistance;
nor was the gift a trivial one, for each
bed was accompanied by a lighter one, cased
in chintz cotton, used in that cold climate as
a coverlet; and, by the Jewish law, two beds
of each kind was rendered necessary for
every couple.

The only relaxation Gertrude allowed herself
from these perpetual rounds of religious
and benevolent observances, was on the afternoon
of the Sabbath day, when it was the
custom of the unmarried females to walk, in
a kind of procession, through Lissau into the
open country to breathe the pure air, during
the summer months. The young single men
also walked at the same time, and in the
same manner; but the sexes kept strictly
apart from each other, merely saluting as
they passed along.

These groups of Jewish maidens, arrayed
in their holiday attire, in all the gay pride of D3 D3v 30
health and beauty, were calculated to remind
the Christian spectator of the daughters of
Zion, alluded to by the prophet Isaiah, Chap.
iii. The resemblance between the ancient
and modern Jewesses was but too striking;
there was the same love of splendid array,
and the same ignorance of divine truth.

These modern daughters of Israel were attired
in boddices and skirts of silk or velvet,
edged at the throat with costly lace, or curious
embroidery in gold and silver flowers.
Their silken ringlets, for which the Polish
Jews are remarkable, were confined at the
back of the head, in the oriental fashion, by
a bodkin of pearls or jewels, fastened by a
gold Maltese chain of expensive workmanship.
But the most singular part of their
ornaments was the girdle and neck-chain:
these were composed of gold ducats, bent
over broad ribbon, and forming a part of
their wedding portion. The number and
value of these coins was a constant source of
rivalry among them, as were also the lemon
and sprig of myrtle which they carried in
their hands; expensive articles in that cold
climate,—to obtain them large, handsome, D4r 31
and fresh, was an important affair to the
Jewish bellies of Lissau.

The constitutional sadness of Gertrude
would often display itself, even during walks
avowedly taken for what is termed pleasure.
She possessed almost unbounded influence
over the hearts and minds of her young companions;
and it was her delight to employ it
in inculcating lessons of Jewish piety, moral
virtue, and the perishing nature of all mere
earthly enjoyments. She would also paint,
in vivid colours, the paradise reserved for
those of the true faith,—but alas! Gertrude
herself knew it not; the veil of Moses was
on her heart,—the truth was hid from her
eyes. Oh Thou who art “the Truth, the
Way, and the Life,” the ancient people perish
for lack of knowledge! Arise, Shepherd
of Israel, Thou that dwellest between the cherubims,
shine forth; take unto thee thy great
power, and reign in the hearts of the preserved
of Israel for ever and ever!

There lay, in their walks, two spots to
which Gertrude loved to allure her companions,
when they were disposed to listen to
her addresses; one was a Roman Catholic D4v 32
convent of monks: there she would speak off
the Nazarene heresy, of which she only knew
what the Jewish matrons had taught her,
but that, like them, she cordially hated.
The other was the vast burial ground of her
nation. The children’s graves in this place
were pointed out by wooden cradles placed
on them, instead of monuments; and the vast
number of them seemed to give additional
weight to the words of Gertrude, as she
dwelt on the certainty of death; his indiscriminate
ravages among all ages and both
sexes; and the consequent necessity of ensuring
salvation, by the number of meritorious
works, enjoined by the Rabbins as powerful
auxiliaries, with the mercy of God, in obtaining
it. These lectures, delivered with
fervour and sincerity, frequently so much
affected her auditors, that many, who had
left home full of giddy levity, returned thither
sad, abstracted, and eager to soften, in
religious observances, the feelings so painfully
excited.

Such was Gertrude, when Raphael returned
to Lissau, to fulfil the marriage-contract.
Rabbi Samuel had originally destined D5r 33
him to be educated as his own successor over
the congregation at Lissau, but the necessary
studies were intolerably irksome to Raphael,
and in consequence had long been abandoned
by the indulgent Rabbi. As some profession,
was, however, necessary, the boy
had been placed, at his own request, with
an opulent Jewish trader, (who regularly attended
the great annual fairs of Leipsig and
Frankfort with valuable furs, jewellery and
other costly merchandise), that he might acquire
the Jewish mode of traffic among the
Gentiles.

Raphael had passed the previous three
years with this merchant, and, during the
last twelve months, had accompanied him
in his journies; acquitting himself so satisfactorily,
that he was dismissed with a liberal
present.

Three months from the return of Raphael
was the period fixed for his marriage. Happily,
the young pair felt no objection to complete
the contract made for them in infancy,
as is frequently the case. It was, however,
observed, that Raphael, though he committed
no flagrant breach of his religious D5v 34
duties yet evinced no great zeal or animation
in their performance. He even ventured
to betray impatience, when some of the aged
devotees pressed on him their advice, or attempted
to instruct him in various superstitious
observances, relative to his approaching
marriage; and, more than once, though with
a smiling air, between jest and earnest,
he rallied Gertrude on her devout habits,
and excessive solicitude to obey the most
minute and trivial ceremonials of Jewish
tradition. This light turn of mind was, of
course, unpleasant to the friends of Gertrude;
but as it had been settled that the
young couple were to reside with Rabbi
Samuel, that Gertrude might be under his
protection during the frequent journies of
her husband, it was hoped he would benefit
by the godly example of the Rabbi
and his wife. Gertrude herself was far
from satisfied with Raphael’s religious
views; but, with the rest, she felt willing
to hope that he might, in time, be won
to think more correctly on these important
matters, under the daily influence of the
devotion he would be surrounded by. We D6r 35
easily hope and believe what we earnestly
desire; and Gertrude had not the slightest
suspicion that the man to whom she was
about to be united was indifferent to the
legendary part of Judaism,—but such was
the fact. The first faint spark of divine
light and truth had actually fallen on his
heart, and beamed on his mind, though the
unconscious object of sovereign grace and
love as yet discerned it not.

During the last twelve months, his employer
had been detained, by temporary indisposition,
at a large town in Germany, in
the course of which time he deputed Raphael
to wait, in his stead, on an English family
travelling for health, and who were desirous
of purchasing some valuable furs. Pending
the negotiation, Raphael attended this family
frequently; and a young lady who accompanied
them entered, more than once, into
conversation with the young Jew on religious
subjects. She found him in a state of careless
indifference as to Jewish ceremonies, or,
indeed, spiritual knowledge of any description,
but nevertheless tolerably well acquainted
with the Old Testament, which he had D6v 3536
read both in Hebrew and German. What
method she took to instruct him was never
known; but, after events proved, beyond a
doubt, that at this period, and by the instrumentality
of this christian female, the first
germ of precious seed, destined to bring forth
fruit unto eternal life, was cast into his heart,
and fastened there, as “a nail in a sure
place.” When they parted, she gave him a
German Bible, containing also the New Testament.
In its fly-leaf, he afterwards wrote
these particulars, among others, but, at the
time, put it up without a perusal; nor was it
opened by him until some time after he became
the husband of Gertrude.

Chapter IV.

Gertrude was carefully instructed by
her fond grandmother in the manifold religious
duties of a Jewish wife; and Ella severed,
with her own hands, the clustering
ringlets of her hair, and taught her to arrange
the somewhat singular coif, then worn
by Jewish matrons in Poland.

Rabbi Samuel paid, in advance, a liberal
portion with Gertrude, in addition to her valuable
girdle and neck-chain, that Raphael
might commence his mercantile pursuits
with every prospect of ultimate success;
though he ceased not to regret that the son
of Isola would never rise to the dignity of a E E1v 38
learned Rabbi. In these sentiments both
Ella and the bride largely shared.

At length the day of their espousals arrived.
Great preparations had been made
to celebrate it with splendour. The numerous
guests vied with each other in the value
of their nuptial gifts, to a young pair so
nearly related to their chief Rabbi, and no
less interesting as the son and daughter of
Isola and Clara. The sun of that bridal
morn seemed to rise with more than usual
brilliancy; but what so fleeting and mutable
as human bliss? Alas! that sun set amidst
a scene of mourning, lamentation, and woe.

The nuptial feast was prepared, and intended
to be kept at the house of Rabbi Samuel,
which was close to the synagogue;
but the benediction was appointed to be
given in the vestry of the synagogue, where
the wedding canopy was set up, and thither
the bridal procession moved, preceded by
music, as is customary, and followed by the
usual hired attendants.Open note 4Back to note ⁴

Ella appeared to be more than usually
agitated, and became exceeding pale, as she
assisted to adjust the bridal veil on the head
of Gertrude. She cast a wild and eager
glance round the vestry, and her bosom
seemed to labour with feelings too mighty
for utterance; but her evident emotion,
though it excited sympathy, caused little
surprise, as it was attributed by all present
to her recollection of the time when, in the
same spot, she had performed the like affecting
duty for her only and beloved departed
daughter.

From whatsoever source the anguish of
Ella arose, she explained it not, either by
word or gesture; but, rousing herself by a
strong internal effort, with assumed composure
she led Gertrude beneath the nuptial
canopy. During the ceremony, she stood
in a fixed attitude, and her lips were observed
to move in secret prayer; but at the
close, when in the act of embracing the
young bride, and in the midst of the lively
congratulations of surrounding friends, she
gave one piercing cry, and fell a corpse at
Gertrude’s feet!

The consternation, the grief, that followed
this catastrophe is too affecting for description.
By a peculiar and striking dispensation
of Providence, death seemed destined
to mingle in the leading events of the
lives of this youthful pair. They were born
amidst scenes of calamity and death;—they
were betrothed to each other at the close of
a funeral, and in the view of newly filled
graves, the graves of their mothers;—and
now, their very bridal procession, which had
set forward with music, joy, and gladness,
returned silent, with rent garments, in the
train of the dead!

This mournful event fell heavily on the
aged Rabbi Samuel. Nevertheless, his
wonted resignation and fortitude did not
wholly forsake him; and he generously restrained
his own anguish, that he might
soothe the passionate sorrow of Gertrude,
and the more quiet, but not less deep, grief
of Raphael.

When the thirty days of mourning were
over, and something like composure was restored
to the habitation of Rabbi Samuel,
those around him perceived how deeply his E3r 41
spirit had been wounded by the late bereavement.
His first public act was to assemble
his congregation in the synagogue, resign
his office of presiding Rabbi, and announce
to them that he had made a solemn vow to
close his earthly pilgrimage at Jerusalem!
The tears and entreaties of his beloved grandchildren,
and the supplications of his flock,
though they rent his heart, were unavailing;
he wept with them, but remained inflexibly
fixed to his purpose.

Preparatory to his departure, the good
Rabbi divided his property in three parts.
The largest portion he compelled Raphael to
receive. The next in value he bestowed,
with his own hands, among the poor; and
the third, and least part, he reserved for his
journey to, and maintenance in, the holy
city.

The Rabbi bestowed his parting benediction
on his family and the people in the vestry
of the synagogue. There he had tasted
the latest and bitterest sorrow of his chequered
existence, for there he had seen the
wife of his bosom suddenly snatched from
him, without warning, or the least mitigatingE3 E3v 42
circumstance.Open note 5Back to note ⁵ His valedictory address
on that affecting spot, was peculiarly solemn
and touching. From thence, he proceeded
on his journey, refusing to enter again that
habitation he now abandoned for ever. He
was accompanied by twelve aged men, who
had determined to cast in their lot with
their venerated chief Rabbi, and proceed
with him to Jerusalem; a resolution not uncommon
among bigoted foreign Jews of that
period. A mistaken devotion alone could
thus influence them. The holy city, in its
present state of division and desolation, presented
no temporal allurements. It could
not even promise the pilgrims personal security.
The native Jews were in a state of miserable E4r 43
degradation, and strangers seldom
lived long in that desolate spot. Nevertheless,
these disadvantages, though well-known,
seemed to act rather as a stimulus than otherwise,
on the Rabbi and his companions; so
powerful is enthusiasm, either political or
religious, when suffered to gain an ascendancy
over the human mind.

The principal part of the people, foremost
among whom was Raphael, conducted the
pilgrims to the outskirts of Lissau; and the
final farewell was given and received, on both
sides, with tears of unaffected sorrow.

During this scene, Gertrude, dismissing
her female friends, remained alone in the
vestry, to offer, with a bursting heart, fervent
supplications for the beloved parent her
eyes had rested on for the last time. Bitter
were the tears she shed on that melancholy
spot; yet, sad as were the dispensations she
bewailed, they were as nothing, when compared
with the trial that awaited her there
at no very distant period. The future, however,
was in mercy veiled from her in profound
darkness. Having closed her devotions,
she quitted the vestry more composed, E4v 44
and returned home to await the arrival of
her husband.

Rabbi Jonathan of Warsaw was chosen by
the congregation to succeed the mild and
tolerant Rabbi Samuel at Lissau. In many
respects, the Rabbi, then about forty years
of age, was the very reverse of his amiable
predecessor. Gloomy, bigoted, devoted, in
a peculiar manner, to Talmudic learning and
traditions, and perfectly sincere in his austere
and intolerant conceptions of Judaism, his
very sincerity only tended to shut him up,
more strictly, in his erroneous views of divine
truth; and his multiplied rigorous religious
observances were productive of Pharisaic-
pride and creature-righteousness.

This deluded self-justifier commenced the
exercise of his authority, as presiding Rabbi,
by repealing the indulgences granted to the
people by Rabbi Samuel, and which chiefly
referred to voluntary observances. He then
convened a meeting of the elders and heads
of families, male and female, in the vestry of
the synagogue, and delivered to them a long
and impressive exhortation on the laxity of
religion observable among them; not, indeed, E5r 45
as he freely admitted, in a moral point of
view, but as it regarded ceremonial observances;
many failures in which he pointed
out, making severe remarks on the ultimate
consequences of such derelictions. He concluded
by beseeching them to return to their
duty, and to become strenuous adherents to
the pure and holy law, and the sacred traditions
of the fathers, without which, he assured
them, they could neither hope to receive
temporal blessings, nor attain final salvation!

The next step of the indefatigable Rabbi
was to pay domiciliary visits to every family
of his numerous flock; examine into and
reform their manner of performing their religious
domestic duties, and admonish them
individually and collectively; vehemently exhorting
them to the voluntary observance of
long fasts, and other painful acts of will
worship and supererogatory merit.

Above all other subjects, however, the
watchful eye of the Rabbi was directed to
the detection and suppression of the slightest
symptom among the people, not only of bias
to, but even toleration of, Christianity in E5v 46
their opinions. Never, perhaps, had our
adorable Lord a more inveterate enemy than
Rabbi Jonathan of Warsaw. So far did he
carry his hatred of, and strong opposition to,
the truth as it is in Jesus, that he had, for
many years, set apart a day in every month,
on which he observed a rigid fast, and offered
a prayer, composed by himself for the express
occasion, supplicating the Majesty of
Heaven to sweep away, with the besom of destruction,
and exterminate from the face of the
earth, the defiled Nazarenes. And this he did
in sincerity, and believed it to be an acceptable
service! Like the arch enemy of souls, and the
blind Pharisees of all ages, and every denomination,
he revolted, in the pride and ignorance
of his unrenewed heart, from the bare idea of
worshipping one who came, meek and lowly,
to serve and to suffer, veiling His ineffable
glory in flesh,Open note 6Back to note ⁶ and wearing the garb of humiliation E6r 47
for the transgressions, original and
actual, of His chosen ones; to restore and
redeem them by his law-fulfilling life, and
sin-atoning death. It was not given to the
self-righteous and proud in heart to penetrate
this glorious mystery, and discern the Lord
of life in Him who came to lay it down that
his people might live. They looked for a
Messiah according to their own haughty
imaginations, expecting him to be arrayed
in that gorgeous splendour on which alone E6v 48
they placed any value; and disregarding, or
rather not comprehending, the predictions of
the fathers and prophets, they knew not Him
who is “the glory of the Father,” and “His
express image, full of grace and truth,” in
the form of a servant. And so it is, even to
this day, and will be to the end of time.
These things are hid from their eyes. Nay,
there are many, even among the followers of
the Lamb, who love to hear of an exalted
Redeemer, mighty to save, and reigning in
majesty and glory, but are offended if much
be said of the man Christ Jesus. Nevertheless,
what He was, and is, as the man, is of
vast importance before Jehovah, and therefore
cannot be less so to His people. Christian
reader, pursue this deeply interesting
subject, it is a profitable one. May the
Holy Spirit of promise, whose gracious office
it is to testify of Jesus, lead His believing
and beloved ones more and more into “the
truth as it is in Him,” and thus establish and
build them up in their most holy faith!

How necessary is this to the Gentile Christian
who would preach Jesus to the ancient
people. May it be given to them from on
high. Amen!

Chapter V.

The house close to the synagogue, inhabited
by Rabbi Samuel, was attached to his
office as presiding Rabbi. At his departure,
therefore, his family removed from it, to
make way for his successor; and as their
new abode was situated at the farthest extremity
of the Jewish quarter, it was among
the last visited by Rabbi Jonathan in his
pastoral capacity. He was pleased to express
his approbation of Gertrude’s religious
observances in the most flattering terms, and
exhorted her to persevere in acts that could
not fail, he averred, to render her eminent on
earth, and would also ensure her final admissionF F1v 50
to the realms of eternal glory. With
her husband, however, he was not so well
pleased. His quick eye discerned certain irregularities,
which, though in themselves very
trivial, were not so in the severe judgement of
Rabbi Jonathan, who considered the slightest
omission as tending to serious consequences.
In the present case, Raphael’s
Tephilin, or phylacteries, were neither wound
up aright, nor placed properly in their silken
receptacle. The worsted fringes attached to
his Arba Canfus, or four-cornered garment,
was not in due order, for some of its mystic
knots were actually deranged and entangled,
—a proof, viewed in the most favourable
light, that the wearer was careless, and not
properly attentive to his religious duties.
But, above all the rest, there was not a Mezuzah
Open note 7Back to note ⁷ over, or on, the door-post of his store-
room! Rabbi Jonathan pointed out these F2r 51
failures, and commented on them with sharpness,
as indicative of indifference, very unbecoming
the head of a Jewish household, and
tending to lead him to the commission of
sins that would endanger his final salvation.

After this lecture, delivered with angry
earnestness, the Rabbi, understanding that
Raphael was in possession of a license, allowing
him to kill poultry, a privilege of great
importance to a Jewish traveller, (who, otherwise,
would frequently be much incommoded
for want of animal food during long journies)
demanded to see his license and Chalaf,
or slaughtering knife.

As it was necessary that the license should
be countersigned by the present chief Rabbi,
Raphael, though greatly disgusted by his arrogant
manner, immediately produced this
important document, and, respectfully placing
his Chalaf in the Rabbi’s hands, awaited,
in silence, the result of his examination.

The knife used in slaying animals for
Jewish food is not only manufactured of the
best metal, but so exquisitely tempered, that
the nicest tact is required to keep it in good
order, on which peculiar stress is laid, as the F2 F2v 52
death wound must be given at once, the operator
not being allowed to repeat his stroke.
A notch, small as the fine dust of the balance,
is sufficient to disqualify; and many who
can obtain a license for poultry are yet unable
to extend the privilege to cattle. These
rules are arbitrary, and in all places rigidly
enforced. The Rabbins who grant these
licenses acquire, by experience, a delicacy of
touch that will detect the most minute defect
on the edge of the Chalaf; and no indulgence
is ever granted to the defaulter; who,
however, may have a fresh license, if, on reexamination,
his knife be found in the order
required.

Gertrude, who had been much grieved at
the previous reproof given to her husband,
though she thought it a deserved one, watched,
in breathless anxiety, the Rabbi’s examination
of the Chalaf. Her suspence was
soon and unpleasantly terminated. The
Rabbi, after a very minute inspection of the
knife, returned it to Raphael with a clouded
brow; and his next act was, deliberately
tearing in pieces the license signed by his
predecessor.

“Learn to prepare your Chalaf properly,
Sir, before you presume to use it,” said he,
contemptuously; “and when you have done
so, and are really competent for the office
you have undertaken, bring the knife to me,
that I may decide whether your license shall
be renewed.”

The haughty reprover then walked proudly
from the house, forgetting, in his displeasure,
the courtesy due to the unoffending
Gertrude.

How minute, and apparently trivial, are
many incidents which, in the hand of Omnipotence,
subserve important ends! The
seemingly trifling dispute respecting the
tempered edge of a knife, merely intended
to be used in extinguishing the life of a fowl,
(which the Rabbins, not the Scriptures, have
made a religious rite,) had, nevertheless, a
powerful and decisive influence on the destiny
of this high-spirited young Jew; and
formed an important link in the chain of his
spiritual experience!

Completely disgusted by the overbearing
conduct Rabbi Jonathan had displayed towards
him, Raphael firmly resisted the earnestF3 F3v 54
intreaties of his wife to reset the Chalaf,
and present it once more for examination,.
Locking it up in his travelling case, he declared
his determination to procure a fresh
license of the presiding Rabbi of the first
community among whom he halted, during
his next journey; and this in defiance of the
haughty interdict of Rabbi Jonathan.

Gertrude was unable to effect any alteration
in her husband’s resolution; nor was
she more successful when she besought him
to attend, in future, more diligently to the
other omissions which had so much annoyed
the chief Rabbi. She therefore desisted, for
the present, and redoubled her own austere
observances, in order, in some slight measure
to atone for Raphael’s deficiencies; and, in
the native kindness and simplicity of her
gentle spirit, ventured to hope time, her
prayers and example, might win back and
reform one whose conduct, in every other
respect, was truly unexceptional.

The period of Raphael’s departure at
length arrived; it was indeed a time of trial
for Gertrude. The journey would occupy
four long months; and, ere they could hope F4r 55
to meet again, the endearing ties, and important
cares of maternity, would be added
to her other duties. She saw him depart,
therefore, with melancholy forebodings,
streaming eyes, and an aching heart; nor
was Raphael less moved, though he endeavoured
to conceal his emotion, and might,
perhaps, have succeeded, had not his tears
dropped on her pale cheek, as he tenderly
folded her to his bosom, and, with assumed
gaiety, bade her farewell.

When the lapse of a few days had restored
Gertrude to somewhat of her wonted composure,
and she began to resume her accustomed
domestic duties, how greatly was she
dismayed on discovering that her husband
had actually left his phylacteries behind
him,—an omission, in her opinion, of the
most inauspicious description. To avert the
evil omen it indicated, Gertrude kept a solemn
fast, and dispatched a special messenger
after her husband with the phylacteries,
and a letter containing a gentle, but earnest
admonition, on the extreme carelessness displayed
in an omission of such vital importance.

The journey of Raphael was extremely
prosperous, and greatly accelerated the period
of his return to Lissau. He was, however,
detained nearly a fortnight at a lone
inn on the frontier of Poland, by an indisposition
resulting from a severe cold, and which
made rest indispensable to his recovery.

To beguile the tedious hours of necessary,
but irksome, cessation from his usual active
pursuits, Raphael had recourse to the English
lady’s gift, which he had brought with
him. On carefully perusing it, he soon became
deeply interested. The conduct of
Rabbi Jonathan induced him at first to
search the sacred pages for the laws respecting
slaying animals for food. He had, it is
true, read the Old Testament before, but
might have overlooked it. On a minute perusal
of the Pentateuch, unincumbered by
the heavy and contradictory commentaries
used by the Jews, Raphael clearly perceived
that traditionary law, and that of the Most
High, were separate and distinct; nor could
he discern any basis, in the Scripture, on
which to rest the origin of the many ceremonial F5r 57
observances, asserted, by the Rabbins,
to be essential to salvation.

From this dry and wearisome search, Raphael
next proceeded to examine the New
Testament. At first, however, such is the
force of early associations and national prejudices,
he opened the hallowed book, or
chart of our better inheritance, with timidity
and caution, and actually felt as though he
were guilty of a criminal act! The name of
Jesus, too, revolted his very heart, until he
became a little familiarised to the so long despised
sound. Soon, however, were these
natural feelings, and all the faculties of his
mind, absorbed in the divinely inspired recital
of the life, miracles, sayings, and sufferings,
of our adorable Lord. Judaism, and
all the train of superstitious ceremonies by
which the Rabbins have made the originally
heavy yoke almost unbearable, vanished from
his mind, while contemplating the record of
Jesus. Many things he did not as yet comprehend,
but, nevertheless, received them as
truth, without the least hesitation. He quitted
the memorable inn, to proceed on his
journey homewards, with valuable, though F5v 58
confused views, of divine truth, and a mind
freed, at once and for ever, from the galling
shackles of Rabbinical traditions, and their
consequent Pharisaic performances.

From the day that Raphael, unquestionably
under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, discerned,
though as yet but imperfectly, the “more
excellent way,” his heart yearned after Christian
instruction,—yet how could he obtain it?
His beloved wife was so bigoted, and devoted
to Judaism, that he dared not confide his
views to her; nor could he venture to breathe
a hint to any one at Lissau, that chief seat
of Rabbinical dogmans; vying with those who
crucified the Lord Jesus at Jerusalem, in
open detestation of the hated Nazarene.
After much deliberation, he at length resolved
to conceal, for the present, the important
change in his sentiments, and watch
an opportunity to gain further instruction,
after which he must be guided by circumstances;
though already, he secretly determined
to make arrangements for quitting
Lissau for ever, feeling assured he could
never hope to reside there in safety. The
only obstacle to his plans was Gertrude; and F6r 59
oh! how fervently did he pray that, at some
future period, the same divine power that
had opened his benighted eyes, and shone
on his dark mind, might also illumine one so
dear to him. Hope sprung up in his bosom
at the bare idea; and, with a heart palpitating
with many contrasted emotions, he
reached the end of his journey—Lissau.

Chapter VI.

While changes of such vital importance
were taking place in the mind and heart of
her husband, Gertrude was surrounded by
emblems displaying the very height of Jewish,
or rather Rabbinical superstition. The
amiable bigot had, under the direct instructions
of Rabbi Jonathan, who held her
in much estimation, caused her bed-chamber
to be prepared according to legendary
custom, previous to her approaching confinement.
Among many other prescribed rites
and superstitious ceremonies, too numerous
for description, circles were drawn with chalk
around Gertrude’s bed, on the walls of her G1r 61
chamber, externally and internally, and also
on every wall and door of her habitation;
and, at certain distances, were inscribed, in
large Hebrew characters, the following mystic
words: “Adam, Eve, begone Lilisa!”Open note 8Back to note ⁸

The mind of Gertrude was so deeply imbued
with implicit confidence in the powerful
effect of these ceremonial observances,
and their auspicious influence, that the absence
of her husband, at a period so interesting, G2r 63
was scarcely felt by her; and when
the important crisis arrived, a poor, but devout
Rabbi, supplied his place, and repaired,
as his deputy, to the synagogue, to repeat
Psalms xx, xxxvii, xci, cii, to which is added
a prayer for an happy issue. At length, the
numerous attendants of Gertrude hailed her
as the happy mother of a male infant. The G2 G2v 64
customary rites and rejoicings were duly observed;
and Gertrude needed only the presence
of her husband to complete her joy, and
render her days those of pure and unalloyed
felicity. Alas! she dreamed not that one
faith no longer united them, nor that this
delightful period of joyous anticipations
would be fleeting as a summer cloud, and
the last she was destined to experience.

His infant son was nine weeks old when
Raphael returned to Lissau. At first, the G3r 65
new and endearing feelings of paternal tenderness
for his first born penetrated his
heart, and gave him the semblance of happiness;
and the young mother, in the society
of her husband and child, seemed to have no
wish left ungratified. This scene of domestic
happiness, however, was transient as the
bright dew of morning. The eye of affection
is penetrating, and Gertrude soon discovered
an unaccountable change in the
manners of her husband. He was no longer
lively, active, and enterprising, as heretofore;
but gloomy, abstracted, and sad. Alarmed
by an alteration for which no visible cause
existed, she eagerly sought his confidence,
but in vain. Raphael did not attempt to
deny that he was not happy, but obstinately
refused to assign any reason for the sorrow
that so evidently preyed on his spirits. From
this time he sought solitude, and frequently
absented himself from home, without giving
his wife any clue to guess where or to whom
he resorted.

Once, when in conversation with her husband
on this subject, Gertrude ventured
gently to hint to him her belief that, to G3 G3v 66
whatever source his unaccountable melancholy
was owing, religion offered the only
true alleviation, and earnestly advised him
to have immediate recourse to those religious
observances he had so fearfully neglected;
adding her firm persuasion, arising from personal
experience, of their efficacy in healing
a wounded spirit. She concluded, by delicately
expressing her regret that the beloved
of her heart had held, so lightly, the pious
ordinances of sage and eminent Rabbins,
who were privileged to understand dark
sayings, and interpret the otherwise mysterious
commands of the Most High, to the
congregations of the faithful.Open note 9Back to note ⁹ Raphael
listened atentively to the affectionate, though
mistaken, pleader, and his heart was overwhelmed
with anguish as she proceeded.
He sorrowed not so much for himself, however,
as from the conviction he felt that Gertrude
was too deeply devoted to Judaism, to
allow of a hope that she would listen, for an G4r 67
instant, to any attempt he might make to
convince her of the fallacy of her religious
views. He loved her deeply, devotedly; his
heart also yearned over his child. To avow
his sentiments would be to pronounce a final
separation between himself and the objects
so dear; for he must, in that case, fly from
Lissau for ever, and Gertrude would doubtless
seek, by the laws of divorce, to sever
her fate from that of an excommunicated
apostate. His views of divine truth were
also, as yet, weak and immatured; and he
had not ventured to seek Christian instruction
while at Lissau, being well aware of the
unceasing vigilance of the elders; besides
which, Rabbi Jonathan had, since his return,
been heard to comment, more than
once, very severely, on his want of zeal in
all matters connected with the Jewish faith,
except alms giving. Raphael therefore resolved
to conceal his real feelings for the
present, and obtain, during his next journey,
if possible, introduction to a Christian divine,
whose advice might guide him, equally
in temporal and spiritual matters, and decide
his future proceedings. He replied, in consequence G4v 68
of this inward resolve, vaguely,
but tenderly, to the arguments of his wife;
carefully guarding, however, from making
any promise respecting religious observances;
but from that time he was more circumspect
in his conduct, and ceased his solitary wanderings
in the neighbouring forest, whither
he had resorted, to pray to the Lord for his
gracious guidance, amidst the trying path
of difficulty in which he was involved,
and among the perils by which he was surrounded.

The time again drew near for Raphael to
commence his journey; and he was busied
in the usual preparations for it, when letters
from Jerusalem announced the demise of
Rabbi Samuel. Gertrude felt the event
deeply, but to Raphael it was almost good
tidings! He had a son’s affection for the
amiable Rabbi; and the idea of the pain he
should inflict on him, by his conversion, had
weighed heavily on his heart. His death
therefore, was a relief to a spirit already
sinking beneath the pressure of conflicting
feelings; and, as yet but slightly acquainted
with the mighty consolation that sustains the G5r 69
believer in Jesus in the heaviest trials, and
makes him more than conqueror, in, by, and
through, the God of his salvation.

As Rabbi Samuel died in the odour of
sanctity, the Rabbi and congregation at Lissau
paid the customary honours to his memory.
His name was inserted in the list of
departed holy men who are publicly prayed
for at the solemn festivals,—a species of
Jewish canonization; and though his sepulchre
was in the holy city, Rabbi Jonathan,
waving the exception, pronounced the
usual oration, causing Gertrude to kindle
a memorial lamp in honour of her departed
grandfather. He also assembled the elders
of the synagogue, and proceeded with them
to the Jewish burial ground, where he
pronounced the following prayer for his predecessor,
alleging, as a reason, the secret
manner in which the oppressed Jews, residing
in the holy city, are compelled to inter
their brethren by night, and the consequent
omission of the customary honours due to
the departed.

Raphael could not avoid being present
at these proceedings, but his heart
revolted from them; and he quitted Lissau,
strengthened in his determination to cast off
for ever the trammels of Judaism, and avow
his true sentiments, at the very first favourable
opportunity. Meantime, as he journeyed,
his bible was his constant companion, G6v 72
and he daily and earnestly meditated
on its sacred contents, finding, in the
hallowed employ, a growing detachment
from earthly ties, and a consoling balm
for his hitherto wounded spirit. And such
must be the result, when the soul is divinely
influenced to seek Him who is the Truth,
the Way, and the Life. For never yet
was the weakest or lowest creature disappointed,
who sincerely sought the gracious
Saviour and Friend to poor sinners. No;
the blessed Jesus waits to be gracious;
His heart compassionately yearns over the
wretched and the outcast. He may, indeed,
like Joseph, refrain himself, for a
time, and appear to answer roughly, in
His providential dispensations; but Oh!
tried believer, though the answer of peace
seem to tarry, wait patiently for it. The
Lord Jesus is faithful; he cannot deny
himself. None who trust in Him shall
ever be forsaken, ashamed, or confounded.

Chapter VII.

While Raphael proceeded on his journey,
and employed his time in the profitable
manner already detailed, the Jews at Lissau
were the subjects of an afflictive dispensation,
though not an unusual one in that
place. A fire broke out in the Jewish quarter;
and, owing to the houses being constructed
chiefly of wood, spread with such fearful
rapidity, that three parts of it were speedily
reduced to ashes. Ere its terrific progress
could be effectually arrested, many
lives were lost, in consequence of the fire
having commenced at midnight; nor were
any of the survivors able to save any part H H1v 74
of their property from the flames. The synagogue,
and several houses in its immediate
vicinity, belonging to the most wealthy
among them, escaped the devouring element
as by miracle. By many devout Jews,
this was firmly attributed to the influence of
a curious cabalistic talisman, in the possession
of Rabbi Jonathan, conferring power to
command the angels who preside over the
element of fire. To this spot the survivors
were invited and received, until some temporary
abodes could be prepared. Meantime,
Rabbi Jonathan and the elders distributed
liberally, to all who needed such aid as the
contents of the synagogue alms’ chest allowed
of; and this in the most delicate manner,
according to the law of alms giving, to
which is attached so much merit, if duly
observed.Open note 10Back to note ¹⁰

There were, however, some cases beyond
the reach of human assistance. Time alone
could dry the tears, and heal the wounds of
the widows and orphans, this awful visitation
had caused to bleed and flow.

Among many affecting bereavements, that
of Gertrude excited universal sympathy.
She indeed had been with difficulty snatched
from the raging flames, but not till she had H2 H2v 76
seen her son—her first born, a victim to
them. In the agony of that fearful moment,
an agony a mother’s heart alone can conceive
of, her senses departed her, and she
must speedily have shared the fate of her
babe, had not a generous neighbour saved
her life at the peril of his own. The anguish
of the bereaved young mother seemed to
shake the vital springs of her existence, and H3r 77
threatened, for a time, to render this noble
effort on her behalf unavailing.

The bones of those who had thus awfully
perished were gathered with pious care, and
buried with unusual solemnity; and it was
an affecting scene, when, after the sad ceremony,
Rabbi Jonathan, who scrupulously observed
the most minute rite of Rabbinical
law, conducted the comforters, in their accustomed
duties, to the mourners,Open note 11Back to note ¹¹ at the H3 H3v 78
side of the graves they had just closed.
After the funeral rites had been thus solemnly
concluded, the mourners returned to
sit seven days on the ground. The vestry
of the synagogue was appropriated to that
purpose, as it had heretofore been in the H4r 79
time of the plague. Then, the homes of the
mourners were shunned as infectious: now,
those homes were destroyed, and they were
houseless. Rabbi Jonathan hesitated not to
comment on these calamities; and declared
his firm persuasion that the congregation
had an Achan among them, for whose concealed
sin they were thus heavily visited by
divine indignation; and he earnestly exhorted
them to search for, and put away from
among them, the guilty leaven.

How exquisitely poignant was the sorrow
of Gertrude, as, with rent garments, she took
her seat among the mourners. Could she
however, have discerned future events, her
bitter tears would have been changed to
songs of thanksgiving, for the early dismissal
of her lamented babe. And before the anniversary
of its death, she actually did rejoice
that she was childless!

Letters, communicating the melancholy
intelligence of the fire at Lissau, and his
own personal participation in the calamity,
reached Raphael soon after his arrival at the
place of his destination. The first and natural
feeling of his heart was to lament over H4v 80
the memory of his child, torn from him by a
death so terrific. But when cool reflection
succeeded to the first ebullition of paternal
tenderness, he rejoiced in spirit that a powerful
tie, and which might have been an obstacle
to his future designs, was removed.
His pecuniary loss by the fire was heavy, as
the stores consumed were very valuable; but,
in the present state of his feelings, it weighed
not with him. The light of the Gospel was
shining more clearly into his soul; in comparison
with which, temporal affairs were,
in his view, as the small dust of the balance.

The present journey of Raphael was not
a prosperous one, and he prepared to return
to Lissau with a quantity of unsold merchandise.
Neither had he succeeded in obtaining
a Christian confidant. The neighbourhood
of many Jews from Lissau required circumspection
on his part, till he had decided on
his future plans. Had he not been a husband,
he would at once have proceeded to
Amsterdam or England; but he felt it to be
his duty to see Gertrude once again, and, at
all risks, make known to her the complete H5r 81
revolution that had taken place in his religious
sentiments.

In thus deciding, Raphael, young in experience,
and a babe in spiritual knowledge,
discerned not that his path was an appointed
one, and that, in following what he supposed
to be the dictates of his own deliberate
judgment, he was, in reality, moving on to
fulfil the unerring, though mysterious plan,
of sovereign grace concerning him!

“‘It is not in man that walketh to direct
his steps,’” said the inspired prophet, himself
a type of Him who was to come; the Holy
One of Israel, the Saviour. If it be so, and
the Scriptures of truth declare it, how shall
those who profess to know and love the
Lord to be justified, when they venture to make
the accomplishment of the divine will contingent
on the choice and will of mutable
dust and ashes? Of all the wiles of Satan,
transformed as an angel of light, and mingling
with those who call themselves by the
hallowed name of Christian believers, there
is not a more dangerous, Christ-dishonouring
one, than that of making the accomplishment
of man’s salvation depend on the will H5v 82
of man. Oh, may the time speedily arrive
when this deadly error, so prevalent, because
so very acceptable to human and carnal pride,
be unveiled and rejected with the abhorrence
it merits. Christian reader, pardon this digression;
we live in perilous times—errors
multiply around us. Should we not bear
testimony against them?

As Raphael proceeded leisurely on his
journey homeward, he encountered a brother
of the Roman Catholic convent in the suburbs
of Lissau, near which Gertrude, in her
maiden days, had often exhorted her young
companions, during their Sabbath afternoon
excursions. Father Adrian was known to
Raphael, from having, more than once, applied
to him to supply the superior of the
convent with various articles of merchandise.
He therefore did not hesitate to accept a seat
in the light travelling waggon of Raphael,
to complete a journey he had hitherto performed
on foot, with great fatigue. Nor was
Raphael in any peril from the humane offer,
as he had dispatched his servant two days
before, to apprize his wife of his return.
Unconscious of the errors and corruption of H6r 83
the church of Rome, or, indeed, that there
existed any divisions among Christians, and
anxious to relieve his mind, by disclosing its
long pent-up feelings, Raphael hailed his
meeting with Father Adrian as a special interposition
of divine providence in his favour,
and hastened to open his heart, unreservedly,
respecting the complete change his religious
views had undergone, and his ardent desire
to abjure the errors of Judaism, and receive
Christian instruction and baptism. At the
same time, he detailed his anxiety respecting
Gertrude,—the necessity of entering Lissau
once more, to arrange his affairs finally,—
and the extreme danger of avowing his intentions,
until he had quitted, for ever, that
head quarters of Rabbinical bigotry and intolerance.

Father Adrian, who was a firm and conscientious
Catholic, of a mild and benevolent,
rather than intelligent mind, listened
in silent astonishment to the details of the
young Jew, delivered with all the vivacity of
his nation, and bearing the evident impress
of candour and sincerity. He rejoiced with
him, on his resolution to acknowledge his H6v 84
belief in the adorable Saviour, and take refuge
in the bosom of the holy church, from
the abominations of Judaism; but, with great
humility, declared himself unable and incompetent
to advise him, in a matter of such
vital moment to his soul. He would, however,
immediately on their return, make the
case known to his superior, and had no
doubt the holy father would guide him in
the good way he was seeking, as he was a
servant of the church, eminent for wisdom,
zeal, and personal sanctity.

Raphael accepted this offer with joy. He
knew not how little the Roman priests differ
from the Jewish Rabbins. The name of
Jesus is indeed worshipped by the former,
though neither in spirit nor in truth; while
the latter openly and awfully blaspheme it.
But the dogmas and discipline of both rest
upon legends and traditions, and neither of
them take the written word in its purity, as
the guide of their ceremonies. But yet a
little while, and Antichrist shall rule no
longer, and “the kingdoms of this world”
shall become “the kingdoms of the Lord and
of His Christ!”

When the travellers arrived within a few
miles of Lissau, Father Adrian quitted Raphael’s
waggon, and proceeded on foot to his
convent, after having arranged to meet each
other, on certain nights, in the neighbouring
forest. He bore with him a letter from Raphael
to his superior, and some presents for
his use, of English manufacture, so much
esteemed in Poland; and Raphael, with a
heart agitated by many conflicting emotions,
pursued his way to the temporary
abode of Gertrude.

Chapter VIII.

The meeting between Gertrude and Raphael
was very affecting on both sides. The
maternal sorrow of her deeply wounded heart
seemed to revive, in all its poignancy, at the
sight of her husband; and she wept convulsively
on his bosom, as, in broken accents,
she attempted to describe the horrors of that
fearful night, by which they had been made
childless.

Raphael’s tears flowed as fast and as sorrowfully
as hers, though not from the same
source. He knew that, deep and bitter as
was her affliction, her cup was not yet filled;
and that he, who so tenderly loved her, and I2r 87
would have given worlds for the power of
shielding her from the slightest semblance
of evil, was about to plunge a dagger in her
troubled heart, and inflict on it an agony
more keen in its nature, and more durable in
its effects, than any she had yet experienced.
The case, however, admitted of no alternative.
The feelings of natural affection melted
his heart, and wrung it with indescribable
anguish, but was not suffered to alter the
settled purpose of his determined spirit. He
had received into his soul, by the divine
agency of the Eternal Spirit, the important
truth that Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified
one, was and is the very Christ of God,—the
Messiah. This truth had undoubtedly made
him wise unto salvation, however weak, defective,
and clouded, were his spiritual apprehensions
in all other respects; and the
Mighty One, who was now laying his cross
on this weak convert, was also graciously
sustaining him beneath its heavy pressure,
and manifesting his glorious strength in the
helplessness of the instrument, imparting to
him all needful support, though the favoured
object of divine love and grace, so vast, so I2 I2v 88
ineffable, discerned but feebly, if at all, the
presence of the adorable and compassionate
Saviour, or the everlasting arms placed underneath,
giving him, “Strength as his day.”

The temporary abode Gertrude had hired,
after the late calamity, was a mean little
house, or rather cottage, in the vicinity of
the synagogue. On her husband’s return,
therefore, she expressed a desire to remove
to a more suitable one, as soon as it could
be got ready, among the habitations now rapidly
rising on the site of the old ones.
Raphael, however, to her extreme surprise,
refused to engage one at the present period,
though greatly straitened for room to lodge
properly the stores he had brought with him;
and, when further urged on the subject, he
replied, with a sad smile that he had important
reasons for not complying with a request
which, nevertheless, he admitted was
a reasonable one; adding, that she would be
made acquainted with them perhaps too
soon.

Gertrude felt a degree of alarm, rather
from the manner, than the words her husband
had just uttered; though she, very naturally, I3r 89
referred them to some derangement
in his pecuniary affairs. She however possessed
as yet, untouched, her valuable girdle
and neck chain. These, with Ella’s jewels
and her own, had been kept in a steel casket
of curious workmanship, and were dug out
of the ruins little injured. She now placed
them in Raphael’s hands, requesting him to
dispose of them as he pleased, and explain
what he meant by an intimation so mysterious.

Raphael, who had, in the depth of his
feelings, spoken unguardedly, was extremely
affected by this proof of his wife’s tenderness.
He returned the casket to its amiable
owner, assuring her the sacrifice was not necessary,
at least for the present; and affectionately,
but firmly, parried her questions,
though he in some measure tranquillized and
reassured her mind, by promising her his entire
confidence, when he should have the
power of finally deciding as to the future.

Three weeks wore away quietly, without
any change in the situation of Raphael. At
the close of that period, which had appeared
to his harassed mind, unusually tedious, FaI3 I3v 90
Adrian sought him in a wild, sequestered
part of the forest, where they had previously
agreed to meet. It was a long, and deeply
interesting interview to Raphael, with whom
the friendly father arranged the time and
manner in which he might, with most apparent
security, visit the convent, witness their
mode of divine worship, and receive the spiritual
instruction his heart so earnestly panted
for, while he remained at Lissau. But,
from the very imminent peril that would inevitably
result from discovery, Father Adrian,
in the name of his superior, strongly urged
him to hasten his preparations, and lose no
time in quitting, for ever, so dangerous a
spot; reminding him, again and again, that
even the arm of the church would be unavailing
to shield him from the vengeful
fury of Rabbinical power, in the event of detection.
The zealous Father added, that if
he would determine to visit Rome, in the
first instance, he should be furnished with
letters of introduction, from his superior to
the head of the Catholic church, and the
most eminent fathers of the Propaganda,
whose wise and holy instructions could not I4r 91
fail to be of the highest importance in advancing
the progress of his salvation.

The advice, given by the Father to Raphael,
to hasten from Lissau, was the result
of wisdom and experience, and he could not
but acknowledge its propriety. Gertrude,
however, acted as a powerful counter-charm
to impede his progress. Nevertheless, he
proceeded, though slowly, to accomplish the
necessary preparations; and, whenever he
could steal away from home unobserved,
hastened to his new friends at the convent.
Their imposing form of worship, so seductive,
and so powerfully addressed to the
senses, transported him, who had so long
found the lifeless synagogue worship to be a
wearisome service. He could hardly tear
himself away, and often lingered in the precincts
of the convent, with more zeal than
prudence, in an extacy of delight, to be conceived
of only by those who have been similarly
circumstanced.

Gertrude connected the very frequent absence
of her husband with his mercantile affairs,
particularly as he was daily packing,
and often sending away, bales of various I4v 92
goods to distant parts, chiefly to Amsterdam.
But, though perfectly easy on this account,
she was very far from feeling so on what she
considered a more important subject. Every
passing day witnessed some fresh and gross
neglect of his religious duties, that shocked
her prejudices, and harrowed up her heart,
attaching, as she did, such vital importance
to her due observance. Knowing, however,
the uncompromising severity of Rabbi Jonathan
in these matters, she prudently confined
her observations, for the present, to her own
bosom, though with pain and difficulty; for
she felt that the bare concealment was in itself
a great sin, and rendered her obnoxious
to the divine displeasure. Meantime, she
continued to observe Raphael narrowly; who,
unconscious of the fact, and absorbed in his
own contemplations, was but too careless of
externals. To the utter dismay of Gertrude,
she soon discovered that he rarely, if ever,
when he could avoid it, used his phylacteries,
—that his Arba Canfus, so far from being
worn, lay, in a torn state, in a corner, among
the bales of merchandise,—that he frequently
sat down to meals with unwashed hands,— I5r 93
and was given to do many things prohibited
by the Rabbins on the holy Sabbath.

This conduct became at length so oppressive
to the feelings of Gertrude, that she
could endure it in silence no longer, and determined
to come to an explanation with her
husband on the subject, resolving, in her
sincere, though mistaken piety, to demand a
divorce from him, though he was dearer to
her than her existence, if he persisted in thus
continually, and, it almost appeared wilfully,
violating the most essential and indispensable
duties of the Jewish faith.

Raphael evaded, as long as possible, the anxious
inquiries of his wife; and when he could
not parry her earnest remonstrances, and repeated
interrogatories as to the cause of a conduct
she ventured to term reprobate, sternly
warned her to desist, assuring her that the
elucidation she pressed for was of such a nature,
that the most intolerable suspense would
be far preferable to the state of her mind,
when what she so earnestly called on him to
impart was unfolded to her.

This mysterious and threatening warning,
rendered still more impressive by the unusual I5v 94
sternness of her husband’s manner, as he determinedly
uttered it, in a tone of deep solemnity,
chilled the heart of Gertrude with
terror. An undefinable expectation of some
nameless evil, sat as a fearful incubus on her
awe-stricken spirit, and weighed it down
under the melancholy presage of some appalling
event about to take place. In the
wildest flight of her bewildered imagination,
however, the remotest suspicion of the truth
never flashed on her thoughts. She persisted,
therefore, in urging for an explanation;
till at length, wearied by her constant and
tearful importunity, Raphael pledged his
word to confide in her fully, before his next
journey, which was to purchase furs for the
German market, and which journey he intended
to commence as soon as possible in
the ensuing week.

Gertrude, somewhat quieted by this promise,
endeavoured to await patiently the appointed
time. But, though silent, she was
sad, and passed the intervening days in
tears, and the practice of religious austerities;
more, however, for the sake of her erring
husband, than on her own account. I6r 95
Raphael gave no interruption to these observances
by his presence. He was more and
more from home. How or where he passed
his time she knew not, nor did she venture to
question any one respecting him, in her present
state of uncertainty, lest she might injure him.
It wanted yet four days of the Sabbath. In
the course of the coming week he was to
leave her. Before that period, he had promised
to confide to her his fearful secret; and
Gertrude firmly believed no tidings could inflict
half the torture of suspense. The opportunity
of deciding on this subject was but
too soon in her power.

Chapter IX.

In the promise Raphael had made to his
wife, he had not followed the judicious advice
of his friends at the convent. On the evening
of the very day, he had thus pledged his
word to her, he was to be received into the
Roman Catholic church by baptism. Father
Adrian had suggested the pretext for his
journey in the ensuing week. As soon as
he was at a safe distance from Lissau, he
was to alter his route, and steer his course
towards Rome. When quite beyond the
frontiers of Poland, he was to write an explanatory
letter to his wife, inviting her to
join him, in order to receive Christian instruction. K1r 97
In case of her refusal, which
there was sufficient reason to expect, bigoted
as she was, then he must make arrangements
for her future support at his leisure, and by
the advice of his spiritual directors. Such
was the counsel of his Catholic friends.
Raphael was therefore ashamed to acknowledge
to them his departure from it, and his
weak and rash promise to Gertrude;—such
he himself, on reflection, thought it. He
knew not that it was of God, and that he
was, by the mysterious, but unerring will of
the divine Majesty of Heaven, destined to be
a witness for “the truth as it is in Jesus,” in
the same glorious path trodden, of old, by
apostles, prophets, and holy men, “of whom
the world was not worthy;” and the weakness
and rashness of creature instability were made
to subserve the divine appointment concerning
him.

Raphael entered the convent, to receive
the initiatory rite of baptism, with feelings of
the deepest reverence. The community, on
their part, had omitted no preparation that
might affect the heart of the Catechumen,
and fill his mind with devotion and awe. K K1v 98
As no person within those walls was to be
mistrusted, and the gates were carefully
closed against strangers, the Superior and his
assistants were at liberty to perform the full
ceremony, which, in the Roman Catholic
church, is a long and imposing ordinance,
particularly for adults and newly-converted
persons.

When Raphael, previous to his entering
the chapel, was clothed in the white garment
used on these occasions, he put into
the hands of the Superior his Phylacteries
and Arba Canfus, in token of his formal renunciation
of Judaism and its observances.
In their stead, he received a small ivory crucifix,
and a reliquary, with profound reverence,
as their uses were explained to him.
Alas! the young convert suspected not the
errors and idolatry of the Church of Rome.
He believed it to be pure and holy; and, regarding
the priests who surrounded him as
the true servants of God, he received their
sayings as the oracles of heaven. Nevertheless,
as he was sincere in his belief on the
crucified Redeemer, and erred in judgment,
not from carnal pride or self-sufficiency, it is K2r 99
charitable, and not presumptuous, to hope
that he found mercy, and that his name was
enrolled in the book of eternal life, in accordance
with the gracious declaration of the
Lord Jesus Christ, as it is recorded in the
Gospel by St. John, chap. iii, ver. 15.

It was midnight when the ceremony of
Raphael’s baptism, and the accompanying
mass, concluded. The Superior then took a
final leave of the interesting convert, and
bestowing on him a solemn benediction, put
into his hands the register of his baptism,
and the promised recommendatory letters for
Rome. Father Adrian however promised, of
his own accord, to come every evening until
Raphael’s departure, to their accustomed
place of meeting in the forest, in case farther
intercourse might be rendered necessary by
any unforeseen circumstance. This offer, on
the part of the kind father, was the result of
the interest he felt for Raphael, who, he fancied,
was destined to be a bright ornament
of the church, and the merit of whose conversion
he, in some measure, attributed to his
own exertions and instrumentality.

While Raphael was thus confessing, by K2 K2v 100
baptism, his belief in the great Redeemer,
Gertrude had been very differently engaged.
Rabbi Jonathan, who had never looked with
any complacency on Raphael, since the examination
of the Chalaf, called on Gertrude
at the close of the evening service, to inquire
why her husband was so irregular in his attendance
at divine worship.

“He is never seen at a funeral,” continued
the Rabbi; “nor among the comforters, nor
in any pious assembly. He only enters the
synagogue once on the Sabbath; and then,
for I have marked him, his heart is not there.
except contributing to the alms’ chest, he
has not been engaged in a single meritorious
act that can be traced, since his return.
Neither did he comply, as is usual, with the
accustomed duty and practice of every true
Israelite, who has experienced the protecting
goodness of Jehovah, when journeying among
Goyim.Open note 12Back to note ¹² Surely so pious a matron as you
certainly are, cannot approve such libertine K3r 101
conduct, much less in a manner sanction it,
by concealment.”

The Rabbi fixed a penetrating look on
Gertrude as he ceased speaking; but though
her heart palpitated, and her colour faded as
she listened to him, she remained silent, and,
when more closely pressed on the subject,
her answers were vague and unsatisfactory.
The subtle Rabbi, however, easily discerned
that she was unhappy and embarassed, and
endeavoured to obtain a clue to the cause;
but though his questions were couched in
the most subtle and ensnaring form, he could
not elicit any direct reply from her; which
the more surprised him, as, on all other occasions,
he had ever found her ingenuous and
single-hearted; and the change strengthened
his suspicions respecting her husband.

When the Rabbi rose to depart, he declared
to Gertrude his intention of summoning
Raphael before the elders of the synagogue,
to give an account of his conduct, unless
there was a speedy and satisfactory amendment
in it; and bade her make this resolution
known to her husband immediately.

Gertrude was pained by this visit, and the K3 K3v 102
intimation of the Rabbi, but it gave her no
alarm. She knew, indeed, the flagrant neglect
Raphael evinced for his religious duties,
but hitherto she had carefully confined the
afflictive secret within her own bosom. And
she had not the shadow of a suspicion that
her husband had rendered himself amenable
to the powerful council of elders in any serious
degree, or beyond that of receiving a
public and severe rebuke for his culpable negligence;
and this, with all her indulgence,
she thought he richly merited.

When Raphael returned from the convent,
it was long past midnight, and Gertrude
hda retired to her chamber; but the
next morning she detailed to him the visit of
the Rabbi, and the message he had charged
her with, expressing, at the same time, her
own opinion on the subject.

Raphael made no immediate reply, but he
saw at once the extreme peril of his situation,
if his departure were protracted. He was
well aware of the power vested in the council
of elders, and Rabbi Jonathan was its
president. The tribunal consisted of men
celebrated for austerity and bigotry, who K4r 103
would not shrink from any act, however
cruel or violent, in defence of Judaism. He
knew this, but alas! he discerned not that
the Synagogue he had quitted, and the
Church he was now a member of, were but
too closely assimilated in their discipline and
customs. Equally intolerant and bigoted,
excommunicating and anathematising all
who differed from them,—equally exclusive
in their creed,—equally rigorous in
their dealings with apostates,—equally devoted
to an endless round of carnal ceremonies,
the invention of man, preferring
their observance above the written
word, though often absolutely at variance
with it,—equally attached to the doctrine
of meritorious and supererogatory works,
and relying on them in part for salvation;
thereby making the Lord Jesus, at best, but
an auxiliary in the stupendous work of human
redemption,—and, to complete the resemblance,
each with their legends, penances,
amulets, prayers for the dead, and purgatory.

Gertrude could not but observe that the
mention of Rabbi Jonathan’s visit annoyed
her husband, though she knew not to what
extent and she gently urged him to attend K4v 104
the synagogue daily until he commenced his
journey. She did this in the secret hope
that it would have a beneficial effect on his
heart, and might tend to revive his former
habits of outward attention to his superior
duties. Raphael, however, could not endure
the idea of mixing any more with a community
whose tenets he detested, and had abjured
with his whole heart; at the same time,
that heart was glowing with the fervent love
of a young convert to the glorious Redeemer.
So, with more zeal than prudence, he rejected
the well-meant advice of his wife, and
that with unusual asperity,—she therefore
urged it no further.

Next day, Gertrude summoned courage to
request from her husband the explanation he
had promised to her. He would have dissuaded
her from it, but she persevered.

“Your desire shall be granted,” he at
length replied, “but not till the approaching
Sabbath is over. You know that I
leave you next week; it is therefore the
last Sabbath we shall pass with each other
for some time,—let it pass in peace, I entreat
you. At its close, my whole heart K5r 105
shall be unveiled to you, whatever may be
the result.”

“I consent,” replied Gertrude, “provided
you will accompany me to the synagogue on
the Sabbath morning.”

Raphael hesitated, but the request, in her
situation, being a reasonable one, he could
urge no plausible excuse for denying it,
and he was the more reconciled to comply,
as he hoped he should enter the now hated
spot for the last time.

“I accept your condition, dearest Gertrude,”
said he tenderly. “You will, ere
long, appreciate my compliance, as a proof
how dear you are to me.”

Gertrude did not exactly comprehend her
husband’s words, but they were affectionate,
and breathed of former days, and a flush of
pleasure kindled upon her pale features, and
hope revived in her bosom; alas, it revived
only to be extinguished for ever!

Chapter X.

Reluctantly as Raphael had consented
to accompany his wife to the synagogue on
the Sabbath morning, the actual performance
of his extorted promise was even more painful
to his feelings than it had been in anticipation;
—a rare case, and in general quite
the reverse. He surveyed the assembly with
mingled feelings, in which pity predominated,
as might be traced in the mournful expression
of his countenance. He knew
these solemn convocations were iniquity,
for so the Most High, in whose name they
were gathered, had declared them. He secretly
mourned over the delusions he had K6r 107
once shared, and his heart sunk within him
as he reflected that the wife of his affections
formed a part of that benighted community.

With very different feelings, Gertrude, in
the intervals of her devotion, cast a glance
through the gallery lattices on her husband
beneath. She marked his sad aspect, but
to her, it was the harbinger of lively hopes
and joyful anticipations. She made no
doubt his evident sorrow had its origin in regret
for past sins; and, in the warmth of her
religious feelings, believed it would issue in
melting, purifying, and restoring, his back-
sliding heart.

Rabbi Jonathan did not appear to notice
the presence of Raphael during the long
morning service, though he sat full in his
sight. At its close, he approached to offer
the customary salutation to him, as presiding
Rabbi. Instead of returning it with
courtesy, the intolerant Pharisee surveyed
Raphael with a look of contemptuous displeasure,
and moved haughtily away.

An insult so public and marked could not
fail to attract universal attention. For a
moment, an indignant flush passed over the K6v 108
countenance of Raphael; but he expected and
hoped that a very few days would place him
beyond the reach, and out of the power, of the
harsh Rabbi, effectually and for ever, and
his transient emotion of anger passed away
swiftly, as a light summer cloud.

On the afternoon of this eventful Sabbath,
Gertrude proposed a walk in the suburbs,
and Raphael acceded with alacrity. His
mind was disturbed and unquiet, as the moment
for his promised disclosure drew near,
and motion and change were agreeable to his
feelings. Though they expressed it not in
words to each other, they were mutually
anxious to avoid joining any of the gay
groups similarly disposed; and, to avoid
interruption most effectually, they chose a
contrary direction, though aware that it led
to the vast burial-ground of the Jews.

As the young pair pursued their solitary
walk, they insensibly became engaged in
conversation of deep interest to them, respecting
the future. Gertrude had expressed,
with much tenderness, her regret at
the necessity of his frequent journies, and
her wish that they could remain with each L1r 109
other. Raphael, in reply, without glancing
towards his true reasons, expressed himself
to be entirely disgusted with Lissau, and
anxious to quit it at once and for ever. He
then demanded of Gertrude, whether she
would be willing to leave Lissau, and accompany
him.

The answer of Gertrude was that of an
attached and faithful wife. Raphael however,
only replied by a sad and mysterious
smile. He felt that a few fleeting hours
might, and most probably would, dash from
his lip, for ever, the cup of domestic happiness
now presented to him.

They had now reached the gate of the
cemetery, and, as if actuated by the same
feeling, they silently passed through it, and
entered the burial ground, which to them
presented many affecting recollections. The
monument their grandfather had raised as
a memorial of Ella, was before them. Near
it, a small marble tablet recorded the ages,
and spot in the forest, where Clara and Isola
were deposited. At some distance, rose the
towering memorial of respect, Rabbi Jonathan
and his congregation had erected in L L1v 110
honor of Rabbi Samuel. Near its base was
a low mound; a cradle placed on it horizontally,
marked the spot as the last resting
place of an infant;—it was their own babe reposing
there, and they gave a few moments
indulgence to the hallowed feelings of parental
tenderness. Still silent, they passed
on towards an outlet that led to the neighbouring
forest. It was yet early, the weather
was bright and clear, and they seemed
inclined to prolong their ramble, though
neither had spoken since they had entered
the cemetery. In quitting it, their path lay
by the side of a low wall, adjoining it in a
parallel line, were interred, or rather cast
into the earth, in the degrading manner customary
among the Jews, in such cases, excommunicated
persons—suicides—apostates
and such as had perished by the hand of
the executioner.

The young pair passed hastily along this
melancholy path, and had nearly reached
its termination, when Raphael’s attention
was drawn to a grave at the extremity of
the row, which was evidently a recent one,
and a large heap of stones was piled up
over it.

An involuntary chill fell on Raphael’s
heart, as he surveyed the grave, and its
stony symbols, indicating that the form
mouldering beneath it, had incurred, by the
Mosaic law, that description of fate. As
they quitted the burial ground, Raphael
was the first to break silence, and inquire
of his wife who reposed there.

Gertrude, in reply, named a young man
previously known to her husband, and whose
death took place just before his return.

“He died suddenly,” said she, “and
when the watchers went to prepare the
body for interment, they made discoveries
that caused Rabbi Jonathan to decide that
he was a concealed apostate, and he was
buried in the manner you have just seen.”

Raphael, much shocked, asked in tremulous
accents, the nature of the discoveries
that had led to such a result, and expressed
his surprise that he had not before
heard of a case so peculiar.

Gertrude, significantly looked at her husband,
as she replied,

“You have mixed so little with your
friends since your return, that you need L2 L2v 112
not feel surprise on the subject. But, in
truth, the deplorable end of this miserable
creature is but little spoken of, from motives
of delicacy to his worthy and pious mother,
whose sorrows are more poignant on account
of his inexpiable sins, than his premature
death,—and very well they may. However,
it is a happy event that he was not married,
and therefore has not involved a wife or children
in the ignominy that, you well know,
too often clings to the innocent family of an
apostate. The discoveries made at his
death were awful. His arms and breast
were marked with crosses, and a female
idol holding an infant in her arms. A
gold cross was suspended from his neck,
and lay concealed within the folds of his
vest, against his reprobate heart, in the
place where his Arba Canfus should have
been found. In his girdle was a small
Latin book, which Rabbi Jonathan declared
to be the Nazarenes’ record of
their crucified God. This was at once
torn up and cast into the stove for consumption,
by the good and wise Rabbi; and
the symbol of idolatry, though of some value, L3r 113
was broken, and thrown, with its wretched
owner, into the hole dug at night to receive
him; the grave was then covered with a pile
of stones, as you have just witnessed.”

Here Gertrude paused an instant; she then
added, as is customary, when alluding to the
death of a Goy,.

“‘The name of the wicked perish, and his
memorial be blotted out!’”

The heart of Raphael writhed in agony,
as he listened to a detail so deeply interesting
to him, and marked the bitterness with
which Gertrude, on all other occasions so
gentle and feminine, had spoken of the departed,
a supposed Nazarene, and the very
contemptuous manner in which she had alluded
to the great Redeemer: and, in the
anguish of his spirit, he covered his face and
wept bitterly.

Gertrude, though a little surprised at the
unusual emotion of her husband, had no
suspicion of its source, and attributed this
sudden and passionate burst of grief to regret
for the irremediable fate of an old associate.
She therefore walked on with him in silence, L3 L3v 114
that he might recover himself, and regain
his wonted composure.

When Raphael’s feelings of anguish had
somewhat subsided, they had reached that
part of the forest where the convent rose in
the distance. Raphael hastily turned from
it, and, taking a contrary path, proposed to
his companion to repose for a short time,
and then returned homeward, that they might
reach it ere the stars announced the close of
the Sabbath. Gertrude gladly accepted her
husband’s considerate offer, for their walk
had been greatly protracted, and was to be
retraced. He therefore, being better acquainted
with this part of the forest, conducted
her towards a rustic grass-covered
mound, which terminated the path they were
travelling in.

Had not Raphael’s mind been in such a
perturbed state, this mound would have been
the last spot selected to conduct his wife to;
but, in the depth of his abstraction, he had
forgotten all suggestions that bore not on the
subject of his own perilous situation, and the
promised confidence expected by Gertrude.

This grassy seat had been raised by the L4r 115
monks of the adjoining convent, for what
reason was not known, but that devotion
mingled with it was evident, for a large cross
of rude workmanship, was placed so as to
be distinctly seen from the little mound.

Gertrude had been seated quietly beside
her husband only a few moments, ere she
discerned the hated symbol of the Nazarene
faith. At a sight so distasteful, she averted
her eyes, and arose precipitately. Her quick
movement startled Raphael, who had become
completely absorbed in his own painful meditations,
and he hastily inquired the cause.
She pointed to the cross, and, spitting on
the ground as a token of abhorrence, muttered
an indistinct malediction on that and
its followers, and, passing swiftly down the
path, called on Raphael to follow. He did
so; and as they retraced their steps homewards,
with difficulty concealed his indignant
feelings, excited by the conversation of
Gertrude, as, from time to time, she spoke of
the Goyim who had raised the obnoxious
cross.

Chapter XI.

The stars had just appeared, and released
the Jews from their observance of the Sabbath,
as Gertrude and Raphael reached their
habitation. She hastened to bring the consecrated
wine, the spice, and the wax taper,
necessary to the due performance of the ceremony,
by which the holy day is dismissed
by the ancient people, who always reckon
their sabbaths and festivals from eve to eve.
A mode of computation strictly Scriptural.

Raphael completed this compliance with
the customs of his nation reluctantly, but
the less so as he mentally prayed that it
might be the last time. How little does frail L5r 117
dust and ashes know what to desire aright.
The true wisdom is, a will perfectly resigned
to the divine will, such as was that of the
holy Jesus, when he walked on our earth.
The petition of Raphael was granted. It was
the last time.

And now the trying moment drew near,
that would either more closely unite this
young pair in the bond of conjugal love,
or sever it at once and for ever. Gertrude
had reminded Raphael of his promise, half
doubting its performance, but she needed
not. The feelings of her husband, since
their visit to the cemetery, and subsequent
conversation respecting the supposed apostate,
had been so oppresive, that, unable to
endure them any longer, he determined at
all risks, to concede the confidence she so
pertinaciously demanded, and trust to her
affection to conceal her knowledge of the
important secret, at least until he was beyond
the reach of danger from its disclosure.

At midnight, and in the solitude of their
sleeping chamber, Raphael proceeded to unveil
the cherished secret of his heart to the L5v 118
partner of it. A deep, but calm solemnity,
sat on his brow, as, in firm, yet tender accents,
he besought his wife to listen patiently
to what he was about to disclose, and which
he was well aware would greatly afflict her.

Awed by the affecting manner of her husband,
and feeling as if on the eve of having
to encounter some terrible event, Gertrude
could only signify her desire that he should
proceed, by a silent but significant gesture.

Thus encouraged, Raphael rapidly, but
faithfully, detailed the change in his religious
views, his baptism, and future intentions;
and, gaining courage as he proceeded,
bore a concise but noble testimony, to the
truth as it is in Jesus.

He ceased and awaited Gertrude’s reply;
but she sat before him like an inanimate statue.
His words seemed to have penetrated
the inmost recesses of her heart, and frozen
its vital current. The paleness of death
blanched her cheek,—her eye was strained
on vacancy,—she neither moved nor spoke,
and scarcely seemed to breathe.

More affected by this picture of silent and
hopeless misery, than he would have been by L6r 119
the most passionate exclamations of sorrow,
Raphael hung over his wife in an agony of
spirit indescribable; but, after endeavouring,
in vain, to recall her suspended faculties by
the most tender endearments, he withdrew,
and, closing the chamber door softly, left
her, in the hope that she would speedily recover
these first emotions of dismay, occasioned
by a communication so unlooked for
and, to her, so bitter.

In earnest prayer to Him who had called
him to walk in this sorrowful path, Raphael
passed the moments of suspence, until a passionate
burst of grief from the chamber of
his wife reached his attentive ear. After
waiting awhile to let the first ebullition of
her indignation subside, Raphael, though
with a throbbing heart, joined the unhappy
Gertrude.

On his entrance, she hastily dried her streaming
eyes, and fixed on him a look so expressive
of mingled anguish and despair, that it pierced
his soul, as she endeavoured, but in vain,
to give utterance to the feelings of her labouring
heart. Utterance, however, was denied L6v 120
her, and the affecting, but expressive
silence, lasted some minutes.

Gertrude was the first to speak, but it was
with evident difficulty, though with assumed
calmness; and the sound of her voice was
hollow, unnatural, and entirely unlike the
clear and silvery tones in which she usually
spoke.

Raphael, almost unconsciously, approached
his wife’s chair, when he perceived that she
was about to address him, but she motioned
him from her with an air of mingled dignity,
displeasure, and commiseration, as she, in
her turn, claimed his attention to the unalterable
resolution she had formed, in consequence
of the painful change his fatal dereliction
had effected in their relative situation.

“You have rent the tie that united us,”
she said, “and henceforward we are strangers.
Nevertheless, your secret is safe, as
far as I am concerned. Isola was the chosen
friend of my mother, I cannot betray her
son to the vengeance of the Rabbins; but
hasten your departure from Lissau. Your
presence here is as a dagger plunged into my
heart; I cannot hold communion with an M1r 121
avowed apostate. Oh, my venerable parents!
Oh, my lost child! Blessed be His
name who has taken you to himself in mercy,
and spared ye the anguish of witnessing this
bitter change!”

Deeply affected, Raphael would have attempted
to soften his wife’s resolution, but
she was inflexible. He then expressed his
intention of providing for her future maintenance,
but she would not hear of it. The
Lord, whom he had forsaken, would curse
his blessings, she declared, and she would
not be a partaker of the gifts of one who had
joined himself to Goyim, and voluntarily severed
himself from the holy nation; and
again she urged him to relieve her from his
presence, and hasten from Lissau. With an
heart bleeding at every pore, Raphael at
length desisted from the fruitless attempt,
and quitted the chamber. It was now
morning; by the afternoon of the following
day, all would be ready for his departure.
The last and dearest tie that had chained him
to Lissau was rent asunder; but, notwithstanding
the obstinate refusal of Gertrude to
receive anything from him, he could not M M1v 122
leave her without securing her temporal
welfare. He therefore sealed up a sum for
present use, and placed it where it would be
easily discovered after his departure; resolving,
when he had passed the frontier of
Poland, to write to his wife, and make a last
essay to change her determination.

This matter thus arranged for the present,
Raphael drew up a paper, in which he stated
his renunciation of Judaism, and the reasons
that had led to it, in a concise but clear
manner. This paper, intended at once as
an explanation of his conduct, and its apology,
he designed to leave behind him; but
at present, as a matter of precaution, secured
it in his vest.

This employ was made salutary to the
wounded heart of Raphael. The truth, as
he detailed it, shed its divine influence on
his spirit. The sorrows Jesus had endured
to redeem him made his own seem as nothing;
and by the time he had concluded
the important paper, his strengthened spirit
was susceptible of an energy hitherto unknown;
and, instead of mourning any longer
over the sacrifices he was called on to make, M2r 123
he felt that he could maintain, even with his
life, the glorious truths of the Gospel of Jesus.

Such were the feelings of this favoured
one, when his meditations were interrupted
by an unexpected visiter, a messenger from
the synagogue. His errand was, to request
the attendance of Raphael at a meeting of
the vestry, to be held that evening at seven,
immediately after vespers.

Raphael was surprised, but, in the present
happy state of his mind, not alarmed,
at this requisition; and he was sufficiently
collected to betray no particular interest in
the question, as he carelessly inquired if the
messenger knew the purport of the meeting.

“It is an extra one,” replied the messenger,
“to collect money for the repairs lately
done in the synagogue,—to alter the seatrents,
—and to place certain members of the
congregation below the barOpen note 13Back to note ¹³ of the synagogue.”

Raphael gave an indifferent reply to this
communication; and, after conversing a few
minutes with Gertrude, who had joined them,
the messenger departed.

Gertrude, alarmed by this unexpected
summons, seemed to forget, in her solicitude
for his safety, that her husband was a Goy,
and she had renounced him. She eagerly
inquired whether he meant to attend the
vestry.

“I cannot avoid it,” he calmly replied,
“without exciting suspicion. I think the
Rabbins cannot have discovered my secret.
They only mean to place me below the bar.
To-morrow I leave Lissau.”

Gertrude was reassured by the composure
of Raphael; but she earnestly besought him
to be guarded and prudent at the meeting;
reminding him that he had deeply offended M3r 125
Rabbi Jonathan, whose implacable disposition,
in all cases of religious defalcation, was
well known, and who had evinced his displeasure
against him but the day before.

The generous anxiety of Gertrude affected
her husband. He admired her disinterested
concern for his preservation, though he had
clouded her future prospects, and filled her
heart with anguish; and long and fervent
was the prayer he breathed for her, as he
besought the Lord to extend to this amiable
daughter of Israel the knowledge of His salvation;
—while she, on her part, was as sincerely
engaged in imploring mercy for him
whose tenets she abhorred, but whose image
still clung about her heart, which yearned
over him, as she thought of the approaching
vestry-meeting.

Chapter XII.

The information which the servant of the
synagogue had given Raphael, respecting the
nature of the evening meeting, was correct.
Several persons had incurred the displeasure
of Rabbi Jonathan for trifling omissions, and
were, in consequence, to be suspended, and
placed below the bar for a certain period.
The unforgiving Rabbi, offended by the familiar
address of Raphael on the preceding
day, without having made any attempt to
account for, or excuse, his late absence and
public neglect of his religious duties, resolved
to include him in the list of defaulters, though
aware that he was about to set out on a M4r 127
journey. It would, however, he knew, exclude
him on his return, from the usual privileges,
until he had performed the prescribed
penance; and this partial judge already determined
in his heart that should not be a
light one.

Evening closed in, and the time of attending
the meeting drew near. Raphael prepared
to set out with a serene brow, and a
mind so calm, that he was himself surprised
at the composure he felt on the occasion.
It was not so with Gertrude; a presage of
evil weighed heavily on her heart, and chilled
it with terror, she hardly knew why, for
she anticipated a long suspension as the most
he had to expect, and she sighed to think
how impotent a threat that would appear, to
one who would so soon be beyond the reach
of Rabbinical discipline, which, nevertheless,
she wished him to be, so contradictory were
her feelings. Her chief fear, however, arose
from the sincerity of Raphael; for she saw,
and could not but acknowledge to herself,
that the detested heresy by which his soul
was drawn away from the ancient faith, had M4v 128
not tainted his moral virtue, nor warped his
native integrity.

Full of these thoughts, Gertrude followed
Raphael, as he arose to quit the house, and
arrested his steps for a moment.

“Be guarded,” she said impressively, “Oh
be guarded! You may expect sharp reproof;
hear it in silence; or, if you must reply, be
concise and prudent, and leave the vestry
the moment it is in your power.”

Raphael felt the wisdom of this advice,
and gratefully acknowledged it. Gertrude
remained on the threshold of her house, looking
after him with intense anxiety, as he
passed along. At that moment she almost
forgot his apostacy, as she discerned that he
had slung in his girdle the first gift she had
presented to him, on his return to espouse
her. It was an Indian handkerchief of yellow
silk, prized for having once belonged to
her mother Clara, and a tide of tender recollections
gushed over her softened heart,
as she caught a last view of his receding
form; and she retired to await the result
of his examination in the solitude of her
chamber.

The vestry, so frequently the scene where
events important to the Jewish congregation
had been transacted, was a spacious apartment,
having two entrance doors. One of
them, at the lower end of the room, opened
on a large vestibule, where the servants of
the synagogue, and others attending the vestry-meetings,
waited. It also led to the principal
entrance of the synagogue. The other
door was at a small private entrance, leading,
through a passage, into the synagogue, and
was appropriated, exclusively, to the use of
the presiding Rabbi, in his way to and from
public worship.

Raphael, on his arrival in the vestibule,
found several persons waiting their audience;
he therefore seated himself, quietly to await
his turn, and, as he was shunned by all present,
he was quickly absorbed in his own reflections,
and almost forgot where he was,
and why he was there.

The cases of the various defaulters, who
had incurred the censure of the austere Rabbi
Jonathan, though in a much lighter degree
than the obnoxious son of Isola, were
at length all disposed of, and that of Raphael M5v 130
alone remained to be heard, when he
was summoned to appear before this then
powerful tribunal.

Raphael appeared before the council of
elders with a respectful, but firm demeanour.
His brow, though thoughtful, was serene;
and the composed dignity with which
he approached the long table, on each side
of which the elders were seated, annoyed
and surprised Rabbi Jonathan, who sat at
their head, and cast a look of vindictive fury
at Raphael, as he proceeded to detail the various
charges he had taken great pains to
collect, and commit to paper, respecting him.

These charges, arranged as they were by
the hand of an enemy, appeared of a grave
character, nor did Raphael attempt to palliate
or deny them. But, as they related
only to a loose and disorderly practice of the
Mosaic, or rather Rabbinical, ritual, and did
not involve the accused in any suspicion of
heresy or apostacy, he was about to be dismissed
with a sentence of suspension, fine,
and penance, sufficiently severe to satisfy
even Rabbi Jonathan himself, when, owing
to a seemingly trivial circumstance, the examination M6r 131
suddenly took a new, and, as it
proved, fatal turn.

One of the charges had mentioned the
carelessness of Raphael respecting the fringes
of his Arba Canfus. An aged Rabbi, who
sat near him, and attached great importance
to this charge, expressed a wish to know in
what state the fringes were at that time.
Raphael, wearied by an examination that
had already lasted more than an hour, forgot,
at the moment, that he no longer wore
this garment, and mechanically opened his
vest to comply. Instantly recollecting himself,
however, he hastily closed it again, and
at once acknowledged he was without one.
What consequences this confession might
have produced was not known, for his unguarded
action had loosened the important
paper he had written in the morning. It
fell from his vest; and, ere he could recover
possession of the document, it was caught
up, and placed in the hands of the presiding
Rabbi.

Raphael saw, at once, the fearful peril of
his situation; but, supported by Him whose
name he had confessed, he was enabled to M6v 132
await, with firmness, the result of the discovery.

Rabbi Jonathan, hastily glancing over the
paper, perceived its tenor, and proceeded immediately
to read it to the assembly. A
mingled expression of surprise, and ill concealed
triumph, was delineated on his strongly
marked features as he did so, and he forgot
at that moments period, that, as president
and Judge, it was his indispensable duty to
be strictly impartial.

The perusal of Raphael’s memoranda was
frequently interrupted by the violent execrations
of most of the assembly.

At length, after a stormy consultation, in
which violence seemed to predominate, Rabbi
Jonathan, in the name of the assembly,
and in language hard and severe as his own
obdurate heart, demanded of Raphael an immediate
and solemn abjuration of his abominable
heresy, on pain of excommunication
and death.

The latter part of the Rabbi’s denunciation,
though the general sense and determination
of the council, was not unanimously
so. Three of the body dissented from the N1r 133
extreme part of the sentence, and wished to
substitute perpetual banishment from Lissau.
Rabbi Jonathan, however, instead of leaning
to the side of mercy, obstinately closed his
ear to its voice,—supported as he was by all
the rest of the infuriated assembly.

The three persons thus dissenting were,
from their relative situations, little likely to
have an influential vote in the council. Two
of them were young men, and brothers, and
were expected, at no very distant period, to
leave Lissau, with their families, and settle
in England. The third was an aged Rabbi,
remarkable for the mildness of his disposition,
and his indulgent allowance for young
offenders. He was, besides, known to have
loved Raphael’s mother too tenderly, and,
having sought her hand unsuccessfully, had
never married. When these persons found
that their lenient proposal was vehemently
negatived by the rest of the elders, they desired
to withdraw, but were not permitted to
do so until the meeting dissolved, and thus
were compelled, however unwillingly, to
witness the tragic scene that speedily followed.

A few minutes had been allowed to Raphael,
to consider the demand of instant abjuration,
ere, he gave the reply that would
decide his fate. That short time was marked
by a sharp struggle in the breast of the young
Christian; it might be seen in every working
feature of his expressive countenance. The
soft pleadings of nature, and that tenacious
cleaving to life inherent in, and interwoven
with, our very existence, could not but have
its effect; he hesitated a moment,—it was,
however, but for a moment. The form of
the crucified Jesus, suffering for his salvation,
arose to his view,—grace triumphed.
The bitterness of death was over. His features
resumed their composure, and he advanced,
with a firm step, to the table of elders,
and, after briefly detailing his inward
struggle, declared his final decision, to seal,
if necessary, with his blood, his belief in the
salvation of Jesus.

An indignant murmur burst from the assembly
at this bold and unequivocal declaration;
all present rent their garments, and
Rabbi Jonathan proceeded to read, in a slow N2r 135
and solemn tone, the excommunication;Open note 14Back to note ¹⁴ at
the end of every clause the elders simultaneously
replying “Amen!”

At the close of this ceremony, during which
Raphael stood unmoved, and apparently engaged
in silent prayer, he was once more offered
the alternative of abjuration to save
his life.

“You can only destroy the body,” he replied
calmly, “over the immortal spirit you
have no power. The Lord Jesus, whom your N2 M2v 136
fathers crucified, will require my blood at
your hands.”

He was about to add more, but the incensed
elders rushed furiously towards him. The
silk handkerchief was drawn from his girdle,
—in a moment it was cast round his neck;—
overpowered by numbers, he was precipitated
through the private door into the passage
leading to the synagogue. The three dissentient
Rabbins alone remained in the vestry.
They heard a struggle,—then the name of
Jesus pronounced in thrilling tones,—and all
was quiet. The cruel perpetrators of this N3r 137
inhuman act rushing back to the vestry,
with the customary exclamation of “‘Let the
name of the wicked be blotted out, and his
memorial perish for ever!’” announced the
completion of their assumed act of judicature,
and that the young and faithful confessor
of Jesus was no more.

By a mysterious decree of providence, he
had, thus early, been prevented from bearing
a farther, or fuller testimony, for Jesus on
earth, being in mercy summoned to unite,
for ever, with the glorious multitude who
follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth,
having sealed their testimony, and not counted
their lives dear for his adorable sake.

Chapter XIII.

It was near midnight ere the terrible excitement
that led to so fearful a catastrophe
had so far subsided, as to allow of the requisite
arrangements to be made for the immediate
disposal of the body of their victim.
This, however, was soon and easily decided;
two servants of the synagogue were sent forward
to the burial ground, with orders to
dig a hole under the wall, in the spot already
described. The other servants, (with the exception
of one, detained to attend the assembly,)
accompanied by six elders, chosen by
lot, were deputed to follow with the corpse,
and see it interred, in the manner appointed N4r 139
for the burial of apostates. The assembly
agreed to remain sitting until their return.

While scenes so momentous, and so destructive
to her peace, were transacting in
the vestry of the synagogue, the widowed
Gertrude, unconscious of the mournful fact,
or the extent of calamity about to rush on
her, as it were, with overwhelming power,
sat in her solitary chamber, counting the
weary moments of her husband’s absence
with restless anxiety. In this state of miserable
and heart-torturing suspence, she felt
hour after hour wear heavily away, and still
he came not.

The approach of midnight, without the
appearance of Raphael, who had faithfully
promised to return direct to her, as soon as
he should be dismissed from the vestry, at
length aroused Gertrude, and changed anxious
expectation into feelings of the wildest
alarm.

Already much worn by the agitating communications
of the preceding night, and subsequent
want of rest, she felt no longer able
to endure the terrible excitement of indefinite
but fearful anticipation, that fell so heavily N4v 140
on her deeply wounded heart; and, determined
at once to ascertain the worst, she
threw her veil and mantle hastily about her,
and descended from her chamber, with the
intention of proceeding to the synagogue in
search of her husband.

Gertrude had unclosed the door of her
cottage, and stood on the very spot from
whence she had so lately watched him, whom
she was mysteriously destined never again to
behold, when her steps were suddenly arrested
by an aged Rabbi, who, in gentle accents,
requested her to return to the house, as he
was the bearer of a message from the vestry-
meeting.

The Rabbi who thus accosted Gertrude
was the elder of the three who had sought
to preserve the life of her husband. The
council of elders, while waiting the return of
their deputies, had come to a decision respecting
Gertrude; and it being necessary to make
the event of the evening, and its result, as
connected with her future situation, known
to her immediately, the kind-hearted Rabbi
Joel had volunteered the performance of this
affecting duty.

The elders had decided that, if the widow
had no knowledge of her husband’s apostacy,
she should be honourably maintained by the
elders, as a descendant of Rabbi Samuel, and
a faithful daughter of Israel, and receive from
the whole community all possible attention
and sympathy; but if she was privy to, and
had concealed it, however sincere in her own
adherence to Judaism, they unanimously resolved
to banish her from Lissau for ever,
and give her only three days to prepare for
her departure.

Rabbi Joel communicated these sad tidings
to the bereaved one with great tenderness
and delicacy; and it was an affecting
sight to see the aged man weep over her who
could not, at that dreadful moment, weep for
herself.—But over this scene a veil must be
drawn; the first agony of a widowed heart is
too sacred for description.—Who could calmly
delineate it?

Though the burial of Raphael was conducted
in the depth of night, it was witnessed
by one deeply interested in his fate.
Father Adrian had sought him, on the preceding
evening, in the forest. That night, N5v 142
he had been to Lissau to visit a sick Catholic
peasant, and was returning to his convent,
intending, however, though it was late, to
visit first the usual spot, lest Raphael had
any farther communication to make, and
might be disappointed.

In passing near the Jewish burial-ground,
a low, but distinct sound of human voices,
as in conversation, proceeding from within
it, and the gleam of torches flashing in the
distance, arrested his attention. He drew
near the wall, which, being on that side but
parapet high, allowed of a clear view over
the vast cemetery, and from under which the
sound had issued. The night was very dark;
but, by the light of torches held by one of the
men, he distinctly saw the other digging a
deep hole, which did not resemble a grave,
being deeper and wider. The Father, who
had a very bad opinion of Jewish morality,
believed the men were engaged in concealing
some illicit treasure; and he was about to
quit the spot in disgust, not being able to
comprehend their discourse, which was carried
on in the Jewish dialect, when a procession,
advancing from the principal gate next N6r 143
the town, rivetted his attention, and chained
him to the place. Alas! he knew not how
powerfully he was about to be interested in
the midnight scene.

When the group who had just entered
reached the place beneath the wall, where
the men were stationed, they halted, and
then Father Adrian discerned that the two
who walked first, bore between them a heavy
bag or sack, which they deposited close to
the hole that had been dug.

The astonished Father was not left an
instant to his own conjectures respecting
the contents of the sack. It was immediately
opened, and a dead body drawn
from it with the most significant marks of
abhorrence and contempt!

Father Adrian was about to utter an exclamation
of horror, without reflecting on
his own situation, in such a lovely spot and
among such an assemblage, when a beam of
the torch fell on the face of the corpse, and
discovered to him the distorted features of
Raphael! At this piteous and unexpected
sight, all his faculties seemed bound up in
agonizing terror, and he remained an appalled N6v 144
but silent spectator of the scene that
followed.

The elders ranged themselves round the
aperture, while the servants of the synagogue
lowered the body perpendicularly into
it, habited as it was; in doing so, a parcel
fell from the folds of the girdle; it was the
packed intended for Rome, which the elders
claimed. When the corpse was deposited
upright in the grave, each person present
threw on it a large stone, and with furious
gestures, uttered an exclamation, quite unintelligible
to the father. The hole was then
quickly filled up, stones were piled on it,
and the whole party left the burial-ground.

It was long ere the father sufficiently recovered
the shock he had received to return
to the convent, and relate what he had seen.
After performing a solemn mass for the departed,
the superior drew up all the particulars
known to him of the case, and forwarded
it by the hands of father Adrian,
to the Archbishop of Gnesna, but the Jews
of Lissau, had prevented inquiry, by means
of one of the wardens of the synagogue, who
was factor to the most powerful nobleman O1r 145
in the palatine, and as the Orphans had no
relatives at Lissau, and the Superior was
ignorant of the means by which Raphael
met his death, and could not therefore substantiate
any direct accusation, the subject
soon dropped without further consequences.

The brothers, who so earnestly desired to
save Raphael, could not desert his widow.
They exerted their influence on her behalf,
and sent her in the waggon prepared for
Raphael’s departure, to Berlin, in the care
of a faithful servant of the departed. They
placed in the hands of the servant money for
her maintenance, and letters to a correspondent
at Berlin, and declared that they would
never forsake her.

The object of this tender and pious care
was, however, not conscious of the generous
solicitude felt for her. From the trying
night of her widowhood, she had never
shewn any signs of recollection. She was
perfectly harmless and quiet, but appeared
not to know any person. She performed,
mechanically, whatever was required of her
when spoken to, but at all other times was
listless and motionless. A settled paleness O O1v 146
sat on her delicate features, nor ever after
did a tint of colour revisit them. She was,
in truth, a most affecting spectacle of hopeless
and speechless woe; nor could those
about her, by any effort, arouse her from a
state of inanition so appalling. Nevertheless,
it was, in reality, far preferable to the
poignant agony she would have felt, had she
been conscious of her situation.

Chapter XIV.

The family at Berlin, to whose care the
generous brothers had consigned the widowed
Gertrude, received her with sympathetic kindness,
for they also had recently drank deeply
of the cup of domestic calamity, having followed
to the grave their only child, in the
bloom of her youth, cut off suddenly, on the
eve of her marriage, by a malignant fever.

Rabbi Josiah was in easy circumstances;
he held the place of chief singer at the synagogue,
and also that of leader of the royal
private band of musicians, on account of
which office, he lived in a good house near
the palace. In sentiment, he was tolerant O2 O2v 148
and benevolent. His wife Adela was one of
the most amiable and intelligent women
among the Jewesses of Berlin. They both
appeared to find a solace in the attentions
they delighted to shew the unconscious sufferer
cast on their care. She was placed in
a retired and commodious apartment, under
the care of an able nurse; to which was added,
the best medical assistance. The money forwarded
to them by the brothers, for her use,
they laid up untouched for future contingencies,
and retained in their house the faithful
servant of their charge.

Time, and the most unremitting attention,
at length had its usual effect on the health
of Gertrude; and, by slow degrees, her shattered
mind experienced a partial recovery.
On certain topics, however, she was neither
capable of conversing, or even thinking,
without danger of a relapse; and they were
therefore studiously avoided in her presence.
From the first night of her widowhood, to
the latest period of her existence, a smile
was never seen on her features; they retained
their beauty, but were entirely devoid
of expression,—pale, calm, and passionless; O3r 149
resembling, in their cold regularity, the chiselled
loveliness of an exquisite statue. Her
manner was equally quiet and composed;
almost unnaturally so, when contrasted with
the originally deep sensibility of her character,
and the severity of her trials. Her native
habits of religious devotion returned
with added force, from the suspension they
had undergone, and she passed her time
chiefly in observances the most austere.
But even these acts were now performed in
a cold and regular manner. Her heart appeared
to have been frozen within her since
that memorable night,—that heart once so
sensitive and tender.

No persuasion could ever induce Gertrude
to enter a synagogue; her own chamber was
her only oratory. She would, however, readily
attend the sick, the dying, and the
abodes of the bereaved, but more especially
those of windows. She had, on recovering
her reason, clothed herself in the mourning
garb of widowhood, which she continued
till the day of her death. But, though she
thus arrayed herself, she never adverted to
her husband, or any event connected with O3 O3v 150
him; and her kind protectors were too delicate
to allude to a subject she so evidently
avoided.

The internal divisions of unhappy Poland
at length determined the so long protracted
departure of the brothers from Lissau. They
quitted that place for England; and, in their
way to it, accompanied by their families,
passed through Berlin, intending, if she were
willing, to include Gertrude in the travelling
party. Her present protectors, however, were
not willing to relinquish their charge, but
promised, in the event of any unforeseen
change, to remember the generous offer.

Six years from the time of Gertrude’s arrival
at Berlin, during which no change took
place in her mind or habits, Rabbi Josiah
died, and his widow, with her charge, whom
she loved with a mother’s tenderness, sought
England’s favoured shores, attended by the
servant of Gertrude.

On their arrival, the brothers welcomed
the widows with all the hospitality and munificence
of their native character, and bestowed
on them the kindest attentions.
Adela did not long survive her arrival; but O4r 151
Gertrude, though she shared in the melancholy
duty of paying the last honours to he
departed, did it in the same frigid manner
that characterised all her conduct. The
brothers offered her an asylum in the bosoms
of their families, at her own choice, but she
steadily declined it, even after death had
carried away her aged and faithful servant,
whom she replaced by a young orphan girl,
who had no other recommendation to her
favour, but that she was friendless and destitute.

Years passed on, without making any alteration
in Gertrude. She continued to attend
the sick, and, where calamity was to be
found within her knowledge, there was Gertrue.
Her noiseless step, vigilant care, and
untiring attention, made her a most useful
auxiliary in the chamber of disease; and
among the poor she was wont to share, with
an unsparing hand, the gifts of providence,
of which, from her simple and abstemious
habits, she needed so little for her own use.

In letters received by the brothers
from friends and correspondents at Lissau,
among whom was the aged Rabbi, already O4v 152
mentioned, as voting with them respecting
Raphael, they were apprized of changes in
their native place. The sudden death of Rabbi
Jonathan, attributed to the effect of a too long
protracted voluntary fast, and the peculiar
mildness and amiability of his successor, were
among these changes. The old Rabbi also
mentioned a singular circumstance, that had
occurred a very short time before the death
of the presiding Rabbi. Some persons mentioned,
in his presence, that the ground
where Raphael had been interred had been
recently turned over, and the stones that
were on it thrown aside, though the night-
watchers had not seen any person near the
spot, and were unable to account for it.
Rabbi Jonathan ordered the grave to be examined,
and it was found empty. On the
heap of stones, however, was discovered a
vellum scroll, on which was inscribed the
following words, in the Latin language:

“Let those who have shed innocent blood
be Anathema Maranatha!”

Rabbi Jonathan suspected who were the
authors of this deed, but his death prevented
his noticing it as he intended; and his successor O5r 153
prudently declined interfering respecting
it.

The brothers were affected by this anecdote,
but they did not impart it to Gertrude,
unwilling to risk arousing any latent feeling
in her chilled heart, even were it possible to
effect it.

The time however approached, when that
heart, so long passionless and still, was to
awaken to a sense of thrilling agony, ere its
pulsations ceased for ever.

It was so ordered in the dispensations of
Providence, that Gertrude was engaged in
attending on the mother of a large family,
lying under the influence of an infectious
fever. The ceaseless care of Gertrude was
instrumental in saving her patient; but her
recovery was tedious, and she would by no
means hear of the departure of Gertrude
from the house, clinging to her with almost
infantine weakness, the consequence of her
late sufferings. Gertrude therefore took up
her abode, for the present, with the family
who were so deeply indebted to her.

She was sitting one morning in the parlour
with Louisa, the eldest daughter of her patient, O5v 154
a beautiful girl, just sixteen, when she
witnessed a scene not uncommon among the
Jews.

A young man, who had sought the hand
of Louisa in marriage, and been rejected by
her parents and self, entered the apartment
where Gertrude and Louisa were sitting, accompanied
by two men, and, throwing a ring
into the lap of Louisa, said, hastily,

“I wed thee with this ring, according to
the law which Moses commanded Israel.”

He then called Gertrude and his two companions
to witness the espousal.

In the first emotion of astonishment at the
suddenness of the transaction, Louisa had
suffered the ring to rest where it had been
cast; but, recovering herself, she threw it
indignantly from her, and exclaimed,

“I reject alike thy token and thee!”

The bold young man, nothing daunted,
told her, in a tone of triumph, that her rejection
was a little of the latest, and then,
with her witnesses, left the house, saying he
would soon return to claim his wife.

A proceeding so audacious roused the displeasure
of Louisa’s friends, and they laid O6r 155
their complaint before the elders of the community
they belonged to, requesting the
young female might be released from a bond
neither she nor her relatives could think of
sanctioning.

To dissolve this illegal espousal was not,
however, found so easy as had been anticipated.
The male witnesses swore that Louisa
had not evinced any symptom of dissent.
She strenuously denied their assertion, and
referred for the truth of her statement to
Gertrude, who was with her at the time.

Testimony so contradictory required farther
evidence, and the presiding Rabbi adjourned
the decision until Gertrude had been
heard. A requisition for her presence at the
vestry on the following evening was therefore
sent to her.

When the request to attend the meeting
was communicated to Gertrude by the messenger
of the synagogue, he was astonished
at the effect it appeared to have on one so
quiet and composed. She trembled violently,
and a terrified expression passed over
her cold damp brow. Anxious to reassure
her, he declared that she had no cause of O6v 156
uneasiness,—no blame attached to her in
this affair; but, as the testimony given was
at complete variance, the elders were desirous
to hear her account, ere they consented
to dissolve the espousal.

Gertrude made no reply. From that moment
she neither ate nor slept; the soothing
attentions of those around her were unheeded.
Some absorbing idea seemed to have taken
complete possession of her mind, but she
concealed its nature, with the cunning of
incipient madness, and none about her could
penetrate the mystery.

When the next evening came, Gertrude
accompanied the friends of Louisa to the
synagogue in silence, but apparently composed.
When they reached the vestibule
leading to the vestry, she was observed to
shudder, but uttered no remark, nor replied
to any address made to her. After a time,
she seemed more calm, but a deep gloom
sat on her brow. On her name being called,
she arose, and followed the messenger into
the vestry with a slow, but firm step. A
touching solemnity attended all her motions.
She passed onward to the long table, on P1r 157
each side of which were ranged the elders,
and at their head the presiding Rabbi. She
surveyed the assembly with a rapid but
piercing glance, and was about to take a
seat, pointed out by the messenger, when
her eye rested on an elder near her, who
was habited in the Polish dress, and in his
girdle was slung an Indian handkerchief of
yellow silk. This, though purely incidental,
arrested her attention, and appeared to cause
a revulsion in her whole frame. Her eye
flashed a wild lustre,—her features assumed
a livid hue,—her bosom heaved as in mortal
agony;—she essayed to speak, but the sounds
she uttered resembled nothing human;—at
length she emitted a cry so appalling, that
all present arose in terror, and was borne
from the vestry in frightful convulsions.

As the testimony of Gertrude was thus
awfully prevented, the cause was compromised,
and Louisa emancipated from her
enforced and unjust engagement, by the
forfeiture of a sum, fixed by arbitration,
to the mercenary and worthless suitor.

From her fearful attack the unhappy Gertrude
never recovered. She lingered some P P1v 158
hours in a raving state; and her constant allusions
to her murdered husband affected all
about her, and seemed to throw some light
on the immediate cause of her sufferings.
At length she sunk beneath their violence,
without recovering her consciousness; and
the watchers considered the moment of her
departure, amidst the usual death cry, a mandate
of mercy.

On the ground floor room of a mean looking
house, situated in the long dirty lane,
now known as Middlesex Street, in Whitechapel,
lived the parents of Reuben Hart; Q4v 176
which humble apartment they had occupied
from the day of their marriage.

Aaron Hart was a Polish Jew, of mean
extraction, illiterate and poor. He came to
England at an early age, at the death of his
parents, hoping to earn a more comfortable
subsistence, in a country of whose riches he
had heard much, than he could expect to do
at Bielsk, his native place.

Having but little money, he was compelled
to undertake this long and difficult
journey on foot, reserving his scanty store to
provide food on the road, pay for his voyage
when he reached Holland, and subsist on
when he arrived in London, where he was
completely unknown.

Many were the trials of this poor young
Jew, as he patiently pursued his long and
arduous journey. Sometimes, indeed, he
met the light waggons, in which his countrymen
conveyed their merchandise to various
fairs, and was invited to ride with
them as far as their route was the same;
and those were bright prosperous days to
the young traveller. But, much more frequently,
insult, oppression, and neglect, Q5r 177
were his portion;—well, if it had been only
the latter.

Arrived in Germany, his trials increased.
Into some towns he was not allowed to
enter, and thereby compelled to take a large
circuit, ere he could regain the broken line
of his route. In other towns, he might remain
during the day, but, when night approached,
was driven forth as if he were a
noxious animal. At many turnpikes he was
detained to pay, out of his slender store, a
tax, levied in common on asses, swine, and
Jews. At length the patient Jew reached,
in safety, those favoured shores where his
nation had, indeed, suffered long and deeply
in past times, but where a noble and generous
tolerance, the effect of purer religious
light, had long since made great, though not
entire, amends.

On his arrival in London, the genuine
kindness and hospitality invariably shewn
by the Jews to the poor, the friendless, and
the stranger, were of course extended to
Aaron Hart. He soon became domesticated
in a small furnished garret. Being unacquainted
with any regular trade, he employed Q5v 178
his small stock of money in buying
and selling cast-off clothes. He was industrious;
and, after a time, his upright conduct
gained him encouragement. He lived
abstemiously, a very uncommon trait in a
Jew, and resolutely abstained from cards, so
favourite a diversion among these people; so
that, at the end of two years, he ventured to
marry. He had then just completed his
twentieth year.

The young female selected by Aaron Hart
was, like himself, an orphan. She was an
English Jewess, both by birth and descent,
but of a family equally obscure as his own.
Having, however, had a little schooling during
the life of her parents, she could read
English tolerably, and even write a legible
hand,—a very rare case among the Jewish
poor of that day, or even their superiors.
She lived in service, and had, by prudence
and industry, contrived to save ten pounds
from her wages, as a marriage portion. Jemima
Cohen was therefore considered a desirable
match.

In the Sabbath afternoon excursions constantly
made, by the Jews of both sexes in Q6r 179
humble life, of that day, during the summer
months, to places of public resort, Jemima
had always the largest train of admirers, vying
with each other for the honour of paying
for her refreshments, and conducting her
round the gardens, until the close of the
Sabbath allowed them to settle their respective
reckonings, as the Jews do not lay out
money on the Sabbath.

Aaron and Jemima, from the day when
they signed the contract of betrothment,
which was just three months before their
marriage, and on the day that Jemima was
nineteen, were industrious in collecting furniture
for one room. More than that their
highest ambition sought not. Their mutual
savings did much, but not all that was requisite.
Jews are subjected, by their religious
observances, to many indispensable
expences, which Christians, in the same
sphere of life, neither require, nor can form
any idea of. However, the young couple
were not disheartened; they hired a large
room in a respectable tavern, provided there
a liberal entertainment, and a band of musicians
for the customary ball. They then invited Q6v 180
so large a party to celebrate their nuptials
that, when the wedding gifts were disposed
of to defray the expences incurred,
there remained a surplus of twelve pounds,
for the newly married pair to trade with.

Aaron Hart had not been mistaken in his
opinion of Jemima, when he chose her as his
wife. She proved a treasure to him. Her
temper was equal and cheerful, her heart
kind and benevolent; and she was remarkably
industrious. Frequently she cleaned
and repaired the clothes he purchased, so as
greatly to enhance their original value. She
also contributed to their earnings, by purchasing
fish, and exposing it for sale in her
window, cut in slices, and fried. In time,
she was also enabled to add Dutch cucumbers
and Spanish olives, articles of which the
Jews are fond, and which the poor can only
obtain when thus retailed in small quantities.
There were other Jewish women near Jemima
in the same lane, who also prepared and
sold the like articles, but she succeeded best,
for more than one reason.

The dirty state of most of the rooms in that
miserable lane was proverbial; but Jemima’s R1r 181
apartment was peculiarly neat and comfortable,
and, in that quarter, certainly, had no
equal. Once a year, indeed, in putting
away the leaven, and preparing for passover,
a great deal of scouring and white-washing
necessarily took place, and the noise and
clatter of the Jewesses scared the casual
passenger, while their apartments, for a week
or two, looked like decent habitations, after
which they were suffered to relapse into
their usual state, till the annual scouring
riot revolved. But Jemima’s room looked,
as her neighbours sometimes said, like passover
all the year round. The ceiling was
white; the walls coloured a bright pink; the
grate shining; the floor delicately clean; as
were also the two small dressers, for keeping
distinct the wares used for butter and meat.
The furniture, though only walnut tree, was
kept extremely nice; and all this was done
without bustle, or any apparent effort, by the
tidy wife, who neither wasted her time in
gossipping nor cards.

The fish intended for sale were placed on
bright pewter dishes, to keep them firm and
cool, and set before the open window, on a R R1v 182
table covered with a cloth of snowy whiteness;
and Jemima could with truth recommend
them, for they were well cleaned, dried,
floured, dipped in egg-batter, and fried in
pure olive oil. Though her profits, in consequence,
did not appear to be as great as
those of her neighbours, who used tumeric
and rape oil, they were in reality more, for
she quickly sold all she could possibly manage
to get ready daily, without neglecting
other things,—and she was content.

While the industrious Jemima was thus
contributing her part towards providing the
bread that perishes, Aaron was assiduously
employed in his own laborious calling.
He arose very early every morning, that he
might have time for his religious observances,
before he entered on the toil of the day.
These consisted in reciting the long morning
prayer, after the customary ablutions, having
on his phylacteries,—a duty sacred in his
eyes, and never omitted on any pretext,
though he neither understood the prayers he
offered, nor the meaning of the phylacteries
he wore. He then partook of a breakfast of
bread, fish, and coffee, made ready by his R2r 183
wife, while he was at his devotions; and,
taking with him some slight refreshment,
and his bag, departed for the day.

The calling Aaron followed was far from
pleasant. He was not only exposed daily to
the various changes of a changeful climate,
but also to the many galling, and unprovoked
insults, the poor Jew is liable, continually, to
meet with, from the unthinking, the ignorant,
and the brutal, among the lower order
of nominal Christians. Happily for the
cause of humanity, these cruel prejudices
are fast wearing away among the unreflecting
multitude. But, in Aaron Hart’s day,
a Jew was not, as now, an object of deep interest
to the Christian mind, however spiritual.
There were, indeed, exceptions, for
even then some generous hearts, desirous of
the peace of Jerusalem, and touched with
compassion for her outcasts, yearned over
the degradation of the native olive, once so
flourishing, and remembered, with mingled
humility and awe, that they were grafted on
its ruin, and in its place. These Christian
philanthropists, however, were then, Alas!
but comparatively few; and the oppressed R2 R2v 184
and insulted Jew, confirmed in his deep-
rooted antipathy, by conduct so little in
keeping with the genius of true Christianity,
retorted, with acrimony, the opprobium cast
on him by his oppressors, and felt a malicious
consolation, in the belief that Goyim
were not reckoned among the holy nation,
and therefore had no share in the resurrection
unto eternal life.

Aaron Hart had long been known in the
walk he daily trod. Time had stamped the
probity of his dealings, and increased his
trade. He acquired the appellative of Honest
Aaron,—was proud of the distinction,
and never forfeited his right to it, though his
brethren in trade often sought to draw him
aside, and once actually hooted him through
the streets, because, having found a guinea
in the lining of a garment, he had purchased
at a gentleman’s house, he returned with it
to the owner. Aaron, however, went on in
his own quiet way; and found, on all occasions,
that honesty, as it is the best, so it is
also the safest policy.

When Aaron had completed his daily
walk, and returned to the city, his work was R3r 185
not yet finished. He had still to attend the
afternoon fair near Tower Hill, and never returned
home till the close of day, either in
winter or summer. Home is not always
made, as it ought to be, the most alluring
spot, to an industrious poor man,—in this
case, it was truly so. Home, with its humble
comforts, richly repaid Aaron for the trials
of the day, whether successful of the reverse,
—whether passed in winter’s roughness or
summer’s heat. A comfortable arm chair
invited him to repose his weary frame; slippers,
a loose wrapping gown, and a hot meal
to refresh him, were provided by his cheerful
wife, who anticipated all his wants and
wishes, by those dear and nameless attentions
that affection alone can bestow; which
wealth cannot purchase, nor poverty exclude.

The time when the apartment of this
lowly, but happy pair, was seen to most advantage,
was on the Sabbath or festivals.
Then, the religious preparation visible in it,
was interesting, to such as desire to observe,
minutely, the ancient people.

On Friday, Aaron always returned an hour R3 R3v 186
before the Sabbath, that he might have time
to put on his best garment, and repair to
synagogue. As he always wore the Polish
dress, his appearance, at these times was attractive
and picturesque. His robe was composed
of fine black velvet, fastened in front
with silver hooks. His girdle was silk, and
its long ends fringed. His cap was a rich
sable, brought from his native country; and
the whole of his costume was formed of the
best materials, and carefully kept for Sabbaths
and festivals; his every day garb,
though made in the same fashion, was only
black serge.

When Aaron returned from the short synagogue
service of the Sabbath eve, he was
rarely without a companion; for he made it
a rule, every week, to invite a needy Jew to
share his Sabbath comforts, which, of course,
included the next day. During his short
absence, Jemima had made the customary
arrangements which devolve on Jewish women.
The bright brass lamp, with its seven
burners, suspended from the centre of the
ceiling, was replenished with pure olive oil,
and lit up at the appointed moment. A R4r 187
white cloth covered the table, to denote that
it was the Sabbath eve. On the table were
the loaves of Sabbath bread, made by Jemima.
The broken end of one of them manifested
that she had not forgotten the tythe.
The loaves were covered with a square of
satin, richly embroidered, and fringed with
gold lace. This antique relic had been in
Jemima’s family for three generations. Next
the bread was a small silver cup for the consecrated
wine, and a salt cellar, because salt
is always added, in accordance with the commandment.

On the return of her husband and his
guest, the blessing, and distribution of the
bread and wine, followed; and a plentiful
supper was served by the hospitable hostess.
The males then sung hymns for the Sabbath,
during the rest of the evening.

As the Jews are not allowed, by their traditions,
to meddle with light or fire on the
Sabbath, the poor would be in a pitiable situation,
in winter especially, not having Gentile
servants; but, among the Jewish poor,
there are Gentile women who go to a certain
number of houses, to light and keep in the R4v 188
fires. Each family pays a mere trifle, but the
number of them make up a sum sufficient to
remunerate the woman thus employed. She
is denominated by them the Sabbath Goya.

It is a curious fact that, though this person
is so very necessary to the comfort of
her employers, they despise her, and have a
meaner opinion of her than of any other
Gentile, because she earns her bread by an
act which in itself is sinful, in their creed,
and at once marks her as one having no part
in the holy covenant.

The close of the Sabbath among the poor
is usually followed by card playing,—and the
Sunday also, as people who gain their living
in the street cannot work on the Christian
Sabbath. But Aaron and his wife seldom
engaged their time in this universal habit;
they therefore employed the time in industry,
and Aaron generally embraced the opportunity
of attending the three daily services of
matins, afternoon, and vespers, in the synagogue.

In the second year of their marriage, Aaron
and his wife rejoiced together, with grateful
hearts, on the birth of a son. They celebrated R5r 189
the eighth day with a liberal entertainment,
which the presiding Rabbi honoured
by his presence; and the happy parents were
cordially congratulated on the sex of their
infant, for whom an earnest petition was offered
by all present, that he might grow up
a faithful Israelite, a good son, and, in the
course of time, perform, with true filial devotion,
the solemn Caudish for the authors of
his being. The presiding Rabbi, who was
also the Moel,Open note 15Back to note ¹⁵ joined in the prayer, and
gave his benediction to the babe, who received
the name of Reuben, in memory of
his paternal grandfather.

Chapter II.

The infant Reuben experienced from Jemima
that maternal tenderness and care for
which Jewish women are proverbial. Nor
was he less dear to his father, who, as soon
as the child could lisp the difficult words,
taught him to recite, morning and evening,
the short Hebrew formula used by Jewish
children while very young.

Having no more children, Reuben was the R6r 191
idol and pride of his parents; but they had
sufficient prudence not to let their affection
injure the object of it. They kept him carefully
from the streets, and the contagion of
promiscuous companions; two evils, so hurtful
to the children of the poor, whether Jew
or Gentile.

The parents of Reuben were desirous of
instruction for their son, but they were too
poor to engage a private tutor for him. In
those days, however, the celebrated, (though
indigent) Rabbi Moses ben Gershon, kept a
school for teaching Hebrew and Rabbinical
learning, within a few doors of their habitation,
and Reuben was placed there as soon
as he had completed his fourth year; Jemima,
though the distance was so trifling, making
a point of conveying him to, and fetching
him from the school, daily. In the English
language she was his instructress, as far as
she was able. Aaron, though himself illiterate,
always examined his son’s progress in
the evening; and both parents were assiduous
to store his young mind with homely, but
useful moral maxims, illustrated by many an
ancient Jewish legend, which rendered these R6v 192
lessons extremely attractive, and fixed them
more permanently in the memory of Reuben.
Nor were the weightier matters omitted, of
filial obedience, and what, in their creed,
constituted his duty towards God and his
neighbour.Open note 16Back to note ¹⁶ Several local observances were
also taught by these careful parents, in their
evening leisure; such as diligently collecting
and burning crumbs that fall at meal-times,
it being reckoned a sin to tread under foot
the provision given by the Almighty, and
consecrated by the blessing asked on it.
(In Poland, they consider their observance so S1r 193
needful, that most families keep a tame fowl
in their apartments, to pick up the fragments
that escape their own search,)—to attend to
the daily ablutions,—to dispose, in the usual
manner, of the cuttings of his hair and nails,
that the malignant spirits might gain no
power over him,—never to touch the Scriptures
with unwashed hands, or lay them in
unclean places,“—to gather and preserve, in
ment, on which the name of God has been
either written or printed,—never to erase the
letters, or suffer them to be destroyed, whether
the name be expressed or described as
Jehovah, (not pronounced as it is written,
from respect to its sanctity, but ‘Havajah’), or
Adonai, El, Elohim, Eloha, Elohoi, Shaddai,
Tsebaoth,—”Open note 20Back to note ²⁰to repeat, the very last thing before
going to sleep, his name,—verse from the
Psalms,—and many other observances taught
unto children in their nonage, during which
their parents are considered liable for their
transgressions.

Reuben had been three years under the
tuition of Rabbi Moses, when his parents began
to think of removing him. He was not
intended for a Rabbi, and would have to labour
for his subsistence; they therefore considered
his education sufficiently advanced
for the lowly sphere he was born to move in.
He was, besides, in his eighth year; an intelligent
boy, and competent to be extremely
useful to his parents. Aaron, however, who
looked forward with the natural pride of
a fond father, to the day of his son’s confirmation,
(an important era to a Jewish
youth), determined that he should continue
to attend his Rabbi in the evenings, that
he might pass the anticipated ordeal with
honour.

Such were the intentions of Reuben’s parents;
and thus man, a frail creature, “‘crushed
before the moth, lays his plans, and builds
his house for many years to come, forgetting
that his native foundation is dust, and his
material perishing clay’! Happy those whose
foundation is the Rock of Ages; who, in His
strength, build on ‘the sure mercies of S2r 195
David’; who have ‘the Eternal God for their
refuge’, and, conscious of their creature dependance,
say, ‘“If the Lord will, we shall
perform it!”’”

A calamity, the most unexpected, blighted
the paternal anticipations of Aaron Hart,
at once and for ever; and finally overset all
the happiness that had, hitherto, distinguished
him among his companions; nor did the
subject of it long survive the shock, that fell,
so heavily, on his sensitive heart.

Aaron was returning through Cheapside,
from his westward walk, on a bright summer’s
afternoon, when he observed a lady,
who was going into a shop from her carriage,
which had not been able to draw up
quite close to the door, drop her purse;
Aaron took it up, and not liking to follow
the lady, put the purse into his vest, intending
to await her coming out to return it. A
person passing by saw the transaction without
knowing Aaron’s motive, and immediately
accused him of intending to appropriate
another’s property to his own use. A
crowd quickly gathered. Aaron’s simple
and true statement was not believed. He S2 S2v 196
was a Jew and an old-cloathsman; of course
he intended to carry off the purse; even the
owner was of the same opinion, and Aaron
was taken to the Compter, to have a hearing
of the case before a magistrate.

The previous good character of the poor
Jew,—the number of respectable persons of
his own community, who came forward in
his behalf,—and his own unvarying assertions,
bearing the stamp of genuine truth,—
weighed much in his favour; nevertheless,
he was remanded at first, and, after two
hearings, dismissed with an admonition for
the future.

From the effect of this untoward event
Aaron Hart never recovered. In vain his
affectionate wife, his humble friends, and
even his respected superiors among the Jews,
spoke comfort to his wounded spirit, and declared
their assurance of his perfect innocence.
He had been the inmate of a prison,
—he had been taken as a felon before
a magistrate. These facts had such an effect
on his spirits, that he lost his appetite
and sleep, drooped daily and visibly, and S3r 197
soon exhibited all the appearance of a rapid
decline.

The poor Jemima saw this change, produced
by a sense of unjust suspicion, preying
morbidly on a too susceptible mind, with
bitter sorrow, and used all possible means to
arrest the progress of the insidious disease.
Aaron felt, and acknowledged gratefully,
her tender attentions, but assured her he
could not long survive the disgrace he had
suffered.

“Nor do I wish it, Jemima,” he would say;
“all my pride was, in the honesty of my character.
I meant to leave my boy an unsullied
name, but I have been in prison, suspected
of being a thief. No, I have nothing
more to do in this world!”

Such was the tenor of Aaron’s reply, to
all who sought to console him. Once, only,
he wavered. Jemima, as a last hope, had
brought Reuben to his father, who now sat,
day after day, in his arm chair, listless and
quiet, and evidently fast hastening to the
invisible world. The child, shaking back,
from his fair forehead, the dark clustering
ringlets, and lifting up his brilliant eyes, S3 S3v 198
bathed in tears, to his dying parent, said, in
a sobbing voice,

“Father, dear father, live for me!”

The invalid was deeply touched by these
few simple words. Jemima wept over the
artless pleader in uncontrolled agony. Aaron
looked on them, and all the father and husband
awakened in his bosom. A gleam of
his wonted affection lit up his sunken eyes
and pale face; tears gushed from him, as he
feebly, yet fondly, embraced his darling boy,
and said, in faultering accents,

“My wife, my child, I will try to recover
for your sakes.”

It was, however, too late. The lamp of
life burnt but dimly,—this effort was the
last. From that moment he displayed no
farther sensibility, though he lingered some
days ere he breathed his last.

The poverty of this family was no bar to
the departed being interred with the respect
always paid to a Jew of good character,
whatever his rank in life. There are no
walking funerals among the Jews of England;
and, as the deceased, during his life,
contributed his mite to several pious societies, S4r 199
a coach from each followed the hearse
that conveyed the departed from his lowly
apartment to the Jewish cemetery at Mileend.
The presiding Rabbi, and Rabbi
Moses ben Gershon, were in the first coach,
with the orphan Reuben, whose sensibility
and intelligence greatly interested the spectators.
It was affecting to see the first
mould cast on the father’s coffin by the
weeping boy. On their return to the widowed
mother, to set before her the meal
of eggs and salt, and kindle the memorial
lamp, a fresh burst of grief escaped her,
as she looked on the rent garment of her
fatherless boy; and every heart was touched,
as he threw his little arms about her neck,
and said, with fond earnestness:

“My blessed mother, do be comforted;
I will take care of you, and work for you,
and love you.”

Jemima clasped the beloved one to her
throbbing heart; and, as she gave him the
maternal benediction, dried her streaming
eyes, and endeavoured to appear more composed,
for his sake.

A large concourse of persons visited the S4v 200
lowly apartment during the seven days,
and deep and heartfelt was the sympathy
practically evinced by them, for the interesting
Jemima and her affectionate boy.

Chapter III.

When the seven days of mourning were
completed, the wardens of the synagogue, of
which Aaron had been a freeman, and though
an humble, yet an honorable and consistent
member, offered the widow a weekly allowance.
She however, with a delicacy and
propriety of feeling, sometimes to be met S5v 202
with among the poor, whether Jew or Gentile,
(and which should be fostered wheresoever
it exists) declined it, while health and
strength were continued to her, though she
gratefully acknowledged the wardens kindness.

“My boy” said Jemima, “must earn the
bread he eats, betimes. He is of an age to
work, and would dishonor the memory of his
father, (peace be unto his ashes!) were he
capable of living idly on alms.”

She, nevertheless, readily promised to apply
to the synagogue, should any unforeseen
misfortune render it necessary.

“I have not refused the synagogue allowance
from pride,” she would say to her neighbors,
“but because I have at present no right
to it. The alms’ chest, belongs to the aged,
the sick, the helpless, and the stranger.”

This simple but just way of thinking and
acting, gained for Jemima that respect, which
the humblest virtue is sure to receive. She
had always possessed, from her consistent
conduct, a certain influence over the circle
she moved in; it was not diminished by her
calamity, and her example was not without S6r 203
beneficial results, in several poor families
around her.

The blessing of the Lord appeared to be
on the widow’s cruise. Her fish was in more
request than ever, so that she was able to
retain her humble apartment, endeared to
her by many tender recollections, and she
was careful to pay the weekly rent, that no
arrear might deprive her of it.

On the Sabbath and festival Jemima engaged
an aged and poor Rabbi to preside at
her table, and perform the customary religious
rites, which Reuben was not qualified to
do, until after his confirmation.

After the first melancholy days of her
widowhood Jemima resolutely repressed every
outward expression of grief, that her example
might strengthen the mind of her beloved
boy. Her manner was, therefore, calm and
resigned; but she cherished, in the inmost
recesses of her heart, a feeling of deep tenderness,
for the memory of the departed,
which, effectually, closed every avenue to it
from a second choice, though she was in the
very flower of her life.

From the day of Aaron’s death his place S6v 204
was kept vacant; nor would Jemima suffer
any person to occupy the arm chair he had
been accustomed to fill. Over it she suspended
his sable cap, and carefully laid by
his Polish dress, with its rich silver ornaments,
as a sacred relic, nor could the most
urgent necessity have prevailed with her to
dispose of it. It was in these delicate traits
the lingering feelings of fond regret might
be traced, by those who observed Jemima
with a discerning eye.

Rabbi Moses ben Gershon, generously offered
to retain Reuben at his school, gratuitously.
Jemima left the choice with her
son, notwithstanding her own previous plans,
but Reuben, respectfully, but firmly, declined
his Rabbi’s kindness, and said he wished to
work and assist his mother. His determination
excited no surprise, nor elicited any particular
remark from the Rabbi. Filial duty
is so much a matter of course among the
Jews, that a contrary conduct alone could
have had that effect.

That Reuben should work for his subsistence
had been easily decided, but how he
was to be employed was a question of more T1r 205
difficult solution. He was too young and
inexperienced to follow, at present, his father’s
calling, and had, besides, an aversion
to it. Jemima, at length, at his own request,
purchased for him a basket and some oranges,
that he might try his success in that
way, until something better should offer, or
his age made him capable of a more profitable
undertaking.

Jemima was well aware of the snares and
hard treatment her boy might expect in his
new employ, and gave him therefore, many
lessons on honesty, prudence, and forbearance.
She told him how to manage his little
stock, and where to ply with it; and, with
tearful eyes and an anxious bosom, blessed
her darling child, as she fastened the well
filled basket on him, and saw him depart on
his first essay, with a cheerful countenance,
and with an heart assured of success, because,
as he said, he was in his duty.

At that period prejudices ran high against
the Jewish boys, who sought to gain a livelihood
in the streets. All that is debasing
and dishonest was associated with their very
idea, and indiscriminately applied to them. T T1v 206
It is a melancholy fact that many of them
too well justified by their conduct, the reproach
heaped on them. But, assuredly,
there were some who labored faithfully in
their unenviable calling, and on such undeserved
censure fell heavily. There were then,
and are now many who strive in this manner
to sustain aged, and perhaps, infirm parents;
they come out in the morning, cheered by
the parental blessing, and they need it, to
enable them to bear with patience and forbearance
the sarcastic taunt, the galling reproach,
and the suspicious eye, that they are
sure to be regarded with. Have they no
faults? it may be asked. Alas! very many,
but oppression and contempt, will rather add
too than amend them. Consider how pitiable
is the case of the Jew by nature. Original
sin, which he shares in common with all
the human race, in him takes a deeper dye,
for the fearful rejection of the Lord Jesus
by his Ancestors, mingles with it. Oh rouse
not, by oppression and contempt, the worst
passions of his evil nature; but rather compassionate
his sad case, and seek, by mildness,
persuasion, charity, and above all, by
example to restore and reclaim him!

At the close of evening, Jemima watched
anxiously for the return of her son. He
came at last, weary and dispirited. His
stock of fruit was but little diminished, and
he set down the basket with an air of chagrin.

“Dear Mother,” said he, “what a hard-
hearted people, these Nazarenes are! You
cannot think how they have hunted me.
They asked the price of my oranges, and
offered just half; and some of them called
me, ‘Jew’ and ‘cheat,’ because I refused it.
Oh, mother, I am afraid I shall never be
able to do any good among the Goyim!”

Jemima encouraged the disheartened boy,
and predicted that he would succeed better
when he became known. She reminded him
of the encouragement given to his father,
when he had won the confidence of his customers,
by the probity of his dealings. The
Goyim, she said, had often been defrauded
by the depraved among their people, and
were, therefore, too apt to confound the innocent
with the guilty, and treat them alike;
but she comforted Reuben, by assuring him,
that, eventually, his good conduct would be T2 T2v 208
noticed, and he would then be certain to gain
custom. Meantime the good and prudent
mother, advised patience; and more particularly
exhorted him to be silent when opprobrious
epithets were applied to him, and
not make them his own, by replying to them
in any way; but to repel unmerited insult,
by upright conduct, and thus put his oppressers
to silence.

Jemima farther enforced this judicious
counsel, by an observation that at once found
its way to the heart of her son.

“Your dear father acted so, peace be unto
him!” said she, “and, were he now alive, he
would advise you as I have done.”

Next day Reuben had better speed, he
came home early, with a light heart, and a
basket still lighter; and with filial affection,
poured his grains into his mother’s lap. A
lady had spoken kindly to him, asked him
several questions, and purchased a large
share of his oranges without requiring any
abatement. He had, by her order, taken
them to her house, where she desired him to
call, occasionally, with his fruit. He added
that this kind Goya lady had offered him T3r 209
some broken victuals, for his mother, which
of course he could not accept, it being unclean
to him as a Jew.

This encouragement happened very seasonably,
—just as the commencement of Reuben’s
attempt to assist his mother. It stimulated
him to persevere, and his obliging
manner, clean appearance, and honest dealings,
acquired for him by degrees, some regular
customers. Some of the boys from his
own lane, who were similarly employed,
sometimes attempted to entice him to share
in their vicious pursuits; but Reuben loved
his mother too well to do any thing that
would make her uneasy in any way, and bad
as were some of these boys they respected
his filial piety.

“Let Reuben alone,” they would sometimes
say, “he is the son of an Almona.Open note 21Back to note ²¹
It is his duty to take all he can earn, to his
mother.”

This species of respect to his situation,
was a providential preservation to so young
a boy, amidst the seductive but corrupt examplesT3 T3v 210
that surrounded him, among the youths
of his people. Jemima was thankful to observe
it, and often said, her child was a blessing
to her.

The Jewish poor have great disadvantage,
from the number of holydays they are compelled
to observe in the year. Besides two
days in every week, the Jewish and Christian
sabbath, which latter, may among them
who have shops, or sell cloths, must observe,
there are four days at passover; two at the
feast of weeks; two at the new year; one at
the day of atonement; and four on the feast
of tabernacles. The most depraved among
them will not violate these holy days, by
carrying on any kind of traffic. The elders
of the synagogue, however, are not unmindful
of the straits of their industrious poor,
and they assist them freely in all cases of
the kind. At passover tide, especially, unleavened
bread is given to all who claim it,
at the vestry of the synagogue, and there
are benevolent societies, which provide bread
and meat for the poor on the sabbath. These
matters are exclusive of the liberal assistance
readily afforded to the Jewish poor, from the T4r 211
alms’ chest of their respective communities.
When, therefore a Jewish family is found in
a state of destitution by Christians, they may
be assured some moral delinquency has closed
the hand of charity in their own community.
For it is a positive truth, that the Jews never
neglect their poor; they are sure of relief
from their vestry, besides an overflow of
private benevolence, truly admirable. This
testimony is borne by one who cannot be
suspected of undue partiality to the Jewish
people. There is, indeed, one exception to
the above assertion. Converts to Christianity,
at once forfeit every claim on their Jewish
brethren. There is neither pity nor mercy
for a Meshumed.Open note 22Back to note ²² He may henceforward
starve. He is cast out from the synagogue,
and disclaimed by his people. Such are objects
of compassion; they claim sympathy
from the sincere Christian, and in this highly
favored land, do not claim it in vain!

Chapter IV.

At the next house to Jemima, and in a
larger room on the ground floor, dwelt a family
who were the only living relatives she
had. Iscah Levy was the youngest sister of
Jemima’s mother. She had married very
early in life, and was but eighteen, when she
was left a widow with two children, a son
and daughter. For their sakes she had remained
single, and, by industry, succeeded T5r 213
in procuring education for them, though her
maternal affection degenerated into criminal
weakness; for they were suffered to act just
as they chose; the voice of wholesome reproof
was never heard by these children, and
they grew up with the evil passions of their
nature, unchecked, unpruned, and ready to
effervesce, whenever temptation should call
into action the latent mischief.

Jemima, who was only a very few years
younger than her aunt, frequently remonstrated
with her on this false indulgence of
her offspring, and judiciously represented its
ruinous tendency; but Iscah uniformly replied
to her niece, and others of the same
way of thinking,

“The poor things are fatherless, and I
neither can nor will do any thing to vex
them.”

With herself, this was a conclusive argument;
besides which, she declared they were
dutiful to her, and it was a fact.

Iscah gained her living in the same manner
as Jemima, but she sold many more articles,
such as coffee, olive oil, spices, and the
Dutch cheese, used by strict Jews, and T5v 214
stamped כשר or lawful to be eaten. She was
not, however, so scrupulous in her dealings
as her neice, though she had never been accused
of gross misconduct, but her moral
principles were lax; not so much, perhaps,
from actual want of integrity, as from profound
ignorance. She knew morality in the
gross, but neither defined it as a personal
rule, nor had any perception of its spiritual
influence on the heart or conduct. She had,
however, a large share of pride; and this,
united to a slavish fears of rendering herself
amenable to the laws of the land, acted in
her case beneficially, and in lieu of conscience
and native probity.

Wolfe Levy had been, by his own wish,
apprenticed to a son of Rabbi Moses ben
Gershon, to acquire his trade as a watchmaker;
but, not liking a life of industrious
application, he conducted himself so improperly,
that his master was glad to cancel his
indentures. He then commenced trade as a
travelling pedlar, dealing chiefly in watches
and hardware. Wolfe was an attractive
young man, with an address rather superior
to his class, and pursued his business successfully, T6r 215
veiling, beneath a pleasing exterior,
a corrupt heart and dissolute habits.
He was not highly esteemed among the
community, either as a devout Jew or a very
honest dealer; but he so managed, that no
direct charge could be substantiated against
him in either case; he therefore maintained
his standing in the synagogue, especially as
he so regulated his desultory life, that he
always returned from his journies to be present
at the leading festivals. To his mother,
the conduct of Wolfe was unexceptionably
dutiful. The natural artifice of his character
had no place in aught that concerned
her. He loved her sincerely, and even passionately,
delighting to deck her in trinkets,
far above her lowly station, and which,
though she suspected it not, were not always
fairly acquired. Nevertheless, Wolfe acted
with caution. Pride and servile fear influenced
his mother, and filial affection operated
in the same manner on him, and produced
the same result. He could not bear the idea
of afflicting her maternal heart.

Matilda Levy was of a disposition and
character entirely differing from those of her T6v 216
mother and Wolfe, and quite unlike any of
the Jewesses of her class. In personal
beauty, she had few equals. Tall, and elegantly
formed, the majesty of her figure was
in perfect keeping with her regularly beautiful,
but not feminine, features. Ambition
was the master passion of Matilda’s heart;
It sparkled in her brilliant black eyes,—sat
triumphantly on her finely arched brow,—
and flashed, in proud and animated expression,
from every feature of her faultless face.
It preserved her from all that could degrade
or debase her, amidst the contagion of surrounding
depravity, and drew a clear, though
almost imperceptible line, between her and
those she associated with. Religion she
knew only in the external forms. Morality
formed no part of her limited education;
she had, however, a code of her own, which,
such as it was, united with her natural ambition
to keep her from any violation of propriety.
She read and loved romances, and
Shakespeare’s plays, and, from these works,
had formed, for herself, a standard of conduct
emanating from what she considered
elevated examples of virtue and rectitude. U1r 217
To her mother, she was extremely dutiful
and affectionate; and, though conscious
of her superiority, personal and mental,
to those by whom she was surrounded,
her manner was affable and winning; and
in the folds of her heart were concealed
her real opinion of herself and her associates.

Matilda had been taught embroidery by a
distant relative, who gained a respectable
living by it, and employed her constantly,
so that she was at home only on the Sabbaths
and festival, but she brought to her
mother, with mingled pride and pleasure,
the produce of her labour. Nor did she diminish
it for her wearing apparel; with an
energy natural to the masculine turn of
her character, she worked two additional
hours every day at her embroidery frame,
for her clothes, and never suffered her personal
expences to exceed the sum thus obtained.

Iscah, on her part, was equally generous.
Unknown to Matilda, she scrupulously abstained
from infringing on her daughter’s
earnings, and carefully, though secretly U U1v 218
hoarded them as a marriage portion. In the
pride of her heart, she anticipated a time
when the beauty of her daughter would raise
herself and family to a much higher station.
She had, however, in this instance, the prudence
to confine her towering hopes within
her own bosom.

Being so closely related, and residing so
very near, Jemima could not prevent an almost
daily intercourse. Iscah was fond of
Reuben, and frequently requested to have
him in her apartment, when he returned in
the evening from selling his oranges. Jemima
could not always decline this invitation,
but she acceded to it reluctantly, because
she feared the influence of her light
conversation and habits on his young mind;
and besides those evils, Iscah was an inveterate
card-player, and never passed by an
opportunity of indulging the pernicious gratification.
The careful mother, however,
though she commanded Reuben to treat his
aunt with the respect due to her years and
relationship, earnestly sought to guard him
from the contagion of her example; and
the dutiful boy, anxious, above all things, U2r 219
to avoid any possibility of giving pain to
his beloved mother, found his filial affection
an interposing shield from danger, when
under Iscah’s roof. He gave a simple,
but pleasing, proof of this one evening
when he, and several other young persons,
were invited to celebrate Matilda’s anniversary.

After joining in various sports, a round
game of cards was proposed by Iscah, and
joyfully assented to by the juvenile party,
who, with the exception of Reuben, crowded
round the table, to commence their enjoyment.

“Reuben, my dear boy,” said Iscah, as
she arranged the children, “why do you
stop behind? Come and sit by me, that I
may direct your play.”

Reuben blushed and drooped his head,
but did not advance.

“Do you not like cards, cousin Reuben,”
said Matilda, “that you do not join
us?”

Reuben felt a momentary glow of shame,
at the idea of resisting his aunt’s wish, and
also a desire to enjoy, for once, what every U2 U2v 220
one seemed to consider so great a pleasure,
but he recollected his mother, her continual
injunctions, and the pain she would feel if
he disobeyed them. This thought decided
him. Hesitating and blushing no longer, he
replied to his aunt and cousin respectfully,
but firmly.

“I should like very much to play, at least
I think so, but I dare not, because I know
it would grieve my dear mother.”

Iscah knew this also, and she felt the reproof,
thus artlessly given, but made no reply;
and all present readily admitted an excuse
so ingenuous, because of the filial piety
it evinced.

When Jemima was made acquainted with
this simple trait of obedience, her heart rejoiced;
nevertheless, she did not wish to expose
inexperience to frequent temptation;
she therefore saw, with pleasure, the period
arrive when Reuben, being within six months
of his confirmation, devoted his evenings, and
all his leisure time, to prepare for his public
debut, under the tuition of the kind Rabbi
Moses. The relatives of Jemima felt a kind
solicitude for the success of Reuben, more U3r 221
especially as he was, naturally, somewhat
reserved and timid, and the day of confirmation
is a trying one to the boldest Jewish
youth. Wolfe Levy encouraged his cousin,
and predicted that he would come off with
eclat; and Matilda embroidered for him a
scarf and phylactery bag, much too elegant
for his station. Iscah insisted on providing
the feast at her own apartment, which was
somewhat larger than Jemima’s, and it was
accepted, because the widow felt that she
should miss her lamented husband less,
away from her own room.

The important day at length arrived, that
was to enrol Reuben among his nation, and
enable him to preside at his mother’s table
in all that pertained to religion. With
what mingled feelings did the mother fold,
to her fond heart, the duteous child, who
had never wilfully disobeyed or afflicted
her! It was a long and tender embrace;
her tears bathed his face,—her benediction
soothed his heart,—and she yielded him to
his Rabbi.

Reuben, when he first ascended the Olmemmor,
or reading desk, and saw the scroll U3 U3v 222
of the law opened before him, at the portion
he was to chaunt, trembled and turned pale.
Happily, however, at that moment, when the
eyes of all the congregation were upon him,
and a profound stillness reigned around, he
glanced at the latticed gallery. His mother,
feeling as a mother only can feel, was there.
Her anxiety, however, was concealed in the
depth of her heart; Reuben only saw her
smiling lip and took encouragement; the
effect was powerful and decisive. He saw,
in the thronged assembly, only his beloved
mother, and went through his duty in a
manner seldom equalled.

The momentary hesitation of Reuben, and
his pale looks, had not prepared the bystanders
for a success so complete, and many
congratulations were paid to the youth and
his gratified Rabbi, who accompanied the
guests invited to Iscah’s apartment, where
an entertainment awaited them, rather
proportioned to her pride than her means.
When Jemima and her son first met, one
sentiment seemed to govern them. They
mingled their tears for the lost husband
and parent, to whom this would have U4r 223
been so proud a day. All present sympathised
in the affecting recollection, and
suffered nature to relieve herself awhile,
after which, joy and festivity were promoted
in honour of the important day.

Chapter V.

A short time after the confirmation of Reuben,
he represented to his mother the anxiety
he felt to assist her more effectually than the
very moderate profit attached to the sale of
oranges could do; but, as heretofore, there
was much difficulty in deciding how he could U5r 225
most profitably employ himself. Jemima had
long desired to see her son acquire a regular
trade, but she could not accomplish an apprentice
fee, and Reuben, with tears, besought
her not to think of it.

“No, mother dear,” said he, “I cannot be
bound for seven years, and suffer you to work
for me, that cannot be thought of, for a moment;
it is my duty and my delight to work
for you, and so that it be honestly, I care not
how hard the labor.”

Jemima wept, but her’s were not tears of
sorrow. The festival of the new year approached,
and they concluded to form their
decision when that holy-day and the others,
so quickly succeeding it, were over.

When Iscah heard what had passed, she
strenuously advised her neice to let Reuben
adopt the same calling as her son, so successfully
carried on, and which was in those days,
much more profitable than it is at the present
time.

Wolfe who had, as usual, returned for the
holidays, warmly seconded the advice of his
mother, and offered to take Reuben with him
on his next journey, in order to initiate him U5v 226
in the pedlary trade. Jemima, after much
thought, seeing no better mode of employ for
the present, gave a reluctant consent, that he
should accompany Wolfe after the holidays.
She had not indeed a very high opinion of
her cousin, but, as she knew no positive ill
concerning him and had much confidence in
the principles of her son, she endeavoured to
hope all would be well.

At the time of Reuben’s confirmation,
several of the elders of the synagogue, who
much respected his mother, had made her
little gifts on Reuben’s account. They amounted
in all to two guineas. Iscah, at
Matilda’s request added another. This little
store Wolfe undertook to lay out advantageously
for them in small articles of Jewellery,
and Reuben was to make his first journey,
as the nominal servant of Wolfe, that the expence
of a licence, might not be incurred till
it was seen how far Reuben’s success would
justify it.

These matters finally adjusted, the two
families prepared for the solemn festival of
the new year. At this period in every year,
Iscah was quite a different person. Cards U6r 227
were not even heard of in her apartment.
Her customers had reason to be well satisfied
with the articles she sold. No musty olives,
rancid oils, damaged tea or coffee or cheeses,
were then put off, to the unwary or children.
She was then, what Jemima aimed to
be all the year round. Her conversation too,
was quite of another order, serious and even
tinctured with piety; and her voice, at all
other times loud and vivacious, was now
modulated to tones soft, low, and plaintive.
This marvellous effect was solely produced
by superstitious and slavish fear. She believed,
in common with her nation, that on
the eve of the new year, the divine Majesty
of Heaven inscribed in a book, the fate of
every individual for the year, though He did
not seal and confirm His decree, irrevocably,
until the eve of the day of Atonement. To
secure a favorable decree, therefore, was the
cause of a change so striking.

Jemima, as usual, admitted an aged and
poor couple to partake of her homely, but
cordial hospitality at this season. Her choice
fell on her own sex, and she invited two
widows, that she might, without giving offence, U6v 228
have the gratification of seeing her
son perform the religious rites previous to
their holy-day supper.

With sincere, though mistaken devotion,
Reuben on his return from synagogue, and
after he had received his mother’s blessing,
and saluted the whole party with the wonted
greeting of “‘may the Holy and blessed One,
write thy name in the book of life and prosperity!’”
proceeded to bless the cup of wine,
and break and distribute the hallowed bread,
to which is added, on the new year eve, apples,
dipped in honey, with a suitable prayer
or blessing.

The day of Atonement succeeded. It was
the first time Reuben had fully observed its
rigorous fast. Jemima and her son, at the invitation
of Iscah, adjourned to her room to
take their first meal, when dismissed from
the synagogue, at the appearance of the stars,
and by the sound of the Shofar or Trumpet.
On quitting it, friends and relations, exchanged
the congratulations of the new year.
The salutation then was:

“‘May the Holy and blessed One, seal thy
name in the book of life, health, and prosperity.’”

Iscah had during the day wept, and appeared
most penitent and devout, among the
penitents and devotees around her; but all
these feelings seemed to evaporate at the
sound of the trumpet, and on her return
home, after breaking her long fast, she was
gay even to wildness, so transient and hollow
were the religious notions she was guided by.

In the very small yard behind her apartment,
Iscah built a tabernacle every year,
and her less fortunate neighbors used to visit
it in turn every day to repeat a short prayer.
After the plentiful repast, the first stakes for
the temporary erection were driven that night
by Wolfe and Reuben, assisted by neighbors
anxious to share a meritorious work. The
intercalary days, between the day of atonement,
and the festival of Tabernacles, are
days of plenary indulgence; during which,
according to rabbinical tradition, the doings
of the newly absolved people are not noted
in the book of mortal transgressions. Iscah
therefore gave free scope to her customary
enjoyments, especially cards, to which she
devoted herself, until the eve of Tabernacles
put an end to her pursuits.

Jemima, being too poor to purchase a citron,
which with palm branches and myrtle,
are used at morning prayer during the eight
days of this festival, ( Leviticus xxiii, 40.)
had hitherto gone every morning with Reuben,
Iscah, and her children, to the house of
the presiding Rabbi, who allowed the poor
to repeat the customary prayer over his Esrag,
or citron, and Lulav or palm branch,
which latter is of Indian growth.Open note 23Back to note ²³ This
year, however, she was not obliged to go so
far. Wolfe had brought his mother, as a
present, a beautiful citron, and a palm branch
of surprising size. She was delighted to be
the possessor of these costly articles, and
found her pride highly gratified by inviting
her neighbors to avail themselves of it. During
the Choel Hammoed, or intercalary
days of the feast, she had every evening a
large party in her chamber, expressly for
cards; and a Duchess, in her splendid mansion,
surrounded by the élite of rank, fashion,
and beauty, was, perhaps, less truly gay and
happy, than this poor daughter of Israel, X2r 231
amidst her Jewish assembly, in the single
apartment she could call her own.

At last the eighth day, “that great day of
the feast,” arrived. Then the Jews, who keep
it as a solemn festival, carried with them to
the synagogue their citrons, Indian palms, and
sprigs of willow and myrtle; and these were
carried by them in procession round the synagogue,
singing Hosannahs, in honor of the
day. Iscah was delighted to see Wolfe
among them carrying his citron, while Reuben
bore the palm branch, and she called the
attention of her neighbors to her son, who
she truly said was the joy of her heart, and
added that he would, if spared till the next
twelvemonth, be more conspicuous than he
had yet been in the synagogue, though in
what manner she would not disclose, and her
friends were left to their own conjectures.

The holy-days of that period, being now
fully completed, Wolfe began to prepare for
his journey, which was to take place in a
fortnight after. He made the necessary purchases,
had as usual, (rather to avoid scandal
than for any use he made of it, when unobserved
by his Jewish brethren,) his Chalaf X2 X2v 232
examined by the presiding Rabbi, and arranged
a light valise for Reuben, as he alternately
rode and walked when on a journey,
having many customers at farms off the high
roads. His autumn journey was to Bristol;
in spring he visited Hampshire: in summer
the watering places, making three long journies,
besides desultory excursions to various
places nearer to the metropolis. In each of
the principal places where he was accustomed
to make any stay, he kept some culinary
utensils under lock and key, though not at
all scrupulous about his food when safe from
detection. He intended, however, on this
journey, to be guarded, on account of Reuben,
until he had sounded his disposition,
and, by degrees, undermined what he considered
to be superstitious and ridiculous
observances, at first imposed by the Rabbins,
and to be found only in their writings.

In some respects Wolfe thought rightly of
traditional ordinances, and, had he stopped
there, all had been well; but he mingled
things that widely differ, and, in his contempt
of Rabbinical usages, swept away the
line of moral principle and scriptural commands; X3r 233
while artifice and dissimulation had
displaced, in his practice, the rectitude and
candor that should distinguish the dealings
of man with his fellow-man, whatsoever their
respective creed.

Jemima, without suspecting the true character
of Wolfe, who, like the Spartan boy,
strenuously guarded against detection, of
what, nevertheless, he felt no hesitation in
practising, felt sad at heart when the day of
their departure arrived. She gave Wolfe a
most solemn and affecting charge as she led
Reuben to Iscah’s apartment.

“I give you,” said she, “a poor widow’s
only treasure. I commit to your hands all
the comfort I have in this world. Oh Wolfe
be careful of my boy! as you hope to be
bound up in the bundle of life. His principles
are honest; return him to me uncorrupted,
and the blessing of the fatherless
and the widow, shall ascend to the throne of
the Holy One, and open for you the gates of
Gan-Iden.”

Wolfe was touched by this address; he
promised all his aunt had asked; and after
repeated and affecting farewells, Jemima X3 X3v 234
returned to her lonely apartment; which, to
her maternal heart, wore an air of indescribable
desolation, during this, the first, absence
of her darling son.

Chapter VI.

To alleviate, as much as possible the loneliness
of Jemima’s situation, Iscah proposed
that Matilda should return every evening to
share her cousin’s apartment, during the absence
of Reuben, and the considerate offer
was thankfully accepted. After a short time
Matilda, attracted by the exquisite neatness X4v 236
of her cousin’s chamber, and the comforts
her provident management had enabled her
to enjoy in so limited a space, obtained leave
to bring her embroidery frame to Jemima’s
apartment, and pursue there her elegant employ.

When Jemima first occupied her apartment,
she contrived to part off a recess at
the further end of it, by a falling drapery of
green baize; within this space she had placed
her drawers, and one of the walnut sleeping
presses; and thus, though occupying but one
room, she had the convenience of two, and
when Reuben grew up it was his bed-chamber.
Matilda now occupied the well-managed recess,
which received light from the back
window, inclosed in its bounds, and gave
Jemima credit for the adroitness that had
managed to make it a comfortable sleeping-
room. On the drawers was placed an antique
looking-glass, and under the casement
window, (which was shaded by a muslin curtain,
and adorned with sprigs of mint, growing
from bottles hung on the outside,) a
basin stand, furnished with every necessary
for the performance of the many daily ablutions.