send for her to join him, she is free to marry again; but this custom has been abolished in England.
The Jew has no reason to complain of lack of seasons for rejoicing, but days of mourning and sorrow visit him as well as his Gentile brethren. But the manner in which he mourns for the dead is different as regards certain forms from that of the latter, who simply buries his grief in his own heart and suffers it to exhibit itself as little as possible. The coffin is of the simplest construction, and before the lid is placed upon it, a little earth, brought from Jerusalem, is put in. The nearest relatives of the deceased approach in succession, and request pardon of the deceased for any offence they may have given him in his lifetime, and a favourable recollection of them in the world to which he has departed. The Rabbi then makes a slight cut in the upper part of the garments of each mourner, and tears it slightly, and this rent must not be sewn up till after a certain number of days.
No woman is allowed to accompany the corpse to its last resting-place, so that the wailing of women which has chilled the heart of every traveller in the East, and which may be heard even in those islands at the Antipodes where scarcely a European has set his foot, is never heard here now.
It is the custom in our village churchyards to dig the grave from east to west, with the feet towards the former point of the compass, from an idea that the Great Judge will make his appearance in the east; the Jews, however, invariably dig the grave from north to south. A singular custom is sometimes observed on occasions when there have been several deaths in the family within a short period. A padlock is locked and placed in the grave, and the key thrown away, the object being to delay the entrance of death into the household for a longer period.
The seven days which succeed the funeral of a Jew are given up entirely to mourning. Unwashed, and with naked feet, the mourner sits on the bare ground in a room open to all comers; not even a change of dress is permitted; and the only consolation which the afflicted can have during this period is derived from the perusal of religious books, which cheer them with the hope of meeting the deceased hereafter. When they visit the synagogue, during the continuance of these days of mourning, a touching reception is given them by the congregation, who all rise as they enter and make a movement towards them, the Rabbi uttering a short prayer that they may be comforted. Business may be attended to after the lapse of the seven days, but no amusement may be indulged in for thirty days thereafter; and if the mourning be for a father or mother, this rule is to be observed for a year.
Lighting the Lamps, Eve of the Sabbath. (See page 194.)
