bitumen (Kelim, x, 2). The full account of the Temple which is our best guide in study of the subject (Middoth) need not here be mentioned, but it should be noticed that it had two veils woven annually by women (Shekalim, viii, 4)[1] Private houses had fiat roofs on which booths were erected in summer, as is still the practice in Galilee (Shebiith, iii, 7), and some houses had porches (Oheloth, vi, 2), they probably contained little furniture beyond beds and mats. Two kind of beds are noticed (Nedarim, vii, 5) and a folding table. The shops and inns are also frequently mentioned, as well as tanneries, and the glassmakers' manufactories. The purity of the oven was important legally.[2] The roofs were of cement (Moed Katon, i, 10), and rolled with rollers, as is still usual. Hollows under buildings (Oheloth, iii, 7) prevented contamination by some corpse in a "tomb of the depth," or ancient unknown sepulchre below.
What the synagogues were like we know from remains of those built in the second century as described more fully in "Syrian Stone Lore." They contained arks for the rolls of the law (Taanith, ii, 1; Nedarim, iv, 1), and the Jews were occasionally obliged to sell a synagogue (Megillah, iii, 2) stipulating that it should not be used for disgraceful purposes. The word for synagogue (כנסיה) is that now used for a "church" in Palestine. The synagogue liturgy is noticed (Taanith, iv, 3) on the days of fast.
The fear of impurity from the dead was a most important social feature; but the hair, nails, and bones did not defile (Oheloth, iii, 3), and, consequently, the bones of a father or a mother might be gathered (Moed Katon, i, 5) and transported.[3] This accounts for the Jewish bone-boxes found on Olivet; and Benjamin, of Tudela, notices such boxes at Hebron in the twelfth century. The cemetery or "house of tombs" (Taharoth, iii, 7) must be placed at least 40 cubits outside a city, and it would seem that lilies were here grown, as they are still planted (the purple iris) in Moslem cemeteries (Baba Bathra, ii, 9; Parah, iii. 2). The only tombs known inside Jerusalem were those of the Kings (Tosiphta Baba Bathra, i) and of the prophetess Huldah, which may, I believe, be recognised in the so-called "Tomb of Nicodemus" in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, while the Sepulchre itself may he conjectured to be that called of Huldah in the Mishnah. The tombs of the first and second centuries at Jerusalem, which are certainly Jewish, are all at some distance from the walls.
- ↑ The Jews believed that the Ark was hidden under the Temple court by the chamber of wood logs (Shekalim, vi, 1; Middoth, ii, 5), on the north-east side of the court of the women.
- ↑ Various kinds of ovens are noticed (Menakhoth, v, 9), including the cuphah (כופה), or baking vessel; with (רעפים) hot stones placed in an oven; and the Arab oven (יורדת הערביים)) a hole in the ground lined with mud.
- ↑ Palms were carried by women at funerals (Moed Katon, ii, 8), and the palm was a funeral emblem of the Early Christians in Palestine and at Rome. Palms are still carried before the bier at Moslem funerals in Palestine.
