and dependence, of the whole human race. Surely, praying to angels is neither a Mosaic, nor a prophetic, but a Popish tenet! The Rabbies differ The Mzuzah is rolled together, the ends of the lines coming inside, and the scroll is put into a cane, or a cylindrical tube of glass or tin, in which a hole is made, that the word T Shadai may be visible. This tube is fastened to the door post by a nail at each end. very much with regard to the fixing of the M'zuzah, whether it should be on the right or on the left; however, it is now universally admitted that it should be fixed on the right side, and a rule to the same effect is laid down in Yoreh Dayah: "It must be fixed on the right of him that enters the door." One Rabbi, however, makes an absurd attempt to prove from Scripture that it should be so fixed, as we shall see from the following quotation from Talmud, Tract M'nachoth, Chap. 3rd. fol. 34, col. 1. רב שמואל בר אחא קמיה דרב פפא משמיה דרבא בר עולא אמר מהכא ויקח יהוידע הכהן ארון אחד ויקב חר בדלתו ויתן אותו אצל המזבח בימין בבא איש בבית ה' ונתנו שמה Rab * הכהנים שומרי הסף את כל הכסף המובא בית הי Samuel bar Acha said before Rab Papa in the name of Rabba bar Ulla, From this passage [it is proved that the M'zuzah is to be fixed on the right side:] 'But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one cometh into the house of the Lord: and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the Lord."" (2 Kings 12. 9.) Since the word M'zuzoth, as found in the Bible, is a noun of the plural form, the Rabbies, with their usual quickness of comprehension, inferred that a M'zuzah should be placed on each door of a habitable house, whether parlour, bedroom, kitchen, or cellar. (See page 101.) The Jews abroad never go out of, or come into, the house, without saluting and kissing it as they pass it. Can it be wrong to say that Modern Judaism very much resembles Popish P Christianity? for Romanists likewise kiss and adore relics. Before a Jew fastens the M'zuzah to the door-post, he ברוך אתה יהוה אלהינו מלך העולם אשר קדשנו : repeats the following grace במצותיו וצינו לקבוע מזוזה Because "Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who hast sanctified us with Thy precepts, and commanded us to fix a M'zuzah." Though not a word is mentioned in the law of Moses about fixing, the modern Jew dares to say in the presence of God that such is the Divine command; and why? Talmud teaches them that they are to obey the Rabbies in preference to the Bible. The following quotation from Rabbi David Bar Joseph Abudraham will afford another illustration of Rabbinical exposition in direct opposition to the grammatical sense of the com ואעפי שכתב וכתבתם הכתיבה אינה עיקר :mandments המצוה אלא הקביעה: ואין לומר וכתבתם על מזוזות ביתך שיכתבם על האבנים שבמזוזה משום דדרשינן וכתבתם כתיבה "Although it is recorded, 'And thou shalt write. them,' the writing is not the principal precept, but the fixing. It cannot be said, 'And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house-that thou shouldst write them upon the stones, which are in the posts, for we explain ' and thou shalt write' to mean an entire writing."* And thus these Rabbies justify the form of the above mentioned grace. The M'zuzah is in its obligation stronger than Phylacteries and Fringes; for from the two latter women servants and children are exempt, but in the former they are included. In Yoreh Dayah, ch. 291, we find the וכתבתם * The Hebrew word Uchthavtam (" And thou shalt write them ") is thus misrepresented, in order to harmonize their teaching. כתב cathabh, They detach the pronominal suffix tam (them) from the verb to write; and tam signifies likewise entire; so that they make out that the M'zuzah must be written on one entire thing; which could not be done on stones, for then, perhaps, they would be obliged to write on two or three stones. הכל חייבים במזוזה אפילו נשים ועבדים : following injunction All are * ומחנכין את הקטנים לעשות מזוזה לפתחיהם : bound to have a M'zuzah, even women and servants; are to be trained to make a M'zuzah for little ones their doors." The M'zuzah is liable to be worn out, and, therefore, to become useless, just as the Phylacteries. (See p. 32.) It must be examined, therefore, according to the following rule, contained in Yoreh Dayah ch. 290: T'' NI פעמים ביובל נבדקת פעמים בשבע שנים ושל רבים "A private M'zuzah is to be examined twice in seven years, and that belonging to several persons twice in a jubilee." If it should be worn out and decayed, they bury it with some great man. They do the same with Phylacteries, the Pentateuch, and other books, as they are not accustomed to destroy anything on which the name of God is inscribed. With the late Rabbi S. Herschel were buried four decayed Pentateuchs, and several packets of old Prayer Books. (See “Voice of Jacob," No. 32.) The synagogue and college, being houses of prayer and learning, and not of residence, do not require any M'zuzah;* nor is any to be introduced into a bath, &c.; the reason מזוזה : given for which is אין כבוד שמים להיות שם "The appearance of a M'zuzah there, would be no honour to heaven." When a Jew changes his residence, he is not to take with him the M'zuzah on penalty of the untimely death of his children; but if a Gentile is to follow him, he is at liberty to depart with it. The sanctity of the M'zuzah is not so great as that of the Pentateuch and Phylacteries, as evidently appears ספר תורה שבלו אין עושין : from the following passage מהם מזוזה שאין מורידין מקדושה חמורה לקדושה קלה : * The Caraite Jews reverse the order. They have no M'zuzah on the doors of their houses, but have on the doors of their synagogues. See Rev. F. C. Ewald's Letter, from Jerusalem, in the "Jewish Intelligence," Vol. 8, p. 407. "A copy of the law or Phylacteries, which has decayed, must not furnish materials for a M'zuzah; for we must not descend from a greater to a less sanctity." Still the virtues of M'zuzah (inferior as it is in sanctity to that of the Phylacteries) are transcendently great, as described in Talmud, Zohar, Medrashim, and other Rabbinical writings. It would fill a large volume merely to translate them. We will, however, only confine ourselves to a few, in order to shew what fancied merits the (miscalled)" Orthodox," or rather Rabbinical Jews, claim for observing that precept. וצריך לזהר בה מאד וכל : In Yoreh Dayah we find the following בה יתקצרך "And every one must particularly attend to it, [i.e. M'zuzah,] for whosoever attends to it, the days of himself and his children will be prolonged, and whosoever does not, they shall be shortened." The author of Baal Haturim attempts to prove from Scripture the reason for such an וכתבתם על מזוזות ביתך : וסמיך ליה למען ירבו : שעל ידי המזוזה לא יבא המשחית : assertion אל בתיכם : וסמיך ליה כי אם שמור תשמרון על שם יהוה שמרך יהוה צלך על יד ימיניך "And thou shalt write them upon thy door-posts;' next to which comes, 'That your days may be multiplied;' for by reason of the M'zuzah the destroyer shall have no admittance into your houses. Again, next to it comes 'For if ye shall diligently keep' [all these commandments] in order that the Lord may be thy keeper, and the Lord thy shade upon thy right hand." (See Deut. 11. 20—22; Ps. 121. 5.) The M'zuzah is considered by the Jew as a sentinel to keep away from them evil spirits and fairies; therefore, when they are sometimes troubled with unpleasant dreams, they think there must be something wrong with the M'zuzah; they fancy that either a letter, or a jot, is rubbed off, and they immediately send for the scribe to examine it;* for as long as the M'zuzah is perfect it * The proper person appointed to examine the Pentateuch, Phylacteries, and M’zuzah, is called Sophair, or scribe, for he alone is authorized by represents the Sh'chinah, and the Almighty and His angels watch him; but as soon as it gets spoiled any way, God and His angels withdraw, and the evil spirits get access to the door. That the Rabbies call the Sh'chinah M'zuzah, will appear from the following quotation out of פיקודא תמינאה מזוזה: שכינתא אתקריאת מזוזה: מסטרא דעמודא דאמצעיתא : Zohar דאתוון דידו ו: ומסטרא דצדיק רזא דברית אתקריאת שדי: שדי חותמא דמלכא דאיהו ידוד : "The eighth precept is M'zuzah; the Sh'chinah is called M'zuzah, (the mystery of the covenant,) from the attribute of the middle pillar of the letters of Jehovah, and from the attribute of the righteous One; it [M'zuzah] is called Shadai, or Almighty; Shadai being the signature of the King, who is Jehovah." Here we have a specimen of the impenetrable obscurity of Cabalistic doctrines, which, notwithstanding their obscurity, are regarded with the deepest reverence by the Rabbinical Jews.+ In another part of the same book a certain Rabbi gives איר אבא כמה חיילין : the following extraordinary narration קדישין זמינין בההיא שעתא דאנח בר נש מזוזה לתרעיה: כלהו מכרזי ואמרי זה השער לה' וגו' : זכאה חולקהון דישראל : כדין אשתמודעין ישראל דאינין בני מלכא קדישא דהא כלהו אתרשימו מניה אתרשימו בגופיהו ברשימא קדישא: אתרשימו בלבושייהו בעטופייהו דמצוה: אתרשימו ברישיהו בבתי דתפילי בשמא דמאריהון אתרשימו בידיהו ברצועה דקדושא: אתרשימו בבתיהון במזוזה דפתחא בכלא רשימין דאינון בני מלכא עלאה: "Rabbi Aba said, How many holy armies are present at that time when the son of man fixes a M'zuzah to his the Rabbies to write them. He must be a very pious person, and have an extraordinary knowledge of the Pentateuch, as to every jot and tittle. * The middle pillar is an epithet given by the Cabalists to the Son of God. (See p. 47.) So that in each of the fundamental principles of Modern Judaism the Son of God holds a prominent part, and yet modern Jews think that the idea of a Son of God, is "exclusively a Gentile one," as they term it. The middle pillar is the letter Wav of the word m Jehovah, and ↑ Wav is also the middle letter of the word M’zuzah. + The sect called Chasidim consider such barbarous obscurities a proof of inspiration. |