Pictures of Jewish Home-Life Fifty Years Ago Part 5

"My dear Millie,--You seem so interested in all I have so far told you about our life in Palestine, that I think you will like to hear of some of the ways that our poorer brethren are helped in Palestine.

"Many of the ways will appear strange to you; yet I think some of them are really better than those adopted by our community in England.

"Here, there is no Board of Guardians, so that the giving of charity, or a 'helping hand' to the sick or needy, is more of a direct personal matter. The givers strive to be wise and tactful, so that our people may not lose their self-respect; for, as a rule, they are naturally very sensitive, and if self-respect is lost some are encouraged to become beggars proper.

"Mother tells us that our Jewish ethics teaches 'that true charity, or almsgiving, is to make personal sacrifices when helping others. There is no self-sacrifice in giving what you cannot make use of yourself.'

Indeed, one Jewish ethical teacher wrote: 'If one who has lived a luxurious life becomes sick and in need, we should try to deny ourselves, in order to give the sick one dainties such as chicken and wine.'

"Really some of our neighbours here seem to rejoice in giving away not only all they can spare, but also in making personal sacrifices in helping to relieve a needy neighbour.

"From early childhood they were trained to give. In every Jewish home in Palestine we see from two to perhaps more than a dozen boxes placed in various parts of the house, and written on each is the special charity to which the box is devoted. Into these boxes even tiny children are trained to drop a coin at special times, and it is considered a happy privilege to do so at times of Thanksgiving to G.o.d. The coins thus collected are from time to time distributed amongst the sick and the needy.

"There is one hospital near us; and, though it is known to be well managed, very few Jews whom we know go there for treatment, for it is a Missionary Hospital, and we strongly object to the methods of Christian missionaries. Instead of many of them as formerly, persecuting us for clinging to our dearly beloved religion, they now try, by acts of kindness in times of sickness and poverty, to influence our people in favour of accepting their religion.

"Indeed, I have heard some of our people say that they would rather go to the Arabs for treatment than enter the Missionary Hospital! Therefore those who cannot nurse the sick ones at home take them to the Bikkur-Holim, which a doctor visits once every few days. A mother, wife, or father goes with the patients to give them the necessary food and medicine, for in the Bikkur-Cholem there are no trained nurses. The relatives also keep the patients clean and tidy; but little cooking is done there, as the food is generally brought cooked from the patients'

homes.

"I once went to visit the Bikkur-Cholem. One patient I saw had a jug of cold water brought to her, and, though her own lips were very parched, she would not take even one sip, but had the water given to those near her, who, in a very high state of fever, were clamouring for water.

Other patients I saw were cheerfully and willingly sharing their food with those who had none. Until I had visited that Bikkur-Cholem I had never realized what real charity meant. For these sufferers, in their love and thoughtfulness and genuine self-sacrifice towards fellow-sufferers less fortunate than themselves, were obeying in spirit as well as in the letter the time-honoured commandment given us 'to love one's neighbour as oneself.'

"The arrangements in the Bikkur-Cholem are most insanitary; disinfectants are unheard of; and I greatly pitied the poor unfortunates that have to go there."

Mr. Jacob was too overcome by his feelings to continue--so for a few minutes there was a deep silence. Then one of the listeners said: "One is thankful to remember that this letter was written fifty years ago, and conditions must have improved since our writer first went to Palestine."

"Yes, thank G.o.d!" replied kind-hearted Mr Jacob; and then he continued reading the letter.

"Most of the patients die; but a few get cured and leave. If they do, it is certainly more through faith in G.o.d's love and mercy than through the remedies they receive while there.

"Now, I want to tell you of a voluntary service which respectable, well-to-do men and women, and even scholars, do, for the poor who die.

These kind folk are called 'the Chevra Kadisha.' No doubt because of the heat, there is a strict law that no one who dies in Palestine is allowed to remain unburied long; and it is believed here that the dead continue to suffer until they are entombed. So the custom is to bury within twelve hours every one who dies. The Chevra Kadisha look upon such a deed as a Mitzvoth. If a poor woman dies, one of these kind women at once goes to wash the corpse and lay it out ready to be put on the bier--then when all the relatives and friends of the deceased have given vent to their sorrow by weeping, some men and some scholars belonging to the Chevra Kadisha voluntarily carry the bier on their shoulders to the place of burial (which I think is the Mount of Olives), while others dig the grave and a scholar or two read the Prayers over the Dead.

"By the Chevra Kadisha beggars and tramps are thus washed and buried when dead, free of expense, by these good, self-sacrificing people, at all times and in all weathers, as a sign that in death all are equal.

The people who can afford it leave enough money to pay all their own burial expenses or these are paid for by their relatives.

"Acts of charity towards very poor girls who have no dowry or suitable wedding-clothes are very touching and generous. It is considered a disgrace to the community if a poor girl is not given the opportunity to marry, and a community not only provides a dower, but also seeks for a bridegroom for her. The housewives willingly and generously prepare the wedding-feast, for everyone is willing to give something from their store-room. No shame is attached to poor girls accepting such help; for it is considered a duty by all our brethren to provide what is necessary for a bride who has not the means to get things for herself.

"I am sorry that I cannot write more by this mail."

One listener interrupted, saying: "Most of what you have read Mr Jacob happens in Russia and in other parts of the world where Jews live in ghettos."

"Quite true," said Mr Jacob, "for wherever Jews live together they keep up old customs, and all old customs are more or less alike in all ghettos. It is only when we Jews live outside the ghettos, under different surroundings, that we are tempted to throw over many religious customs. The unfortunate thing is, that we are too often inclined to throw off the really good customs rather than the useless ones, and more inclined to adopt the bad traits and customs of our neighbours rather than the good ones amongst whom we live, be it in England, France, Germany, India, or elsewhere. This is a bad habit, and we must do our utmost in the future to guard against it; for, if we all made an effort to retain our own ancient customs that are really good and beneficial to ourselves and others and adopt only the good and healthy customs of our neighbours, then, indeed, we might feel we had a right to call ourselves and be recognized by those we live amongst as 'G.o.d's Chosen People.'"

FATHER FROST IN JERUSALEM

The next Friday evening Mr Jacob read the following letter.

"My Dear Cousin Mill,--I have not yet written to tell you how we manage during cold weather. Before we arrived, we were under the impression that it was always warm in Palestine. Certainly the sun does shine more in winter here than in England, and while it shines the weather is very pleasant; but we get very cold weather, too, especially in Jerusalem. We get very little snow, but a good deal of frost, which no one enjoys. No doubt you wonder why, because we all enjoyed the cold and frost in England, and loved the skating and the s...o...b..lling.

"The reason is very clear, for here we have no cheery open fireplaces, which give out so much heat in England; in fact there are not even any steel or iron ovens, and the result is, the Palestinian houses are intensely cold in frosty weather. The ceilings are all lofty and in the shape of a dome, which, with the very thick stone walls is very pleasant in summer but very cold in the winter. Then there is very little firewood to be had here, as the Turks try to prevent much tree-planting, so fire wood is a luxury which very few can afford.

Instead, we have all copper buckets pierced with holes standing on a tripod and filled with burning charcoal, which is placed in the middle of the room.

"How we all eagerly cl.u.s.ter round it and watch the red hot charcoal, hoping that by _looking at it_ the warmth will go into our bodies! Such a small amount of charcoal as we can afford does not warm a room very much, so all the windows are closed tightly to prevent any cold air coming in. This also prevents the fumes of the burning charcoal from escaping, so naturally the air gets very stuffy, and many suffer from headaches or fall into a heavy sleep.

"You will wonder why it is many people do not get frozen. Well, the old proverb holds good here, that 'Necessity is the mother of invention,' so even in the coldest weather we have a remedy; for we heat also our bra.s.s samovar, which holds about thirty gla.s.ses of tea, and we drink a gla.s.s of hot tea every now and then.

"As the samovar boils all day the steam also sends out some warmth into the room.

"Then, again, the younger children are during the very cold weather kept warm in bed with feather coverlets and pillows, which the elder people try to keep warm in doing the necessary household duties. Very few go out in the streets, except the men when they go to Shule, and the elder boys when they go to the Yeshiba or Cheder, and even they are very often kept at home.

"One comfort is that 'Father Frost' does not stay long, so we can manage to bear his icy breath: the greatest hardship is when he visits us on a Sabbath, for of course on that day we cannot heat the samovar and so we have to do with less tea.

"We prepare our Sabbath meals in a small scullery, or porch, in which a small brick oven is built to keep the food hot for the Sabbath. A few pieces of wood are put in, and, when well lighted, the oven is half-filled with charcoal-dust--this again is covered by pieces of tin or lime, and, on top of all, the saucepans are put containing food for the Sabbath meals: also bottles or jars of water are thus kept hot for tea or coffee. Neighbours who are not lucky enough to have such an oven bring in their food, and we let them put it in our ovens. In this way we have enough for every one to drink who may come in. Sometimes twenty poor people come in on a Sabbath day and say: 'Spare me, please, a little hot water?' No one would think of refusing to give them some, even if they had to share their last gla.s.s with them.

"Generally on cold Sabbath afternoons our parents have a nap after eating the nice hot cholent, and we girls and the young married women go and spend a few hours with our old lady friend, who always entertains us with stories and discussions on various interesting subjects. So the time pa.s.ses very quickly and so pleasantly that we forget how cold it is. About twenty or thirty of us all sit close together on her divan covered up with rugs, and this with the excitement over the tales she tells us, helps to keep us warm.

"Last Sabbath our old lady was not very well, and we were feeling very miserable without her entertaining tales. Suddenly, one of my girl-friends asked me to tell them about our life in London.

"As they had never read or heard about life outside Jerusalem, it was most amusing to hear their exclamations of wonder; for they could hardly believe what I told them was true, till our old lady confirmed our statements.

"First, they wanted to know how young men and women behaved toward each other.

"I told them that every man and every woman, whether young or old, either in the street or in-doors, always shook hands with friends--at this they looked very surprised and some seemed even horrified, exclaiming: 'What a sin to commit.' I asked them where it was written that this was a sin? 'Well,' some replied, 'our parents or husbands say it is a sin,' 'I don't think it is a sin, but only a custom,' said I.

'But it _is_ a sin,' insisted one little wife of fifteen 'to touch one another's hands.' I tried to explain to her, but she would not listen to me and we were on the verge of quarreling but as usual, when there was a difference of opinion between any of us, we always appealed to our old lady and she agreed with me that there was no sin in shaking hands.

'Sin,' she said, 'comes from thoughts--if while talking or laughing or even shaking hands, evil thoughts pa.s.s through the minds of men or women then, and then only, is the act likely to be a sin. In Europe,' she went on to say, 'it is quite a natural thing for men and women to shake hands and talk to each other naturally.'

"Then I asked my new friend Huldah (a young wife of fifteen years of age) to tell us all about her own love-affair and marriage. She was greatly shocked to hear me speaking of love _before_ marriage--'Such a thing could never happen to a modest Jewish maiden in those days,' she said.

"I told her that it did happen in Europe. 'May be,' she replied; 'it may happen in lands where Jews mix with non-Jews and copy their ways!'

"As I rather liked to tease her, I said she was mistaken, for here in Jerusalem did the great Rabbi Akiba fall in love with his wife before marriage. 'Oh, that was quite different!' she replied. 'Not at all,'

said I, for were not feasts and rejoicing held so that youths and maidens could meet one another in the vineyards and dance in the meadows?--Look in the Bible,' I continued, 'and you will see it is mentioned there.' Then all looked abashed. The only one who smiled was our old lady.

"'Don't unsettle their minds, dear,' she whispered softly to me. 'I don't want to,' I said; 'I only want to show them that, though such things are done in other countries, there is no sin in it as they have been brought up to believe.' 'Well, well!' she said, 'let us hope G.o.d will restore our beloved land to us in his own good time, and then we shall again, as in days of old, celebrate such Festivals!'

"We all said 'AMEN,' most heartily, to this wish.

"In my next letter I will tell you of our friend's engagement and marriage. Your loving cousin, Millie."

ENGAGEMENT AND WEDDING CEREMONIES