and his name shall be called in Israel, 'The house of him that hath his shoe loosed."" All those present respond, "His shoe is loosed! his shoe is loosed! his shoe is loosed!" After this the Rabbi declares the woman free to marry whomever she may, and the secretary of the Synagogue gives her a writing to that effect, when the ceremony is over.

Sickness and death will overtake her also; but as the ceremonies of that important period are essentially the same with Jew and Jewess, we shall not recapitulate what we have already stated, but only remark here, that members of the Female Burial Society are to watch the sick Jewess, and perform all the duties to the corpse until placed in the coffin.

CHAPTER III.

DAILY DUTIES.

MORNING DUTIES.-Sleep is looked upon as a kind of death, when the soul departs from the body, but is restored again in awaking. Therefore the Jew is expected, when he awakes, to repeat as follows :— "I acknowledge before thee, the living and everlasting King, that thou hast returned my soul to me in thy great mercy and faithfulness.' In this form of prayer

it will be seen that the word LORD (Jehovah) is not introduced, as it would be irreverent to pronounce it before the washing of hands. Whilst asleep, when the soul is departed from the body, evil spirits, according to popular opinion, have rested upon it; consequently, immediately after rising, he must wash his hands and face, a kind of purification,-to cleanse himself from all impurities of this minor death. He must not touch his face, or any other part of the body, before washing his hands; nor is it lawful to move four yards before this duty is performed; therefore the water must be near, and whilst performing the ceremony care must be

taken not to spill it upon the floor, nor to throw it, when finished, where human beings pass.

The ceremony is performed in the following manner: -Having arisen and dressed, he lifts up the vessel with his right hand, and puts it into the left, then he pours the water three times over his right hand, holding his fingers open, and extending them towards the ground. Placing the vessel in his right hand, he washes the left in the same manner. The face is next washed; after which he joins the palms of his hands, with the thumbs and fingers outstretched, and says,"Lift up your hands to the sanctuary, and praise the Lord." This being done, he wipes himself, and repeats the following blessing:-"Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who sanctified us with thy commandments, and commanded us to cleanse our hands." On performing his necessary evacuations, he says:-Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who hast formed man in wisdom, and created in him pipes, tubes, veins, and arteries. It is certain. and known before the throne of thy glory, that if but one of them was opened or stopped, it would be impossible for any to exist, or abide before thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who healest all flesh, and workest wonderfully."

The morning prayers are now to be recited; before doing which, it is not lawful to eat any food, or to do any manner of work. But as the Synagogue is the proper place to perform the devotions, we shall defer speaking of the morning prayers till we come to discuss the Synagogue service.

The washing or purifying of hands, is not a morning

ceremony only, but is one of the most important duties to be performed on various occasions. Bread is never eaten with unsanctified hands-they must undergo ablution up to the wrist, by pouring no less than a quarter of a lug of water over them. And in order to eat consecrated bread, the hands must undergo a second ablution, but a less quantity of water may be used. Besides this, the hands must be washed after every defilement. Many things pollute them, such as touching the feet, or any other part of the body that is usually covered,―performing the necessary evacuation,-entering into a house where a corpse lies,-touching the straps of the Tephillin,—the margin in a book of the Law, &c., &c.

DUTIES AT MEALS.-According to the Jewish notion, the table, during the time of meals, represents the altar of the temple, whereon the offerings were burned, and the dishes are compared to the offerings themselves. The tables, therefore, are to be carefully spread with a clean cloth, and salt to be laid upon it, in reference to the command, "Upon all thy offerings thou shalt offer salt." (Lev. ii. 13.) Bread must be eaten with every regular meal; and after washing their hands, the grace before the eating of bread is then repeated :"Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who bringest forth bread from the earth." Then they dip a bit of bread in the salt, which they eat as an offering to the Almighty. The meal being over, knives and forks must be removed, (because we are told no iron or steel was made use of about the altar,) when the grace after meat must be said; before which, how

ever, it is usual to repeat the hundred and thirtyseventh Psalm on working days, and the hundred and twenty-sixth on Sabbath and festivals: the hands, also, ought to be washed.

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The duty of saying grace belongs to the master of the house. It is customary for him to begin, by saying, We will say grace," when those present answer, "Blessed be the name of the Lord, from henceforth and for evermore." If the company be ten, or more, then he says, "We will bless our God, of whose gifts we have eaten," when the others reply, "Blessed be our God, of whose gifts we have eaten, and through whose goodness we live;" to which he also responds, "Blessed be our God, of whose gifts we have eaten, and through whose goodness we live." But if the number be three, he says, "We will bless him, of whose gifts we have eaten;" when the others answer, "Blessed be he, of whose gifts we have eaten, and through whose goodness we live ;" to which he again replies, "Blessed be he, of whose gifts we have eaten, and through whose goodness we live." The grace is then said; but as it is rather a lengthy one, our reader would probably not feel an interest in our transcribing it. We shall only add, that on the Sabbath and festival days, certain additional phrases are introduced, peculiar to those days, and that the working man is allowed to shorten it.

VARIOUS BLESSINGS.-There are many other blessings to be used on different occasions, the principal of which are as follow:

Before drinking wine :-" Blessed art thou, O Lord