L

LONDON:

PRINTED BY A. P. SHAW AND CO., 11, CAMOMILE STREET,

BISHOPSGATE.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY NOV 18 1965

TO THE

RIGHT HON. LORD JOHN RUSSELL.

MY LORD,

The following work, which your Lordship has so kindly permitted to be dedicated to you, is published, not with the view of advocating the principles of any party-religious or civil-but for the purpose of giving to the British people a faithful account of the domestic, social, and religious condition of the Jews in this country.

The part which your Lordship has taken in recent efforts to remove the last remains of Jewish disabilities, cannot but be admired by all, not excepting those who deny the justness of the cause; and will occasion your Lordship's name to be transmitted to posterity as the chief advocate of complete civil liberty to the British Jews.

Your Lordship's name is equally identified with all other enlightened measures to improve the condition of

the nation, and to place all sections of Her Majesty's subjects on equal civil ground. And most deservedly is your Lordship revered by this great nation, as one of the brightest examples of a member of a noble and illustrious family devoting his time and talents to the improvement and elevation of the people.

That God-the fountain of all good-may grant to your Lordship length of years, to continue to exert in your exalted position a salutary influence both at home and abroad, and thus promote the kingdom of his Son, which is "On earth, peace; goodwill toward men❞—is the sincere prayer of

Your Lordship's

Most obedient, humble Servant,

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

THE writer of the following pages has felt a more than ordinary interest in Jewish affairs; and has had greater intercourse with British Jews than, probably, any other minister in the United Kingdom. During some years past he has availed himself of every opportunity to become acquainted with their various ceremonies, as now practised; and of collecting materials, from which the following work has been compiled.

The substance of the first part was delivered in the form of a lecture in the winter of 1850, to more than one literary institution in the Metropolis, and the interest which the subject excited on those occasions induced the writer to prepare the present volume.

With the exception of two, all the translations from the Hebrew into English contained in this work, are Jewish. Whatever improvement they require, the writer thought it best to retain them as furnished to him-especially as by far the majority are accredited translations. In making use of the documents alsoboth written and printed-with which he has been from time to time so kindly favoured by his Jewish friends, he has generally transcribed them verbatim, with now and then a slight alteration in the phraseology. Thus, the following work is only a compilation of existing materials, without anything of the writer's except their arrangement, and the thread on which they are strung together.

In describing the various religious duties and ceremonies, the writer has followed the strict, enlightened Jew. He has not on the one hand crowded his pages with the superstitions of the ignorant,-nor, on the other hand, left out those duties neglected by the irreligious-to whom, by the bye, many of the facts recorded in the following pages are as strange as to the Christian reader; but he has endeavoured to give a faithful account of Judaism as practised by the strict British Jew, modified