558 



JEWS. 



olate since the days of Hadrian, who changed 

 the name of Jerusalem into that of Aalia, and 

 forbade the Jews to approach its walls within 

 a certain distance. The present population of 

 Jerusalem amounts, according to the careful 

 estimates of Prof. Tischendorf, to 8,000. 



An account of the Jewish community in Cal- 

 cutta says : " The Jews divide themselves into 

 two classes the European and the Arabic, of 

 whom the one despises the other. I should 

 apprehend that this is, in a much fainter de- 

 gree, a similar division to that between the so- 

 called White Jews and Black Jews of Cochin. 

 The Calcutta Jews may always be distinguish- 

 ed by their costume from the other inhabitants. 

 They wear a Turkish fez, a tight, variegated 

 vest, a waistcoat in the strict sense, with showy 

 buttons and loose, white sleeves, open at the 

 end, and a zouave trowsers. The dress of 

 Jewesses, festis diebus, is very costly, compre- 

 hending, I imagine, a considerable portion of 

 the wealth of the house, in costly jewels richly 

 set wherever room can be made for them." 



The Universe Israelite, a Jewish paper of 

 Paris, gives an interesting account of an an- 

 cient judaizing sect in Russia, called the Tsub- 

 botniki. It says : " To the heretics of the third 

 category belong the most ancient in Russia 

 the judaizing ones, whose origin dates back 

 from the period when Novgorod was still in- 

 dulging in bold dreams of independence, and 

 when the Lithuanian prince, Michael Olelko- 

 witsch, arrived in that town, in order to take 

 charge of its government. He was followed by 

 some Hebrews, who converted many inhabit- 

 ants to their faith, and thus formed the re- 

 markable sect, which soon spread as far as 

 Moscow, and which has maintained itself, des- 

 pite all persecutions, to our days. This sect is 

 now better known under the name of the 

 ' Tsubbotniki ' (keepers of Saturday). The sec- 

 tarians consider themselves the representatives 

 of pure Divine worship, and the most faithful 

 observers of the law of Moses. Nevertheless, 

 they know but little of it. They confine them- 

 selves to the observance of certain rites, such 

 as circumcision, passover, and the recitation of 

 certain psalms in Hebrew, but written in Rus- 

 sian characters, and the engagement of rabbis. 

 Like the Jews, they wait the advent of the true 

 Messiah, rejecting all Christian doctrines, the 

 sacraments, and also the oath." 



The odious and oppressive laws, which in most 

 of the Christian countries have for centuries 

 deprived the Jews of equal civil rights or even 

 prohibited altogether their residence, are more 

 and more disappearing from modern legisla- 

 tion, although in a few countries they are still 

 in existence. 



The most notable case of persecution of 

 Jews occurred, in 1863, in Morocco, a country 

 in which as in Mohammedan countries in gen- 

 eral they have often been taxed, fined, beaten 

 with " khoorbashes," bastinadoed with maize 

 canes; in which they have been torn from 

 their shops by agas and emirs to work for 



nothing, laughed at in the law courts, derided 

 in public, oppressed in private, their complaints 

 disregarded, their rights ignored, and their 

 adopted home made for them a place of misery 

 and shame. The account of their sufferings 

 induced that celebrated Jewish philanthropist, 

 Sir Moses Montefiore, to undertake a journey 

 to the sultan of Morocco, to implore justice 

 for his co-religionists. He brought with him 

 warm letters of recommendation from Earl 

 Russel, and, on arriving in Tangier, he pre- 

 vailed even upon the minister of Spain to in- 

 struct the consuls and vice-consuls in the ports 

 of Morocco to " avail themselves of every op- 

 portunity which may arise to prevent acts of 

 cruelty on the part of the Moorish authorities 

 against the Israelites ; and also in cases of no- 

 torious injustice, when the punishment of the 

 lash may be inflicted in order to extort con- 

 fession, to resolutely interpose their influence 

 with the local authorities to prevent the com- 

 mission of such act of barbarity." 



His journey to the capital of Morocco, which 

 resulted in obtaining complete liberty, not only 

 for the Jews, but for all non-Mohammedan de- 

 nominations, is thus described : 



Sir Moses was resolved to see the sultan, and ask 

 justice in the name of God and man. He pushed up the 

 country by marches of fifteen miles a day, in the horse 

 litter used by women and the sick hifc name and the 

 nature of his errand going before him. He was re- 

 ceived as visitors of the sultan are sure to be received, 

 with respect and hospitality. Every night the Moors 

 made " mona " for his retinue the name of an enter- 

 tainment provided gratis by the people, and subtracted 

 from the taxes which they afterward pay in kind to 

 the sultan. Reaching Morocco, the party was lodged 

 in a palace surrounded by orange gardens and palm 

 groves. But everything depended upon the h'rststep. 

 The sultan hears petitions and grants audiences from 

 the saddle of his Arab ; and it makes all the difference 

 upon what horse he rides forth to meet you from the 

 palace gate. If all is bright and favorable, he will be 

 seated upon a white steed; if clouds of displeasure or 

 denial darken the royal mind, a gray horse is capari- 

 soned and mounted; and if anger, confiscation, or 

 death be in the wind, he comes forth on a black charg- 

 er. It was a good omen, therefore, that, when the 

 Jewish baronet s train was assembled about him in the 

 courtyard of the palace, among thousands of Moorish 

 soldiers and people, his Majesty made his appearance 

 from the archway upon a superb barb of spotless white. 

 This " Prince of Darkness " is, in fact, " a gentleman." 

 He welcomed his generous visitor : admired the spirit 

 and fortitude which had brought his silver hairs so far 

 at such a season ; praised the well-known exertions of 

 the baronet for others, not of his race only, but of all 

 creeds in other countries; finally, he received very 

 graciously the petition for justice. A few days after- 

 ward a firman appeared, " in the name of God the 

 merciful. and gracious," granting to his Jewish sub- 

 jects perfect equality of right and of protection under 

 the law. "For," says the sultan, with truth, not \\w 

 less sound or welcome because it is tardy, "injustice 

 here is injustice in Heaven, and we cannot "countenance 

 it in any matter affecting either the Jews' rights or the 

 rights of others, our own dignity being itself opposed 

 to such a course. All persons in our regard have an 

 equal claim to justice, and if any person should wnmir 

 or injure one of the Jews, we will, with the help cf 

 God, punish him." 



Among the Christian countries, Switzerland 

 is especially distinguished for intolerant laws 



