244 



JEWS JIDDA. 



(For the institutions for the conversion of the Jews, 

 originating in Britain, see Missions.') 



The following is an estimate of the number of 

 Jews in di tit-rent parts of the world, taken from tlu- 

 Weimar Ephemeriden Geographischen : Europe ; 

 in Russia aiul Poland, 658,809 ; Austria, 453,524; 

 European Turkey, 321,000 ; States of the German 

 Confederation, 138,000 ; Prussia, 134,000 ; Nether- 

 lands, 80,000; France, 60,000; Italy, 36,000; Great 

 Britain, 12,000; Cracow, 7300; Ionian Isles, 7000; 

 Denmark, 6000 ; Switzerland, 1970 ; Sweden, 450 : 

 total number of Jews in Europe, 1,918,053, or a pro- 

 portion of 113th part of the population, calculated 

 at 227,000,000. Asia ; Asiatic Turkey, 300,000; 

 Arabia, 200,000; Hindostan, 100,000; China, 

 60,000; Turkestan, 40,000; province of Iran, 

 35,000; Russia in Asia, 3000: total, 738,000. 

 Africa ; Morocco and Fez, 300,000; Tunis, 130,000; 

 Algiers, 30,000; Abyssinia, 20,000; Tripoli, 12,000; 

 Egypt, 12,000: total, 504,000. America; North 

 America, 5000 ; Netherlandish colonies, 500 ; De- 

 merara and Essequibo, 200 : total, 5700. New Hol- 

 land, 50. Grand total, 3,218,000. Other estimates 

 carry the number to five or even six millions. The 

 black Jews, in the East Indies, are natives, and slaves 

 who have embraced Judaism. 



See Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, from the Christian 

 era to 1716 (fifteen volumes); J. M. Jost's History of 

 the Israelites since the time of the Maccabees, (Berlin, 

 18201826, seven volumes, from 105 B. C. to A. D. 

 1820.) On the civil condition, commerce, and liter- 

 ature of the Jews in France, Spain, and Italy, during 

 the middle ages, from the beginning of the eighth to 

 the end of the sixteenth century, see Arthur Beug- 

 not, Les Juifs de 'Occident, &c. (Paris, 1824). The 

 best religious history of the Jews is Peter Beer's 

 History, Doctrines, and Opinions of all the religious 

 Sects that have existed or do exist among the Jews, 

 and of the mystical Doctrine of the Cabbala (Brunn, 

 1822, two parts). See Zeo's History of the Jewish 

 States (Berlin, 1828); see also the Hebrew Common- 

 wealth, translated from Jahn's Biblische Archaologie 

 (Andover, 1828), and Milman's History of the Jews 

 (London, 1829). 



Jewish Law. The sources of the Jewish law are 

 the Mosaic law and the Talmud ; hence the rabbis 

 are the Jewish lawyers. The Jewish law in all its 

 extent, is very complicated, and full of niceties. In 

 some countries of 'Europe, the Jews enjoy a separate 

 jurisdiction to a certain degree, and inherit according 

 to their own law. (a) The Jewish matrimonial con- 

 tract is made partly in writing and before witnesses, 

 and partly by the delivery of a ring to the bride from 

 the bridegroom. The husband acquires a right to 

 every thing which his wife obtains by labour or other- 

 wise ; he has also the use of the fortune which she 

 possessed at the time of the marriage, and is her sole 

 heir. Testaments are governed by the principles of 

 the denatio inter vivos and the donatio mortis causa, 

 according as the will was made, in a state of health, 

 or of dangerous sickness. The rules of legal descent 

 among the Jews are as follows : (aa) Among the 

 descendants, the sons and their male descendants in- 

 herit first ; after them the daughters, and, in case of 

 there being none, the female descendants in the next 

 degree. (Ib) After the descendants follows the father; 

 if he is dead, the brothers of the deceased and their 

 descendants, and, in failure of all these classes, the 

 sisters of the deceased and their descendants. Per- 

 sons related by the mother's side never inherit from 

 each other : children may inherit from the mother ; 

 the mother never can from the children. Legitimate 

 children do not exclude illegitimate, even if the fruit 

 of an incestuous connexion, unless the mother of the 

 illegitimate children is a slave, or not of Jewish 



blood ; in which case, the children do not inherit 

 from tlie father in any event. The first-born son re- 

 ceives a double share of the property which the father 

 actually possessed, not, however, of uncollected debts. 

 On the other hand, he has to bear also a double share 

 of the debts due from his father. If the first-born 

 dies before the division takes place, his right of pri- 

 mogeniture tails to his descendants. Any one may re- 

 nounce, sell, or give away his right of primogeniture. 

 The hereditary succession of the husband and wife is 

 regulated by the time of the continuance of the 

 marriage, (c) Every grant must be public, and the 

 property be regularly transferred ; to annul a legal 

 grant, a new grant, with proper formalities, is requi- 

 site. A verbal grant is binding only when made by 

 a very sick person, or one in imminent danger. A 

 Jew attains his majority at the age of thirteen years 

 and one day, if he has obviously readied the period of 

 puberty. A Jewess, under the same circumstances, 

 is of age at twelve years. A Jew is not allowed to 

 engage in commerce before his twentieth year. The 

 girl remains, until she is full grown, under the pater- 

 nal authority, when the father may give her in mar- 

 riage, against her knowledge and wish. According 

 to the laws of several countries, full age of Jews is 

 the same as that of other inhabitants. 



JEWS-HARP is a kind of musical instrument held 

 between the teeth, which gives a sound by the motion 

 of a spring of iron, which, being struck by the hand, 

 plays against the breath. " The Jews-trump," says 

 a diligent investigator of such matters, " seems to 

 take its name from the nation of the Jews, and is 

 vulgarly believed to be one of their instruments of 

 music. But, upon inquiry, you will not find any such 

 instrument as this described by the authors that treat 

 of Jewish music. In short, this instrument is a mere 

 boy's plaything, and incapable, of itself, of being 

 joined either with a voice or any other instrument ; 

 and I conceive the present orthography to be a cor- 

 ruption of the French jeu trompe, a truinp to play 

 with. And in the Belgic or Low Dutch, from whence 

 come many of our toys, a trump is a rattle for child- 

 ren. Sometimes they will call it a Jews harp ; and 

 another etymon given of it is a jaws-harp, because 

 the place where it is played upon is between the 

 jaws/' Pegge Anonymiana, i. 82. 



JEZIR AH, in the Cabbala, is the third world, the 

 world of the thinking substances. In the Cabalistic 

 theology, it is also the name of a book, in six chap- 

 ters, which treats of the world, of motion, of time, 

 and of the soul. It is extremely obscure ; every 

 thing in it is expressed in numbers and letters. One 

 tradition makes the patriarch Abraham the author. It 

 is mentioned in the Mishnaand Sanhedrim, and, there- 

 fore, must have existed before the Talmud. This 

 book is very short, and many editions have been pub- 

 lished. The last edition is by Rittangel (Amst., 1642), 

 with a Latin translation, equally incomprehensible. 



JIDDA or JUDDA ; a considerable commercial 

 haven of Arabia, on the shore of the Red sea. It 

 may be considered as the port of Mecca, and is sup- 

 ported partly by carrying on the trade with India and 

 Egypt, and partly by the concourse of pilgrims from 

 the coast, and of those from the opposite regions of 

 Africa, who cross at Suakem to reach this famed seat 

 of Mohammedan pilgrimage. It is situated in a 

 barren, sandy district, destitute of water. The streets 

 are very narrow. The entrance to the road is full of 

 shoals, and it is dangerous to attempt going in with- 

 out a pilot. The British trade here was formerly 

 considerable ; but numerous exactions have now 

 reduced it to a low ebb. The Americans have some 

 commerce with this place. Lon. 39 15' E. ; lat. 

 21 29' N. For further information, see Burck- 

 hardt's Travels in Arabia. 



