The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-10-16 00:00:00

THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.

Saturday (the 9th inst.) was observed among the Jews
throughout the world as the Day of Atonement. It was
the holy convocation on the lOch day of the seventh
month ordained in Leviticus xxiii. ; the fact that it
fell on the seventh day of the week this year being ac-
cidental. "Ye shall afflict yourselves" rums the passage
in Leviticus, and this command was early held to re-
late to abstention from food. It was clearly so when
Zechariah asked in the name of the Lord, "When ye
fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month,
even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me,
even to me? And when ye did eat and when ye did
drink, did ye not eat for yourselves and drink for your-
selves ? " The fast in the seventh month in the pas-
sage from Zechariah is that which was solemnized
on Saturday. That in the fifth month was not en-
joined in the Pentateuch, but commemorates the de-
struction of the Temple on the 9th of Ab. It is this
day of the autumn season, however, which is referred
to as "the fast" in Acts xxvii., when Paul admonished
those in the ship of Adramyttium that sailing was dan-
gerous "because the fast was already past." On this day
in the Jubilee Year the trumpet was to sound, and on
Saturday, after the setting of the sun andat the end of
the service, the ram's horn was blown once. The drawing
of the scapegoat occurred on this day, and the liturgy
still records how the goat on which the lot fell was
sent to the strong rock in the desert, that it might carry
away the sins of the people to an uninhabited country;
and how, when the nation heard in those days that the
crimson wool sent with the goat had become white, she
caused songs of gladness to rise "in the uttermost
parts of the delightful land."
The fast began on Friday evening about five and
terminated the following evening at six, and
during those twenty-five hours not a morsel of
food nor a drop of water or any liquid may touch
the lips of the congregations. They filled the
synagogues during four hours on the eve of the fast,
and during the whole of the day itself from six o'clock
in the morning. Some stand during the greater part
of the service, others sit, but all kneel when they
proclaim in prayer their spiritual pride in bowing the
knee to the King of Kings, or recite that, in the
old days, when the Temple yet was, and the High
Priest, having made haste to change his coloured
robes for white garments, entered into the Holy of
Holies, the people that were in the courts bent the knee
and fell upon their faces. Standing with white scarves
upon their shoulders and the shoes removed from
their feet, the worshippers implore pardon for • the sin
which they have committed by compulsion or volun-
tarily; for the sin of a stubborn heart, and the sin
from want of knowledge; for the utterance of the lips,
and the evil imagination of the heart; for the violent
hand, the haughty head, the itching palm, and the
feet that ran swiftly to do evil; for the sin of confessing
with the mouth and not repenting in the heart; for the
sins that are known to the worshipper, and for those
that are only known to God. The Synagogue is hung
with new curtains; the scrolls of the law, decorated
with white covers, are taken from the ark ; the
officiating rabbis are clothed in white, and chant the
prayers amid the confused and earnest responses of the
congregation. The religious passion may occasionally
during these utterances be seen carried to its fullest
extent (remarks The Times, from whom we are quot-
ing). A poor glazier from Poland, to whom the
Hebrew of his prayers is a living tongue, will be ab-
sorbed in the prescribed confession of sins, beating his
breast and shedding tears as he implores pardon for
the haughty looks or sins in traffic and social relations.
The deep impression which the observance of this day
has made on those who have once learnt its rigid ab-
straction from sensual things may best be studied in
the Lisbon synagogue. A generation ago several per-
sons, and even now three or four in every year, enter
the temple on the Day of Atonement, but are never
seen there at any other period. They remain all day,
fasting and listening to the prayers, though unable to
follow theme They h ave usually come from a considerable
distance, from the country parts of Portugal, where
their families have dwelt for many generations, since
King Euenianuel converted the Jews and banished those
who were recalcitrant. They have outwardly con-
formed to Christianity, but have always preserved,
like the Minister Pombal, at least a bare tradition of
their Jewish descent. On the Day of Atonement they
seek the synagogue, but one far from their homes, so
that a fact which even in these days would do them
social injury should not be revealed. In London
unusual crowds frequent the synagogues, and fresh
temples are improvised, of which the most important
is that fitted up in the Jews' Free School, Bell-lane,
Spitalfields ; on the New Year 4,000 worshippers found
places there. . . .