Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1832-09-14

Cemeteries The Jews have some remarkable
fancies concerning their dead. They seem, IN
deed, to be as much distinguished from their an
cestors BY the childish aud mnnstrous supersti-
tons with which their literature is filled, as by
their firm adherence TO that law against which
they rebelrd so often before it abrosated. =
So we'll, however, are they now persuaded Of re-
surrection, that the name, which they give to a
burial place. rs tire Hguse Of The LiUing. an ex-
preston finely implying that it is thy dead alone
who can be sa,d 70 live truly. The body, ac-
corjn. to tneir anton, has certain indestrlcti-
Bile part calie, Luz, which is the seed from
whcuce it is be reproduced. II is described as
bone. in shape like an alnnnd aud having its
Mace at the end at the ver'eb, az; and truly this
is not more absurd than the hyputhesis which as
signed tn. piua,l gland for the seat Of the soul.
This bone, accnrdlng 10 the Rabbis. can neither
be broken bv any force OF msn, nor consumed
b, FIRE, nor dissolved by water; and they tell US
that the fact was proved before the Emperor
ldrain. upon whom they iinprrcate Their usual
malediction. May his ban"s be- br0keno In his
presence Rabbi J,shrn Ben. Cnanma produced
d LIZ; Il wa. ground between two mi!l-stoncs,
but came out as whole as II had been put IN; they
burnt 1t with iye, and it was found incombust-
bic; they cast ii into water, and It could no be
softened; lastly, they hammered upon an an
wi, and botn the anvil and hummer were broken
without affecting the Luz. The Rabbnical wri-
tiers, with their wonted perversion OF Scripture,
support this silly nution by a verse from the
Psalms: He keepe,h all his bones, 50 that not
one of them is broken"
A dew is to descend upon the earth preparato-
~ to the resurrection, and quicken into life and
growth these seeds of the dead. During the
pontificate OF Urban VIII large burial ground
of the Jews at Rome, was broken up to make
some new fnrtihcations. and the Jews were par
irularly anxious to collect all the bones. paying
the laborers dear price for them But not sin.
gle specimen of the Luz could they produce to
their enemy Bartoocci when he called Tor II upon
so favorable an opportunity.
Another curious opinion is that wherever their
bodies NAV be buried, it is only IN their own
Promised Land that the resurrection can take
place, and therefore they who are Inferred IN any
other part Of the world. must make their way to
Palestine under ground and this will be an op-
Grafton of dreadful toll and pain, although clefts
and cayerns will be opened for them by the Al
mighty II has been gravely objected to this no
ton that although the bodies of the just, after
the resurrection, will, according To the opinion
of st. Thomas Aquinas. be endued with agility
pass through any distance in the tw'nkIlng Of an
eve. and through any substance without expert.
encing resistance vet this cannot be predicted OF
the Jews, whose bodies, they being to rise only
for condemnation. vii be gross and feculent.--
Whether il arose from this superstition. or from
thar love Of the land Of their fathers which in the
Jews is connected with the strongest feelings of
faith and hope, certain IL IS, that MANY have di-
rec led their remains 10 he sent there. We
freishted with wool. says an old traveller, : from
ConstantinOpie to Stdon. in which sacks. az most
certainly was told to me, were many Jews bones
put into little chests. but unknown to any of the
ship The Jews our merchants, told me Of them
at INV return frum Jeru salem to Saphet, but ear
nestiy entreated not to tell it, Tor lear OF pre-
venting them another ime' Sometimes veal.
thy Jew has been known to import earth from Je-
rusalem wherewith to line his grave This is
point OF feeling. not of superstilion but supersti
ton has made the Italians, in old times, import
earth from the same country for whole church
Yards.