The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-10-03

possible, another SET OF ioavea placed On the
table for him.
dwell upon this with the object Of
inducing my Christian friends to learn lesson
in charity from the Jew. ] have no quarrel
with Christian charity, but certainly disap-
prove OF the system prevailing In this country
known as "hand-out'; namely, when tramp
KNOCKS at the door, asking for something to eat,
he is told to wait outside, and few pieces Of
stale bread and cold meat are handed out
to him. do not intend to defend the tramp;
there are certainly many impostors among
them; but do hold that If you have made up
your mind that tramp is unworthy, drive him
from the door; but If You feel charifably In
eiined and wish to feed him, then admit him to
your home. bid him be seated and make him
ieei that he 10 man and not q dog. The writer
mas had various experiences in life and has no
hesitancy in saying that the woman who gives
nand-out' generally receives curses for her
trouble, and often makes worthless tramp out
OF good man: but the woman who opens her
door, bids the beggar enter and gives him
meal, be Ii ever so frugal, receives blessings and
thanks and frequently causes the man 70 shame
himself for having begged
But to resume our narrative. The evening
meal concluded. hymns are chanted and the
family retires. At 6 O'Clock the next morning
everyone is awake No breakfast is partaken OF
until the conclusion Of the morning service in
the synagogue, which generally Is not until
reading of psalms, the saying Of special pray
ers, the ringing of hymns and the blowing OF
the shofdr, or horn. Various impressions pre-
vail as to the meaning and purport of the blow
ing OF the sh0fdr. First, let me describe the
meaning of shofdr. It IL the horn Of ram,
dressed inside and out, and a number of pecu-
liar sounds or signals are made by blowing into
1t at given intervals in the services by one OF the
congregation especially trained for it
The orthodox Jew has q beautiful fable ex-
planning the use OF the sh0fdr. He bases his
fable on caballstic Information that on New
Year the Almighty God sits In judgment over
all His Israelite children, surrounded by angels
who are directing His attention to the fervent
prayers the Jews are offering. Satan appears in
the garb of prosecuting attorney and cyLicaliy
remarks: "0h, yes; they praise and pc
tifion Thee today, but they viii
curse Thee tomorrow. They fear their
punishment and therefore PROSTATE themselves
before Thee, but as soon as Thou hast awarded
good year to them so soon will they again vio-
late Thy commands and mock Thee" Thus the
all-wise God is supposed to be kept between two
forces, hesitating and undecided whether to
give His children good or a bad year, like some
weakened judge who cannot decide whether
the prisoner before him is innocent or guilty
after having listened to the arguments on both
sides; and for fear that Satan might succeed, the
horn 10 brought into play. The fable claims that
when Satan hears the sound of the shof1r he
runs away. The shofar, being made out OF the
horn OF q ram, reminds the Almighty of the
scene where Abraham was ready to sacrifice his
only son, and having been admonished by
the angel not to do so, he looks around, and be-
hold, there is a ram in waiting for him, and he
sacrifices the ram Oh the altar he had prepared
for his son.
Most of the reformed rabbis dismiss the W hole
fable with the contempt il deserves, but fail to
find an explanation for its use. As far as
have learned they claim that the shofdr is merely
musical instrument of barbarian times. The
Talmud gives no definite explanation why and
wherefore 1t is used. i disagree with both Or
thodox and reformed Jew, and believe the sho-
far to have originated with Moses. It strikes
me as being a reasonable explanation that In
the wilderness Moses taught the Israelites the
science OF war, knowing, as he did, that the
Jews would have to fight their way into Pales-
tine He therefore taught them code of sig
mails, just as all armies are taught today. 1t IL
not at all strange that the Jews should have
adopted New Years day to rehearse those sig
mails, and continued the practice from mere
force OF habit. They certainly have no further
use for signals, because they have long since
ceased to be nation.
Prayers concluded, the Jew hurries home,
eats his morning and noon meals in one, OBJ
serves the same ceremonies as described In the
evening fete and hastens back to the temple
More psalms are read, afternoon prayer (which
is very short one) is said, and finally comes a
picturesque scene. Men, women and children
betake themselves to the river, and we behold
them lined on the banks, saying prayers and
emptying their pockets. Here we have another
superstition, with quite q moral to it The Jew
goes to the rivefswith the object OF throwing
into IL all the sin he committed during the past
year, and to express his thoughts he turns his
pockets inside out, intimating that he is putting
from him all the sins committed. With all his
superstition he takes good care to leave all valu
ables at home and go there with empty pockets;
but the children, wishing to emphasize their ac-
ton by some reality, I'LL their pockets with
have been said they feed the fishes and the
birds Thus from asilly yet harmless custom
lesson 10 taught to the children both humane
and charitable. They learn to pity and have
mercy On the poor dumb animals.
While one might well question the utility of
observing these ceremonies in this age, no one
will deny that the lessons Taught to
the children by such observance are
wholesome and beneficial. Whatever may
be said of the Jew, his family life is
admitted by all to be pure and noble. We sell
dom find the Jew in our courts of justice ap-
plying for divorce. One will have to search far
and wide to find Jew who 10 an habitual drunk
ard or Jewish family left destitute by its
rightful provider. And In spite of my abhor-
renee OF superstition in any form, am COM
PEELED to admit that It is well for the Jew to
continue making his fireside his religious altar,
and thus save his children from many ills to
which they would otherwise be subject
ABE SPRING.