The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-05-20
9uasrauB gutelItgsuses.
JEWISH CUSTOMS.
Very Simple Funerals-Earth From
lerusalem-Love of Education.

Very Simple Funerals-Earth From
lerusalem-Loye Of Education.
It is estimated that between Ill, 900
and 112, 900 Jews live in that part Of
New York west Of the Bowery, bounded
by East Houston street, Ludlow
street and East Broadway. Of this
number nearly half are children, and
not more than $4,000 Of the adults
can speak English or ever a foreign
language fairly ineligible to other
people. They come from Russia,
Poland and Hungary, and the jargon
most of them use is based upon He
brew and is made up of several
languages and dialects and resembling
no distinct v~ernacular. Having been
in this country but a short time, some
of them only two or three years, very
few more than twelve or fourteen,
they have preserved their distinctive
customs and practices almost invio-
late, and are as orthodox and foreign
to-day as when they first landed from
the emigrant ships that brought them
to these shores. By reason of their
speech they are cut off from communi-
cation with the new world about them.
Their environments are Jewish, their
acquaintance are Jews. If they buy
and sell their business associates and
customers alike are of their own race.
They recognize and understand no
law but that dictated by their rabbits.
In no particular do they offer a more
marked contrast to their German, ltal-
ian and American neighbors Of the
crowded east side than in the manner
Of burying their dead. The life in
surance agents who visit weekly the
tenement houses in other districts,
collecting dues that shall 60 towards
defraying lavish funeral expenses,
urging such precautions on the poor,
never 60 10 the houses of the Jew, no
matter how needy he may be, and in
all the length and breadth of those
packed streets, where every available
door and window has a Hebrew sign
out announcing wares to sell or some
occupation carried on within, there is
no slightest intimation Of an under
takers establishment.
A visitor to this quaint quarter one
day, scanning the curious collection
of sub-divided stores and their an
nexes, caught sight Of a cluttered
carpenters shop in the window of
which were displayed wooden articles
of domestic use. There were t%ailors'
press-boards of implanted pine resting
against the smeary glass, wooden
clothes horses, small and large scrub"
hing boards and brushes and a unique
shaped box. also implanted, that looked
strangely like a coffin.
sit is a coffin" said the cicerone Of
the party. $50 inside and [ expect
you will find others like it, and larger
ones ALSO"
The sight-seers descended the steps
that led down into the low-roofed shop,
and learned from the queer-lookiDg
proprietor, rho could speak broken
English, that the little cofiu in the
window was valued at 50cepts, that he
had plenty of others like it., and that
for a grown persons coffin he-would
ask $3.50.
These collins had no lining, the pine
shavings were left in the bottom of
some, and no care had been taken in
planning and finishing. Verify, this
collection of gruesome wares huddled
together Unfortunately with COM
mon articles of everyday use, was a
vivid contrast to the undertakers'
shops elsewhere in the city, shops
glittering with varnish and plate, and
| with their stock in trade padded with
silk, satin and snowy embroidery.
It was ascertained that the dead
among these orthodox believers are
borne to the cemetery just in an or
binary cart, such as is used for moving
freight Of any description, and if the
deceased be of tender age, the father
/ or nearest male relative simply puts
the little box on his shoulder and
trudges off with it to the place of
burial. According to the teachings of
the Talmud, it is a violation Of faith
to have a fine funeral and luxurious
appointments. Jews more in touch
with the outside world, who realize
that times and conditions have changed
since those ancient edicts were issued,
assume a certain decree Of license in
regard to these matters, and adapt
themselves to their environments, but
these orthodox Jews adhere to their
old beliefs, and would regard them
selves as perjured and deiled if they
carried not. out, in detail, the teach
ings Of the ancient Mosaic law.
Peddlers are plentiful in the Jewish
quarter. Peddlers of candles, three
in a bunch, to be used in religious
rites; Of artificial flowers, imitation
peacock feathers and dyed grasses ;
peddlers of secondhand frocks and
coats !; Of cooked and uncooked food !;
Of combs, celluloid, collar-buttons and
perfumery; but the most picturesque
peddler of them all is he who sells
packages of dirt of genuine mother
earth from Jerusalem, to sprinkle on
the pillow of the dying Jew. and SO
speed his departing soul to the realms
Of eternal peace. It may be only from
New Jersey or Long Island that this
magic soil has been imported, but the
ru- chaser believes implicitly that it
came from the Holy Land, and if he
has father, mother, or any kindred
dear to him. i'll and on the verge Of
dissolution, he will secure the coveted
earth if possible. Whether it be a
spiritual blessing he is bargaining for
or some article of earthly and material
consideration, the typical Jew engages
with zest in the noisy excitement of
buying and selling. Sales are managed
OH oriental principles. There is al
ways plenty Of chaffering the seller
praises his goods, the buyer under
values them. At length, after both
partic7 have exhausted argument,
weakening on the one side and surren-
der of judgment on the other will take
place, and a sale will be made. Most
of the older jews, the kind who habit