The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-20
YOM kIPPUR.
scenes of Devotion and MOcker!
Among the Poorer Jews.
New York Evening Post.


Now 60 Itzig.'
There is yet time and as the man an
of the c car unsold and looked towards
the west, where the sun was shining. A
customer, a barefoot boy, bought one of the
largest size candles, some two feet long and
an inch thick, and again the old man
counted. He was sitting with his wife with IA,
top step of flight that went down into
There was indeed time 1t was only 4
O'Clock in the afternoon, and the first star
that heralded Yom kippur, the day of
| atonement, Judah's hottest of holy days,
But the anxious wife wished to be on the
safe side, and there waS-the meal that must
span, like the candles they sold, the twenty
four hours of fasting. Everywhere about
the old couple the signs of the coming of
the hour wei many and unmistal<able The
ghetto Wts leaving trade for their homes.
Doors Slammed and bolts were drawn in
the Shops as the girls and young clerks
darteu out and hurried away down the
streets. Hester street, the marketplace of
the quarter, was nearly clear. Only a few
fruit peddlers hung back with their carts
selling a few last apples with one hand on
| the handle in the nervous attitude of going.
There We're some men already in the
synagogues. They had not yet drawn on
the talith, but they were swaying gently,
| earnestly back and forward as they mum
their breasts In the vestibules of the
schules the heads of the congregation set
out the long table and arranged the baskets
| with the names in Hebrew of the cantor
and members of the choir, each of whom
| receives contributions for his service on
| this day. At the doors of the synagogue
| the beggars were grouping themselves to
But there was yet time; it was only s
| o'clock and the glow of the setting sun
| was brilliant over the tops of the houses.
| Impatient women stood in the dooTways
| claimed:
"Da is err as some Fastening father
son or brother came around the corner.
but hurry" they added to him when he
| came in nearing, supper has been long
ready and you promised to be home early"
pushed past the waiting group,
Candles began to appear, . lighted in the
under their arms and high hats on their
| heads, came out of the houses and walked
off rapidly to the synagogues. Some of
| them were munching the last mouthful of
| food. Not few paused at street corners
to buy an apple or bunch Of grapes pes
with their carts. The young men We're
smoking their last cigar or the more ne
Christian helper hired t fer the last a; hour
Of f'it Christian ar-h UG barkeep 1 81 w. ' %
Meanwhile, the old women. peaceful
looking and free from wants So moved
gogues. They wore white or light dresses.
or light waists over black skirts, and We're
which replaces their own hair, shaver off
| ON the day after their wedding. The ugly
! black or brown head coverings wero
frightened by little pink. red or white sat
| in bows and ribbons They were a COM
Portable. pleasant sight, these devout old
/ creatures. . .
Now go Itzig" said the wife of the
/ candle petldler. :
| Here is still another cuyer
"I'll attend to him..
] There is yet
| But she pushed her husband away. for it
| was very near the time. Then she sold a
! candle to a man who took the light and
! pushed it up his sleeve out OF slght, while
/ he ran off to his home. The old woman
/ closed the box and tottered after her nus
! band.
! seemed to be indifferent to the solennity of
| the hour They were playing and shouting
! more conspicuously than ever; the ADAM
/ donment of the pavements to them empha-
/ sized their noisness. But they, too were
carried by the streams to the synagogues,
| where they ran about laughing and play
| ing checked only by an occasional hiss or
| a slap. The Christian janitor was lighting
4 Christian ticket-taker superseded the treas
urer OF the congregation at the entrance.
| There was no little wrapgling and entreaty
| about admissions to the best synagogues:,
But finally the cantor rose and began the
chant of Kol Nidre. the ancient and beau
tiful. All was hushed. Yom Kippur was
begun.
Up in Thirteenth street a lot of unclean:
| sulien dark-visaged Jews. in wretched
clothes the worst they had, stood talking
| angriiy together. They were atheists, they
said and anar re They had engage eSi
their race and RELIGION. but the proprietor
of the place had misunderstood some in
| curry DN the ponce the dty Dt4oic anu ic-
fused them the key.
s.Oh let them have it," said Acting Cap
tain Hurlihey. THE poor devils. They are
! harmless"
There may be trouble" warned the pro-
/ pretor
well take care of that" was the con-
| temptuous answer.
] The doors opened and the crowd, some
| three hundred men and women. skunk in.
/ and to break the law of Moses. smoked
| cigarettes drank beer. and Toasted on APP
| nlese II was the most pitiful sight of Yom
rlOnC
No East Side Jew is Indifferent to this
| day.