Middletown transcript., 1915-11-27
A MINIATURE BIBLE
Kew. Joe! LimOn Carries One On
His Watch Fob
DIVIDED THE OLD rESrAMrnr

| The Jewish Rabbi, the Rev. .Ioa, 7 /;
mon' recent guest of Mr.. and Mrs G
burstan' is equally learned and devout
ana so fond of reading his Bible in the
Hebrew that he carries one with him
wherever he goes, and what is moro
wears it on his fob-the whole of 49,
Old Testament
Lest the reader picture the reverend
gentleman as an eccentric TRAVELLING
around with an ordinary sized RihIe
dangling from his watch chain. we has
ten to explain that it is avery tinv conv
OF the Bible just about the size of a nost.
age stamp, or to be exact, 7-8 of an inch
long 5-S wide and 3-8 thick. 1t isinelosed
IN small brass box, and the wearer
carries small magnifying glass to rem
der the minute Hebrew characters vis;-
BILE.
The writer had the pleasure of meet
ing the Rabbi in Fogel & Burstan's
Store and on being SHOWN the wonder
ful little book, started to read it with
"' 0"S hoBnllylnR glass.
70 no, no you can do that, - exelaim-
ed the Rev. Limon, and it was only
after strongly insisting that the writer
was allowed to make the ATTEMPT so
thoroughly convinced was DR.. Limon of
its impossibility
Taking off his glasses the writer
turned to the back of the little volume
which as some of his readers know is
the front of Hebrew book-and read
IN that sonorous tongue the OPENING.
words OF the first verse in the book the
Jews call from its first word "Bere-
smith, -Genesis we call ''Bereshith
para Eiohim reading from right to
left as all Hebrew books are read. In the
English this means I'm the beginning the
Gods created" ETC., the plural ''Gods"is
an allusion to the doctrine of the Trinity
our theologians claim.
But the Rev. Limon would not at
first believe his own ears, and asking
Tor more, several more words were
read and he was convinced at last that
ne had met a chap with eyesight far
out of the common.
Rev. Limon said he had read the lit
tie book through many times using At
home larger magnifying glass.
His carrying this small Bible as a
watch charm reminds one of a custom
Of the Jews introduced at late period in
the Old Testament history of wearing
Irontlets on the foreheadand phylacter-
es on the arms or as they were also
styled, "Tephilas of the head and Tephi-
as of the arms
The frontlet, consisted of four niaces
IL parchment on which were written IN
square Hebrew characters Ex. 1920.
verses ll-16; Deut. 6:4-9, and verses l3-
Il. These four pieces were fastened
-ogether into square, then a little.
square of hard calfskin put at the top
With two leathern strings to tasten the
Whole around the head, the parchment
quare resting in he middle of the fore
lead.
This "Tephila of the head'' is vet
worm by devOut Jews during morning
md evening prayers.
The Tephilas of the arms were LITTLE
oils of parchment inscribed with the
anne words of the law and also inclosed
little box and worn upon each arm
eng kept there by long narrow band
'ound round the arm.
This custom of wearing the Tephilas
ad It's origin in too literal interpreta-
ION OF the admonition of the Law as
wen in Elk. l3, 8 and 16, ''And it shall
for sign unto thee upon thine hand
nd for memorial between thine
yes, etc, That this is so is shown bv
he further words in the same verse
that the Lords law may be in .thv
louth. To be consistent should there
ot have been Tephila of the mouth
well as of the head and of the arms?
Finally, since were on this subject If
proper to remark that the Jews nut
lie Old Testament books in a much diff
rent order from that shown in our
nglish translation,
They divided the Ola Testament into
rec parts LIST "The Law, 'eTorab''
mprising the five books of Moses from
enesis to Deuteronomy. I'd. "The
'ophets" 'Nebiim" Comprising the
'oks of Joshua, Judges, l and 2 Sam
j, l and 2 Kings. Isaiah, Jeremiah
leklel' and the twelve NinorProphets
The writings, " ''Kethubim,' . con-
sting l. of the Psalms, Proverbs and
ID; 2, The Song of Solomon, Ruth. La
-Ecclesiates and Esther:
aniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, i and Z Chron-
es.
Thus it will be seen thsg 4 Chronicles
Ands as the last book sIewish
d Testament where thc pso-
et Malachi does in ours.
Aufn coII;s;on