The Denver Jewish news., 1918-11-21
JEWISH FOLKLORE.
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edited an old book which owing to
the negligence of the copyists had a
very corrupt text. Instead of look
ing for old manuscripts, Haida tasted,
prayed to the Prophet Elijah whom he
believed to he the, author of this me-
dieval work, and visited the graves
of the righteous, so numerous III
Prague. asking for their assistance. He
sincerely believed that his prayer was
answered and that the pious anccs-
tors intcrceded for him with the
Prophet Elijah who revealed to him
in dream the explanation of the
difficult passages (Tanna Dcbe Eli
yahu. Prague, 1876.
< custom connected with the above
is the prayer for forgiveness, address
ed to persons whom the worshippcr be-
lieves to have wronged in life. Mcndel
Kroclmal. Land-rabbincr of MOravia.
(died 1851 advised II paddlcr whose
assistant lost his life in blizzard.
and who was conscience stricken. feel
ing that he had caused his death. TO
take three pious and learned mon
with him to the grave of the victim
and ask his forgiveness in their pres
cnce. (Zcmnh Zedek, No. 93). AS late
as 17S4 the r;,bbinate of RawitsciI i'll
the now Prtlssian province Of Posen
condemned a man who had spoken ill
of dead neighbor to apologize on
s,.,s grave tC0hn:a Geschiclsis. der J,l-
den. in, RID. 36i.
The belief in the power of the. dead
to avert misfortune. and especially
premature death from the living is
underlying the ceremony to dedicate
u cemetery by killing II rooster (Kap-
parah over the first grave. This Gus
tom. as far Us ] am aware. is first
mentioned by the c:ibhalist Aaron
Berechiah da Modcna, the uncle of the
free-thinkcr Leon Modcna, Cdicd 1G39l
many alterations is still very popular
as praycrbook used ut deathbeds and
ted. Mantuu, 1T26, p. 47b).
The custom was practiccd in 1856 by
Rabbi 1lloway at the dedication of II
new cemetery in Syracuse, n. y,
tSinai, II. 713), and on II similar oc-
casion in Casale Monferrato, February
IL, 1904 (Vessillo. 1904, ca.
\ direct appeal to the dead is the
custom of pilgrimages 10 the graves of
the saints, more i'll vogue among Oricn-
tai Jews. The most popular of these
is the annual visit on the
18th of Iyar Gag Ba-Omcr) to the
supposed grave of Simon benz j ohai
near Eibcrias to which people flock
not only from Palestine and adjacent
countries hut even from Arabia; Per-
sia and Bohkara. Local saints of
whom only the names are known are
in Dcmanhur, Egypt, in
NazZan and Tctuun, Morocco, in Zol-
kicw, Gaiicia, and numerous other
places. In the latter city il is only
known that the saints Iiame was
Moses ben Shachna and that he died
Oct. %. 1862 IIu Eshkoi, ". 153l.
Better known Historically is X. Sla-
China of Lublin I'd. 165D, the teacher
of the more famous Moses Isserls. On
Il. Shachna's grare SOLEMN peniten-
tial services were held to stay the
cholera on Adar 20, tYom kippur
katon) 1915 (Hajnt, 1915, No. 80.
Moses isSerlS grave in Cracow The
died 1572D is not the goal of regular
but numerous individuals
visit his grave and deposit their writ
ten requests inside the railing which
the grave. The orient fol
lowing Mohammcdan customs, has nu-
IncrOus graves of prophets and other
biblical nersonages which are the goal
make their pilgrimagcs
10 Mecca or to the grave of some Ma
"abu. The grave of Ezci;icl is south
Di IIillah, the ancient Sura. the tomb
" Daniel is near Mossul. not far
from Ell kuSh, where the grave Of
Nahum is shown, the grave Of the
high priest Joshua ben Jehu1adak il
lcar Ragdad, aud the Jews of Persin
'avc selected as their saint, Serah. |
he daughter of Asher, the only femalc !
mentioned in Jacob's family when he |
Nrut tn E,rynt Dinnb Jnrnl,'S lnup.h- |
CT, WAS evidently uut cligible--fGeu.