The first distinctive symbol greets one at the very threshold, namely, the Mezuzah (lit., "door-post"), a small tubular case of wood or metal, fixed slantwise on the upper part of the right-hand door-post. The case contains a rolled piece of parchment on which are written Scriptural verses enjoining the love of God and obedience to His commandments (Deut. vi. 4-9, xi. 13-21), and there is a small opening showing the word Shaddai ("Almighty") written on the back of the scroll. This symbol is prescribed in the words: "And thou shalt write them on the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates" (Deut. vi. 9, xi. 20). It is fixed not only on the street door, but on the door of every living room in the house, and whenever the pious pass the Mezuzah, they touch it and kiss their fingers; The conforming Jew celebrates his entry into a new house by a religious ceremony of dedication, accompanied by a friendly reunion at which a Talmudical discourse is held. Sometimes he will leave an unpapered patch on one of the walls as a sign of grief for the destruction of Jerusalem, and he may nail a round piece of Matzah ("Passover cake") above the mantelpiece as a constant reminder of the Exodus (Deut. xvi. 3). Various articles for ritual purposes are also displayed - the glistening candlesticks to welcome Sabbaths and festivals, the plaited taper and artistically wrought spice-box used in the service for ushering them out, the goblet of gold or silver or baser metal for the benedictions over wine essential to these holy days, and the eight-branched candlestick for the Feast of Dedication (Chanucah). Another conspicuous feature is the charity-box nailed to the wall in aid either of local phil-anthropy, or one of the many charities in Palestine. In recent years the "Jewish National Fund" box, distributed by the Zionist Organization for the collection of money to buy land in Palestine, has also become a familiar object. The walls are adorned with designs and pictures re-flecting a cherished tradition or illustrating a hallowed scene or revered personality. A favourite design con-sists of two intertwined triangles, called the "Shield of David " (Magen David), and employed both in domestic and synagogue adornment. The usual decorations particularly in Eastern Europe, are legendary portraits of Moses and Aaron, crudely coloured views of Palestine, a permanent Hebrew calendar of perplexing elaborateness, a Jahrzeit tablet in simple black frame recording in Hebrew the anniversary of a parent's death, and a micrographic representation either of Moses with horned forehead, or of the Cave of Machpelah, or of some other revered person or place. Portraits of distinguished Rabbis and of eminent Jews who have laboured for the salvation of their people, such as Sir Moses Montefiore, Baron Maurice de Hirsch, and Dr. Theodor Herzl, likewise have an honoured place even in the humblest home; and the innate patriotism of the Jew finds expression even in the land of bondage, for in the abode of nearly every Russian Jew is a portrait of the Tsar. In Germany some of the most familiar pictures are scenes of Jewish domestic life and religious celebration drawn by the eighteenth-century artist Oppenheim, and in recent years there has been a steady increase of pictures portraying modern Jewish life in all its phases. The books have also a character of their own. The nucleus of every library in a typical orthodox household is a Hebrew collection consisting primarily of prayer-books for various occasions and Pentateuchs, worn with use and seared with age. The usual edition of the Torah or Pentateuch is in five volumes, each containing the Aramaic Targum and an array of medieval commentaries. The other Hebrew works are the Old Testament, the Talmud, the Mishnah, and the Shulchan Aruch, each in several volumes; whilst a larger collection will comprise books in every branch of theological lore and religious legislation. The favourite volume of the orthodox Jewess of Eastern Europe is a Yiddish paraphrase of the Penta-teuch, called Teutsch-Chumesh or Ze'enah Ure'enah,1 embodying many legends and homilies. There are also secular works in Hebrew and Yiddish comprising history, science, fiction, and poetry; whilst the library of the scholar also contains many modern scientific works in various languages on Jewish history, literature, theology, and sociology. A salient feature in the orthodox household consists of the arrangements in the kitchen, which are subject to special dietary laws. All meat foods must be kept strictly separate from milk-foods, as the contact of one with the other - such as meat with milk, butter, or cheese - would render both unfit for consumption. This regulation involves the use of two sets of utensils, both for cooking and eating, the one set being reserved for meat dishes, and the other for milk or butter dishes, and the crockery and cutlery of the one set being kept rigorously apart from those of the other. This separation of things fleischig ("meaty ") from things milchig ("milky ") is observed by the strict housewife in every conceivable direction: there are separate tablecloths and napkins, separate cruets, separate basins for washing the crockery, and separate towels for drying; and in more elaborate kitchens there are even separate cooking-ranges, dressers, and sinks. There is a special utensil for the preparation of meat, from which the blood must be drained in accord-ance with the Biblical command (Gen. ix. 4; Lev. iii. 17). It is a slanting board or piece of wicker-work, upon which the meat, after having been soaked in water half an hour, is besprinkled with salt; after another hour the salt is rinsed away, and the meat is ready for cooking. On the Feast of Passover special crockery and cutlery must be used, and as separate sets are necessary for meat and milk the orthodox household must be provided in all with four sets of cooking and eating vessels. The Passover sets are usually stored in some out-of-the-way place, where they are safe from contamination by anything "leavened," i.e. the customary food of the rest of the year. The kitchen of the orthodox Jew is distinguished not only by the formal arrangements for storing, cooking, and eating food, but even more so by the nature of the food admitted. He strictly adheres to the prescriptions in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Leviticus as to the animals, birds, and fish that he may consume. He refrains from eating the flesh of any beasts except those that are cloven-footed, and that chew the cud, and hence pork, bacon, and ham are taboo in his home. He refrains from eating any of the birds forbidden in that chapter, any fish that have not fins and scales, such as the eel, and "all creeping things that creep upon the earth," such as snails, oysters, crabs, and lobsters. It is not enough that the flesh which he eats is of beasts or birds that are permitted, but these must have been killed by Jewish slaughterers in accordance with the regulations of Rabbinic law (Shechita) in order that the meat shall be kosher. Hence the Jewish housewife must obtain her meat from a butcher licensed by the ecclesiastical authori-ties, and after bringing it home she must remove the blood in the manner described before cooking it. The law of Shechita applies only to cattle, beasts, and birds; there is no ordinance regarding the killing of fish, and hence the latter may be obtained from any purveyor. The strict housewife will also be particular about the fitness of the milk, butter, and cheese that she buys, and invariably procures them from a Jewish dairyman who holds a licence from the ecclesiastical authority, or upon whose scrupulous observ-ance of the ritual law she can rely. Dairy produce from a non-Jewish purveyor may have come into contact with some forbidden matter, such as lard, or may have been con-veyed in vessels ritually unclean, and hence it is suspect. A similar precaution is also taken in regard to bread and pastry, which must not be baked with forbidden fats: and hence the housewife will procure these commodities from a baker who observes the ritual law. In very orthodox centres the licensed baker affixes to each loaf a small label, which certifies to its being kosher, and states the name of the Rabbi responsible for its kashrus, whilst occasionally it even bears the baker's portrait and a registered number. The frugal housewife, however, bakes her own bread, at least two twistedloaves in honour of the Sabbath, and performs a deed of religious merit in sacrificing a handful of dough (challah) upon the fire, a survival of the offering made to the priest in Temple times (Num. xv. 20). The bread is baked either at home, or more often at the local baker's, and hence in Jewish districts on a Friday afternoon, or on the eve of a festival, one may frequently see girls carrying home the Sabbath loaves in their aprons. The peculiar dishes of most nations are largely deter-mined by the natural products of the country, and by the taste formed by climatic conditions. The peculiar dishes of the Jewish cuisine are only partly determined by these circumstances: they have been mainly evolved by the elaborate legislation which prescribes what food is per-mitted, prohibits certain kinds of food at certain periods, and expressly forbids the act of cooking on the Sabbath. The eating of meat is subjected to more restrictions than any other commodity: the animal must be killed in accord-ance with Rabbinical law, the meat must be drained of its blood, and it must not be cooked with milk or butter. Moreover, during the first nine days of Ab (August) it may not be eaten at all, except on the Sabbath, as a token of grief for the destruction of Jerusalem. These restrictions have caused fish to become an article of very frequent consump-tion among even the poorest Jews, and it is recommended by the religious code as an essential dish on Sabbaths and festivals. Its popularity has tended to develop a fertile ingenuity in its preparation, the principal modes being frying, stewing, and "filling." The third mode (gefülter fisch) is peculiar to the Jews of Eastern Europe: the fish is prepared very much like a rissole, except that the pieces are covered with the skin and cooked in boiling water. The most distinctive dish is that due to the inability to cook on the Sabbath and to the desire neverthe-less to have hot food on that day. It is known as shalet, the virtues of which have been sung in a panegyric by Heine in his Prinzessin Sabbath. It consists usually of meat stewed with potatoes and fat, or with peas, beans, and barley. The pot containing it is generally put into another and larger pot containing hot water, and the whole is placed into the oven or upon the stove on Friday afternoon; thus the dish requires no further attention, and it is quite hot enough when served for the midday meal on the Sabbath. The term shalet, which is prevalent in German-speaking countries, has undergone local variations, being known as sholent or tcholent in Russia, and shulet in Bohemia. Its etymology has been explained in various fanciful ways, but the word is doubtless derived from the Old French chauld ("warm"), and thus points to the ancient origin of the popular dish. A common form of shalet is known as a kind of pudding, in which flour, fat, and raisins are usual ingredients. The law that has evolved this peculiar dish is also responsible for the extensive use of the samovar in orthodox homes. Water may not be boiled nor tea brewed on the Sabbath, but if the tea is prepared in the samovar before the incoming of the Sabbath, and a cup therefrom drunk, the beverage may be kept hot throughout the holy day without any infringement of the law. The various kinds of soups prepared by the Jewish housewife are also distinctive. The commonest is that served with lokshen, long strips of dough made of flour and eggs, like macaroni. The strips are sometimes cut into small squares, which are known as farfil. There is also a variety of sour soups, called borschtsh, the most popular of which are made of beetroot mixed with the yolk of eggs. A peculiar aspect of the cuisine consists in the fact that special dishes
are sacred to certain festivals or seasons of the year. The most important
instance is the Feast of Passover, upon which no leavened bread may be
eaten. The unleavened bread, in the form of large, thin, round biscuits,
is not only a staple article of diet, but also an ingredient in most of
the other dishes of the Passover week. The unleavened bread is ground into
meal, with which little dumplings, called kneidlach (Ger., knödel)
or matzakleis are made and eaten with soup; and the meal is also the chief
ingredient in various sorts of puddings and pancakes. A dish sacred to
three occasions in the year - the Feast of Purim, the eve of the Day of
Atonement, and the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles - is known as
kreplech, con-sisting of little triangular meat-patties served with soup.
Another delicacy peculiar to Purim is the Haman-Tasche, a kind of turnover
filled with honey and black poppy-seed. On the day preceding the Fast of
Ab the conventional dish is milchige lokshen, home-made macaroni boiled
in milk; and on the Feast of Chanucah (in December) the special dainties
are pancakes, called latkies, and fried scraps of the skin of a fowl, known
as gribenes.
Outward distinction of dress is confined to countries which are either geographically or morally Eastern. In Poland and Galicia the Jews cling with religious devotion to the sixteenth-century Polish costume of the long gaber-dine, tied round with a girdle, and the round fur hat. Even boys of a tender age wear the gaberdine, while instead of the fur hat they have a peculiar cap with a glazed peak. The well-to-do members of the community honour the Sabbath and festivals with a gaberdine of silk or satin and a hat of the finest fur; but there is no local variation in the costume of the Jewish women in those districts. There are certain distinctions in regard to dress, however, which are observed by orthodox Jews in all parts of the world. They will not wear a garment made of the mixed fabric forbidden by the Mosaic law and known as shaatnez, such as a mixture of linen and wool (Lev. xix. 19). Under their vest they wear a small praying-shawl (Talith katon) in the shape of a chest-protector, made of cotton or wool, with a woollen fringe inserted in each of the four corners and arranged according to special regulations elaborated by the Rabbis from the Pentateuch (Num. xv. 37-41). This garment is also called arba kanfoth ("four corners"), or, more popularly still, zizith ("fringes"), and it is worn by a boy from his earliest years. The pious Jew regards it as irreverent to be bareheaded, and hence always wears a skull-cap at home, a custom rendered further necessary by frequent prayers and sacred study, for both of which the head must be covered. To prevent the possibility of being bareheaded even for a moment he wears the skull-cap throughout the day and places over it his hat for outdoor wear when he leaves the house. Law and custom also regulate the dressing of the hair in orthodox circles. The Mosaic prohibition of shaving, in Lev. xix. 27 ("Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard"), is rigidly upheld, but is regarded as applying only to the operation with a razor. Those who wish to remove the hair without infringing the law use scissors, clippers, or a chemical depilatory; but the complete removal of the beard, by whatever means, is regarded by staunch adherents of orthodoxy as a revolt from Rabbinical Judaism. In many parts of Eastern Europe, particularly Russia and Galicia, the hair is allowed to grow on both sides of the head and to hang down in curls or ringlets, in strict conformity with the Levitical rule. In 1845 Nicholas I of Russia decreed that his Jewish subjects should discard this custom, together with their Polish costume; but ear-locks (peoth) are still worn extensively in Eastern Europe, even by boys of a tender age, and they may be seen adorning the cheeks of pious Jews from the East who have migrated to a Western city. Married women are required by Rabbinical law not to expose their hair, on pain of being regarded wanton. Hence orthodox Jewesses after marriage wear a wig which completely covers their hair, while in the Orient they don a kerchief. In the Western world, however, both men and women for the most part disregard these customs and follow the local fashion. 1 Heb., "Go ye forth and see" (Canticles iii, 11). |
© Iosif
Vaisman
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