Religion, enquired into the customs of the Jews with regard to funerals. The Paris rabbis said that it did not appear to them that there would be any infraction of their rites (en faisant concourir à l'inhumation de leurs morts des personnes étrangers à leur culte) by allowing persons of an opposite faith to assist at the interment of our dead, so that they did not touch the body. The Israelites of Bordeaux, however, contended that their religion forbade any interference of a stranger, direct or indirect. In spite of this diversity of opinion the Section agreed with the Minister that the greatest freedom ought to be allowed to the conscience, and that the decree which mentioned only ("des fabriques et des consistoires ") funeral appendages and consistorial rights did not apply to the Jews, who, above all, according to immemorial usages, themselves buried their own dead and had their own cemetery. To prevent, therefore, any further contestation, it is decreed that the articles 22 and 24 of the decree are not applicable to persons professing the Jewish religion.Rapport et project de Décret, &c., sur une Reclamation des Juifs de Bordeaux. 1806. PALINDROME. We need scarcely remind our readers that a Palindrome signifies a line or verse which can be read backwards or forwards. "B. S.," in the "Jewish Record," July 17, 1868, forwards the subjoined clever examples of this description by Aben Ezra : אבי אל חי שמך למה מלך משיח לא יבא ? דעו מאביכם כי לא בוש אבוש שוב אשוב אליכם כי בא מועד WORKS OF MENDELSSOHN. Mendelssohn has exerted an immense influence over the civilisation of Israelites. It appears to be little known (at least in England) that a complete edition of his works was published at Leipsic in 1845, in seven vols. 8vo., by F. A. Brockhaus. How desirable it would be if this work were translated, and made available for English readers. ABHORRENCE OF THE JEWS. There was a time when almost all classes of Christians united in expressing their abhorrence of the Hebrew people; and the name of Jew was associated with whatever was mean and contemptible. And long since the general spread of literature and elevation of character produced by religious toleration and civil improvements, writers of the first reputation have not hesitated to represent the Hebrew nation as sunk in ignorance. Will it be believed that in adducing the words of an author who affirms that "before the conquest of Asia by Alexander the Great, the Jews were entirely unacquainted with letters," I quote an author of such extensive research as Dr. Mosheim? It were to be wished that such loose and inaccurate views of Hebrew literature could be charged on no other respectable writers than that distinguished ecclesiastical historian. But the same want of acquaintance with the literature of the Hebrews, mingled with an unusual degree of contempt, shows itself in the remarks of a finished scholar and elegant poet of the fifteenth century, the Italian Politian, who despises the lyre of David in comparison with that of Horace; and does not scruple to say that the study of Hebrew obstructs or corrupts the acquisition of Latin.-PROFESSOR S. W. TURNER'S Lectures, 1831. MOSHE HADDARSHAN. He was from Narbonne, having studied under Gershon the elder, and had the honour to reckon among his descendants Jews, who, in after times became celebrated. It was in his time that sermons were first delivered in synagogues. If Moshé himself did not introduce this practice, at least he must have favoured it greatly, since to him was given the title par excellence 77. Benjamin of Tudela mentions Moshé as one of the luminaries of the Jews of Narbonne. הדרשן the great בראשית רבא He is the author of commentary. It is an exposition on the Pentateuch, but, unfortunately, it has not been preserved.—BAILEY. ARREST OF JEWS. Hamburg, October 5, 1667. The principal Jews have been arrested at Vienna for raising difficulties among themselves, and endeavouring to publish things to the disturbance of the public.-Calendar of State Papers. THE COMMANDMENTS IN TEN LINES. (From an old Parish Register, 1689.) Have thou no other gods Butt me; Write these thy Laws, Lord, in my heart And lett me nott from them depart. -Notes and Queries. ON FORCED BAPTISM. Some Jewish merchants from Italy, who went to Marseilles on commercial business in the 6th century, were requested by the Jews of that city to complain to St. Gregory of the conduct of their bishop, as well as of the Bishop of Arles. St. Gregory wrote to these prelates several letters exhorting them to mildness. He forbade them particularly to force Jews to receive baptism, because, said he, that sacrament imposed by violence causes death to them instead of giving them life, and that their relapse would cause more scandal than their conversion would be edifying.-GREGORY. Epist. xlv. THE "NEW SYNAGOGUE." Previous to the establishment of the congregation at St. Helen's Place, the worship was celebrated in Leadenhall Street, respecting which the Annual Register, under date of July 28, 1798, contains the following interesting paragraph :-"The ceremony of the consecration of the Jewish Synagogue was performed on Friday and Saturday, at their house of worship in Leadenhall Street. The building has been repaired and beautified in a very elegant and neat style. The high priest, with the subordinate rabbis, chorus, and attendants, with a great number of the fathers of families in their proper vestments were at the ceremony, which was awful, grand, and affecting. The music and the verses were performed in the Eastern manner of strophe, antistrophe, and full chorus. The anthems were performed by the four brothers, who sang there in a very superior style of modulation and harmony. A crowd of people attended, but they all conducted themselves decorously." It may not be generally known that the site of the synagogue had been originally occupied as the Builders' Hall, and when the synagogue was erected thereon in 1760, the very apposite quotation from Psalm cxviii. was placed on "The stone which it. אבן מאסו הבנים היתה לראש פנה the builders rejected has become the corner headstone.” THE REJECTED "STONE." The above recalls an anecdote. In a certain town in Germany an individual applied to the authorities of the synagogue for the then vacant appointment of beadle; but in consequence of his dissolute habits, his application was rejected. In subsequent years he returned to his native town rich in fortune's gifts, and having thereby obtained the favour of the Grand Duke, was by him nominated Parnass of the Synagogue. The congregation had no alternative but submission. When the retiring warden opened the door for his entrance on a certain appointed Sabbath, the parvenu, remembering his former rejection, said in a sneering tone, der Stein, den die Bauleute verworfen, ist zum Eckstein geworden. (The stone which the builders rejected has become the corner headstone.) To which the retiring warden quickly replied, aptly finishing the quotation, das ist vom Herrn geschehen, und ist ein Wunder vor unsern Augen; or, as we should say in English: Truly the LORD has so ordered it, and we are ourselves astonished at it. APPLICATION TO HENRY VII. Ferdinand and Isabella, writing to Henry, assert that certain Jews who have left the dominions of Spain have seized the sum of 428,000 maravedis, belonging to Diego de Soria, and in the keeping of Fernan Lorenzo, alleging that the said Diego owes them certain sums on bills of exchange, which were given to them when they were expelled from Spain. These Jews have forfeited their rights, |