The Jewish Synagogue, Chapter 35
CHAP. XXXV.
Touching the burial of the Jews, and how they are bewailed and lamented of their living Friends and Kinsfolks.
WHen any Jew is viſited with ſickneſs, then the learned▪ Rabbines come diligently to viſit and comfort him; which they eſteem as a good and precious work. If any be ſick unto death, he ſends for his neareſt Kinsfolks and other of the learned crew. If the ſick perſon be rich, then in the firſt place they barter with him about his temporal eſtate: if poor, they ſpare their labour. They ſeriouſly exhort him to a conſtant perſeverance in their faith. Firſt of all catechiſing him whether he believes the Meſſias is yet for to come. He is alſo bound to make a confeſſion of his ſins upon his death-bed, the form whereof is this. I confeſſe before thee, my Lord and God, the God of my fathers, the Lord of all creatures, that health and ſickneſſe are in thy hand. I pray and beſeech thee to reſtore me to my former health, and being mindful of me to hear my prayer, as thou heardeſt the prayer of King Hezekiah when he was ſick. But if my appointed time be come, then let this my death be the remiſſion of all my ſins which I have committed, either out of ignorance or wantonneſſ ſince the day that I was born. Grant that I may have a part in paradiſe, and in that world to come that is reſerved for the juſt Grant that I may know the way of life everlaſting. Satisfie me with the joy of the excelling countenance by thy right hand for ever more. Bleſſed be thou O God who heareſt my prayer.
Their final comfort is, that temporal death a debt to corrupt nature, may be a reconciliation for all their ſins, and that God is bound to remit their ſins, becauſe they undergoe this death. Alaſs who can but perceive what peace ſuch poor comfort can afford to a loaden conſcience.
When he is giving up the Ghoſt, then all the by-ſtanders whether kinsfolke or ſtrangers rent their garments, yet this they doe in the skirts thereof where the rent being but a hands breadth can doe no great hurt: they deplore and lament the man departed ſeven dayes after the example of Joſeph who mourned for his father for the ſame ſpace, and for the renting of their garments they produce that Scripture,Gen. 50. 10. Jacob rent his garmants and put ſackcloth upon his loines and lamented his ſon many dayes,Gen. 37. 34.
As ſoon as he is dead they caſt forth all the water in the houſe into the ſtreets; cover his face, that from thenceforth none may behold it. Then they take his thumbe and by wreſting of it into the palme of his hand, make it to repreſent the name Schaddai, which is ſo great a terrour to the devil that he dare not approach the dead corps. They binde his thumb with the threads and ſtringes of his own coat, which otherwiſe would not remain crooked. For it is ordinary for a dead man alwayes to ſtretch out his hands and fingers, thereby ſignifying that he hath left the world, and that there is nothing in it which he can now lay challenge unto: as on the contrary, the little infants at their birth have their hands ſhut; thereby intimating that God hath given, and as it were delivered unto them the riches of this carthly Tabernacle. Then is he waſhed with hot water, that he may be clean when he ſhall give an account of his ſins and offences.
This done, they take an cgge and break it, mixing the intrals of it with wine, and with a great deal of curioſity, anointing the head of the dead carcaſs therewith. They inveſt him with his white robe, which he was wont to wear upon the day of reconciliation; and for a concluſion of all commit him to the ſafe cuſtody of the Grave.
When he is carried out of the houſe they hurry a certain ſhell after him: thereby ſignifying that by his exit the harſh tones of a melancholy ſadneſs ought to be utterly ſilenced.
So ſoon as they come to the place of burial, then they ſay, Bleſſed be God who hath created, formed, nouriſhed, ſuſtained, and at laſt brought you (for ſo they beſpeak the de…as is they were alive) into the duſt of the earth again. He knowes your number, and in his good time will reſtore you unto life. Bleſſed be thou O God that takeſt away life and giveſt it again. Then they ſet the Corps down by the grave, and compaſſing the Sepulchre repeat a long prayer. In this they praiſe God that he hath pronounced a juſt ſentence upon him, which ſentence they name tzidduck haddin bJuſtitia juditij, a juſt judgment.This done, certain of them take up the Corps, lay it in the grave, caſting the earth upon it. His neareſt kinsfolks beginning firſt. The burial being ended, they depart home with great lamentation. By the way ſome one of them ſtooping three times backward, pulls the graſs from the earth, and with his hands lifting it up above his head, caſts it behind him, hereby ſignifying that the dead ſhall riſe again, and once more ſprout out of the earth like unto graſs;Eſa. 60. 14. as the Prophet ſaith, You ſhall ſee it, and your heart ſhall rejoyce, your bones ſhall flouriſh as the herbe. Others ſay, that by this ceremony man is put in minde how he is duſt and aſhes.
When they return into the porch of their Synagogue, they waſh their hands,Iſa. 25. 8. ſaying, He will ſwallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces: and the rehuke of the people ſhall he take away from off all the earth; becauſe the Lord God hath ſpoken it. From thence they goe into the Synagogue and ſit down: by and by they leap up and down, changing their place ſome ſeven times: ſaying a prayer for the dead, which they call Kaddiſch; as alſo ſome comfortable ſentences,Pſal. 90. 17. as this: The glorious majeſty of the Lord our God be upon us.
They who bewaile the dead, are forced to …it ſeven dayes barefoot upon the ground, in which ſpace they are not permitted either to eat fleſh or drink wine, whether they be the children of the deceaſed or ſome of his kinsfolks. Yet upon the ſabbath dayes and other feſtivals, a diſpenſation is granted unto them in honour of theſe dayes, For the ſpace of thirty dayes together they muſt not goe into the bath, nor to the barber. They muſt not annoint themſelves with oyle or ſweet water, not cut their nailes &c. The man who mournes for the dead muſt eat his meat with men: the woman with women. They idle become careleſs of their worldly affairs, breathing nothing out but the doleful accents of grief and ſorrow. He that mourns eats none of his own bread: his friends who come to viſit him, make him partaker of ſuch victuals as they bring with them. In the firſt place they give him a diſh of egges to feed upon, and that for his comfort; for as egges are round and circular, ſo is death alſo wheeling about now to one, then to another.
The children bemoan their deceaſed parents for a whole year together: the ſurviving ſon of the deceaſed father is tied every day for the ſpace of eleven moneths, to ſay a certain prayer called Kaddiſch before mentioned, by the virtue of which prayer, the Rabbines write and beleeve that his father ſhall be delivered out of purgatory. The wicked remain in purgatory for twelve moneths, but they who have led their life in a more godly manner are delivered ſooner. Hereupon it comes to paſs, that the children commonly pray for their faters the ſpace of an eleven years, becauſe there is not any who would have his father accounted for a reprobate. That the father may be delivered by ſuch a prayer, they prove out of a certain ſtory, rather an old wives tale recorded in the book, Brandſpicilegium in the tract Calah Rabbi Akibha, upon a certain time being travelling, he met a man carrying a load of wood, which neither any horſe or aſſe was able to carry. Rabbi Akibhah inquired of him whether he was a man or a ghoſt. He anſwered, I was once a man, but now being dead I am compelled every day to carry ſuch a heavie load of wood into purgatory, and to this end that there I may ſuffer a miſerable ſcorching for my ſins which I committed in my life time, ſo that I may more fitly be compared to an aſſe then a man. Hereupon the Rabbine further enquired of him, whether he had left a ſon behinde him? what was his wives name, as alſo his ſons name? In what City they dwelt? All which when he had declared unto him, the Rabbine inſtantly going into the ſaid City, happened to meet with his ſon; whom he taught the prayer Kaddiſch, commanding him to repeat the ſame daily for his deceaſed father, for by this means it ſhould come to paſs that he ſhould be delivered out of purgatory.
The ſon when he had learned the prayer, and had often repeated it for his deceaſed father; the father appeared to the foreſaid Rabbine in a viſion by night, and giving him thanks that he had freed him from ſo great torment, as being the cauſe of his delivery out of Purgatory, and confeſſed that he was now at length thence delivered, and tranſlated into the garden of Eden, Paradiſe. Hereupon the Rabbine made all the Schools of the Jews partakers of this hiſtory by his letters, annexing alſo this injunction, that every childe ſhould ſay ſuch a prayer for his deceaſed father. And hereupon it comes to paſs, that the father of a Jew departs this life with great joy and conſolation, knowing that he hath left a ſon behinde him that will pray for him. If one have no childe, the whole Synagogue prayes for him upon their Sabbath and feſtival dayes. By theſe and ſuch like fables, the profound Rabbines inſtill the Jewiſh religion into their yonglings, that by this means they may become pious and learned Jews; yea, hence they are wont to boaſt before the nations of their ſublime wiſdom and ſanctity far exceeding the vulgar holineſs.
It is alſo provided, that a lampe ſhould burn for ſeven dayes together, in honour of the ſoule of the deceaſed party: for the ſoule of any dying man is wont to return to the place where he gave up the ghoſt, and dolefully to lament over his dear conſort the body.
So ſoon as the man is dead they caſt all the water in the houſe out of doors, that they who paſs by, may be warned of the deceaſe of ſome perſon there. Others have recorded that they do this thing in memory of the Propheteſs Miriam, of whom it is written:Num. 20. 1, 2. All the Congregation of Iſrael came into the wilderneſs of Sin, in the firſt monethmonth, and the people remain…d in Cades: where Miriam died, and was buried there. And when there was no water for the Congregation, they gathered themſelves together againſt Moſes and Aaron.
The Talmudiſts say that the occaſion hereof is this:Tract Aboda Zara, c. 8. the Angel of death who hath deprived the man of life, waſhing his knife or ſword in the water poiſons it; for they write, that Satan or the meſſenger of death ſtanding at the beds-head with a drawen ſword in his hand; upon which ſword hang three drops of gall: which as ſoon as the ſick man beholds, being terrified at the ſight, he opens his mouth, whereupon theſe three drops fall into it. By reaſon of the firſt he gives up the ghoſt: the ſecond makes him become yellow and pale: the laſt cauſeth him to putrifie.
So ſoon as the ſick man dieth, the Angel runs to the waters, waſheth his ſword in them: by which means they being infected with poiſon, are to be powred out.
Again, this is one of the beſt grounds of the Jewiſh faith, Antonius Margarita in his tract of Tabernacles, or Booths, writes, that the Jews in ancient times were accuſtomed to pray unto God, that he would not ſuffer the Angel of death any longer to appear in ſuch a fearful ſhape at their bedsheads, and that alſo they had their requeſt granted: and that they their anceſtors put out his left eye conjuring and binding him by the holy names of God.
It is alſo recorded in the Talmud, that great honour ought to be given unto them who have departed this life, becauſe they in the other world have perfect knowledge of all occurrences in this.
They write alſo that the ſoule doth not preſently upon the diſſolution return into heaven from whence it came, but that for twelve moneths ſpace it becomes a vagabond through the earth, returns into the Sepulchre, ſuffers many torments in purgatory: and then twelve moneths fully expired, it aſcends up into heaven there taking its reſt. The queſtion being propoſed in the book called Schebhet Jehudah, in a certain diſputation betwixt a Jew and a Chriſtian: How it came to paſs that the dead ſhould know all things that are done here upon earth? It is anſwered, that the ſoule doth not gain an entrance into heaven, untill the body that was buried be turned into duſt; and therefore it remaining ſo long a time upon the earth, may without contradiction know the things which are done here below. That the ſoule doth not preſently goe into heaven, is manifeſt out of the words of Solomon. The duſt ſhall return unto the earth from whence it was, and the ſpirit to God that gave it. Ezek. 12. 7.In this place they ſay, that by the duſt is meant our bodie, which of neceſſity returns unto the earth, out of which it was taken: and by the Spirit our ſoule which returns to God that gave it: now then to conclude, the body muſt firſt be made duſt and aſhes, and then the Spirit ſhall return unto the Creator, which if it were otherwiſe, certainly Solomon had inverted his words, and propounded them thus; The Spirit ſhall return unto God that gave it, and the body to the earth.
Elias the famous Grammarian, in his dictionary called Tiſbi, expounding the word Chabat hath left it in record, that it was the opinion of their Rabbines, that ſo ſoon as any of the Jews do take their farewell of this t…r reſtrial paradiſe, and the chamberlain death hath furniſhed him with a lodging in the lower parts of the earth, that the Angel of death comes and ſits upon his ſepulchre; and that at the same time the ſoule returns into the body, reanimates and erects it. Whereupon, the Angel takes an iron chain, the one part of which is hot, the other cold, with which he ſmites the dead corpes two times or more. At the firſt ſtroke all the members of the body are torn one from another; At the ſecond all the bones are diſperſed abroad, at the third, fleſh and bones, yea, the whole carcaſs is turned into duſt▪ and aſhes; Then come the good Angels and gather the bones together, honouring them with a ſecond burial. This puniſhment the Rabbines call Chibbut hakkeber, which they do not only write of, but alſo moſt abſurdly believe, in their common prayer petitioning that God would preſerve them againſt this puniſhment, and divert it from them, as we may ſee in that petition which they call Benſchen, being in the number of thoſe which they uſe upon the day of reconciliation.
It is written in the book Chaſidim that who is much given to almſdeeds,Num. …. 2. is a lover of reproof and honeſty, who entertains ſtrangers willingly and from his very heart, who prayes with an attent minde; although he die without the land of Canaan, he ſhall neither taſt nor trie the violence of the grave, but ſhall be certainly preſerved againſt the Chibbut hackkeber.aThe wounds of the Sepulcher.
Hence it is moſt evident, that they who die in the land of Canaan are free from this torture: but they who die in a ſtrange land are ſubject thereunto. Hither it is alſo to be referred, that they who die in other lands are wont to wander through ſecret caves and holes of the earth untill they come to the land of promiſe, otherwiſe they are not made partakers of the general reſurrection, which thing we have formerly made mention of in the firſt Chapter and other places of this book.