him during that interval. If he neglects this precaution, his children will be subject to epilepsy. Guittin, fol. 70, col. 1. 88. He that offers incense to a demon is an idolater. fol. 65, col. 1. VERSE 8. Sanhedrin, And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? Rava asked Ravah bar Mari: What is the origin of the Rabbinical saying, If thy fellow calls thee ass, place the ass's saddle upon thy back? He replied: It is written, "And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid:" "And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai." Bava-kama, fol. 92, col. 2. VERSE 11. And shalt call his name Ishmael. SYNOPTICAL NOTE. ISHMAEL. 1. Whoever sees Ishmael in a dream, his prayer is heard; but only Ishmael the son of Abraham, and not an Ishmaelite. Berachoth, fol. 56, col. 2. CHAPTER XVII. VERSE 1. Walk before me, and be thou perfect. I. So great is circumcision, that Abraham our father, though he excelled everybody in the performance of the commandments, was only called perfect by reason of it. Or, so great is circumcision, that it equals in weight all the commandments contained in the Law; for it is said (Ex. xxxiv. 27): "After the tenor of these words (commandments) I have made a covenant (circumcision, the sign for the thing signified) with thee and Israel." (See page 10, Note 7.) Nedarim, fol. 32, col. 1. II. Rav Yitzchak said: The Holy One, blessed be He! deals uprightly with every one who is upright; for it is said (2 Sa. xxii. 26): "With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright." Rav Hoshayah said: The times are propitious to those who aspire after perfection; for it is said: "Walk before me, and be thou perfect;" and it is then added: "And thou shalt be a father of many nations." Nedarim, fol. 32, col. 1. VERSE 5. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham. I. At first he was the father of Aram (Syria, D 8), and afterwards of the whole world. Likewise Sarai was at first the princess of her own tribe, and afterwards of the whole world. Bar Capara (third century) has recorded the following tradition: Whoever calls Abraham Abram, violates a positive precept; for it is said: "But thy name shall be Abraham." Rabbi Eliezer (first century, when the tradition probably originated) says: He violates a negative precept; for it is said: "Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram." But (asks the compiler) does not the same apply with reference to Sarah ? No; with regard to her, God says only to Abraham: "Thou shalt call her name Sarah (ver. 15). And what about calling Israel Jacob? His case is different; for God Himself calls him afterwards Jacob. (Ge. xlvi. 2.) But how then does Nehemiah say (Ne. ix. 7): "Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram"? There it is a prophet, who recounts the praise of God's past acts. Berachoth, fol. 13, col. 1. For a father of many nations have I made thee. II. Rabbi Yochanan asked in the name of Rabbi Yosi ben Zimra: How is it proved, that the Law uses initial letters instead of words? (notricon, notaricus.) It is said: "For a father, ; chosen,, ; the darling of the multitude, e., & a. אב המון גוים ”,father of many nations have I made thee נאמן,and a faithful ; ותיק,virtuous ו ; מלך ,a king מ ;המון חביב have I made thee to the nations. Shabbath, fol. 105, col. 1. SYNOPTICAL NOTE. CHANGE OF NAME. 1. If the husband is in the east, and he dates the letter of divorce from the west, or vice versa, and if the woman thus divorced, marries another husband, she must be re-divorced by both, and she has no claim upon either, for the prescribed marriage portion, nor for redemption. from captivity (a claim to which she would otherwise be entitled, in return for her husband's temporary enjoyment of her private property), nor for sustenance, nor for the restoration of her wedding garments. If she has received them from either husband, she must return them. If she has a child by either of them (supposing the first husband has taken her back again), it is illegitimate. If she be the daughter of an Israelite, she cannot marry a priest (see the reason in Le. xxi. 7); if the daughter of a Levite, she cannot partake of tithes; and if of a priest, she cannot partake of heave offerings, etc. If his or her name, or the name of his or her town, has been incorrectly stated in the divorce, and she has married another, she must be re-divorced by both, because she should have insisted upon the document being read and examined. Guittin, fol. 79, col. 2. I. One who has undone his circumcision (1 Co. vii. 18), must be re-circumcised. Rabbi Yehudah says: He should not do so for fear of danger. But the wise men replied: In the days of Bar-coziva (Bar-chochab) many, who had been compelled to do away with the sign, performed it again, and had sons and daughters afterwards. Yevamoth, fol. 72, col. 1. II. Whence is it proved, that the circumcision of a Jew by an alien is invalid? Daru bar Pappa replied in the name of Rav: "Thou shalt keep my covenant (the sign of). Rabbi Yochanan replied: "He that is circumcised shall circumcise," on. (Ge. xvii. 13, participle instead of infinitive in.) Where is the difference between them? The difference is, if the circumciser is an Arab, when according to the latter, it is valid, but invalid according to the former. Avodah-zarah, fol. 27, col. 1. SYNOPTICAL NOTES. CIRCUMCISION. 1. Tradition records, that Rabbi Shimon ben Elazer had said: All those commandments, which, during their interdict by the government, Israel would rather die than infringe, such as those respecting idolatry and circumcision, are still scrupulously observed by them. But those for the sake of which they would not sacrifice their lives, during the interdict, such as that relating to the phylacteries, are still loosely observed by them. Shabbath, fol. 130, col. 1. T. N. The interdict here alluded to, is the one issued by Hadrian, after the suppresion of the insurrection, raised by Bar-chochab and Rabbi Akiva. It is significant of the resistance offered by the nation to the imposition of the Rabbinic yoke, that even the phylacteries, to which so much importance had been attached by the Pharisees, and which have been universally in vogue for many centuries down to the present day, were neglected by them during the second century. The mass of the people, the amhaaretz, in fact, viewed with indifference the traditional innovations, and even respected their authors, on account of their apparent zeal for the Law, so long as the latter did not demand practical submission to them; but their relations to Rabbinism assumed a hostile aspect, when it was forced upon them, as the rule of life and standard of belief. 2. Everything necessary for circumcision may be performed on the Sabbath; they may circumcise, remove the foreskin, and suck out the blood, put on a plaster (Isplanith, orλnvios), and ointment. If the materials for the latter have not been ground the day before, they may be ground with the teeth. If there is no mixed wine and oil (Lu. x. 34) ready, each may be added separately. No dressing is to be prepared for it on the Sabbath, but a rag may be put on. If the latter is not ready on the spot, it may be fetched from other premises, wrapped on the finger (to avoid the appearance of carrying it on the Sabbath). Shabbath, fol. 133, col. 1; Maimonides, Hilchoth Milah, Sec. 2, Halachah 6. 3. Rabbi Nathan the Babylonian related: I came once to the province of Capotkia (Cappadocia), when a certain woman, who had lost two children soon after their circumcision, brought her newlyborn infant for examination to me. I noticed that the limb was pale, and no blood could be induced even by suction. I, therefore, told her to postpone the performance of the rite, till a healthier condition set in. She did so, and preserved her child, and he was called by my Shabbath, fol. 134, col. 1. name. 6. The Post-Mishnic Rabbis have recorded: If a proselyte be circumcised, but not immersed (baptized), Rabbi Elazer says: He is a proselyte; for the patriarchs also were only circumcised, but not immersed, If he be immersed and not circumcised, Rabbi Yehoshua says, He is a proselyte; for the patriarchs' wives were only immersed. But the wise men have decided that he is not a proselyte unless both rites have been performed. Yevamoth, fol. 46, col. 1. 7. Rabbi Yosi says: A proselyte may not be immersed on the Sabbath. Yevamoth, fol. 46, col. 2. 8. If the first infant and the second have died after circumcision, the mother is not to repeat the rite upon the third; so says Rabbi. But Rabbon Shimon ben Gamaliel (his own father) holds, that she must circumcise the third, but not the fourth. But have we not another tradition, which states quite the reverse? which of them is the last? (ie., both are correct, only the last tradition records the final, but reversed decision of the Rabbis.) Yevamoth, fol. 64, col. 2.. 13. A town in which there is no medical Israelite, but only an idolater, and a Cuthite, let the Cuthite perform the rite of circumcision, and not the idolater; so says Rabbi Meir; but Rabbi Yehudah holds the reverse. (See page 302, Note 11.) Avodah-zarah, fol. 26, col. 2. 14. Rav Yehudah recorded, that Rav had said: A disciple of the wise should learn to write, to slaughter animals for food, and to circumcise. Rav Chananyah bar Shelemyah adds also in the name of Rav To make the knot in the straps of the phylacteries, to repeat the hymeneal benediction, and to make fringes. But why does not Rav : Yehudah mention the last three? Because these are commonly known Chulin, fol. 9, col. 1. Note. A few short quotations on the subject of circumcision, drawn from various sources, may not be out of place here. a. Adam, Noah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Balaam, David, Jeremiah, and a few others were all born circumcised. Avoth d'Rab Nathan, chap. 2. b. Not one of the circumcised, but all the uncircumcised will go to hell. Rabbi Bechai, fol. 26, col. 1. c. Christians are called the uncircumcised. Abarbanel on Ezekiel, chap. 32. d. He who eats with an uncircumcised person, eats, as it were, with a dog; he who touches him, touches, as it were, a dead body; and he who bathes in the same place with him, bathes, as it were, with a leper. Pirke ďd'Rabbi Eliezer, chap. 29. e. Angels hate an uncircumcised person, and are unwilling that God should speak to him; therefore, when God spoke to Abraham, before he was circumcised, He did so in the Aramæan language, that they should not understand it. This was the case also when He spoke to Balaam. Yalkut Chadash, fol. 117, col. 3, No. 55. f. Gentile circumcision is not worthy to be called circumcision. See Tosephoth Avodah Sarah, fol. 27, col. 1. g. Abraham's mode of circumcision is followed by the Ancient Hebrews, the Karaites, but not by the Modern Jews, the Orthodox. The latter have added the P'riah, ¡y, i.e., "laying bare." The Mohel, or Circumciser, after having cut off the foreskin, lays hold with his sharp nails, grown for the purpose, on the edges of the eut skin, and tears it to the right and to the left and backwards, that the glans should be thoroughly laid bare. This operation, of which Abraham knew nothing, is by far more painful to the infant than is circumcision itself. This Rabbinical law ought to be repealed. Probably this barbarous sign in the flesh, the P'riah, was originally intended as a memorial sign in honour of Israel's pet deity-Baalpeor; (see Hos. ix. 10; Ps. cvi. 28; and p. 190, n. 24 supra) but now it is only a distinctive mark of separatism from their more noble Karaite brethren. VERSE 14. He hath broken my covenant. "And they also transgressed my covenant, which I have commanded them and they also have taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and have also put it among their own stuff." (Jos. vii. 11.) Rav Ilaa said in the name of Rav Yehudah bar Mispartha: The fivefold repetition of the particle also shows, that Achan had transgressed all the five Books of Moses. The same Rabbi further said, that Achan had effaced the sign of the covenant; for it is said in connection with him: "And they have also transgressed my covenant;" and it is here said with reference to circumcision: "He hath broken my covenant." Sanhedrin, fol. 44, col. 1. CHAPTER XVIII. He sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. Rav Chama bar Chanena said: That day was the third after Abraham's circumcision (Ge. xxxiv. 25); therefore, the Holy |