ANALYSIS OF THE CONTENTS. chap. xxxvii. Hosea iii. 4, 5. Jer. xxxi. 31-40. Zech. vii PART I. NARRATIVE OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE FOR THE LAST SIXTY-EIGHT YEARS; CONTAINING A HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE PRESENT CHRISTIAN EFFORTS TO PROMOTE THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS. 1. HIS BIRTH AND EDUCATION. 1. Ir pleased God, in whom I live, move, and have my being, to favour me with the light of this world, Sept. 21, 1771. The place of my nativity is Maynstockheim, near to Kitzingen, in Franconia, in Germany. My father, Samuel Levi, was nineteen years a private tutor in a Jewish family, at Mynburnheim; and, after he married, continued, as it were, day and night in the study of the sacred Scriptures and the traditions of men, and acted as Morah Tzedeck, while my mother carried on the trade, by which the family was comfortably supported. § 2. Morah Tzedeck is a person to whom the Α Jews apply for direction in difficulties arising from the observation of the innumerable religious ceremonies with which the Jewish ritual abounds; and the cases on which such a person is consulted are such as the following:-If a grain of corn should be found in any kind of food during the feast of unleavened bread, it may happen that not only the food must be thrown away, but even the vessels that contained any part of it dare not again be used during the feast. Or suppose a family, while feasting on meat or fowl, should find that their knife or fork is one of those which are used in eating food prepared with milk or butter, the company must desist eating any more of those victuals, nor dare they use any of the knives, plates, or other vessels, till the case has been decided by the Morah Tzedeck, whose verdict is very frequently, that the food must be thrown away, and the earthen and china vessels in which it was served be broken in pieces. Such like questions are daily brought before the Morah Tzedeck, and in towns where as many as seventy families live, as is the case in my native place, such questions are continually arising. §3. According to the religion of my parents, I was circumcised the eighth day after my birth, and received my name, Joseph Samuel. The reason why I have now the addition of three names will be given hereafter. Jewish children are called by the name of the nearest relation who is dead, perhaps in reference to Deut. xxv. 6; accordingly, the first child was called by my parents Levi, which was the name of my father's father; the second was a daughter, and received the name of my mother's mother: and as I was the third child, I received the name of my mother's father, which was Joseph. My parents had ten children, five daughters and as many sons. My sisters were taught to read the prayer-book in the Hebrew language, i. e., to pronounce the words without understanding even the literal meaning of a single sentence. This, alas! is usually all the religious education which the females receive, and many of them even not so much. But my brothers and myself were put under the care of a tutor in our own family, who instructed us daily according to the Law and the Talmud, and every Saturday we were examined by our father in what we had learned through the week. Our tutor took every opportunity to inspire us with prejudices and hatred against the Christian religion. While explaining the five books of Moses, he mentioned in every place the opinions of the Christians, raised objections against them, and endeavoured to establish us in all the Jewish errors. On the evening preceding the 25th of December, it being supposed that Jesus Christ was born on that evening, we did not study anything sacred: but our teacher always made us read a little book called Toldoth Jeshu, the generation of Jesus, which contains the most horrid blasphemies, and is calculated to fill any person who believes it with prejudice, disgust, and hatred against Jesus and his followers. This common practice of the Jewish teachers was more strictly observed by ours, by the express desire of my mother, who was a most inveterate enemy to Christianity, because her brother had embraced the Christian religion, and had lived and died at Strasburgh in the faith of the Son of God. This circumstance gave rise to a common saying in my native town, whenever a quarrel arose between the Jewish boys and my brothers, and in particular as to myself, who was always the wildest, it was generally said, " Let them alone, they will certainly turn Christians, as their uncle did." For ever blessed |