|
(Continued
from issue #2)
The Jews of Constantinople are generally speaking not
rich. Some few are affluent, some in moderate circumstances, but very
many are in great poverty. A hospital for those infected with the plague
is the only public institution for the benefit of the poor. One of the
wards of this establishment is reserved for the insane, who are regarded
with superstitious care by all astern nations. But it is a remarkable
fact that a case of insanity has never yet occurred among the Hebrews of
Constantinople.
The Jews of Constantinople enjoy, and a careful
examination confirms the justice of their reputation, a much higher
character for probity than either the Greeks or Armenians. It has become
quite a proverb to place the Jews in the first rank for probity, the
Armenians in the next, and the Greeks in the last.
The Jews wished to enter the army, but the Greeks and
Armenians would not allow them to do so. The Chacham Bashi has promised
to furnish three thousand men at any time they shall be allowed to be
admitted.
We have said that the Jews of each quarter form a
community (congregation). Each congregation has its principal Synagogue,
around which are several houses for prayer. All the rich merchants have
Synagogues in their houses. Each Synagogue has a Chacham, but in the
private Synagogues the Chacham is under the control of the proprietor of
the Synagogue. The number of Chachams is considerable; those among them
who are distinguished are highly esteemed; those who are nothing but
common men, do not receive much consideration. The seats of the
Synagogue do not face the East, but are placed round the reading-desk,
and face the centre. The long Piutim, otherwise called Machsor,
that are recited in other countries on the festivals, are omitted at
Constantinople. Fervent and sometimes sublime prayers are substituted in
their stead. The prayers are not chaunted, but read slowly and
distinctly. The reader commences the prayers and the congregation join
in with him, and this is done always with so much exactness that no one
is ever one syllable too slow or too fast. "I must confess,"
continues the correspondent, "that I greatly prefer this mode of
worship to that usual in our German Synagogues." The ceremonies
throughout are according to the Portuguese [Sephardic] ritual.
A school is attached to every Synagogue, where the
children are taught, but it is only to read Hebrew; yet care is taken to
make them pronounce it in a very correct manner. They are kept at this
school until they are about eight years of age; at which time they
either enter the Beth Hamidrash to prepare themselves for the office of
Chacham, or else are put to some sort of occupation. * * * * If those
who determine on becoming Chachams are independent and can maintain
themselves until they are able to enter the Sanhedrin of the Chacham
Bashi, they may hope to rise to renown, otherwise they never become
distinguished. The children of the rich are taught by a Chacham, but
instruction is very little diffused among the Israelites of
Constantinople.
The Jews of Constantinople are very particular in their
religious observances. They never openly transgress the Sabbath, nor any
of the laws relating to eating, although the latter differ in some
respect from ours. Thus they eat rice during the Passover, and often mix
their Matsoth or biscuit with eggs and oil, and make it into cakes. The
Chacham Bashi and his Sanhedrin may punish with the bastinado the rich
as well as the poor transgressor of any religious rite.
There are about 200 families of the sect of Caraites at
Constantinople. They are mostly Cohanim, or descendants of Aaron. They
always take off their shoes before entering the Synagogue. On their
entrance they kneel and repeat a prayer, very similar to the "Mah
Toboo." They kneel occasionally during their prayers, which are all
taken from the Scriptures, also when the Sacred Rolls are taken out, or
when called up to the reading of the law.
They literally obey all the requisitions of the law, but
they do not recognize any of the rabbinical constructions of it. Thus,
they allow no fires in their dwellings on the Sabbath, even in the midst
of the winter; nor lights on the Sabbath eve. They eat fowl cooked with
butter, and do not keep the second days of any of the festivals. their
day of atonement generally comes one day after ours.
There are about 400 European Jews at Constantinople,
mostly vagrants from Russia or Poland, and the neighbouring countries;
their moral state is but little commendable, and their gain their
livelihood by menial employments. Their places of worship are
unpretending buildings.
Let us enter into the interior of the family circle. It
is well known, that the Israelite finds in his domestic life, in the
intimacy with his own kindred, in their fidelity and attachment, his
greatest support, his happiness, and that which repays him for all else
he suffers. It is therefore the more to be regretted to find that we
cannot assert the same thing of the Israelites in this place. This evil
arises from their marrying too early. A young man marries as soon as he
is thirteen years old, and before that period he is already engaged. He
either remains with his wife some years at his father's house, or he
goes to live with his father-in-law. It thus happens that a narrow space
contains several families. Early in the morning, the husband, if he is a
mechanic, hastens to his work, and if a broker, to his business. The
whole day he stays from home; because the Oriental, naturally temperate,
does not come back to his house during the day to take his meals. The
wife remains unemployed. Supper requires but little preparation. The
women remain together the whole day for the sake of talking and smoking;
and those who are lately married fill the pipes and make the coffee. If
the young wife has a good understanding with her mother-in-law, peace is
maintained between the couple; but in the contrary case they are at
times tired of each other at the age of seventeen or eighteen, and from
this circumstance a divorce and a new marriage often result. There is
naturally in this absence of proper sentiments not the least idea of
domestic life. Women are but little esteemed here; they do not even make
for them the complimentary offerings in the synagogue. The degree of
Jewish civilization in this country is very low, equally with that of
the Turks and Greeks by whom the Israelites are surrounded. |
