All the seasons of rejoicing are also occasions for mitsvoth—charity, and for strengthening the bond of love between husband and wife, between parents and children, and the bond of friendship between man and man. Every erebh shabbath and erebh yom-tobh afford the opportunity of giving challah,[151] kindling Sabbath or Festival lights,[152] and inviting strangers[153] (הכנסת אורחים) to our meals. On Sabbaths and Festivals children, even when grown up, come to their parents and ask for their blessing.[154] Before Kiddush the husband chants the section of Prov. xxxi. beginning אשת חיל, in praise of a good wife. The Shabbath shalom or Good shabbath, Shabhua tobh or Good woch, Good yom tobh, and similar salutations, remind us that we ought to have only good wishes for each other. Sabbath and Festivals afford suitable occasions for home-devotion, in which all the members of the family, males and females, should take part. The meals are preceded and followed by the usual berachoth, but it [[476]]is customary to add extra psalms and hymns (zemiroth) in honour of the day, and those who are gifted should add to these, or even substitute for them, compositions of their own in any language they like in gloriam Dei. A second kind of home-devotion which ought not to be neglected, but should rather be revived where it is neglected, is the reading of the Scriptures. On Friday evening the pious Jew reads the Sidra twice in the original and once in the Targum; but all should at least read Sidra and Haphtarah in the vernacular.
The moon by its gradual increase in light from its minimum to full-moon, and the subsequent decrease from full-moon to its minimum, has in Agadic and Midrashic Literature frequently served as a symbol of the history of Israel, of his rise and his fall. The last day of the decline, the eve of New-moon, is kept by some as a special day of prayer and fasting,[155] while the first day of the rise, New-moon, is distinguished by Hallel and Musaph. If people, as a symbol of happiness (סימן טוב), prefer the middle of the month for marriage, their choice is harmless; but if they hold that season as more lucky than the rest of the month, they are guilty of superstition. As at the sight of other natural phenomena, so also has a benediction been fixed on observing the reappearance of the moon in the beginning of the month. For the above-mentioned reason, importance is attached to this berachah, and prayers are added for the redemption of Israel. The berachah, which is generally recited in the open air, is the chief element in the ceremony; the additional prayers and reflections are non-essential. [[477]]
In the foregoing, Jewish Life has been described as it appears at the various seasons of the year; in the following, it will be given as it appears at the various periods of man’s existence.
The first important moment is, of course, the moment of birth. The father, friends, and relatives are filled with anxiety for the life of both mother and child. Prayers are daily offered up for the safety and recovery of the patient and the well-being of the child. The Twentieth Psalm is sometimes written on a tablet placed in the room where the confinement takes place, probably as a reminder or an invitation for visitors to pray to the Almighty; in this sense the custom is to be commended; but if the tablet is filled with meaningless signs, letters, and words, and is used merely as a charm, the custom should be discontinued, being a superstitious practice. In some parts it has been the custom that during the week preceding the Berith-milah friends visited the house to pray there for the well-being of the child, and boys recited there Biblical passages containing blessings, such as Gen. xlviii. 16.[156] The night before the berith was spent in reading Bible and Talmud, so that the child might from the beginning breathe, as it were, the atmosphere of torah.[157] [[478]]
On the eighth day the male child is initiated into the covenant of Abraham (Lev. xii. 3). Circumcision is one of “those mitsvoth which the Israelites in times of religious persecution carried out notwithstanding imminent danger to life.” The performance of this Divine precept is therefore made the occasion of much rejoicing. In some congregations the operation, as a sacred act, takes place in the Synagogue after the Morning Service; in others the privacy of the home is preferred. In ancient days mothers circumcised their sons, but now the operation is only entrusted to a person who has been duly trained, and has received from competent judges a certificate of his qualification for the functions of a mohel.[158] Although, according to the Law, any person, otherwise capable of doing it, may do the mitsvah, preference is given, and ought to be given, to a person of genuine piety and of true enthusiasm for our holy Religion, who performs the act in gloriam Dei. Not only the mohel, but all who assist in the act do a mitsvah, and the meal which is prepared for the occasion is a סעודת מצוה (a meal involving a religious act).[159] Immediately after the operation a name is given to the child.[160] [[479]]
The next important moment in a boy’s life is the “Redemption” (פדיון הבן) in case of the first-born male child (Exod. xiii. 13, 15), which act is likewise made the occasion of a סעודת מצוה. A cohen (descendant of Aaron) receives the redemption-money to the amount of five shekels (or 15s.), according to Num. xviii. 16.[161]
In the case of a female child the naming generally takes place in the Synagogue on a Sabbath, when the father is called up to the Law. In many congregations this takes place when the mother has sufficiently recovered to attend again for the first time the Service in the Synagogue on Sabbath. Those who live at a great distance from the Synagogue pay the first visit to the place of worship on a week-day. A special Service has been arranged for the occasion.[162]
Great care is now taken by the parents for the physical well-being of the child, without entirely ignoring its moral and intellectual development. “At five years the child is fit to be taught Mikra, i.e., reading the Bible” (Aboth v. 21), so the Mishnah teaches. But long before this the child is taught to pray, and to repeat short Biblical passages or prayers in Hebrew. It must, of course, be borne in mind that children are not all alike, and that each child must be taught according to its own capacities and [[480]]strength. The knowledge must be imparted in such a manner that the child should seek it as a source of pleasure and happiness.
As to the subjects which are to be taught, there is no branch of general knowledge from which Jewish children are debarred by their Religion, nor is there any branch of knowledge that is more Jewish than the rest. Jewish children must learn like other children, as far as possible, that which is considered necessary and useful, as well as that which is conducive to the comfort and happiness of life. But Religion, Scripture, and Hebrew must never be absent from the curriculum of studies of a Jewish child. The instruction in Religion need not occupy much time, for the best teaching of Religion is the good example set by the parents at home and the teacher in the school. The religious training of a child should begin early; the surroundings and associations must teach the child to act nobly, to speak purely, to think charitably, and to love our Religion. “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Prov. xxii. 6). Early practical training (חנוך) is also of great importance with regard to the observance of religious precepts. Children should be accustomed to regard with reverence that which is holy, to honour Sabbath and Festivals, and to rejoice in doing what the Almighty has commanded. Twice a year we have special occasion for the fulfilment of this duty, viz., on Simchath-torah and on the Seder-evening.
In teaching our children Hebrew our aim must be to make them understand the holy language, to enable them to read the Word of God in the original, and to [[481]]pray to the Almighty in the language in which the Prophets and the Psalmists gave utterance to their inspirations, and in which our forefathers addressed the Supreme Being in the Temple.