ḤALIṢAH (Hebrew, חליצה “untying”), the ceremony by which a Jewish widow releases her brother-in-law from the obligation to marry her in accordance with Deuteronomy xxv. 5-10, and obtains her own freedom to remarry. By the law of Moses it became obligatory upon the brother of a man dying childless to take his widow as wife. If he refused, “then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother’s house.” By Rabbinical law the ceremony was later made more complex. The parties appear before a court of three elders with two assessors. The place is usually the synagogue house, or that of the Rabbi, sometimes that of the widow. After inquiry as to the relationship of the parties and their status (for if either be a minor or deformed, ḥaliṣah cannot take place), the shoe is produced. It is usually the property of the community and made entirely of leather from the skin of a “clean” animal. It is of two pieces, the upper part and the sole, sewn together with leathern threads. It has three small straps in front, and two white straps to bind it on the leg. After it is strapped on, the man must walk four cubits in the presence of the court. The widow then loosens and removes the shoe, throwing it some distance, and spits on the ground, repeating thrice the Biblical formula “So shall it be done,” &c. Ḥaliṣah, which is still common among orthodox Jews, must not take place on the Sabbath, a holiday, or the eve of either, or in the evening. To prevent brothers-in-law from extorting money from a widow as a price for releasing her from perpetual widowhood, Jewish law obliges all brothers at the time of a marriage to sign a document pledging themselves to submit to ḥaliṣah without payment. (Compare [Levirate]).
HALKETT, HUGH, Freiherr von (1783-1863), British soldier and general of infantry in the Hanoverian service, was the second son of Major-General F. G. Halkett, who had served many years in the army, and whose ancestors had for several generations distinguished themselves in foreign services. With the “Scotch Brigade” which his father had been largely instrumental in raising, Hugh Halkett served in India from 1798 to 1801. In 1803 his elder brother Colin was appointed to command a battalion of the newly formed King’s German Legion, and in this he became senior captain and then major. Under his brother’s command he served with Cathcart’s expeditions to Hanover, Rügen and Copenhagen, where his bold initiative on outpost duty won commendation. He was in the Peninsula in 1808-1809, and at Walcheren. At Albuera, Salamanca, &c., he commanded the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion, K.G.L., in succession to his brother, and at Venta del Pozo in the Burgos retreat he greatly distinguished himself. In 1813 he left the Peninsula and was subsequently employed in the organization of the new Hanoverian army. He led a brigade of these troops in Count Wallmoden’s army, and bore a marked part in the battle of Göhrde and the action of Schestedt, where he took with his own hand a Danish standard. In the Waterloo campaign he commanded two brigades of Hanoverian militia which were sent to the front with the regulars, and during the fight with the Old Guard captured General Cambronne. After the fall of Napoleon he elected to stay in the Hanoverian service, though he retained his half-pay lieutenant-colonelcy in the English army. He rose to be general and inspector-general of infantry. In his old age he led the Xth Federal Army Corps in the Danish War of 1848, and defeated the Danes at Oversee. He had the G.C.H., the C.B. and many foreign orders, including the Prussian order of the Black Eagle and pour le Mérite and the Russian St Anne.
See Knesebeck, Leben des Freiherrn Hugh von Halkett (Stuttgart, 1865).
His brother, Sir Colin Halkett (1774-1856), British soldier, began his military career in the Dutch Guards and served in various “companies” for three years, leaving as a captain in 1795. From 1800 to the peace of Amiens he served with the Dutch troops in English pay in Guernsey. In August 1803 Halkett was one of the first officers assigned to the service of raising the King’s German Legion, and he became major, and later lieutenant-colonel, commanding the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion. His battalion was employed in the various expeditions mentioned above, from Hanover to Walcheren, and in 1811 Colin Halkett succeeded Charles Alten in the command of the Light Brigade, K.G.L., which he held throughout the Peninsula War from Albuera to Toulouse. In 1815 Major-General Sir Colin Halkett commanded the 5th British Brigade of Alten’s division, and at Waterloo he received four wounds. Unlike his brother, he remained in the British service, in which he rose to general. At the time of his death he was governor of Chelsea hospital. He had honorary general’s rank in the Hanoverian service, the G.C.B. and G.C.H., as well as numerous foreign orders.
For information about both the Halketts, see Beamish, History of the King’s German Legion (1832).
HALL, BASIL (1788-1844), British naval officer, traveller and miscellaneous writer, was born at Edinburgh on the 31st of December 1788. His father was Sir James Hall of Dunglass, the geologist. Basil Hall was educated at the High School, Edinburgh, and in 1802 entered the navy, where he rose to the rank of post-captain in 1817, after seeing active service in several fields. By observing the ethnological as well as the physical peculiarities of the countries he visited, he collected the materials for a very large number of scientific papers. In 1816 he commanded the sloop “Lyra,” which accompanied Lord Amherst’s embassy to China; and he described his cruise in An Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-choo Island in the Japan Sea (London, 1818). In 1820 he held a command on the Pacific coast of America, and in 1824 published two volumes of Extracts from a Journal written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru and Mexico in the Years 1820-21-22. Retiring on half-pay in 1824, Hall in 1825 married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Hunter, and in her company travelled (1827-1828) through the United States. In 1829 he published his Travels in North America in the Years 1827 and 1828, which was assailed by the American press for its views of American society. Schloss Hainfeld, or a Winter in Lower Styria (1836), is partly a romance, partly a description of a visit paid by the author to the castle of the countess Purgstall. Spain and the Seat of War in Spain appeared in 1837. The Fragments of Voyages and Travels (9 vols.) were issued in three detachments between 1831 and 1840. Captain Hall was a fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, and of the Royal Astronomical, Royal Geographical and Geological Societies. His last work, a collection of sketches and tales under the name of Patchwork (1841), had not been long published before its author became insane, and he died in Haslar hospital, Portsmouth, on the 11th of September 1844.