at their mother's breast.52 And what the true mothers in Israel were, is known not only
from instances in the Old Testament, from the praise of woman in the Book of Proverbs,
and from the sayings of the son of Sirach (Ecclus. iii.53), but from the Jewish women of
the New Testament.54 If, according to a somewhat curious traditional principle, women
were dispensed from all such positive obligations as were incumbent at fixed periods of
time (such as putting on phylacteries), other religious duties devolved exclusively upon
them. The Sabbath meal, the kindling of the Sabbath lamp, and the setting apart a portion
of the dough from the bread for the household, these are but instances, with which every
'Taph,' as he clung to his mother's skirts, must have been familiar. Even before he could
follow her in such religious household duties, his eyes must have been attracted by the
Mezuzah attached to the door-post, as the name of the Most High on the outside of the
little folded parchment55 was reverently touched by each who came or went, and then the
fingers kissed that had come in contact with the Holy Name.56 Indeed, the duty of the
Mezuzah was incumbent on women also, and one can imagine it to have been in the
heathen-home of Lois and Euice in the far-off 'dispersion,' where Timothy would first
learn to wonder at, then to understand, its meaning. And what lessons for the past and for
the present might not be connected with it! In popular opinion it was the symbol of the
Divine guard over Israel's homes, the visible emblem of this joyous hymn: 'The Lord
shall preserve thy going out and coming in, from this time forth, and even for
evermore.'57
51. Comp. 'Sketches of Jewish Social Life,' pp. 86-160, the literature there quoted:
Duschak , Schulgesetzgebung d. alten Isr.; and Dr. Marcus, Pædagog. d. Isr. Volkes.
52. Ber. 63 b.
53. The counterpart is in Ecclus. xxx.
54. Besides the holy women who are named in the Gospels, we would refer to the
mothers of Zebedee's children and of Mark, to Dorcas, Lydia, Lois, Eunice, Priscilla, St.
John's 'elect lady,' and others.
55. On which Deut.vi. 4-9 and xi. 13-21 were inscribed.
56. Jos. Ant. iv. 8. 13; Ber.iii. 3; Megill. i. 8; Moed K. iii.
57. Ps. cxxi. 8.
There could not be national history, nor even romance, to compare with that by which a
Jewish mother might hold her child entranced. And it was his own history - that of his
tribe, clan, perhaps family; of the past, indeed, but yet of the present, and still more of the
glorious future. Long before he could go to school, or even Synagogue, the private and
united prayers and the domestic rites, whether of the weekly Sabbath or of festive
seasons, would indelibly impress themselves upon his mind. In mid-winter there was the
festive illumination in each home. In most houses, the first night only one candle was lit,
the next two, and so on to the eighth day; and the child would learn that this was
symbolic, and commemorative of the Dedication of the Temple, its purgation, and the
restoration of its services by the lion-hearted Judas the Maccabee. Next came, in earliest
spring, the merry time of Purim, the Feast of Esther and of Israel's deliverance through
her, with its good cheer and boisterous enjoyments.58 Although the Passover might call
the rest of the family to Jerusalem, the rigid exclusion of all leaven during the whole
week could not pass without its impressions. Then, after the Feast of Weeks, came bright