that it is obligatory for every Israelite to write the Pentateuch, and Deut. 31: 19 is

interpreted to mean the five books of Moses. For public use the law must be written in

black square characters, on the skin of a clean animal. Every line must contain 30 letters,

nothing must be written from memory, but every word must be pronounced distinctly

before writing. To this scrupulous care we owe, under God, the purity of the Hebrew

Text (see page 37 hereof for "Massorah").

The phylacteries (tephilin) spoken of in Matt. 23: 5, which the scribes and pharisees

"made broad," were worn in literal obedience to Ex. 13: 9 and Deut. 6: 8. These are

made of black calf skin, one containing four compartments in which are quotations from

Ex. 12: 1-16 and Deut. 6: 4, 9, and are worn, one on the forehead, and one upon the left

arm during prayer. Elaborate instructions are given for the proper winding of the leather

thongs around the arm and head, and the appropriate prayers to be recited during the

performance. Rabbi Hana says on Ex. 23: 23, "I will take away My hand and thou

shall see My back parts," that this proves that God revealed to Moses the proper way to

knot the phylacteries, and that this proves that the Eternal Himself wears them! To think

that the revelation of all the Lord's goodness, as revealed to Moses, should be passed

over for such trivialities! Rabbi Abba Benjamin proves that the Lord Himself wears the

phylacteries by Isa. 62: 8, "His right hand," and Deut. 33: 2. According to the

teaching of the Scribes, "He who has tephilin on his head and arm, and tsitsith on his

garments, and the mezuzah on his door, has every possible guarantee that He will not

sin"! what blind leaders of the blind, and into what a ditch of formalism they fell!

Here also is the talith or prayer shawl referred to in a spiritual sense in II Cor. 3: 15.

The shawl worn over the head signified to the apostle the veil over the heart. The

Hebrew name tististh (or "fringes") takes us back to Num. 15: 38 and Matt. 9: 20. At the

corner of the shawl is a knotted cord of eight strands made of white wool. Five knots and

eight strands represent the number 13, which is the great factor in the name of God.

JJehovah = 26 (13 X 2), echad = 13, Jehovah is one. The numerical value of the word

tsitsith is 600, which added to 13 gives the number of precepts of the law framed by

Moses Maimonides. The directions for winding this cord are rather elaborate, savouring

of a fetish or a charm. First the cord is wound seven times and fastened with a double

knot, then eight times with a double knot, then thirteen times with a knot. The five knots

represent the Pentateuch. The great rabbi Rashi says, "The first and great commandment

of the law is about the fringes"! When this statement is weighed over against the words

of the Lord Jesus in answer to the question, "Which is the first and great commandment

in the law?" the essential difference between the petty ritual of the scribes and the

glorious fulness of the teaching of the Lord is felt.

The mezuzah is a box containing portions of the law (Deut. 6: 4-9 and 11: 13-21)

written in twenty-two lines, and fixed in a slanting position to the door post. The lower

part to be a hand breadth from the outer edge of the post. It is obligatory for every

resident. Pious Jews touch it upon leaving or entering the house and pray that they may

be kept in their going out and their coming in. Other objects of interest, together with

those detailed above, are depicted upon the picture accompanying this issue. Every