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having been illuminated during this Festival, the principal ceremony on this occasion observed by the Jews consists in the lighting of candles. One is kindled on the first night, two on the second, and so on till the last night, when eight are lighted. Those who wish to do more honour still to this Feast, light a candle for each person in their house (servants excepted), adding to the lights on each of the successive eight days. Tradition states that on the Temple being re-opened, the oil used for the Candlestick, which was to burn continually before the Lord, was found to be deficient; but the Almighty blessed the oil, so that the small quantity which the Jews possessed burnt for eight days and nights, when a fresh supply was procured.

The Feast of Dedication commences on the evening of the twenty-fourth day, when a light called the Chanukah light is prepared. Wax candles are generally used; but, properly speaking, this light ought to be a lamp supplied with oil of olives. One candle is placed in the candlestick near the Ark, when the blessing is said. "Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who hast sanctified us with Thy commandments, and commanded us to light the lights of Dedication. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in those days and in this season. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who hast maintained us and preserved us to enjoy this season." The candles being now lit, the following is repeated: "These lights we light to praise Thee for the miracles, wonders, salvation, and victories which Thou didst perform for our fathers, in those days, and in this season, by the hands of Thy holy priests. Wherefore by command these lights are holy all the eight days of Dedication, neither are we

permitted to make any other use of them save to view them, that we may return thanks to Thy Name for Thy miracles, wonders, and salvation."

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A special thanksgiving is now offered to the Lord, who did deliver the mighty into the hands of the weak, a multitude into the hands of the few, the defiled into the hands of the pure," and the whole service concludes with the singing of Psalm xxx. This Festival is called in Hebrew Chanukah, or the Feast of Lights.

Thou, the Eternal Truth!

Into dark hearts steal in ;
True Light, give light to souls
Sunk in the night of sin."

CHAPTER X.

JEWS IN HOLLAND-THE FEAST OF PURIM

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VIEW IN AMSTERDAM.

T the end of the winter of 18-
I was staying at that Dutch
Venice, the quaint old city
of Amsterdam, the guest
of a wealthy Jew, who
owned several of the dia-
mond mills for which
Amsterdam is famous, and
which are almost exclu-
sively in the hands of its
Hebrew inhabitants. Ever
since the commencement
of the sixteenth century,
diamond-cutting has been
one of the chief objects of
industry in Amsterdam;
and as the trade is chiefly
confined to the Jews of that
I

city, it naturally follows that their wealth is enormous. doubt if any richer community exists in the whole world than the thirty-five thousand Israelites who have made Amsterdam the city of their adoption. I say "Israelites" advisedly, for when a Hebrew has acquired wealth, he is called an Israelite:

it is only when he is a pauper that he is familiarly styled a Jew. Baron de Rothschild is, of course, an Israelite; while the Houndsditch "old clo"" man is unmistakably a Jew.

Of all European countries, Holland has been the most tolerant to the Hebrew race. Whilst other nations treated the despised Jews as an outcast class, compelling them to live in loathsome and secluded quarters, and to worship their God in fear and trembling, the Dutch accorded them full liberty of trade, and religious freedom. Holland had too long smarted under Spanish rule, wielding the scourge of religious fanaticism, to withhold from others the privileges of freedom and religious toleration. Besides, between the Dutchman and the Jew there was a bond of union. The greater part of the Jews at Amsterdam are the descendants of those Spanish and Portugese maranos* who, flying from the cruelty of Philip II., had taken refuge in the country which of all others had the most humbled his Catholic Majesty, the Netherlands. Amsterdam thus became the rendezvous of the wealthier and most intelligent of the Jews of the Peninsula, who, in return for their asylum, greatly benefited the newly United Provinces by the funds which they carried away with them. Indeed, it was through the pecuniary aid of these maranos that the Dutch were enabled to establish their maritime trading societies, to fit out naval expeditions, and to snatch the East Indian trade from the hands of Portugal, then united to Spain.

Thus Philip II. saw the two races he most hated and persecuted uniting together to destroy his power. The result of this union was that Amsterdam, not being able to do without the wealth and cosmopolitan knowledge of the Jews, treated

* The name of those descendants of the Jews who, compelled by the laws, outwardly feigned compliance with the rites of the Roman Catholic Church.

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