Show LETTER FROM PALESTINE the jews residing here as in other places have recently celebrated their passover their bazaars and other places of business have consequently been closed but are now again opened and everything has assumed its usual as aspect act the passover of the jews yew is one of their yearly festivals it is kept in remembrance of the destruction of the firstborn first born of the egyptians of the sparing of the israelites and their subsequent delivery from bondage in egypt the jewish year commences with the month abib or green corn which lasts from the middle of march till the middle of april on the of abib the passo ver commences on the evening of that day all leaven is removed from their houses as a preparation for the great feast which com menow on the and lute lasts till the in former times the pascal lamb was slain consisting of a ram or a goat one year oll old the blood of the animal was originally sprinkled on the doorposts door posts and later at the bottom of the altar the lamb was roasted whole with two spite thrust through it as if to typify afy the cross of the lamb of god the heleh flesh was then eaten with bitter herbs unleavened bread was broken by the master of the family and distributed tri to each not fewer than ten nor more than twenty being admitted to the feast after the third cup the so called cup of blessing bad been drunk ill link praises were sung oung generally in later times psalms and sometimes psalms in addition it was in connection with this feast that our lord instituted the last supper during every day of this great festival sacrifices were offered and on the of abib the first ripe ears of corn com were presented at the sanctuary after which the harvest would commence all this was in ant ancient lent times at present the jews having no temple no altar no priesthood properly speaking they cannot ot course fulfill all the requirements of their ceremonial law and have consequently no assurance that their services we are pleasing before god for all blessings in the old testament are pronounced to the jews on condition of their keeping the law which they obviously cannot do so long as they are without a a temple and a priesthood notwithstanding this the jews do the best beat they can under the circumstances I 1 have now before me a piece of unleavened bread a remnant from the passover feast it la ia very thin like the of norway and is easily broken there is a russian lady here in haifa she asks me for goodness sake rake not to eat of that bread for says she I 1 it is sprinkled with christian blood 11 then she tells the tale fate the jews in russia ruia every year steal a child or two from christian 11 parents this child they kill and sprinkle the domitrom which the bread is made wab ito blood this blood sprinkled floor dour is then sent around the to the jews so that they may be able to celebrate their passover properly ay 1 by eat eating ing christians dwhite ite this bloodcurdling blood curdling u tale I 1 have tasted the bread and i pd fo found und it really excellent burjust but just think of such tales being invented and circulated I 1 do not believe the IMori cormons mormons Mor mons have yet been accused of bating children and the fact that such fluch baies tales are believed in russia accounts for the hatred there shown to the jews as well as indicating that the hour of their delivery is near when the hatred has reached its climax the jews will have to leave russia this land of the north borth and where can they go but to palestine A knowledge of the customs of th the e jews to necess necessary axy to the right understanding der standing of many passages in the sew testament one of these is uha luke vi 1 lu in this verse the original W ow words sabbato which rendered literally would be the second first sabbath an expression n somewhat hard to under daod it has however become clear to me now I 1 have Ji abady mentioned that the passover aier commenced on the of amb aft this was the great sabbath wd od the first one of the ecclesiastical year ibar from the next sabbath they counted seven sabbaths Sab baths bathe to the feast or at Poste pentecost cost when they celebrated 00 lbassi of their completed harvest was consequently the abadin the ecclesiastical but the alt of the seven sabbaths Sab baths intervene and pentecost vt inte therefore literally the second to however odd this expression mein to us low to other matters two or to days ago a considerable number 0 1 f tourists were seen coming into arx haifa 4 afa on h horses and mules as U t eastom custom of this country requires thoyal wended bended their way to the A app W p office some time later hii wd tourists were seen with 04 pecullar peculiar expression on their am which indicates disappoint att alk 11 longitude of nos nose as a A acal w friend of mine a arli in language once it on enquiry it was learned I 1 the abe disappointment was caused the fact that no tickets att be had at this office rsm trip of the steamer this thia is 25 a misfortune i here where a W bt calls only once every 0 other er iwon k travel overland always fobb expensive and is hard work tUtt pd what was the reason that lets could be had well the of the ship had not exploded U wlm abad had the captain crew ana and S guju SSP overboard nor was the t up P with passengers the g was this Is his majesty kil king va of bervia had telegraphed atie company that he wished the IteN Whip exclusively for his trip hora aoa beyruti to constantinople and that therefore no passengers could cumbe be boarded on this trip that w kings travel he was to have the ship and the other tourists could stand there with their long noses noshi or continue on horseback as far as they des desired drA I 1 do not know that I 1 have any prejudice against anyone on account of social position A king can be as honest and good a man as anybody but on that account he ought not to inconvenience veni ence everybody else the austrian steamship company which for a sum of money favored a king and disappointed the public did not know what it was doing for certainly it does doea not live by kings but bat by common mortals I 1 wonder if king milan thinks the greatest country under the sun I 1 know that the americans think so of America and I 1 have also heard that englishmen I 1 are ready to prove any moment that england is 18 the most wonderful and the greatest power on earth russia positively claims to be greater than any other power and lately I 1 lave been convinced convinced by germans that germany Germ ajay is not only the greatest power that exists but the greatest that ever was or ever will be As for turkey there is not a turk who does not think that his count countrymen if they wanted to could rise up and a wipe off the whole of europe from the face of the earth I 1 wonder too if servia is not the greatest power on earth if so the king may maybe b excused for wanting a steamboat all to himself even if he did not have one of his own I 1 must not forget to say a word about the weather it is indeed beautiful here the days are warm and sunny the nights delightfully cool once or twice already the sirocco that dreaded scorching east wind has visited us accompanied by flies and mosquitoes innumerable when that wind comes ills very hot indeed I 1 have observed 30 degrees celsius in the shade the wind lasts three days and sometimes seven and is very trying to foreigners the harvest has commenced and promises pretty fair round haifa for my own part I 1 am living in the care of god happy in the contemplation of als his mercies in the pasta past and trying to exercise faith in his promises for the future J M 8 HAINA HAIFA maylat may ast 1st 1889 |