DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0257
THE SYNAGOGUE.
241
daughters. Since I left Europe, I had not been
in an apartment where the women sat with their
faces uncovered ; and, under these circumstances,
it is not surprising that I saw many a dark-eyed
Jewess who appeared well worthy of my gaze ;
and it is not a vain boast to say, that while singing
the Songs of Solomon, many a Hebrew maiden
turned her bright black orbs upon me ; for, in the
first place, on entering we had disturbed more
than a hundred sitting on the steps ; secondly, my
original dress, half Turk, half Frank, attracted the
eyes even of the men ; and, thirdly, the alleged
universal failing of the sex is not wanting among
the daughters of Judah.
The service over, we stopped a moment to look
at the synagogue, which was a new building, with
nothing about it that was peculiar or interesting.
It had no gold or silver ornaments; and the sa-
cred scroll, the table of the Law, contained in the
holy of holies, was all that the pride of the Jew
could show. My friend, however, did not put his
own light under a bushel; for, telling me the
amount he had himself contributed to the building,
he conducted me to a room built at his own ex-
pense for a schoolroom, with a stone in the front
wall recording his name and generosity.
We then returned to his house; and, being about
to sit down to dinner with him, I ought to intro-
duce him more particularly to the reader. He
was a man about fifty-five, born in Gibraltar to
the same abject poverty which is the lot of most of
x 2
241
daughters. Since I left Europe, I had not been
in an apartment where the women sat with their
faces uncovered ; and, under these circumstances,
it is not surprising that I saw many a dark-eyed
Jewess who appeared well worthy of my gaze ;
and it is not a vain boast to say, that while singing
the Songs of Solomon, many a Hebrew maiden
turned her bright black orbs upon me ; for, in the
first place, on entering we had disturbed more
than a hundred sitting on the steps ; secondly, my
original dress, half Turk, half Frank, attracted the
eyes even of the men ; and, thirdly, the alleged
universal failing of the sex is not wanting among
the daughters of Judah.
The service over, we stopped a moment to look
at the synagogue, which was a new building, with
nothing about it that was peculiar or interesting.
It had no gold or silver ornaments; and the sa-
cred scroll, the table of the Law, contained in the
holy of holies, was all that the pride of the Jew
could show. My friend, however, did not put his
own light under a bushel; for, telling me the
amount he had himself contributed to the building,
he conducted me to a room built at his own ex-
pense for a schoolroom, with a stone in the front
wall recording his name and generosity.
We then returned to his house; and, being about
to sit down to dinner with him, I ought to intro-
duce him more particularly to the reader. He
was a man about fifty-five, born in Gibraltar to
the same abject poverty which is the lot of most of
x 2