even for the most illiterate, and that the custom is not confined to a few speculators, but is general amongst the people:—
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Hebrew characters)
(Hebrew characters)
"Order of the Atonements.—On the eve of the Day of Atonement, the custom is to make atonements. A cock is taken for a man, and a hen for a woman; and for a pregnant woman a hen and also a cock, on account of the child. The father of the family first makes the atonement for himself, for the high-priest first atoned for himself, then for his family, and afterwards for all Israel." The order is as follows:
He takes the cock in his hand and says these verses:
"The children of men that sit in darkness and the shadow
of death, being bound in affliction and iron; he brought them
out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their
bands in sunder. Fools, because of their transgression, and
because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth
all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of
death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble; and he
