other greatly alarmed as to his safety. The strange
and sudden summons and his long absence had aroused terrible fears in
Recha's breast that he had been thrown into prison by the Governor, and
her eyes were red with weeping. It was with a bounding heart, therefore,
that she heard her husband's step on the threshold, and with a joyous
cry she rushed to embrace him.

"God be praised, my Mendel has returned," she exclaimed, and smiling
through her tears she led him into the house.

CHAPTER XIX.

YOM-KIPUR.

It is _Yom-Kipur_, the Day of Atonement.

Long before nightfall the shops and booths of the Israelites are closed.
The merchant has silenced his cravings for gain, the pedler and the
wanderer have returned to their families, travelling leagues upon
leagues to reach home in time for the holy day. The beggar has cast
aside his rags and attired himself in a manner more befitting the solemn
occasion. The God-fearing man has closed his heart to all but pious
thoughts, and, yielding to the holy influence, even the impious cannot
but think of God and of a future beyond the grave.

The holy night is approaching. A river of light streams through the
arched windows of the houses of prayer, flooding the streets and
penetrating into the hearts of the inhabitants. Young and old slowly
wend their way to the synagogues, there to bow down before the Lord who
delivered their ancestors from Egyptian bondage and who on this day will
sit in judgment upon their actions; will grant them mercy or pronounce
their doom; will inscribe them in the book of life or in that of
eternal death. The women are robed in white, the men wear shrouds over
their black _caftans_ and carry huge prayer-books. At the door of the
Lord's House, and before entering its sacred precincts, they ask pardon
of each other for any sins or shortcomings, for the envy, the malice,
the calumny of which they may have been guilty.

"Forgive me whatever wrong I may have done thee!"

The phrase is repeated from man to man, for none may enter the holy
temple unless he be at peace with mankind.

Let us enter the synagogue. Hundreds of candles fill the sacred hall
with their light and the whitened walls and ceiling appear to glow with
glory. Rows of men in ghastly attire, constant reminder of the
inevitable end of mundane greatness, stand with covered heads and with
their faces turned towards the orient, fervently praying. Screened by
the lattice-work of the galle