"Is he dead?" inquired a voice.
"Hush, silence, Rabbi Chisdai!" answered those present.
"Woe, treble woe to this house!" cried Chisdai. "He alone could have yet saved his Ben sorer umoreh.[1] I heard with my own ears that he meant to turn Christian, and marry a Christian woman."
"If you do not go out this instant," answered Samuel Casseres, "and if you say another such word against my brother-in-law, I will show you the way out. No one invited you."
"You will invite me, and I shall not come," answered Chisdai, as he was shouldered out by the others.
Benjamin von Spinoza had desired in his will that his broken old Spanish sword should be laid in the grave with him; the Rabbis objected for some time to fulfil this desire, whose meaning but few could imagine. Spinoza was obliged to bring forward many authorities from the Talmud before he could see his father's wish fulfilled. Outside in the graveyard, in accordance with old Jewish custom, he was made to kneel down at his father's feet, and beg forgiveness from God and his father for all in which he had sinned against them; then he must tear his garments on the left breast, and when the coffin was lowered, the son must be the
- ↑ Stubborn and rebellious son.
