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Show Mr. Merrick parchment, Some were of the written in Hebrew intelligible writing. letter sent suvject. to Mr. The I asked Mr. Merrick if he had ever known of any Jew as having resided or been in Pittsfield? He = _ not; - nor ’ had Ph: nor diddi he believ believe one had ever been there. further inquired whether he could account for the sto- ‘Sir; Ihave examined the parchm ent manuscripts, which you-had_ the goodness to give me. After some time and with much difficulty and assistance | have ascertained their meaning. whi ch is as follows Cl have numbered the manuscripts, ) No. 1 is translated by Deut. vi. 4—9 verses inclusiVe. No. 2, by Deut. xi. 1321 verses inclusiv e. Pas 3, 15x00, «iis 11—=16 verses inclusiv e. lam, &c. SYLVESTER LARNED. ry_of some Jew having left them in Pittsfield? He said it originated as follows. At the time the parchments © »were found, there were British prisoners residing in Pittsfield, taken in the late war. wherein sed his conjecture that perhaps some of these British pri- soners were Jews, and they had dropped or buried this thing there. Mr. Merrick viewed it w holly unlikely. But to ascertain the point, he went to the prisoners and asked if any of them were Jews * They said they \were not. He inquired of their officers, and received ;the same assurance. He asked if any of them had any knowledge of -this thing ? and was answered in the negative. Mr. Merrick assured me, he had ever believed Lit tohave been of Indian origin; and that Col. Larned \(father of the late Rev. Mr. Larned) -lived and died in the same belief. It seems no evidence has appeared to the contrary; notwithstanding the above groundless conjecture, which when it got abroad was magnified into a satisfactory account. were word from the Greek signifies a preservative. These phylacteries were little boxes, or rolls of parchments, (boxes or written certain words rolls, containing of the law. phylacteries were used ses. The writer conversed with the Rey. Mr. Frey (the celebrated Jewish preacher in this country) upon this subject ; who These their four Jeaves of parch- ment on which their texts were written) they wore upon their foreheads, and upon their wrist of their left arm. They founded this custom upon Exodus Kill. 9516.7? : Various authors noted by Calmet contend that the in Israel from the days of Mo- As much wonder was excited relative to these leaves, some neighbou r expres- The celebrated Calmet informs that the above are the very texts of scripture which the Jews used to write on three out of four of their leaves of phylacteries; from which it is presumable that the fourth leaf, torn in pieces, contained the texts which belong to the, fourth leaf. The leaves of their phylacteries were evCalmet, on the article Phylactery, says; “This anc — “n custo of t he Jews. from anyLy custom inin Pittsfield tion Pittsfi ion is an extract of a Merrick by Mr. Larned, upo n this erfour. as ot ingg was W ~ a ee he had laid this matter before an er ~ ns ing a : n i t vent; who, w W alter consider and ; event the felt interested in ; g could the subject some time, concluded that he no account of the leaves being found in such a cond)- with a pen, in plain and following a Dr. James Ss in Pittsfield when these parchments were rem He soon See felt much interest in the event. He afterward informed Mr. Merrick, New-York. neighbours saw and e€xainined them. One of these parchments they tore in pieces; the other three he saved, and delivered them to Mr. Sylvester Larned, a gra duate then in town. who took them to C:; mbridge, and had them examined, They i d that informe ; old could give from any Jewigh custom. , no account of the incident. He informed that the Jews ‘have a custom of burying thei r leaves of phylacteries _ when worn out and illegi ble; as they had also any old leaf ofa Hebrew bible. They would roll it up In som e , Paper, and put it under ground from respect. But 19* ~ of . some kind of writing. leaves of a dark yellow, and Contai ned = ; Syed folded . mn were > four 221 ISRAEL. ; leaves AND ye Phese OF JUDAH STATE a it contained PRESENT ~ THE .le 220 } |
