But when the Hebrews be- gan to mix with other na- tions, and especially when they were dispersed and 1)C- came a b^'-word and a hissing, this ancient badge of distinction which (iod conferred ujjon them became the signal of ]iersecutiou, inasmuch as it indicated that the wearer of it was a Jew, (m whom ('hiistians thought tlipy ought to avenge the blood of Christ. Hence the Israelites found it necessary to discard the fringed gar- ment as an outer dress, and to wear it in a smaller size, and a somewhat altered form, as an under garment, in order to conceal it from their persecutors. This under fringed garment is called P'l253 "3"1N, the four-cor- nered dress, or simplj' r\'''S-^:i,frinf/es or tasse/s, and is worn by every orthodox Jew to the present daj-. ]
Original Form of tlie Jew- ish fiingecl Mantle.
] Yet, though the Jews have been
compelled to relinquish the large out- er fringed garment as a permanent
article of apparel, they still continue
to wear it in a somewhat modified
form at their morning prayers, and
call it n"^?!:, talith', i. e. cover or vrapper. This talith, or fringed wrapper, is gen- erally made of a white woollen ma- terial : the wool must 1)0 fpun by Jews for this ex- MotUfied Form of press purpose. It the Jewish fringed has three or more ^="-™e°t- blue stripes running in parallel lines across the whole garment, at the right and left side. In some cases, however, the taUih is also made of silk. Every married Jew must wear it at morning praj'er; a single man can do what he likes. When putting it on, the following prayer is offered: "Blessed art thou, O Lord, King of the universe,
Modern Jewish mode ^^,^0 hast sanctified us with thy of wearing the Ta- , , , . . , -'
^j;/,_ commandments, and enjomed us to
array ourselves with fringes." The Jews attach the utmost importance to the fringed gar- ment. Thus it is related in the Talmud that " K. Jo- seph asked K. Joseph b. Eabba, which commandment has your father admonished you to observe more than any other.' He replied. The law about the fringes. Once when my father, on descending a ladder, stepped on one of the threads and tore it oft', he would not move from the place till it was repaired" (Sabhiilh, 118, 1)). Some of the Eabbins go so far as to say that the law respecting the fringes is as important as all the other laws put together (see Eashi on Numb, xv, 41). It was for this reason that the woman with the issue of blood (]Matt. ix, 20), and the inhabitants of Gennes- arct (Matt, xiv, 36), were so anxious to touch a fringe of our Saviour's garment (jcpuaTtcoii rov 'iiiarini'). This superstitious reverence for the external symbol, with little care for the things it symbolized, led the Pharisees to enlarge their fringes, believing that the larger thcj' made the tassels, the better they did God service (comp. the Rabbinical saj-ings, "Whoso dili- gently keeps this law of fringes is made worthy, and shall see the face of the majest}' of God" — Baal Hatu- rim on Numb, xv ; "When a man is clothed with the fringe, and goes out therewith to the door of his habitation, he is safe and God rejoicetli, and the angel [of death] departeth from thence, and the man shall be delivered from all hurt," etc. — R. Menachem on do.) ; and this it was that our Saviour rebuked (Matt, xxiii, 5). See Maimonides, i, 100, etc. ; Orach Cha- yim, § 7; the Hebrew Prayer-book, called ""^n 7.~n (Vien. 1859), p. 21, a, etc. See Hem.
Print, Jacob, a Roman Catholic bishop of .Austria, was born in 1766 at Bomisch-Kamnitz, in Austria. He was for several years professor of theolog}' at the Uni- versity of Vienna, and caused the establishment of a higher theological institution for secular priests, of which he himself became the first director. He Mas appointed in 1827 bishop of St. Poclten, and died in 1834. He is the author of numerous theological works, as Ilcmdbiirh der Relir/ionswigscnschaft (Vienna, 1806- 14, 6 vols.): — Das alte und das nene CVmslenthiim. od. Krit. Eeleuchttinij der Stundeii der Andacht (Vienna, 1822-24, 4 numbers) : — Geist des Chrlstenthums (Vien- na, 1808, 2 vols.). From 1813 to 1826 he was the edi- tor of a journal for scientific theology, which was con- tinued by Plotz and Scback. (A. J. S.)
FRISBIE
679
FRITZSCHE
Prisbie, Levi, professor in Harvard College, was born at Ipswich, Mass., in 1784. Ho entered Harvard College in 1798, and during most of the time till his graduation in 171,'i', lie supported himself by labor as a clerk or in teaching. lie conmienced the study of law, but was compelled to desist by an affection of the eyes, which hindered his progress through life. In 1805 he was made Latin tutor at Harvard, and in 1811 professor of Latin, which post he held until 1817, when he was transferred to the chair of moral philosophy, for which he had peculiar qualifications. His lectures on ethics, government, etc., were considered very able ; thsy were chiefly delivered extempore ; but some of them have been published (see below). He died July 9, 1822. He was a contriljutor to the North American Ri^vieT, and to other periodicals; and a ^'■Collection of the Wrilings oj" J'mfes.'n/r Frisbie," edited by Andrews Norton, appeared in 1823, containing poi-tions of his Lectures, as well as of his periodical contributions. — Ware, Uailariin Biography, ii, 231 sq. ; Allihone, Dic- tionarii of Authors, s. v.