"Yes, thank God!" replied kind-hearted Mr Jacob; and then he continued
reading the letter.

"Most of the patients die; but a few get cured and leave. If they do, it
is certainly more through faith in God's love and mercy than through the
remedies they receive while there.

"Now, I want to tell you of a voluntary service which respectable,
well-to-do men and women, and even scholars, do, for the poor who die.
These kind folk are called 'the Chevra Kadisha.' No doubt because of the
heat, there is a strict law that no one who dies in Palestine is allowed
to remain unburied long; and it is believed here that the dead continue
to suffer until they are entombed. So the custom is to bury within
twelve hours every one who dies. The Chevra Kadisha look upon such a
deed as a Mitzvoth. If a poor woman dies, one of these kind women at
once goes to wash the corpse and lay it out ready to be put on the
bier--then when all the relatives and friends of the deceased have given
vent to their sorrow by weeping, some men and some scholars belonging to
the Chevra Kadisha voluntarily carry the bier on their shoulders to the
place of burial (which I think is the Mount of Olives), while others dig
the grave and a scholar or two read the Prayers over the Dead.

"By the Chevra Kadisha beggars and tramps are thus washed and buried
when dead, free of expense, by these good, self-sacrificing people, at
all times and in all weathers, as a sign that in death all are equal.
The people who can afford it leave enough money to pay all their own
burial expenses or these are paid for by their relatives.

"Acts of charity towards very poor girls who have no dowry or suitable