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Contents

1. Copyright and Disclaimer

2. About Dark Wine at Dawn
3. Join Jenna Barwin's VIP Readers
4. 1. The Challenge
5. 2. Anger Management
6. 3. Reconciliation
7. 4. His Choice
8. 5. New Job Complications
9. 6. The Offer
10. 7. Plans Change
11. 8. Dead Bodies Seem to Follow Her
12. 9. Confidential
13. 10. The Ex-Boyfriend
14. 11. Divided Loyalties
15. 12. Unwelcomed Interruptions
16. 13. Still Not Ready
17. 14. Impossible Accusations
18. 15. Unwarranted Interrogation
19. 16. Vengeance
20. 17. Quick Switch
21. 18. New Directions
22. 19. Resigned to the Inevitable
23. 20. Good News, Bad News
24. 21. Lead, Follow, or Shut Up
25. 22. Hope
26. 23. A Gift
27. 24. Trepidation
28. 25. Third Time’s the Charm
29. 26. Mortal Demands
30. 27. Immortal Demands
31. 28. Holding the Line
32. 29. Twisted Tales
33. 30. We’re Through
34. 31. Letting Go
35. 32. Unwelcomed Sleep
36. 33. Killer Instincts
37. 34. What a Headache
38. 35. Horrorfest Videoconference
39. 36. Winging It
40. 37. Digging Deeper
41. 38. Retreat
42. 39. The Hunt
43. 40. Don’t Lose Him
44. 41. Oops
45. 42. Moonset
46. 43. The Chase is On
47. 44. He Who Helps Himself
48. 45. Turning the Tables
49. 46. Dealing the Cards
50. 47. Betrayal…Maybe
51. 48. Laid Bare
52. 49. Hunger
53. 50. Reunited
54. 51. Cutting a Deal
55. 52. Against Common Sense
56. 53. Life or Death
57. 54. The Gambit
58. 55. No Means No
59. 56. Consequences
60. 57. The Truth
61. 58. More Unpleasant Surprises
62. 59. Frying Pan
63. 60. Into the Fire
64. 61. Roasting
65. 62. On the Carving Board
66. 63. Clear Your Desk
67. 64. Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
68. 65. Surprise Visitors
69. 66. Vacation, Finally
70. Also by Jenna Barwin
71. Acknowledgments and Dedications
Dark Wine at Dawn by Jenna Barwin

Copyright © 2023 Jenna Barwin. All rights reserved.

This book or any portion of it may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, or used
in any manner whatsoever, without the express written permission of the publisher or
author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, public entities, products, places,
events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a
fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, public
entities, locales, or actual events is purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks,
product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective
owners, and are used only for reference. Opinions of the characters are not necessarily
those of the author.

Printed in the United States of America

First printing & ebook edition, 2023

Hidden Depths Publishing

Dana Point, California
www.hiddendepthspublishing.com

Cover design: Covers by Christian (Christian Bentulan)

Images used under license from Stock.adobe.com and Shutterstock.com and Jacob Lund
Photography ApS
Cover art is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted in the cover is a model or
artist’s creation.

Editing team: Katrina Diaz-Arnold, Refine Editing, LLC; Trenda K. Lundin, It’s Your Story
Content Editing; Arran McNicol, Editing 720.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023906564

eBook ISBN 978-1-952755-11-8

Print 978-1-952755-12-5

1) Paranormal Romance 2) Urban Fantasy Romance 3) Vampire Romance 4) Vampire

Mystery 5) Vampire Suspense 6) Paranormal Romantic Suspense 7) Romantic Fantasy

V1.0
 About Dark Wine at Dawn
How many ways can a Christmas vacation go wrong?
On their first vacation together, Henry and Cerissa travel to the
New York so Henry may renew the vampire bond with his maker,
Anne-Louise—he has no choice in the matter—but after the bond’s
renewed, he plans to spend two weeks playing tourist with Cerissa.
But when Anne-Louise offers him a way to escape the maker-child
bond forever, what she demands in exchange for his release is
beyond the pale, and it turns Henry and Cerissa’s much-needed
vacation into a battleground.
To make matters worse, mortals start popping up dead—and
staying that way. Based on circumstantial evidence, the security
chief for the New York vampires arrests both Henry and Anne-Louise
for conspiracy to murder.
Cerissa must move into overdrive and use her skills analyzing
vampire DNA to prove Henry’s innocence. Because if she doesn’t
succeed before dawn arrives, this trip to New York may be his last.
 Praise for Dark Wine at Dawn
“Immortal shenanigans at their finest! What a ride!”
~InD’tale Magazine
“A tantalizing murder/mystery with a vampirish slant. Everything is
there that readers of vampire novels love. It’s sexy, it’s exciting, and
it’s unpredictable.”
~The Wishing Shelf
“Dark Wine at Dawn hurls WOW moments across its pages like the
whale that unexpectedly breaches beside your boat, nearly throwing
you overboard. I actually shrieked out loud twice.”
~Shari Bonin-Pratt’s Ink Flare
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Chapter 1
The Challenge
NEW YORK COLLECTIVE—EARLY DECEMBER

Snow fell gently, blanketing the balcony on the tenth floor of the
mid-Manhattan high-rise, the late dusk sky obscured with clouds, the
magenta fading to deep grays. From the living room couch, Cerissa
Patel watched a blue jay land on the balcony rail and steal the last
peanut she’d left out for the birds.
Instead of staring at the skyline, she could be reading, watching
television, or doing just about anything other than obsessing over
what was happening twelve floors above her.
But her mind wouldn’t cooperate, so she sipped on her glass of
Cabernet and stared out the balcony’s floor-to-ceiling window,
focused on the hodgepodge view of skyscrapers pressed close
together—some shorter ones made of old tawny bricks, some taller
ones of glass and steel, with the Empire State Building and its art
deco style and iconic spire in the distance. All the buildings were lit
up against the night sky.
Despite the stately view, her mind immediately shot back to the
problem worrying her: Why hasn’t Henry returned?
For this trip, she and her fiancé shared the richly appointed one-
bedroom apartment. The elegant lodgings, part of the guest floor at
the New York Collective, were courtesy of Anne-Louise. Cerissa took
another sip of wine and tried to relax while she waited for Henry to
finish his visit with his maker.
So far, he’d been gone longer than he should have been.
Although Enrique Bautista Vasquez—Henry to his close friends—
was over two hundred years old, Anne-Louise refused to let the
blood bond between them die and insisted on biting him multiple
times a year to keep the maker-child connection alive.
To limit the interruptions her demands made on their life together,
Henry and Cerissa had cut a deal with her. In exchange for only
taking his blood twice annually, Henry would build a house on his
property in California, so when Anne-Louise visited Sierra Escondida,
she could lodge there.
 Until construction on the new dwelling finished, Henry preferred to
travel to New York to see his maker. Cerissa had joined him for this
trip, having planned events for a fun two-week vacation. Now, she
waited for him to return from Anne-Louise’s second feeding of the
calendar year, so they could finally begin their exploration of the city
together.
Despite the relaxing evening view and the promise of a fun
vacation, irritation rode her. Obsessing over the situation wasn’t
helping. She did her best to accept the fact Anne-Louise wouldn’t let
go. But the longer she waited, the more her worry grew. Her
growling stomach, hungry for dinner, didn’t help either.
The front door flew open. “Esa puta! Ahora todo se va a la
mierda.”
Startled, Cerissa jumped to her feet and set the half-drunk
wineglass on the coffee table, almost toppling it. Henry calling his
maker a whore, and complaining that it was all going to shit,
whatever “it” was, couldn’t be good. “Quique—”
His already expanded pupils blew wider, turning his normally
bourbon-brown beauties almost solid black. “I will not spend a
minute longer in the Collective’s building. We are leaving. Pack.
Now.”
To say Henry and Anne-Louise didn’t always get along was an
understatement, but this was far more anger on his part than
Cerissa had seen before.
Her bestie, Karen, had warned her that joining Henry while he
visited his maker might be a bad idea. But she’d wanted to see New
York at Christmas. The city was so beautiful, so magical, so
exhilarating all lit up and decorated for the holiday. So, she’d
embarked on the cross-country trip with her eyes wide open.
That didn’t mean she’d tolerate being Henry’s whipping girl.
“Wait a minute. You don’t give orders, remember?” She eyed him
in his dark charcoal wool suit, the stark white dress shirt unbuttoned
at the top, his long ebony hair tied back—and fang marks absent
from his bare, sensual throat. “What happened?”
“Anne-Louise went too far this time. Please, pack.”
 That answer wasn’t satisfactory at all. His vague reply failed to
explain the sudden change in plans. “Did you at least renew the
blood bond?”
He shook his head vigorously, and his ponytail whipped with the
motion. “No. It doesn’t matter. I refuse to spend one more night
here. Not as her guest.”
Damn. “If we leave now, when will you renew the bond? You were
supposed to get the bite done tonight, so we don’t have to see her
again until next year.”
“I will figure it out later.” He marched into the bedroom, tossed his
suitcase onto the bed, and started taking his clothes from the closet.
She shivered. The Alatus Lux crystal embedded in Henry’s wrist
connected their emotions as sensations, and his anger chilled her.
She followed and touched his arm to regain his attention, hoping
the contact would calm him without using her aura. “We can’t leave
—we need some place to stay for tonight. It’s four weeks before
Christmas. Everything’s booked. But if you can find us a hotel to
move to, I’ll pack and go with you. But until you have a solid plan,
I’m not packing.”
“We have no need of a hotel. Only a plane.”
“It’s too late in the evening for you to fly us to California and
arrive before dawn—”
“On the contrary. My plane is being made ready as we speak. If
we leave now for La Guardia airport, we will reach Sierra Escondida
before sunrise.”
She inhaled a breath. He’d dressed in the handsome suit so they
could go out together as soon as he returned. “But I haven’t had
dinner. I was waiting for you to return, for your company. And… I
wanted to see New York at Christmas—all the lights and ice skating.
We even took lessons so we could skate together.”
“We can skate another time.”
“Henry, I scheduled two weeks off work to be here with you.
Think about this. Talk to me. Besides, you can’t pilot the plane when
you’re this angry. It’s not safe.”
He growled angrily. Growled.
 He’d never growled at her before. In her presence, maybe, but not
at her.
Accompanying the growl, he glowered, his expression turning
darker.
That was it. She refused to stay there one minute longer. After
grabbing her coat, purse, and the cute little mink-colored fake-fur
hat Karen had talked her into buying, she marched to the front door.
In a whoosh, Henry blocked her from reaching her objective. He
pointed at the bedroom door. “You aren’t leaving. Go pack.”
“No. You can come with me to Katie O’Leary’s restaurant, and we
can talk, or you can wait here while I go out for dinner. I’ll be back
in two hours.”
He growled again.
She felt like thumping his chest and saying, “Bad dog,” but didn’t.
Instead, she looked him in the eyes and said, “Stop that right now.”
In response, he leaned against the front door, arms crossed,
gripping his biceps and tapping one finger.
“Henry, you’re being childish.”
“I am not being childish. I’m your mate. You should honor my
wishes in this.”
“Clearly, Anne-Louise got under your skin and you’re reacting. I
won’t honor wishes you haven’t fully explained to me. Now come
with me, and we can discuss whatever is bothering you over dinner,
or wait here alone—but either way, quit blocking the door.”
He didn’t move.
She refused to stay and pander to his mood. Brushing her sleeve
back, she opened her watch crystal, tapped the face, and flashed to
the hallway outside the apartment. Using Lux technology was a
calculated risk, but the odds were small that anyone would notice
her sudden appearance in the hallway.
In a few steps, she arrived at the elevator and stabbed the call
button, punching the down arrow multiple times for good measure,
then ordered a taxi pickup on her phone. This close to Grand Central
Station, she wouldn’t wait long.
The rapid heartbeat, tight throat, and sweaty palms, which always
occurred when adrenaline flooded her system, finally slowed,
relaxed, and dried as she rode the elevator. Then it hit her: her Lux
supervisors would see the fight. The contact lenses she wore
recorded everything—except certain personal moments, such as
making love to Henry—but she could do nothing to stop the Lux
from viewing the domestic dispute, as much as she hated the
violation of her privacy.
By the time she reached the curb, the taxi waited for her, and she
slid into the back seat, again doubting the wisdom of joining Henry
on this trip. Perhaps Karen had been correct. But she would think
clearer after she ate.
The light snow would have made the street magical, with the
sparkling white lights in the parkway trees, except Henry had taken
a lovely night and turned it into a battlefield.
Why? Why wouldn’t he discuss what angered him?
Getting out of the cab in front of the famous Katie O’Leary’s
restaurant, she pushed those thoughts aside. She’d earlier reserved
a table for two, and the maître d’ agreed to seat her by the big
picture window that ran the width of the restaurant, even though
her companion was running “late.” It was a weeknight, and there
were plenty of open tables.
The waitress greeted her right away. “May I bring you anything
while you’re waiting?”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to order. I don’t know when he’ll join
me.”
Or if he would at all.
The waitress angled her stylus, prepared to take down the details
on the electronic pad. For an appetizer, Cerissa ordered their best
scotch and a bowl of steamed clams, then for dinner, added a
swordfish steak pan-fried in lemon butter and capers, along with
rosemary potatoes, to be accompanied by a glass of the house
Sauvignon Blanc.
After the waitress left, Cerissa propped her phone against the
white ceramic caddy that held packets of sugar, opened the e-book
app, and read, not caring if anyone found her activity strange. She
would calm down, enjoy her meal, and be ready to talk with Henry
when she returned.
 The scotch arrived, as did the clams and a freshly baked
sourdough loaf. She tore off a piece, dipped it into the clam broth,
and moaned when she bit through the hard crust soaked in broth.
She then used the little seafood fork to pry loose the clam meat and
enjoy the well-spiced shellfish.
Soon, the tension in her chest unwound, and she hadn’t even
sipped the scotch yet.
During her three months engaged to Henry, she’d learned not to
tie herself to his moods. She could choose to be happy even when
he was being his demanding, broody self.
Sometimes all it required was a little space and a good meal.
Except—she couldn’t shake the lingering worries as they hovered
in the back of her mind, distracting her from the smutty novel she
read.
He wouldn’t leave New York without her, would he?
No. Absolutely not. He loved her and would never, ever abandon
her.
More importantly, what had Anne-Louise done to upset Henry?
Cerissa took another bite, pondering the matter and nodding to
herself. She couldn’t imagine what new mischief his maker had
created to stir his anger so much. Yes, indeed, that was the better
question. What had Anne-Louise done?
And Cerissa wouldn’t hold back asking him when they reunited.
Chapter 2
Anger Management
COLLECTIVE APARTMENT #1010—SHORTLY AFTER CERISSA’S DEPARTURE

Henry clenched his fists, then released them. The rage bubbling
through his chest meant following Cerissa risked disaster. For the
same reason, she was right. It was unwise to get behind the
controls of a plane in his current mood, as much as he hated
admitting the truth. And he refused to abandon Cerissa in New York
—he loved her too deeply to leave the city without her.
So they’d have to talk this through before he could convince her to
terminate their vacation, which meant joining her for dinner. But he
had to settle himself enough to speak civilly about Anne-Louise’s
latest unreasonable demand.
Resigned to staying one more night, he grabbed his coat and
cane, then dashed out the door and to the elevator. As part of his
two-week vacation, he’d planned on visiting Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.
He checked the church’s schedule on his phone, hoping luck was
with him.
It was. The church offered confession between three and nine
p.m., accommodating those who worked—or slept—during the day.
As he walked, he sent a message to the general aviation service
canceling the plane for tonight. Minutes later, he arrived at the
church. He stood outside, reflecting on the beautiful gothic-style
building, the spires like fairy lace covered in snowflakes, and peace
touched his soul, chasing away the rage from earlier.
He’d lived in New York when they began constructing the
cathedral, but work halted when the Civil War started, and he left
New York around the same time, so he wasn’t there to see the
structure finished in 1878.
Still, he enjoyed visiting the old building, one of the few existing
from the period when he’d called New York home. Back then, he’d
made his living as a restaurateur and chef. Enrique’s Restaurant,
which he’d christened after his given name, had specialized in
cuisine from his birthplace: Veracruz, Mexico.
 Striding inside Saint Pat’s, Henry slid a generous donation into the
tithe box slot, then took a pew, knelt, and made his heart ready.
When he stood to enter the confessional line—which had grown
longer while he prayed—he tried to set aside his irritation over the
wait, and realized he had one more sin to confess. Tapping on his
phone’s notepad, he reluctantly added the sin of impatience to his
confession list.
He inhaled a deep breath and let the peace of the room fill him
again. Beautiful poinsettias bordered the steps on both sides of the
carpet leading to the altar, and hanging lights illuminated the
stained-glass windows.
The line moved forward again, and a carved wood door swung
out. His turn. He stepped into the open booth. According to the
name placard, Father Pearson would hear his confession. “Bless me,
father, for I have sinned. It has been seven days since my last
confession. These are my sins.” He glanced at the list on his phone.
“I allowed my righteous anger at someone else affect my
relationship with my fiancée.”
The priest chuckled. “Righteous?”
“My ma—er, I mean, my ex-wife made a demand that was
outrageous, impossible.”
“And your fiancée—how did you express your anger at her?”
“I yelled and demanded she immediately leave New York with
me.”
“You did not strike her?”
“No. Never.”
“And you did not call her names?”
“No—I wouldn’t. But I was quite demanding and persistent, and I
raised my voice at her.”
“I understand. Continue your confession, please.”
“Impatience at waiting in line.” Some of the sins unique to being a
vampire couldn’t be explicitly confessed to a mortal, although he’d
practiced other ways to frame them. “Thoughts of gluttony that I did
not act upon.”
He then named a few lesser sins.
 The priest offered him suggestions for dealing with anger,
insightful ideas—reminding him of the advice he’d received from
Father Matt back home—and gave him a penance of five Hail Mary
prayers.
He made an act of contrition, thanked the father for his time, and
exited the booth. Performing penance immediately had been
ingrained in him, so he stopped in a pew to say the prayer
repetitions, then strode through the vestibule and out into the night.
Having made himself right with God and gained control of his rage
once again, he had more amends to make.
Chapter 3
Reconciliation
KATIE O’LEARY’S RESTAURANT—AROUND THE SAME TIME

The swordfish and the wine arrived. Yum. Cerissa continued

reading as she ate, and the growing sense of calm seeped into her
bones as she distracted herself with someone else’s fictional
problems.
A short time later, an itchy feeling caused her to retreat from the
book, like she was being watched. A ping through the crystal told
her Henry lurked nearby.
Glancing up from her phone, she found him standing on the other
side of the picture window. He had forgotten his hat, and light
snowflakes stuck to his long hair. Stray strands from his ponytail
hung to his shoulders. At least he’d remembered to wear his coat
and gloves.
She had bought the Inverness wool coat for him as a joke, since a
soap opera vampire of a bygone era had made the classic English
style memorable. But Henry liked the Inverness and wore the
protection against cold so he’d blend in with mortals—he couldn’t
walk around without a coat in the middle of a snowy winter’s night.
He stood there, back straight, holding the brass knob of his black
beechwood cane with both hands, staring at her. The cane wasn’t a
stylistic choice, nor did he need its support while he walked. The
hollow beechwood concealed a silver dagger, which he could
withdraw by gripping the brass knob and twisting, so he didn’t touch
the silver. The hidden knife was illegal, but the police rarely bothered
a gentleman such as himself.
She suspected he had a small Beretta in his back holster, ignoring
New York’s strict gun laws. He never went unarmed when out alone.
Then again, he served as a reserve police officer. Did his reserve
status provide an exception to the rule?
She made eye contact but couldn’t read his mood. He’d blocked
the crystal other than to tell her he was nearby. She motioned to the
seat across from her and tilted her head in invitation.
 He gave a lone nod and entered the restaurant, checked his coat
and gloves, but kept his grip on the cane. One-handed, he brushed
the snow out of his hair, and his ponytail came undone. Stripping off
the rawhide thong that held the strands back, he shook his head,
letting his long hair hang naturally.
Since she liked his hair loose, she took it as an attempt to appease
her. The perfectly tailored suit he wore blended in with the other
business types scattered throughout the elegant restaurant.
Taking the seat across from her, he said, “Thank you for inviting
me to join you. Under the circumstances, I would have understood if
you had ignored me.”
She laid her fork on the plate and reached for his hand. “I love
you. I wouldn’t turn you away.”
He averted his eyes, bowing his face toward the tablecloth. “I
know. And I had no right to focus my anger on you. I’m sorry.”
“Thank you, Henry. I appreciate your apology. But we don’t have
to discuss what happened right now.” She was enjoying her meal too
much to disrupt it with another argument over Anne-Louise. But she
wouldn’t let him put off their discussion indefinitely. If he didn’t
share more details by the time they returned to the apartment, then
she’d push harder.
“Of course, perhaps…later,” he replied. “I just wanted to apologize
now.”
Relief coursed through her, and she gave him an encouraging
smile. Choosing a new topic, she kept her conversation light and
picked up her fork to resume eating her dinner. “You look like you’ve
been outdoors in the snow for a while. Did you go somewhere?”
“I walked to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and went inside.”
“Really?”
“It’s near the Collective. You might say it was on the way here.
Just a brief detour.”
Cerissa appreciated the way he’d so quickly adjusted his attitude.
“You seem calmer. Your visit there must have helped.”
“It did. I needed the tranquility after… Well, to use one word
Father Matt explained to me, my relationship with Anne-Louise is
dysfunctional.”
 No kidding.
At some point, she hoped he’d convince Anne-Louise to let him cut
the apron strings. The maker-child blood bond was a significant part
of the problem. “How did you feel, being in Saint Patrick’s again?”
“Peaceful. It’s a beautiful structure, and seeing the symbols of my
faith displayed was reassuring. The young priest on duty heard my
confession, and I found his advice…helpful.”
“That’s good.”
They stopped speaking when the waitress came by. “Good
evening, sir. May I get you something?” She cleared away Cerissa’s
empty plate and ran a silver table scraper across the tablecloth to
remove the crumbs. Henry straightened back as the silver tool swept
by him, and Cerissa raised an eyebrow, surprised the restaurant
used actual silver.
“Nothing for me, thank you,” Henry replied. “But Cerissa will have
the cheesecake for dessert, and bring me the check, please.”
Cerissa shook her head. Yes, she wanted the cheesecake. But it
would be nice sometimes if he’d ask. In some ways, he knew her too
well now. And she recognized that his insistence on paying for her
dinner was both an attempt at reconciliation and an act of
dominance.
She let the matter ride.
The waitress returned and placed the dessert plate, along with a
snifter glass on the table. Three coffee beans floated in the clear
liquid. “Your cheesecake, and Sambuca. Would madam like anything
else?”
“This is fine, but I didn’t order the drink.”
“The gentleman over there ordered the digestif for you.” The
waitress motioned toward a hardwood counter with touches of brass
adorning the wood that delineated the bar area. On her way in,
she’d noticed the old-school saloon waiting area where you could
also buy a drink or a quick meal.
Henry’s jaw set into a hard line, telling her he wasn’t pleased by
that news. She turned to see Rick Fiorello, Anne-Louise’s boyfriend,
smile and salute her. He slid off the bar stool and sauntered over to
their table.
 “Good evening, Cerissa, Henry,” he said as he stood at the end of
the table. “I thought you should try a traditional New York after-
dinner drink. Sambuca.”
She picked up the glass and sniffed the liquid. The scent of licorice
warmed her nostrils. She took a tentative sip. “Delicious.” She knew
Rick didn’t drink anymore, so she assumed his familiarity with the
beverage came from before he gave up alcohol for good. “Thank
you.”
Henry’s face lost some of its hardness. “Are you on your way to
the Collective?”
Rick jerked his head in a quick no. “I knew you were in town to
visit Anne-Louise. Just grabbed some dinner at the bar, and now I’m
on my way to meet friends—we’re going to catch a movie.”
Henry crossed his arms. “Don’t be surprised if Anne-Louise phones
you.”
“I told her already—I’m not available for the next few nights. I’ve
made my plans, and I don’t feel like humoring the lady if she
changes hers. If I have to accept this arrangement, she has to
accept that.”
Cerissa tried not to smile. Rick didn’t sound any happier with their
situation than Henry was. “Thank you again for the drink. Perhaps
we can meet for lunch tomorrow. I don’t know many people in New
York.”
“Sure, it’s my day off. I’ll swing by the Collective at eleven and
pick you up. We’ll play tourist.”
“Sounds fun, thanks.”
“Great.” Rick nodded at her. “Henry, good seeing you—I hope you
enjoy your stay.” With that, he said goodnight and left the
restaurant.
An internal battle showed on Henry’s face. She had no clue what
the struggle was over, so she took a bite of cheesecake, mushing the
creamy texture against her tongue to catch all the nuances. “This is
marvelous—gorgonzola cheesecake. I’ve never had it before. So
unusual. At first it tastes like a regular cheesecake, then a mild blue
cheese flavor comes through at the end.”
 “I see.” His jaw muscle continued to flex. “Did you have to ask him
to lunch?”
“Henry…” she began, a warning tone in her voice.
He raised a hand in surrender. “You are right. You are free to
make friends. We agreed.”
“Yes, and you agreed not to be so jealous.” She’d been
understanding about his relationship with Anne-Louise and felt it
only fair that he learned to trust her, too.
When he didn’t reply, she focused on the cheesecake, taking
another forkful—so creamy, so luscious, so pleasurable. She lingered
over the dessert, letting every bite count. Finally, she eased back in
her chair and sipped the sambuca, avoiding the three coffee beans
in the glass’s bottom. The liquid flooded her with warmth.
A glance told her something still bothered him. Well, he was a big
boy. When he was ready, he’d talk. She wasn’t going to prod him
and stir his anger again.
The waitress brought the check. Henry paid it and left a generous
tip, then they collected their heavy coats and her hat.
On the walk back, they held gloved hands. It was romantic,
strolling the streets of New York together under the frosty twinkle
lights as snow continued to fall. No wind, so the chill wasn’t too bad.
“I decided,” Henry began, “not to leave yet. You came here so you
could experience New York at Christmas, and I don’t want to take
that pleasure from you.”
“Thank you, Quique. Will we be moving to a hotel?”
“No. I spoke to Leopold during my walk to the restaurant and
explained the situation. We are no longer guests of Anne-Louise. We
are now guests of Leopold.”
Cerissa breathed a sigh of relief. The CEO of the New York
Collective was her sponsor within the vampire communities, and her
business partner. Leaning on him for help felt like the right thing to
do under the circumstances.
“Excellent.” She flashed Henry her best smile of approval. “I’d like
to buy a bird feeder for the balcony. We can stop at a pet store on
our way back, and swing by the Magical Wish Toy Emporium, too. I
want to see all the toys and the children enjoying them.”
 He bowed cordially. “It would be my pleasure.”
“Thank you.” She squeezed his hand. “Ah, before we get there, do
you want to tell me what happened?”
His jaw muscles bulged, and an angry cloud fell across his face. “I
will if you insist.”
Why the resistance? How bad could it really be? She cleared her
throat and gave her blunt assessment of the situation. “Knowing
Anne-Louise, she’ll whisper it in my ear the first chance she gets. I
think the explanation is better coming from you.”
He tapped the sidewalk with his cane as they strolled in
momentary silence. “You are correct, mi amor.” He huffed out a
breath, fogging the air. “She offered me a new deal.”
“What kind of deal?”
“She would allow the blood bond to end if I agreed to what she
proposed.”
“But that’s great news!” Then she caught the expression on his
face. “Or are the terms so onerous—”
“The terms are such that I would never agree.”
And he stopped there, falling silent.
What was he hiding?
She inhaled, letting the cold air clear her mind. The tone he used
meant he was unlikely to budge right now. At least she had a better
idea of the big-picture issue.
“I’m sorry,” she said, stopping on the sidewalk to hug him. “What
will you do?”
“When my temper cools, I’ll submit to her bite, and we won’t have
to see her for another six months.”
They resumed their stroll and arrived at the pet store. “Do you
want to join me inside?” she asked.
“Of course.”
She had to stop and play with the puppies on display before
buying the bird feeder, and he teased her about her affinity for furry
creatures. After her purchases were made, they swung by the
Magical Wish Toy Emporium. A thrill rushed through her at seeing
the famous toy store draped in garland and sparkling lights, and a
man and woman dressed like toy soldiers at the entrance.
 She did some light Christmas shopping at the toy store, and then
she and Henry rushed back to the apartment as the wind kicked up.
He carried the bird feeder and seed. She shivered from the chill, and
he wrapped his arm around her, holding her tight to his side, while
she hugged the toy store shopping bag to her chest so the wind
wouldn’t rip it from her hand. Despite the salt crunching under their
shoes, which should have melted the ice, they struggled not to slip
on the frozen sidewalk, steadying each other and laughing.
They arrived at the tenth floor a little warmer thanks to the
elevator ride. After unlocking the apartment door, Cerissa flipped on
the lights to the living and dining room combination, which was big
enough to host a small dinner party.
It required teamwork to install the bird feeder on the frozen
balcony. The sounds of the city—traffic and horns—accompanied
their labors even at that hour.
Finished, Henry slid shut the glass door, shed his coat, then helped
Cerissa remove hers. “Now what would you like to do?”
The corners of her lips quirked up. With the time zone change,
fatigue set in, which had her thinking of bed…and other things they
could do in bed.
He chuckled as he hung her coat in the entryway closet. “I can
feel those emerald eyes scanning my body, cariña.”
“Well, there is a lot to admire about your body.” And with his back
to her, his muscular ass in particular. She’d learned about the
hashtag #suitpornsunday on social media. In the perfectly tailored
wool suit, Henry would certainly qualify. “And we’re on vacation, and
you’re looking sexy, and—”
She didn’t get to finish. Lightning fast, he covered her mouth in a
soul-searing kiss, his arm hooked around her waist, pulling her
closer, and his free hand sought her bottom to give the mound a
squeeze.
When the kiss came to a breathless stop, she gasped against his
lips and then murmured, “Well, it’s your turn to choose. What’s your
pleasure?”
Chapter 4
His Choice
COLLECTIVE APARTMENT #1010—AROUND THE SAME TIME

“Well?” Cerissa asked again, her head tilted to the side, her
radiant lips pursed.
Henry smiled slyly at her impatience.
Indeed, it is my turn. Decisions, decisions.
There were so many delicious things he enjoyed doing with her.
So many that sometimes he found it hard to choose.
Then he recalled the master bedroom’s en suite bathroom came
with a huge flat-bottomed bathtub that had whirlpool jets, a side-
centered faucet, hand sprayer, and two bath pillows, one at each
end. Large enough to hold two people comfortably, and the
Collective didn’t have the water-use restrictions currently applicable
to the Hill. He and Cerissa hadn’t been able to fill their big tub at
home and indulge in any fun there for months because of the
drought.
Guiding her into the bedroom, he asked, “What would you say to
playing in the bathtub?”
“Lovely. I’m chilled from being outside. A soak in hot water sounds
wonderful.”
He let her start the water and set the temperature. They couldn’t
rely on him—he’d set the gauge at scalding without realizing he’d
done so. Extremely hot water was one hedonistic pleasure he’d
reveled in since becoming a vampire.
Although she didn’t wait for him to undress her—another
hedonistic pleasure of his—he had the enjoyment of watching her
beauty unveiled as she stripped.
“Hey, don’t stand there staring,” she said, then gave him a quick
kiss before removing her contact lenses and braiding her hair. “You
need to get naked, too.”
“Of course, mi amor.” He flashed his fangs at her. “I was just
enjoying the show.”
“Oh. Oh!”
 Yes, she’d almost forgotten, and he was glad he reminded her.
From among the toiletries scattered on the sink vanity, she picked up
the hypo and held the jet injector’s silver cylinder head against her
neck, delivering a stream of stabilizing hormone into her muscle to
keep her blood mortal when he bit. The morphing hormone in his
fang serum would change her back to her Lux form if she didn’t use
the medication.
After she pinned her braid in a circle atop her head, she slid into
the tub. The jets bubbled around her, and she relaxed back on the
waterproof cushion. “Aah, that feels so good.”
With the show over, Henry disrobed and put his ponytail into a
knot. Slipping into the opposite end of the oval tub, he stretched his
legs, crossing them over hers, and lay back. Whatever tension
remained from their tiff drained from him in the heat of the water.
When she reached for him, he met her in the middle of the tub,
wrapping his arm around her shoulders, supporting her as he
captured her lips with his. She parted on a moan, and he enjoyed
the gentle tangling of their tongues, the delicious taste of her
mouth, the intensity of their kiss increasing as their tongues glided
back and forth, faster and faster.
She broke away, panting, and he ran his thumb across her cheek,
trailing beads of water over her skin, before sweeping a stray strand
of hair from her face.
“Turn around,” he said.
Bending her knees closer to her body, she pivoted on her butt
cheeks.
He put a splash of jasmine body wash in his hands. The flower
was one of his favorite scents, and he’d been sure to pack the whole
product line for the trip. He rubbed the sensual emulsion over her
skin and massaged her back as he washed her.
“Oh, I like what your fingers do.”
“I want you nice and relaxed.”
“Why? What mischievous plan do you have for tonight?”
“Nothing too…extreme.”
She laughed. “You do like to tease.”
“Indeed.” He poured more body wash on his palm. “Lean back.”
 He wrapped his arms around her as she rested her back on his
chest. Starting at her neck, he rubbed the bubbly liquid over her
throat, worked the slick scent over her breastbone until he reached
the mounds themselves, and palmed one in each hand, rubbing the
silky suds over her nipples, lightly squeezing her breasts.
“Oh, Henry,” she said, pressing against him more. His pene was
hard and pinned between her back and his abs. “I like this.”
He cupped water in his hands and rinsed away the soap, then
wrapped his arms around her and pulled her more firmly to him,
raising her out of the water, and gently pressed his lips against her
tender neck.
“Are you going to bite so soon?”
“No, not yet.” He continued nibbling without breaking her skin,
dragging his teeth lightly over her throat, and she moaned
delightfully. The blood below the surface teased him, but he forced
his fangs to remain retracted. “We will take our time. Now turn
around.”
She lay back, placing her head on the cushion, and he gently
spread her thighs apart, bending forward onto his knees to capture a
nipple with his lips, sucking and licking until she moaned again. The
soap was gone, but the lingering sweet jasmine scent intoxicated
him, making him want to rush to the main course, but he gave the
other breast equal attention.
Working down her chest, kneeling in the deep tub between her
legs, he dipped his head underwater, trailing kisses over her belly to
her mound. Parting the folds with his thumbs, he ran his tongue
over her clit, then sensually sucked.
He could stay underwater as long as he wanted, never feeling
starved for air. The disadvantage—he couldn’t easily hear her moans
with the sound of the jets bubbling in his ears. But the way her body
vibrated against his lips, her clit engorged, her labia slick with her
arousal, told him everything he needed to know.
After slipping one finger inside her, then the second one, he curled
them to rub against the sensitive inner wall. She bucked her hips,
riding his tongue, and he met her rhythm, licking faster and harder
until her hips froze, her clit pressed against his tongue, and her
entire body shuddered with her orgasm, as her inner muscles
clenched over and over around his fingers.
He let his lips linger, flicking his tongue to coax her orgasm to its
very limits, then emerged, running his hands over his long hair to
press the water away so he wouldn’t splash her.
With her head lying on the pillow, a look of rapture on her face, a
wave of pleasure crashed through him at the mere sight of her.
Mi ángel!
He crawled up her front and kissed her. “How was that?”
“Wonderful.” She sighed. “But I want more,” she said teasingly,
shooting him a coyly crooked grin.
His passion wound higher at her words. How could he not accept
a challenge like that? “Querida, there is definitely more on the
menu.”
He hooked his arms under hers and raised her to kneel, then
folded two washcloths and placed one under each knee to cushion
them from the hard acrylic surface. He stretched his legs between
hers and, gripping his pene at the base, guided the head inside her
as she braced her hands on his shoulders. Her warm, slick sheath
engulfed him, making him even harder. The flicker of her inner
muscles still slightly spasming like a tongue licking over him had his
pene flexing in response.
Once he was deep within her, he kissed her, then asked, “Better?”
“Much,” she said, her smile quirking, before he captured her lips,
thrusting his tongue between them, invading her mouth.
With his help, she rose and fell, spearing herself over and over
again on him as the bubbles from the jets spilled around them,
caressing his skin, framing her waist as she rose and fell. Then an
idea struck him, a way to enhance her pleasure. He lifted the spa’s
hand sprayer and aimed the spray between them, seeking her clit,
and her moan told him when he hit the right spot.
“Oh my goddess.”
“You like?”
“Yes, I like.”
He kept the pulsing spray aimed at her clit and, with the other
hand, teased her nipple, peaking the bud. As she rode him faster,
and his own hips rose to meet hers, the scent of blood thrumming
through her veins called to him. He reluctantly let go of her breast to
slide his hand around her waist to pull her closer as he arched
forward. Slowly, he sank his fangs into her neck.
The fang serum shot into her, and he sucked back his share as he
drank her blood. The sweet nectar was intoxicating. The
combination lit a fire in his groin as he pumped faster and faster into
her, keeping the sprayer aimed at her clit, feeling her tighten on him
as her orgasm started, and her inner walls rippled over him,
grabbing his pene to send exquisite shivers deep into him. His
cojones pulled tighter against his body, and then he followed her,
exploding inside her with a moan of his own. His pene flexed,
pulsing, as he held her hips tightly.
She collapsed on his chest. He shut off the hand sprayer, returning
the metal hose to its hook, and then stroked along her spine. No one
else made him this happy.
“I love you, querida.”
She kissed his shoulder tenderly. “I love you too, Quique.”
After holding each other for a few minutes, she rose and turned
off the jets. The water stilled around them.
“Are you ready to get out?” he asked.
She held up her fingertips for him to see and laughed. “I’m
pruning. So, yes.”
He helped her to stand, drained the tub, and toweled her off.
Something about serving her, about running the soft cotton towel
over her skin, made him feel manly. As her fiancé, it was his duty to
make her happy, a duty he roundly embraced, and making her
happy by giving her the best vacation possible was what he planned
to do for the rest of their stay in New York.
Chapter 5
New Job Complications
THE COLLECTIVE’S BUILDING—AROUND THE SAME TIME

Allison Sanford stepped onto the elevator, swiped her security key
card across the sensor, and selected the tenth floor. Staring at the lit
button, she felt her head swim as she focused on her new reality:
vampires were real, and she now worked for them.
When her memories first broke through as nightmares, she’d
dismissed the images as metaphors for her breakup with Henry
Bautista, her ex-boyfriend. The dreams had featured him attacking
and biting her with his fangs . Then the dreams kept repeating,
disturbing her sleep to the extent that she finally told Henry. When
she did, he attacked and tried to mesmerize her into forgetting
again, except his attempt didn’t work. Then a vampire named
Jonathan kidnapped her, bit her viciously, and threatened to turn her
into one of them.
Ugh. Thinking about the attacks by Henry and Jonathan still sent
shivers down her spine—and not pleasant ones. She never wanted a
vampire’s fangs to pierce her skin again.
At least the Hill community had rescued her from the revenant.
But because she’d become resistant to being mesmerized, Henry’s
fiancée had swooped in and hustled up two new jobs to get her out
of California, and overnight Allison became a weekend anchor at a
national cable news network and envoy to the New York Collective’s
chief executive officer, Leopold Leidecker.
Leopold was quite charming for a vampire, and rushed her
through the envoy training so she could start her new gig with Cable
News Today. Her first day at CNT had been a blast. Before that,
she’d only worked for small-market TV stations in their broadcast
news departments, but now she batted in the big leagues.
After completing her shift, she arrived exhausted and hungry at
the ritzy Park Avenue high-rise where she now lived, and hurried
through the lobby to punch the elevator call button. Leopold had
sent her a text asking to see her, and she was running late for the
appointment.
 No matter how much time she factored in when taking the
elevator in the Collective’s building, she never allowed enough. At
this hour, vampires were awake, beginning their night, and the lift
was constantly starting and stopping as they got on and off.
Changing elevators on the tenth floor allowed her to board one of
the special elevators serving the residential levels. By the time she
arrived at the forty-first floor ten minutes later, she chewed her lip,
afraid Leopold would scold her for being late.
Thanks to her security key card, the elevator doors opened
directly to the gallery of his penthouse apartment. Original artwork
lined the walls, and antique tables supported tall crystal vases of
fresh-cut flowers. He met her there and led her to his elegantly
decorated living room.
“Please have a seat, my dear.”
She eased onto the blue-gray brocade couch opposite the short,
scrawny vampire. His brown hair was slicked back using some sort of
gel or whatever, and a dated mustache—thin and angular—outlined
his upper lip. He looked like he was stuck in the last century.
“It has been, what, eight weeks since Henry bit you?”
What an odd question. Allison tilted her head, giving Leopold a
little side-eye. “More like six.”
“Very good. Now that you have completed your envoy training,
there are certain obligations you must fulfill.”
She wrinkled her forehead, trying to figure out what her
obligations to Leopold had to do with Henry’s last bite. “And those
would be?”
“Well, there are many, but I’m speaking of one in particular right
now: the loyalty bite.”
She gasped, and her eyes went wide. “Bite?”
“Yes. To ensure you do not accidentally say something to an
uninitiated mortal, you must submit to a vampire’s bite weekly.”
Her stomach churned and dizziness overtook her. She gripped the
arm of the couch to keep from falling over. “You want to bite me?”
Weekly?
How could he ask that of her? The previous bites had left her
traumatized. The nightmares continued, even though she now knew
the truth behind what generated her terrifying dreams.
He reached over and gave her shoulder a pat. “Not me, my dear. I
prefer not to have that sort of connection with my envoys. No, I
delegate the loyalty bite to our head of security.”
“Warren?”
“Ah yes, of course you know him from your classes.”
She didn’t just know him. Warren Baker was probably the only
vampire she honestly enjoyed being around. He’d become a kind of
friend-slash-mentor during her training period—one of the few she
had in New York.
And now he had to bite her?
Wonderful. Just wonderful. It was the last thing in the world she
wanted, and she shuddered at the thought. “But it’s been six
weeks… Why weekly?”
“We start there and then spread out the time. I wasn’t concerned
before because you weren’t associating with uninitiated mortals.
Now that you’ve started at CNT, it’s imperative we get the loyalty
bond reinforced quickly.”
“Why didn’t you say something before?” She shook her head as
fear buzzed across her skin. “No one told me I’d have to be bitten
again. I’m resistant to being mesmerized—”
“Yes, but we can’t rely on your willpower alone to prevent
disclosure of our kind. Didn’t Cerissa tell you?”
“No, she didn’t.”
And during her envoy training, there’d been no mention of it—not
that she could point that out to her boss, being a newbie and all.
“Now, don’t worry. Warren will make his bite feel good. Trust me.”
Leopold handed her an envelope with a fire-brick-red seal, his initials
stamped deep into the dried wax, and led her to the foyer. “Take this
note to Warren. He’s expecting you.”
“He is? Now?” she squeaked as she stepped onto the elevator.
“Yes. Really, there’s nothing to be afraid of, my dear.” Leopold
clicked his tongue. “Off with you.”
He reached into the elevator, pressed the button for the tenth
floor, and moved back. There, she’d change elevators to one that
would take her to the basement. The doors closed with a hushed
whoosh.
If she’d known about the regular bites, she would have turned
down the deal. But the job at CNT—thanks to Leopold’s contacts—
plus the work she did for him paid more money than she ever
thought she’d make this early in her career. Oh, and then there was
the upscale wardrobe she needed for on-air appearances, provided
by CNT.
Plus, her envoy position included a paid-for apartment in the
Collective’s building on the fifth floor, the level devoted solely to
mortals hired by the Collective. On the second floor were business
offices, a huge gym, and a five-screen cineplex, along with high-end
shops and restaurants in a concourse-type mall open to
unsuspecting mortals.
But were all those amenities worth awakening her trauma by
being bitten? She sighed. It wasn’t like she had a choice in the
matter. She’d already made the commitment.
It’s the question you don’t know to ask that screws you. Every.
Single. Time.
When she arrived in the basement, no one was in sight. A sign
with an arrow on it directed her to the head of security’s office, but
she already knew the way, and plodded down the stark white
hallway, anxiety clawing her stomach. Sooner than she wanted to,
she arrived at a closed door and the nameplate on it: Warren Baker
—Chief Security Officer.
She knocked. Moments later, the door opened, and she found
herself staring at the broad, muscular chest—shirtless—of a brick
house of a man with a bearing and ripped muscles that screamed
“military.” His dark blond buzzcut added to the overall impression
he’d been a soldier at some point in his life.
Not for the first time, she ogled his divine chest a few seconds too
long before the little voice in her head reminded her: she’d sworn off
men and vampires. She forced her chin up so her eyes rose to his
face.
At five-nine, she never considered herself a short woman, but
Warren was a half-foot taller than her, and to meet his hazel eyes,
she tilted her head further back. Arousal replaced her earlier anxiety,
and she stared into his seductive gaze, at the flakes of green and
brown in his irises lit with an amber sheen, her focus no longer
sliding to the mottled, pitted, shiny scar that began on his jaw and
traveled to the left side of his neck and down his arm. She didn’t
know what happened to him, but then again, she’d never asked.
His eyes held a hesitancy she’d never seen in them before, and
there was a tightness around his lips.
“Hey,” she said, the awkward silence finally loosening her lips.
“Hey,” he echoed, looking self-conscious as he ran a hand over his
bare chest. “Sorry about the lack of a shirt. I was just lifting.” He
motioned at the corner, where a weightlifting bench and a rack of
weights sat.
“I know,” she said. “Not the first time I’ve caught you like this.”
A small smile tipped up the corners of his mouth. “That’s true.”
Whenever she’d come to his office during the past month, two out
of three times, she found him shirtless. She never minded the view.
Sworn off, remember?
When Allison first arrived in November, Leopold had sent her down
to Warren’s basement office to complete the envoy paperwork and
collect her key card. That was the first time she’d met the head of
security, and initially trembled to be alone in his presence, finally
collapsing onto the guest chair in his office.
At that point, only a few days had passed since she’d been
attacked by the revenant, and the terrors of Henry’s attack still
plagued her. Whenever she got near a vampire, visuals of the prior
two attacks would loop on repeat in her mind.
But then Warren did something no other vampire had—he’d come
around his desk, knelt beside her, and gently asked if she was okay.
His nearness should have escalated her fear, but she’d stopped
trembling. Something about him made her feel safe.
Would the bite change that?
Her hand shook as she held out the sealed envelope. “Leopold
said I have to give this to you.”
He glanced at the envelope and then at her, hesitancy entering his
eyes again. “Ah, right.”
 She really didn’t want to submit to a bite, even if Warren was the
one biting her. Or maybe because it was Warren. She just wanted to
make an about-face and run for the elevator.

“Here, come in.” Warren stepped out of the way as he slid his
finger under the ostentatious red wax seal. Show-off. But he
expected that nonsense from the boss, like chest candy on an army
officer’s uniform.
He took a moment to read the note. He hadn’t missed how
Allison’s hand shook when she handed it to him. That hadn’t
happened since the first day he’d met her.
Was she thinking the bite would be like the revenant’s attack?
Leopold had given him the broad overview of what occurred. How
a revenant kidnapped her, and that the Hill vampires discovered she
was immune to being mesmerized—not even a powerful revenant
succeeded in making the compulsion to forget stick. But she was
loath to discuss the details, and he’d never pressed her for more.
She’d grown comfortable with him during the envoy training
sessions he’d led, and afterward in the group hangouts they’d both
attended. The night when all the other attendees had declined to
stay, and just the two of them headed to the second floor bar for a
drink, there hadn’t even been any sign of trepidation.
He’d know, since he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
A lot of gorgeous dames had come through his office, but Allison
was the splitting image of his dead fiancée, right down to the
straight blonde hair, eyes bluer than a bluebird, and high cheek
dimples. It’d punched him in the gut.
In the past month, he’d kept a tight leash on himself. Friendly, but
careful not to make her uncomfortable, not to show his interest. But
how the heck would he manage to do his duty and bite her without
revealing how much he wanted to take things further? How could he
Another random document with
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presence in the Synagogue is of comparatively modern date. The
ner tamid of the Sanctuary, however, is explained to be a lamp
burning “from evening to morning” (Exod. xxvii. 21). A golden
candlestick standing in the Sanctuary against the south side, with its
seven branches arranged from east to west, served this purpose.
According to Tradition it was the second branch, counting from east
to west, which really burnt continually; but this was not considered as
implied in the term ner tamid, which only meant “a continual lamp” in
the sense of a lamp that burns regularly every night.

The ner tamid in the Synagogue, which burns continually day and
night, is not mentioned by any of the earlier Rabbinical authors. It
has been introduced as a symbol representing our conviction that
from the Synagogue shall continually come forth the light of
instruction, the light of comfort and blessing, and the light of love and
peace.

In the Synagogue women are separated from men. There was also
in the Temple an ‫‏עזרת נשים‬‎“court of the women,” distinguished from
the ‫‏עזרת אנשים‬‎“court of the men,” to which women had no access.
During the Feast of Tabernacles, when the great rejoicings in the
Temple attracted a large assembly, special care was taken (‫‏תקון גדול‬
‫היה שם‬‎) that the separation of the sexes should be maintained
(Mishnah, Succah v. 2; and [427]Talm. B., Succah 51b). This
precedent has been followed in the Synagogue, and has been
accepted as law up to this day.

Reservedness and modesty (‫‏צניעות‬‎) have always been the pride and
ornament of Jewish women, both in their homes and in the
Synagogue; hence also their taking a silent part in the public
devotion is an honour to them, and by no means derogatory.

In addition to the above-mentioned points, a Synagogue ought to be

distinguished by the greatest possible simplicity, by the absence of
all kinds of images, portraits, or statues representing living beings,
whether real or imaginary. The Jewish religion is void of every visible
symbol; and the so-called magen-david (the double triangle) is
probably not of Jewish origin, and has no connection with our holy
religion. It is not a symbol of this kind, but some inscription of a
passage from the Scriptures that in most houses of worship reminds
us of the sacredness of the place. We enter it with due reverence,
manifesting it outwardly, in our peculiar traditional manner, by
keeping the head covered. It is our ancient custom to cover the head
when engaged in prayers, in reading the Bible or Talmud and their
commentaries. This outward sign serves to remind us that not only
our Service but even our literature is something holy, and its study a
religious act (‫‏מצוה‬‎). 119

Before we proceed to describe the details of our [428]ritual, we

mention one important point in which the present Synagogal Service
differs from the ancient Service in the Temple. From what we are told
in the Scriptures and in the Talmud, we learn that instrumental music
was an essential element in the Service, and that King David and his
successors paid great attention to it, whilst, with a few exceptions, it
is almost entirely absent from our Synagogues. The principal reason
why instrumental music is excluded from the Synagogue is its
prohibition on Sabbaths and Holy-days by Rabbinical law (Babyl. T.,
Erubin 104a). This prohibition, like many other enactments, did not
apply to the Temple Service; for the sacrificial laws had to be
obeyed, irrespective of the fact that they involved acts which, if
performed apart from the Temple Service, would constitute a breach
of the Sabbath laws. Apart from the Temple Service the Sabbath
laws remained in full force for the priests as well as for the general
public.

There were also other considerations that helped to keep

instrumental music out of the Synagogue Service. Its absence,
though not directly a sign of mourning, served to preserve the
memory of the destruction of the Temple, and to strengthen our
longing for its restoration. It is also urged that the introduction of
instrumental music into the Service would not satisfy any real want of
Jewish worshippers, but would merely be a concession to the desire
to assimilate our Divine Service to that of our non-Jewish
neighbours, contrary to the prohibition of chukkoth haggoyim
contained in the words, “Ye shall not walk in their statutes” (Lev. xviii.
3), i.e., in the statutes of the Gentiles. But, on [429]the other hand, it
has been argued that the feeling once expressed by the nation in the
words “This is my God, and I will worship him in a beautiful manner”
(Exod. xv. 2), still animates us. It is said that it is our duty to make
our Service as beautiful and as attractive as possible. This argument
deserves consideration, and might even outweigh some of the
above-mentioned arguments against the introduction of music into
our Service, if we were sure of the result of such introduction. But
this is by no means the case, for the experiment, where tried, has
not been successful if judged by the most practical test. The number
of worshippers has not been increased, and discontent has not been
removed. Whether the devotion of the worshippers has been
improved, refined, or intensified by music is a question that cannot
be answered with certainty. Even if the answer were satisfactory, it
could only apply to the introduction of instrumental music into our
Service on week-days, on Friday evening before the commencement
of Sabbath, but not on Sabbaths and Holy-days.

The Ritual.

In the Bible there is no indication of a fixed ritual; there are, however,

a few instances of forms of prayer prescribed for certain occasions.
There is the priests’ blessing (Num. vi. 24–26); the thanksgiving on
bringing the first-fruit offering to the Temple (Deut. xxvi. 3–10); prayer
on distributing the tithes which accumulated in three years (ibid. 13–
15). David (Ps. lv. 18) says, “Evening, and morning, and at
[430]noonday do I pray;” Daniel “kneeled upon his knees three times
a day and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did
aforetime” (Dan. vi. 11); but nothing is said about the form and the
contents of these prayers. The Mishnah first speaks of certain fixed
forms of prayer: the “Eighteen” (‫‏שמונה עשרה‬‎), the reading of Shema
(‫‏קריאת שמע‬‎), and Benedictions (‫‏ברכות‬‎). The composition of the
tefillah, “Prayer” par excellence, is attributed to the Men of the Great
Synagogue (‫‏אנשי כנסת הגדולה‬‎), but only in its outlines. The number of
the paragraphs, the theme of each paragraph, and the formula by
which it is concluded may then have been fixed, the rest being left to
be filled up by each supplicant according to his capacity. It was but
natural that prayers uttered repeatedly by men eminent for their piety
should be eagerly copied by others, and gradually become, to some
extent at least, fixed forms of prayer. The tefillah, however, in the
time of the Mishnah was by no means identical with the tefillah of the
Men of the Great Synagogue. The destruction of the Temple
necessitated several changes; e.g., the prayers for the welfare of
Jerusalem, for the prosperity of Israel and of the Holy Land, and for
the acceptance of the Service in the Temple were altered in
accordance with the new state of affairs.

The Mishnah speaks of the tefillah as a well-known existing

institution; it seems that it was the regular prayer in the Synagogue
Service, and the discussion whether the tefillah should be repeated
every day in extenso or in an abbreviated form (Mishnah, Berachoth
iv. 3) refers probably to the prayer recited privatim (‫‏תפלת יחיד‬‎), and
not to the Service in the Synagogue. [431]The prescribed “Eighteen
Blessings” were the framework, into which each man was expected
to fit in his peculiar, individual supplications; whilst in the public
Service the tefillah remained uniform. In the days of Rabban Gamliel
of Jamnia, and with his sanction, an important addition was made by
Samuel: a prayer for the discomfiture of those who by slander,
denunciation, or other wicked means attempt to undermine the
existence of the Jewish religion and community (‫‏ברכת הצדוקים‬‎or
‫‏ברכת המינים‬‎). 120 In some congregations two other paragraphs (‫‏את‬
‫צמח‬‎and ‫‏ולירושלם‬‎) were at the same time combined into one, in order
to keep to the traditional “Eighteen Blessings.” 121

The reading of shema in the evening and in the morning, the three
sections constituting the shema, and the order of these sections, are
assumed in the Mishnah as fully established by law and usage. Only
a few regulations are discussed concerning the time and the mode of
the reading. There was this difference between the custom of the
Babylonian Jews and that of their brethren in Palestine, that the
latter omitted in the evening the passage referring to tsitsith. Later
on, however, the Palestine Jews conformed to the Babylonian
custom. Suggestions have been made [432]to substitute other Biblical
passages for shema, but they have been rejected. Several attempts
have been made to introduce, as an addition to the three sections of
shema, the reading of the Decalogue; the addition was disallowed,
lest people should be misled to think that the Ten Commandments
alone were to be observed, and that the other laws were not binding
(Babyl. T., Berachoth 12a). 122

The Benedictions which precede and follow the reading of shema

were fixed in the time of the Mishnah as regards number, order, and
form; but the contents were left unsettled for some time (Mishnah,
Berachoth i. 4); in the Gemara their wording is still a subject for
discussion. The same can be said with regard to the relative order of
shema and tefillah. For the Evening Service the tefillah seems to
have generally been considered as optional. As to Benedictions in
general, their obligatory character is assumed in the Mishnah as
admitted by all, and only their form seems to have been fixed by the
regulations mentioned in Berachoth vi.–ix.
The Mishnah (Megillah iii. 4–iv. 10) includes a number of regulations
concerning the reading of the Law, the Prophets, and the Book of
Esther. Detailed rules were laid down for the reader and the
translator (methurgeman), pointing out which passages should be
omitted in the translation, and which should be omitted [433]even in
the original. It seems that there was a regular, consecutive reading,
which was interrupted on extraordinary days by the reading of
passages referring to these days.

The ritual which was adopted for the priests in the Temple was an
abridged form of the ritual then in general use. It was as follows:
They commenced with a benediction—the first of those which
precede the shema (‫‏יוצר אור‬‎); then they read the Decalogue, shema
(the three paragraphs), and three further benedictions, ‫‏אמת ויציב‬‎,
‫‏עבודה‬‎(corresponding to ‫‏רצה‬‎in our prayer), and the blessing of the
priests (Mishnah, Tamid v. 1).

A special ritual is also mentioned in the Talmud (Mishnah, Taanith iv.

2) for the Maamadoth and the Fast-days. 123 There were four
Services daily, as on the Day of Atonement. The principal feature in
the Service of the Maamadoth was the reading of the first chapter of
Genesis.

At the conclusion of the Talmud (about 500 c.e.) the essential parts
of our present ritual were already in a settled state; the shema with
the benedictions preceding and following, the tefillah with its
variations for New-moon, Sabbath, and Holy-days, the reading from
the Law and the prophets, and Hallel. The Seder evening Service
was complete in its main parts. [434]Of the Benedictions (Berachoth)
on various occasions both form and contents were fixed, and the rule
was laid down by Rabbi Meir (Berachoth 40a) that he who uttered a
berachah in a form different from that fixed by our Sages has not
fulfilled his duty (or, according to Maimonides, Hilchoth Berachoth i.
5, is in error). Notwithstanding this rule, however, changes were
made; new benedictions were introduced and old ones
discontinued. 124—Kaddish and Kedushah seem to have formed part
of the Service; of the latter the Talmud mentions the name, of the
former the response: “May his great Name be praised” ‫‏יהא שמו הגדול‬
‫מבורך‬‎or ‫‏יהא שמיה רבא מ׳‬‎(Comp. Babyl. Talm., Berachoth 3a).

In the next period, that of the Geonim, we meet with the complete
Siddur, “Arrangement” or “Order” of Service for ordinary days, for
Sabbaths and Festivals, Benedictions for all occasions, and Piyyutim
as optional additions. Such a Siddur was arranged by the Gaon
Rabbenu Saadiah (892–942), and another by the Gaon Rabbenu
Amram (about 880). Henceforth the principal prayers underwent only
insignificant alterations. Of the next period the most important
Siddurim are those included in the Mishneh-torah, at the end of the
second book, and that contained in the Machzor Vitry. 125

The additional prayers and piyyutim, being optional, varied according

to the taste of each congregation and [435]its leaders; in course of
time these variations became permanent; the same was the case
with minor changes, especially in the less essential elements of the
Service, and thus the various Minhagim (Rites) of the various
congregations came into existence. The principal Minhagim of
importance for us are: the Polish, the Sephardic, the German, and
the Italian Rites. 126 In the following description of the Ritual only the
two rites adopted in the principal Synagogues of the Anglo-Jewish
congregations in England will be noted.

Prayers at Fixed Times.

Although we constantly enjoy the blessings of God, the very breath

we breathe being the gift of our Heavenly Father, yet certain seasons
of the day, of the week, of the month, and of the year have been
selected as especially fit for reminding us of God’s kindness, and
predisposing our heart to devotion. Thus in the day, morning, noon
and evening have been fixed for prayer; in the week, Sabbath; in the
month, New-moon; in the year, the Festivals.

We have three daily Services: Maaribh, “Evening prayer;”

Shacharith, “Morning prayer,” 127 and Minchah, “Afternoon prayer.”
On Sabbath, New-moon, and Festivals an “Additional prayer,” Musaf,
is inserted [436]between the Morning and the Afternoon Services, and
on the Day of Atonement, Neïlah, “Concluding Service,” is added
after Minchah.

The two most essential elements in these Services are: (1) the
Reading of Shema (‫‏קריאת שמע‬‎), in the Maaribh and the Shacharith;
(2) the Tefillah or Amidah, common to all the Services.

1. The Reading of Shema.

In obedience to the precept, “Thou shalt speak of them,” i.e., of “the

words which I command thee this day—when thou liest down and
when thou risest up,” three sections of the Law are read daily in the
morning and in the evening, viz., (1) Deut. vi. 4–9, beginning ‫‏שמע‬‎
“Hear;” (2) Ibid. xi. 13–21, beginning ‫‏והיה אם שמע תשמעו‬‎“And it shall
be if ye will diligently hearken;” (3) Num. xv. 37–41, beginning ‫‏ויאמר יי‬‎
“And the Lord said.” The first section teaches the Unity of God, and
our duty to love this One God with all our heart, to make His Word
the subject of our constant meditation, and to instil it into the heart of
the young.—The second section contains the lesson of reward and
punishment: that our success depends on our obedience to the Will
of God. This important truth must constantly be kept before our eyes
and before the eyes of our children.—The third section contains the
commandment of tsitsith, the object of which is to remind us of God’s
precepts: “Ye shall see it and remember all the commandments of
the Lord and do them, and that ye seek not after your own heart and
your own eyes, after which ye use to go astray, that [437]you
remember and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your
God.”

The reading of the shema is preceded by two berachoth: (1) ‫‏יוצר אור‬‎
Praise of the Creator for the regular sequence of day and night, light
and darkness; (2) ‫‏אהבה רבה‬‎or ‫‏אהבת עולם‬‎Praise of His goodness in
giving us the Torah, and prayer for His assistance in the study of the
Torah. The shema is followed by a berachah on the Redemption of
Israel; it contains a reflection on the last words of shema, “I am the
Lord your God,” an expression of our faith in the truth of these
words, which strengthen our belief in the future Redemption of
Israel. 128 In the Evening Service a second berachah follows,
beginning ‫‏השכיבנו‬‎, and containing a prayer for protection during the
night. 129

2. The Tefillah or Amidah.

The Tefillah, “Prayer” par excellence, is called Amidah (lit.,

“standing”), because the worshipper stands during the time he offers
it up. It is also called Shemoneh-esreh, “Eighteen,” because it
contains on most occasions eighteen (or nineteen, comp. p. 431)
paragraphs, each concluding with a benediction. [438]

The first three paragraphs contain praise of God’s goodness to us,

the descendants of the pious patriarchs (1), His omnipotence (2),
and His holiness (3).

The next thirteen paragraphs are petitions for our individual and
national well-being. For our individual well-being (4–9), namely, for
reason and wisdom (4), assistance in our endeavour to return to God
(5), forgiveness of our sins (6), deliverance from trouble (7), from
illness (8), and from want (9).—For our national well-being (10–15),
namely, for the gathering of those who are scattered (10), under
good leaders (11), protected from the evil designs of our foes (12),
for the support of the faithful (13), the rebuilding of Jerusalem (14),
and the advent of Messiah (15). The sixteenth paragraph is a prayer
that our petition may be accepted.—The last three paragraphs
include a petition for the re-establishment of Divine Service in the
Temple of Jerusalem (17), thanksgiving (18), and prayer for peace
and prosperity (19). When the prayer is finished we express the wish
that our lips, from which prayer to God has come forth, may not be
defiled by unworthy language.

On Sabbaths, Holy-days, and in every Musaph the thirteen middle

paragraphs are replaced by one in which reference is made to the
characteristic feature of the day; in the Musaph of New-year three
berachoth (p. 404) are substituted for the thirteen middle berachoth
of the ordinary tefillah. The thirteen paragraphs have been
eliminated in order that we should not be reminded on Sabbath and
Holy-days of our failings, wants, and troubles; that those seasons
should be [439]marked by a happier and more cheerful mood than
ordinary days (supra, p. 354).

There are two shorter forms of the tefillah for urgent occasions: the
one is a substitute for the “Eighteen,” in which the middle thirteen
paragraphs are contracted into one; it is called ‫‏הביננו‬‎(the first word
of this middle section), or ‫‏מעין שמונה עשרה‬‎“abstract of the
‘Eighteen.’ ” The other is a contraction of the Friday evening tefillah,
and is called ‫‏מעין שבע‬‎“abstract of the ‘Seven’ ” (scil., paragraphs
forming the tefillah), originally intended for those who were too late
for the full Service. 130

Each of the above Services ends with a prayer called after its initial
word alenu, “It is our duty.” In this prayer we thank God that we have
the privilege of proclaiming His Unity, and express our hope to see
the worship of the One God adopted by all mankind. It is omitted
between two Services following closely the one upon the other.

In addition to the above, the Service contains the following parts:—

(1.) ‫‏ברכות השחר‬‎“Blessings of the Morning,” forming the first part of

the Morning Service. It contains benedictions, reflections, and
prayers suggested by the change from night to day, from sleep to
wakefulness, from rest to activity.

(2.) Psalms.—Our Service contains various groups of psalms: chief

among them the mizmorim or pesuke dezimrah (“songs” or “verses
of song”), and shir shel yom (“song of the day”), in the Morning
Service. The former include Ps. cxlv. to cl., some other psalms, and
[440]the song of Moses (Exod. xv.). The latter correspond to the
songs of the Levites in the Temple, and consist of Ps. xxiv. (for
Sunday), xlviii. (for Monday), lxxxii. (for Tuesday), xciv. (for
Wednesday), lxxxi. (for Thursday), xciii. (for Friday), and xcii. (for
Saturday).—The repetition of Ps. cxlv. three times a day, twice during
Shacharith and once during Minchah, is an old minhag (Babyl. Talm.,
Berachoth, p. 4b).

(3.) Supplications (‫‏תחנונים‬‎) added in the Morning and the Afternoon

Services after the tefillah.

(4.) Readings from the Bible and Post-Biblical Sacred Literature,

such as Num. vi. 22 sqq. (priests’ blessing); Gen. xxii. (binding of
Isaac); Exod. xvi. (manna); Mishnah, Peah i. 1, and Babyl. T.,
Shabbath 127a, in the earlier part of the Morning Service; and words
of comfort (beginning ‫‏ובא לציון‬‎) from the Prophets after the
“Supplications.” Originally an exposition of the Written and the Oral
Law followed the “Supplications,” and concluded with Messianic
prophecies, recited in Hebrew and in the Chaldee Version.
(5.) Biblical and Post-Biblical passages referring to the Sacrificial
Service, in the Morning and the Afternoon Services.

In addition to the above Services, read either in the Synagogue or

privately at home, there is a special prayer read by us before retiring
to rest. The chief element in it is the first section of shema; hence the
name ‫‏קריאת שמע שעל המטה‬‎“Reading of shema before going to bed.”
Some psalms and supplications are generally added. [441]

Public Service, ‫‏תפלה בצבור‬‎. 131

The following points mark off the Public Service from the various
forms of private prayer:—

(1.) Kaddish, “Sanctification,” a prayer for the universal sanctification

of God’s name, which will distinguish the age of Messiah. In the
second part of the Kaddish we pray for the Messianic peace, and in
the last sentence express our hope that it may soon be granted.

Formerly the Kaddish concluded the Service; at present it is recited

at the end of the Service in its full form (‫‏קדיש שלם‬‎“the whole
Kaddish”); the first half (‫‏חצי קדיש‬‎“half-Kaddish”) has its place at the
end of a section of the Service—e.g., after the ‫‏פסוקי דזמרה‬‎in the
Morning Service; a third form is recited by mourners after ‫‏עלינו‬‎and
after special hymns or psalms; it is the whole Kaddish with the
omission of the sentence beginning ‫‏תתקבל‬‎. It is called ‫‏קדיש יתום‬‎
“Kaddish of the orphan,” and is intended to express the mourner’s
faith in God and his resignation to His Will.—Sometimes a special
Kaddish, called Kaddish dirabbanan, is recited after the reading of
some Talmudic or Midrashic passages. It is the same as Kaddish
shalem, except that the sentence beginning ‫‏תתקבל‬‎is replaced by a
prayer for the welfare of the scholars, the Rabbis, and their pupils.
[442]

(2.) Repetition of the tefillah by the Reader, with the addition of

Kedushah before the third paragraph, and the Priests’ Blessing
before the last paragraph, of the tefillah. The Kedushah,
“Proclamation of the Holiness of God,” is based on the visions of Isa.
vi. and of Ezek. iii., with citation of three verses, Isa. vi. 3, Ezek. iii.
12, and Ps. cxlvi. 10, in which the Holiness, Glory, and Kingdom of
God are proclaimed.

The Priests’ Blessing, originally spoken by priests, descendants of

Aaron, is now in most Synagogues included by the Reader in the
tefillah by way of quotation; only on Holy-days it is pronounced by
the priests.

(3.) ‫‏קריאת התורה‬‎“the Reading of the Law,” and the “Lessons from the
Prophets” (‫‏הפטרה‬‎), with the benedictions preceding and following
(supra, p. 348).

Occasional Prayers—Benedictions, ‫‏ברכות‬‎.

The feeling of our dependence on the goodness of God must

constantly be present to our mind. Whatever we enjoy, be it in the
form of eating or drinking, or some pleasing or remarkable sight, an
agreeable smell, a festivity on a joyful event, or the performance of a
Divine commandment (‫‏מצוה‬‎); whatever befall us, whether it be
pleasant or unpleasant—all this we consider as sent to us by the Will
of the Almighty, and we express our conviction by a suitable
berachah. The general rule is thus laid down by our Sages: It is
unlawful for man to enjoy anything on earth without previously
acknowledging by a berachah that God is the source whence the
enjoyment is derived. For [443]different cases different forms of
“blessings” have been fixed by our Sages. In some cases the
enjoyment is also followed by a prayer of thanksgiving, the most
important being the prayer after meals, called ‫‏ברכת המזון‬‎
“Benediction for food or Grace.” 132 In the Mishnah it is called “Three
Blessings” (‫‏שלש ברכות‬‎), because it consisted originally of three
paragraphs, each ending with a benediction. The three paragraphs
are the following: (1) ‫‏ברכת הזן‬‎(“Benediction commencing ‫‏הזן‬‎”), in
which we praise God’s providential care of all creatures. (2) ‫‏הודאה‬‎
“Thanksgiving,” or ‫‏ברכת הארץ‬‎(Benediction referring to Palestine). In
this paragraph we offer thanks for our individual sustenance, as well
as for our national gifts: Palestine, the Covenant, and the Law. (3)
Prayer for the restoration of Zion and the rebuilding of the Temple
(‫‏בנין ירושלם‬‎).—Subsequently a fourth paragraph was added (‫‏הטוב‬
‫והמטיב‬‎“who is good and causes His creatures to be good”) in
commemoration of the relief given to the Jews after the close of the
war with Hadrian. 133—On certain occasions, e.g., at a wedding
repast, suitable additions are made. Besides these, various
supplications have been added in later times.

There are various short forms of this ‫‏ברכת המזון‬‎; the shortest is that
for children, “Blessed be the Merciful, the Giver of this bread.” 134—
When three grown-up male persons or more have their meal
together, [444]a special introductory form is used, called ‫‏זמון‬‎
“summons to prayer,” one of the company acting as Reader, and the
rest forming the congregation.

Another form of thanksgiving is the “Abstract of the Three Blessings”

(‫‏מעין שלש‬‎), consisting of one paragraph which contains the whole of
the Grace in a contracted form, and is used after cake, wine, and the
like.
No restriction is enforced upon us if we desire on our part to give
expression to our feeling of gratitude and reverence toward the
Almighty in our own words on occasions not provided for in the
ancient forms of benedictions and prayers. In order, however, to
make a distinction between the forms of obligatory berachoth fixed
by our Sages and the optional ones introduced by ourselves, we do
not employ the words, “O Lord, our God, King of the Universe,”
which are essential in the former.
[Contents]

Notes.

1. On Page 424 sqq.

Among the different minhagim observed in the Synagogue the

following are noteworthy:—The head is kept covered, the hands
uncovered; gloves are generally taken off before the beginning of the
Service. It was customary to spread forth the hands during prayer,
and the phrase “spreading forth the hands” is used in the Bible in the
sense of “praying.” The priests still raise their hands when
pronouncing the blessing. Isaiah, rebuking those who prayed to God
without seeking purification from evil deeds, says, “And when you
spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye
make many prayers I will not hear; your hands are full of blood” (Isa.
i. 15). Following the example of the Psalmist, “I will wash my hands
in innocency, so will I compass thine altar” (Ps. xxvi. 6), we wash our
hands [445]before prayer, as a symbol of the duty of purifying our
conscience from guilt before approaching the Almighty with our
petitions. We thus uncover our hands as if to say, “The reproach of
Isaiah does not apply to us; we have tried to free our heart and our
hands from guilt.”

A custom frequently animadverted upon is the habit which many

Jews have adopted of swinging their bodies forward and backward
during prayer. We consider it a more decent way to stand or sit still
when communing with the Supreme Being. Both ways find support in
the Talmud (Babyl. T., Berachoth 31a, and Shabbath 10a); whilst the
one stands like “a servant in the presence of his master,” the other
gives way to his emotions and excitement. The Magen Abraham, on
chap. xlviii. 4, says: “He who follows the one example is right, and he
who follows the other is likewise right: all depends on the devotion of
the heart.” Rabbi Jehudah ha-Levi in his Cuzari (Book II. chap. xli.)
mentions and explains the custom of shaking during prayer. The
habit of accompanying the emotions of our heart by corresponding
motions of our body has produced the custom of raising the whole
body upwards when uttering the word “holy” in the kedushah.

During tefillah we remain standing in the same place; at the end,

when we have finished our petition, we retire slowly a few steps
backward; the same is done by the Reader during the last paragraph
of the kaddish. It is as if, our petition ended, we reverently withdrew
from the heavenly King who has given us audience during the
prayer.

We bend the knee, incline our head, and bow down on certain
occasions during the Service, but we do not kneel during prayer.—It
has perhaps been avoided as an idolatrous practice, with reference
to Judges vii. 5.

When the Ark is opened and the Sefer is taken out or put back, we
stand and show our respect for the Word of God in various ways.
Some bow the head; others, considering this as worship, kiss the
Sefer, or otherwise express their reverence.

The traditional way in which the kohanim proceed to bless the

people is this: they remove their shoes, as the priests did who
ministered in the Temple; water is then poured over their hands by
the Levites, the ablutions of the ancient priests being thus imitated to
some extent (see Exod. xxx. 20). It is a holy act, and is done in the
Synagogue generally in front of the Ark. [446]The priests ascend the
steps of the hechal and wait till called upon by the Reader to
pronounce the blessing. They turn toward the congregation, spread
forth their hands in the traditional manner, and cover head and face
with the talith, in order not to be disturbed in their devotion by the
sight of the congregation before them; the Reader dictates the words
of the benediction to them to guard against any mistakes being
made by them. The congregation, giving special importance to each
word, add Biblical quotations and special supplications during the
interval between one word and the other. Of greater importance,
however, is respectful listening to the words uttered by the priests,
and chanted by them in a peculiar traditional tune. The priests turn to
all directions while pronouncing the blessing, expressing thereby that
they would have no one excluded from the blessing.

Some kohanim refuse to perform this duty, pretending or believing

that they are unworthy to bless the congregation. This is a mistake.
Those who feel that they are unworthy must try by improved conduct
to render themselves worthy, but disobedience to the direct
commandment of the Divine Law is certainly not the beginning of
improvement. Others object to the singing, in which they are unable
to join; others to taking off their boots. The excuses are certainly
insufficient. But as these two elements are less essential, they might,
if necessary, be dispensed with if the fulfilment of the commandment
is secured thereby.

2. On Page 439.

There are various parts in our Service which originally seem to have
formed a substitute, under certain circumstances, for a section of the
Service or for the whole of it, but were subsequently, when the
circumstances altered, embodied as an integral part of the Service in
addition to the sections which they had replaced.

In the Morning Service there is in the section called ‫‏ברכות השחר‬‎a

prayer beginning ‫‏לעולם יהא אדם‬‎and concluding ‫‏לעיניכם אמר יי‬. This
prayer, preceded by an exhortation to be God-fearing in secret—
when persecution prevented public worship of God—contains an
expression of pride in our history, and of gratitude to God that we
have the privilege to proclaim the [447]Unity of God in the words,
“Hear, O Israel,” &c., and a petition for the fulfilment of the Messianic
prophecies.

In the Maaribh the part beginning ‫‏ברוך יי לעולם‬‎and ending ‫‏על כל מעשיו‬‎
was originally a substitute for the Amidah, and the conclusion of the
Evening Service for those who considered the tefillah in the evening
optional. Similarly, on Friday evening the contracted tefillah was
originally a substitute for the tefillah for those who came late. In both
these and similar cases the substitute and its original have been
retained as integral parts of the Service.

3. On Page 442 (2).

In the public Service the tefillah is repeated by the Reader after the
silent prayer (‫‏בלתש‬‎) of the congregation. This minhag must have
been introduced very early. In the Talmud (end of Rosh ha-shanah) it
is spoken of as a regular institution, its purpose is discussed, and the
reason stated why we should not dispense with the Reader’s
repetition or with the silent tefillah. It seems that there was, on the
one hand, a desire on the part of the congregants to have an
uninterrupted silent tefillah in which they could give suitable
expression each one to his personal and peculiar wants and wishes.
On the other hand, there was also a desire felt by many to be guided
in their devotions by the Reader. Our minhag satisfies both
requirements. But it is a grave error to think, as unfortunately many
do, that, while the Reader repeats the tefillah, the congregants may
turn their heart and mind to other things, however holy these be. The
congregation and the Reader must be united in devotion during ‫‏תפלה‬
‫בצבור‬‎, and where the continued concentration of thought during the
tefillah and its repetition seems unattainable, it would be better to
sacrifice the minhag of repeating the tefillah rather than to have the
repetition of the prayer without the participation of the congregants,
or even without decorum.

In the repetition of the tefillah the kedushah forms an important

addition. The essential idea of the kedushah is repeated thrice
during the Morning Service, viz., in the first of the benedictions
preceding the shema, in the tefillah or Amidah, and in the concluding
section commencing ‫‏ובא לציון‬‎.

In the first kedushah (called ‫‏קדושה דיוצר‬‎), while praising God [448]as
the Creator of light and of the heavenly luminaries, we introduce
these, as proclaiming, as it were, the holiness and glory of God in
the words of the Prophets. In the last kedushah (called ‫‏קדושה דסידרא‬‎
or ‫‏סידרא דקדושה‬‎) we merely read, among other passages from the
Prophets, those verses of Isaiah and Ezekiel which contain the chief
sentences of the kedushah. In the kedushah of the tefillah the
Reader summons the congregation to proclaim the sanctification of
God in the manner of the angels above; it has therefore its place
only in Public Worship, whilst as to the other two kedushoth there is
no difference whether a person prays by himself or in a congregation
of worshippers.

As regards ‫‏קדיש וברכו‬‎, two prayers generally united, it must be

remarked that in their meaning they are disunited: the half-kaddish is
the conclusion of the mizmorim or pesuke dezimrah, and ‫‏ברכו‬‎is the
commencement of the next section: shema, with its benedictions.
The half-kaddish, wherever it occurs, concludes some section of the
Service. In shacharith, after Amidah, or after “Supplications,” or after
the Reading of the Law; at Musaf, Minchah, Neïlah, and Maaribh
after the introductory psalms. The half-kaddish before the Amidah in
the Maaribh is probably a remnant of the whole kaddish that used to