Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

370 JEWISH
JOHN'S
theirgreat value called the Precious Jewels of
a Fellow-Craft and the Precious Jewels of a
Master Mason. There are three in each de-
Reel and they are referred to by the Alarm .
eir explanation is esoteric .
Jewish Rites and Ceremonies. A period
of excitement in favor of the rites of Judaism
centered upon and pervaded the people of
various nations during the early portion of the
fourteenth century . The ceremonies grew and
took fast hold upon the minds of the Romans,
and, combining with their forms, spread to
Constantinople and northwest to Germany
and France . The Jewish rites, traditions, and
legends thus entered the mystic schools. It
was during this period that the legend of Hiram
first became known (Bro . G . H . Fort), and
Jehovah's name, and mystic forms were transmitted
from Byzantine workmen to Teutonic
sodalities and German gilds . Thus also, when
the Christian enthusiasm pervades the North,
Paganism gave way, and the formal toasts
at the ceremonial banquets were drunk in
the name of the saints in lieu of those of the
Pagan gods .
Jews, Disqualification of. The great
principles of religious and political toleration
which peculiarly characterize Freemasonry
would legitimately make no religious faith
which recognized a Supreme Being a disqualification
for initiation . But, unfortunately,
these principles have not alwaysbeenregarded,
and from an early period the German Lodges,
and especially the Prussian, were reluctant to
accord admission to Jews . This action has
given great offense to the Grand Lodges of
other countries which were more liberal in
their views, and were more in accord with the
Masonic spirit, and was productive of dissensions
among the Masons of Germany, many
of whom were opposed to this intolerant policy
. But a better spirit now prevails ; and
very recently the Grand Lodge of the Three
Globes at Berlin, the leading Masonic body of
Prussia, has removed the interdict, and Judaism
is there no longer a disqualification for
initiation .
Jezeeds . A Mohammedan sect in Turkey
and Persia, which took its name from the
founder, Jezeed, a chief who slew the sons of
Ali, the father-in-law of Mohammed . They
were ignorant in the extreme, having faith in
both the Hebrew Bible and Koran ; their
hymns were addressed, without distinction, to
Moses, Christ, or Mohammed .
Jezirah or Jetzirah, Book of. M"13`
"TO ii e. Book of the Creation . A Kabbalistic
worir, wLch is claimed by the Kabbalists as
their first and oldest code of doctrines, although
it has no real affinity with the tenets of the
Kabbala . The authorship of it is attributed
to the patriarch Abraham ; but the actual date
of its first appearance is supposed to be about
the ninth century . Steinschneider says that
it opens the literature of the Secret Doctrine .
Its fundamental idea is, that in the ten digits
and the twenty letters of the Hebrew alphabet
we are to find the origin of all things . Landauer,
a German Hebraist, thinks that the
author of the Jetzirah borrowed his doctrine
of numbers from the School of Pythagoras,
which is very probable. The old Masons, it is
probable, derived some of their mystical ideas
of sacred numbers from this work.
Joabert. This, according to the legends
of the high degrees, was the name of the chief
favorite of Solomon, who incurred the displeasure
of Hiram of Tyre on a certain occasion,
but was subsequently pardoned, and, on
account of the great attachment he had shown
to the person of his master, was appointed the
Secretary of Solomon and Hiram in their most
intimate relations . He was afterward . still
further promoted by Solomon, and appointed
with Tito and Adoniram a Provost and Judge .
He distinguished himself in his successful efforts
to bring certain traitors to condign punishment,
and although by his rashness he at
first excited the anger of the king, he was subsequently
forgiven, and eventually received
the highest reward that Solomon could bestow
by being made an Elect, Perfect, and
Sublime Mason . The name is evidently not
Hebrew, or must at least have undergone
much corruption, for in its present form it cannot
be traced to a Hebrew root. Lenning says
(Encyclopadie) that it is Johaben, or, more
properly, Ihaoben, which he interprets the Son
of God ; but it would be difficult to find any
such meaning according to the recognized
rules of the Hebrew etymology .
Joachim, Order of. A secret association
instituted in Germany toward the end of the
last century. Its recipients swore that they
believed in the Trinity, and would never waltz .
None but nobles, their wives and children,
were admitted . It had no connection with
Masonry .
Jobei. (Heb., ~n1`, jubilans .) A name of
God used in the Thirteenth Degree, A. A .
Scottish Rite .
Jochebed. (Heb ., '1»1`, God-glorified.)
The wife of Amram, and mother of Miriam,
Moses, and Aaron .
Johaben . (Heb., Latin, Filius Dei .)
A name of continuous use in the A . A . Scottish
Rite, and also mentioned in the Fourth and
Fifth degrees of the modern French Rite .
Johannite Masonry. A term introduced
by Dr . Oliver to designate the system of Masonry,
of which the two Sts. John are recognized
as the patrons, and to whom the Lodges
are dedicated, in contradistinction to the more
recent system of Dr. Hemming, in which the
dedication is to Moses and Solomon . Oliver
was much opposed to the change, and wrote an
interesting work on the subject entitled A
Mirror for the Johannite Masons, which was
published in 1848. According to his definition,
the system practised in the United States
is Johannite Masonry .
Johannites. A Masonico-religious sect
established in Paris, in 1814, by Fabre-Paliprat,
and attached to the Order of the Temple,
of which he was the Grand Master . (See
Levitikon and Temple, Order of the .)
John's Brothers . In the charter of Cologne,
it is said that before the year 1440 the