When standing in the water he is to stoop four times, so that the water may reach his neck, answering to the four modes of legal execution.  After that he is to repeat the form of confession, and while the water reaches up to his throat he is to repeat these three texts—­Micah vii. 18-20, Jer. x. 24, and Ps. cxviii. 5, and then say, “As I cleanse my body here below, which is formed of clay, so may the ministering angels cleanse my soul, spirit, and ghost above in the river Dinor; and as I sanctify my body here below, so may the angels of the Most High, the ministering angels, sanctify my spirit, soul, and ghost in the river Dinor above!  In the name of Jehovah, He is the God and in the name of Adonai, the Rock of all Ages.  Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forevermore!”

Kitzur Sh’lh, fol. 62, col. 1.

According to the Kabbalah, the thoroughgoing orthodox Jew has his hands full on Erev Shabbath, i.e., Friday.  We cannot here go over the entire proceeding prescribed, but we will briefly touch upon its salient features in the order as we find them.

After having prepared himself for immersion, as above described, he is to turn his face and bow first toward the west and then toward the east, repeating a certain formula, and then dip himself under the water.  This over, he is to turn again east and west and repeat a different formula, and while meditating on certain given letters of certain mystical divine names and other known words, and their respective numerical values, he is to dip a second time under the water.  Then turning and bowing again west and east, repeating the while a different formula, he proceeds to meditate on different letters of the divine names, and dips for the third and last time.  As dipping fourteen times is the exception and not the rule, no farther directions are given about the matter, except a few additional formulae and meditations.

When he comes out of the water he is to step backward in the same respectful manner as when he leaves the synagogue, and is to repeat Isa. iv. 3, 4, and Rabbi Akiva’s commentary on the text Ezek. xxxvi. 25.

When he begins dressing he is to repeat Isa. liv. 17, and when he subsequently washes his face and hands and feet in warm water, to which is attached a great mystery, he is to say, “Behold, here I am, washing myself in honor of Sabbath the queen;” and add also Isa. iv. 4, and also, “I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” (Cant. v. 3.)

Happy is he who is able to provide himself with a complete suit of apparel down to the girdle, the shoes, and the hat for wearing on the Sabbath, different from those worn on week-days.  Then he is to repeat the Book of Solomon’s Song, and if unable to repeat the whole, he is, at all events, to repeat these four verses, the initials of the first word in each of which taken together form