In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

BOOK IV My daughter Hannah grew up a very beautiful child, ofwhom I shall, perhaps, have more to say later. At this time an East Indiaman laden with rough diamonds fell into the hands of the King of Denmark and lay at Gliickstadt. Every sailor had diamonds. So all the sons of Israel went to Gliickstadt to buy, making good profits. Two Jews got to know that a Norwegian citizen had a big parcel ofthese diamonds and held evil counsel with one another; he was a baker, I think, who had paid very little for the parcel. The two unclean fellows plotted together to get to the house where the diamonds were. They went to Norway and picked acquaintance with the baker, became very friendly and were invited by him to stay at his house. They remained on the most cordial terms until they found out where he kept his treasure. It was all they wanted to know; they took everything and early next morning they left the house and hired a boat, thinking themselves quite successful in their evil deeds. But God would not suffer this. When the citizen awoke, early in the morning, and asked after his two guests, the servant told him that they had left earlier in the morning. The host was suspicious, for one who has a treasure is always ill at ease. He went to the chest where his treasure was kept and found it empty. Straightway, he suspected both his guests of the robbery , and ran quickly to the shore to ask the boatmen whether they had seen two sons of Israel sail away? on which they replied, 'Yes, one of the boatmen rowed them off about an hour ago.' He immediately hired a boat with four rowers and followed on; very soon he sighted the thieves' boat, and when they saw that they were pursued, they threw the entire treasure into the sea. The citizen eventually captured them and compelled them to return with him. They cried out loudly, 'Bethink you what you do! We are honest men. You will not find anything, for we have nothing ofyours and you insult us. We shall know how to bring it home to you.' They denied everything. But it is written in our Ten Commandments Thou shalt not steal. Therefore , the Holy One did not help them. They were brought back and stripped naked; their clothes were searched, but nothing 75 ATONEMENT FOR AN EVIL DEED availed. Then they were tortured until they confessed. Both were condemned to the gallows. One of the thieves at once accepted the Christian faith. The other, who until then had been a pious son ofdevout parents-he came from Wandsbekwould not change his religion and so sanctified the Holy Name. I knew him and his parents well and always held him to be an honest man. The other man must have misled him, for he was known as an evil-doer and therefore had such an end. The other, who was hanged, attained the future world in one hour. For the sake of his family's honour, I shall not mention his name; but his story is well known in Hamburg. The Lord will surely reward the sanctification ofHis Name, for he could have been freed, as was his companion, by renouncing his faith. But he fulfilled the Commandment, Thou shalt love tke Lord thy God with all thy soul. His death was an atonement for his sins. One should learn from this not to allow wicked impulse to lead one astray after miserable money••..1 But to start anew. I was brought to bed with my son Mordecai Segal. May God grant that his old age may be as lucky as was his youth. But what does it help? God has already decided what is to be. I have already written in my third book of the Redemption which we hoped to see in our own days, and mentioned that my father-in-law sent us two casks, intending to take them with him when he went to the Land of Israel together with all the other Jews. When he saw that nothing came to pass, he gave up his house in Hameln and together with my mother-in-law moved to Hildesheim, which, only five miles from Hameln, had a fine, devout community. After they had lived there a short time, my husband, who loved and honoured his parents, implored me thus: 'My Gliickelchen, let us...

Share