Takkanot de-Hevra Kaddisha Gemilut Hasadim de-Kehillat Kodesh Ashkenazim be-Amsterdam (Ordinances of the Holy Society for Deeds of Loving-kindness of the Ashkenazic Community of Amsterdam), Amsterdam: Jacob Proops, 1776

28 leaves (6 1/8 x 3 1/2 in.; 155 x 90 mm). FOLIATION: [1], 1-27. Illustrations, title page, ff. 20v, 21v; printer's device, f. 27r. Very lightly stained; early corners rounded; minor loss not affecting text at upper margin f.10. Marbled endpapers; half blind tooled morocco over marbled paper, spine with gilt titles

Historically, participation in the community burial society, or Hevra kaddisha, was seen not only as a sacred obligation; membership in the holy society was also considered a great honor. Written in an amalgam of Hebrew and Yiddish, this volume contains 59 ordinances of the Society as well as the protocols of their enactment, a brief section of laws, prayers appropriate for the dying and an index. It is likely that these volumes were intended for society members as a ready reference to be carried with them while exercising their duties.

The title page is illustrated with symbols of death and burial as well as with verses from Psalms and Ecclesiastes. In the top panel, an original poem by Moses ben Gideon Abudiente, a Portuguese-born converso of the early seventeenth century, serves as an epigraph:

Yesterday, attired in fine linens, flowing robes,
asleep in your bed, raiment of purple. 
Today, robed in ignominy, clothed in stench, 
you sleep in the earth, among the worms.