After washing his hands before a meal, he is to stretch out his fingers and turn the palms of his hands upward, as if in the act of receiving something from a friend, and then repeat (Ps. cxxxiv. 2), "Lift ye up your holy hands, and bless ye the Lord!" Ibid. The following are the usual blessings, "Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our God! King of the universe! who has sanctified us with His commandments, and has commanded us to wash the hands!" "Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our God! King of the universe! who bringeth forth bread from the earth!" By means of combining the letters of the ineffable names, as recorded in "Book of Creation," Rava once created a man and sent him to Rav Zera. The man being unable to reply when spoken to, the Rabbi said to him, "Thou art a creation of the company (initiated in the mysteries of necromancy); return to thy dust." _Sanhedrin_, fol. 65, col. 2. In the Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin, chap. 7, we read that, by the means above mentioned, a Rabbi created pumpkins, melons, and real deer and roes. There is a living creature in heaven which by day has "Truth" upon its forehead, by which the angels know it is day; but in the evening it has "Faith" on its forehead, whereby the angels know that night is near. Each time the living creature says, "Bless ye the blessed Lord," all the hosts above respond, "Blessed be the blessed Lord forever." _Kitzur Sh'lh_, fol. 42. col. 2. Truth and faith are the essentials of religion, which are thirteen in number:-- 1. God exists, and there is no period to His existence. The philosophers call it absolute existence, but the majority of Kabbalists term it "endless," which, by Gematria, is "light"; and again, by Gematria, is "Lord of the Universe." He is the cause of causes and the causing of causings, and from or by His existence all beings, spiritual and material, derive their existence. 2. He is one, and there is no unity like His, etc. 3. He has no bodily likeness, and is not corporeal. 4. He is first of everything, absolute beginning; as it is said, "I am the First and I am the Last" (Isa. xliv 6), and there is no beginning to His beginning. 5. None but Himself is to be worshiped and prayed to. 6. The gift of prophecy He has given to men esteemed and glorified by Him. 7. None arose like unto Moses, etc. 8. A law of truth He gave; this is the law from heaven, "In the beginning" unto "in the sight of all Israel." Also its comment received orally is likewise "a law (given) unto Moses from Sinai."