ETHANDf or TISBL The mverUh aaered^ first etttt month; thirty days; moon
<lf SCFTKMinEB or OOTOBD.
Day 1.— New moon. Beginning of the dvII vear.
The Feast of Trumpets (Lev. xxiii, 24; Numb, xziz, 1,2). 8.— Fast for the death of G«daUah (2 Kings zzv, 25 ; Jer. xll, 2).
The same day, the abolition of written contracts. The wicked kii^ having forbidden the Israelites to pronounce the name of (iod, when they were restored to liberty the Asmonsans or Maccabees ordained that the name of God should be written in contracts after this manner: *^In such a year of the high-priest N., who is ndnister of the most high (Sod,** etc The Judges to whom these writings were presented decreed they should be satisfied, saying, for example, ^^Gn such ft day, such a debtor shall pay such a sum, according to his promise, after which the schedule shall be torn.** But it was found that the name of God was taken away out of the writing, and thus the whole became oselees and ineffectual ; for which reason they abolidied all thet>e writtoi contracts, and appointed a festival day In memory of it (MegOL Taanith^ c 7). 5.— The death of twenty IsraeUtee. Rabbi AUba, son of
Joseph, dies in prison. 7.— A fast on account of the worshipping the golden calf, and of the sentence God pronounced against Israel in consequence of that crime (Elxod. xxxii, 6-8, 84).
10 A fast of expiation (Lev. xxilL 19, etc).
15.— The Feast of Tabernacles, with its octave (Lev. xzffl, 84).
21.— Hoeanna-Rabba. The seventh day of the Feast of Taliemacles, or the Feast of Branches.
82.— The octave of the Feast of Tabernacles.
93.— The rejoicing for the law; a solemnity tn memory of
• the covenant that the Lord made with the Hebrews in giving them the law by the mediation of Moses.
On this same day; the dedication of Solomon's Tem- ple (1 Khigs viU, 65, 66).
80.— Alternate of the first new moon of thefoUowlng month.
MARCHESVAN or BUL.
The eighth eaertd^ eecond dvil month; twenty-nine daye; moon 0/ GoTOBKB &r Novsmbkb. Day 1— The new moon, or first day of the month.
6, 7.— A fast, because Nebuchadnezzar put out the eyes of Zedektah, after he had slain his children before his fece (2 Kings xxv, 7 ; Jer. Ill, 10). 19.— A fast on Monday and Tuesday [Thursday n, and the Monday following, to expiate faults c<mimitted on occa- sion of the Feast of Tabernacles {Calendar^ ed. Barto- locd). 98.~A feast or memorial of the stones of the altar, pro- fened by the Greeks, which were laid aside in expecta- ti<m of a prophet who could declare to wtvat use they might be applied (1 Mace Iv, 46; MeffOL Taan. c 8). 96.— A feast in memory of some places nossessed by the Chithites, which the Israelites recovered at their return from the captivity. A dispute of Rabbin Jochanan, son of Zachai, against
CALENDAR •
the Sadduoees, who pretended that the loav«s of thi first-fruits (Lev. xxill, 17, 18) were not to be ofinedai the altar, bat to be eaten hot iMegOU Taan. c 9).
CmSLEU.
The ninth taered, third dvU month; thirty daye; mm of NoyxMBBi or DBomteB. Day L— New moon, or the firrt dav of the monttL
8.— A feast In memory of the idols which the Aimoagsn threw out of the courts, where the CrentUes had placed them (Jfsf/iU. Toasniih).
6.— A fast in memory of the book of Jeremiah, ton sad burnt by Jehoiakim (4^r. xxxvi, 28).
7.— A feast in menuny of the death of Herod the Gnat, son of Antipater, who was always an enemy to the sages {MegilU Tcuin. e. 11). 91.-/rhe feast of Mount (3«rizlm. T\m Jews relate that when their high-priest Simon, with his priests, vent out to meet Alexander the Great, the Cutheans or Ss- maritans went also, and desired this prince to give then the Temple of Jerusalem, and to aell them a part of Mount Moriah, which request Alexander granted. Bsl the high-priest of the Jews afterward jn-epenting him- aelf, and Alexander asking him what he desired, SisHo entreated him not to suffer the Samaritans to det^o; the Temple. The king replied to him that be deUvered that people into his hands, and he might do what bs ideased with them. Then the high-prieat and Inhsb- Itanto of Jerusalem took the Samaritans, bond a bole through their beds, and, tying them to their honci' tails, dragged them along to Mount (Jerizim, which tbej ploughed and sowed with tares. Just as the Samaritaiv had intended to do to the Temple of Jerusalem. In
- memory of this event they instituted this feetfril (comp. SiVAM 25).
94.— Prayers for rain iCdlendar Bartolocd).
25.— The dedication or renewing of the Temple, profesed by order of Antlochns Epiphanes, and purified by Jo- das Maccabeus (1 Mace iv, 52; 2 Msec il, 16; Jolui X, 22). This feast is kept with its ocUre. Jowphot says that in his time it was called the Feast of Ughir, ptffaaps, he says, because this good fortune of rest^iag the Temple to its ancient use appeared to the Jews si a new day {Ant. xii, 11). But the Jewish anthon ghre another reason for the name of lights. They report that when they were employed In cleansing the TeBaiple, after it had been profaned by the Greeks, they foasd there only one small phial of oil, sealed up W the high- priest, which would hardly suffice to ke«> In the lampe w much as onanist; but God permitted that it should Iset several days, till they had time to make more, in mem- ory of which the Jews lighted up several lamps in Utdr synagogues and at the doors of their houses. (See Sel- den, De Sfmed. lib. Hi, cap. 18.) Others affirm (as tlie ScholagUeal Hietoryy also Thomas Aquinaa and Csrdl- nal Hugo, on 1 Mace, iv, 52) that the appellation of the Feast or Lights was a memorial of that fire from hear, en which inflamed the wood on the altar of bumt-ofier- lng^ as reUtcd in 2 Mace I, 22.