In their moniing devotions they use the phylacteries (q. V.) and the Talith, except Saturdays, when they use the Talith only. See Frixge:.
Calendar. — The Jewish year is either civil or ecclesi- astical. The civil year commences in the month of Tisri, which falls into some part of our September, on the view that the world was created on the first day of this month (Tisri). The ecclesiastical year commences about the vernal equinox, in the month of Nisan, the latter part of our month of JNIarch and the first half of April. The seventh month of the civil year they call the first of the ecclesiastical vear. because this was en.- IV.— X'x X
joined upon them at their departure from Egypt (Numb, xxviii, 11). See C.vlendak.
Feast Days. — The feasts which they observe at pres- ent are the following : 1. Passover, on the 14th of Nisan, and lasting eight days. On the evening before tlie feast the first-born of every family observes a fast in re- membrance of God's mercy toward the nation. They eat at this feast unleavened bread, and observe as strict holidays the two first and last days. 2. Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, ialling seven weeks after the Pass- over, is at present celebrated only two days. 3. Trum- pets, on the 1st and 2d of Tisri, of which the first is call- ed New-year's day. On the second day is read the 22d chapter of Genesis, which gives an account of Abraham's offering of his son Isaac, and God's blessing on him and his seed. Then they blow the trumpet, or, more ac- curately, the horn, and praj', as usual, that God would bring them to Jerusalem. 4. Tabernacles, on the 15th of Tisri, and lasting nine days ; the first and the last two days being observed as feast days, and the other four as days of labor. On the first day they take branches of palm, myrtle, willow, and citron bound together, and go around the altar or pulpit singing psalms, because this ceremony was formerly performed at their Temple. On the seventh day of the festival they take copies of the torah, or law of Moses, out of the ark, and carry them to the altar, and all the congregation follow in procession seven times around the altar, in remembrance of the Sabbatical year, singing the 29th Psalm. On the even- ing of this day the feast oi solemn assembly, or of rejoic- ing, com.mences. They read passages from the law and the prophets, and entreat the Lord to be propitious to them, and deliver them from captivity. On the ninth day they repeat several prayers in honor of tlie law, and bless God for his mercy and goodness in giving it to them by his servant Moses, and read that part of the Scriptures which makes mention of his death. 5. Pu- rim, on the 14th and 15th of Adar (or Marcli), in com- memoration of the deliverance from Hainan (Esth. ix). The whole book of Esther is read repeatedly, witli liberal almsgiving to tlie poor. G. Besides these festivals appointed by IMoses and Jlordecai, they celebrate the dedication of the altar, in commemoration of the victory over Antiochus Epiphanes. This festival lasts eight days, and is appointed to be kept by lighting lamps. The reason they assign for tiiis is that, at this purifica- tion and rededication of the Temple after the deliverance from Antiochus, there was not enough of pure oil left to burn one niglit, l)ut that it miraculously lasted eight days, when they obtained a fresh supph'. 7. Fa-piation day, the 10th daj' of Tisri, is observed by the Jews, though they have neither temple nor priest. Before the feast they seek to re-establish friendly relations with their neighbors, and, in short, do everything that maj' serve to evince the sincerity of their repentance. For t\venty- four hoiu-s they observe a strict fast, and many a pious soul does not quit the synagogue during these long hours, but remains in prayer through the night. See Festival. Mission ami Preservation of the Jews. — The preserva- tion of the Jews as a distinct nation, notwithstanding the miseries which they have endured for many ages, is a wonderfid fact. The religions of other nations have depended on temporal prosperity for their duration; they have triumphed under the protection of conquer- ors, and have fallen and given place to others under a succession of weak monarchs. Paganism once over- spread tlie Icnown world, even where it no longer ex- ists. The Christian Church, glorious in her martyrs, has sur%-ived the persecution of her enemies, though she cannot heal the wounds they have inflicted; but Juda- ism, hated and persecuted for so many centuries, has not merely escaped destruction, it has been powerfid and flourishing. Kings have employed the severity of laws and the hand of the executioner to eradicate it, and a seditious populace have injured it by their massacres more than kings. Sovereigns and their subjects, pa- gans, Christians, and Mohammedans, opposed to each
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other in everything else, have formed a common design to auoihilate this nation without success. The bush of Jloses has alwavs continued burning, and never been consumed. The" expulsion of the Jews from the great cities of kingdoms has only scattered them throughout the world. Thcv have lived from age to age in wretch- ccbiess, and their blooil has flowed freely in persecution ; they have continued to our day, in spite of the disgrace and' hatred which everywhere clung to them, while the greatest empires have faUen and been almost forgotten. Every Jew is at this moment a living witness to the Christian as to the authenticity of his own religion, an undeniable evidence that Christianity is the last rev- elation from (iod; and the patient endurance of the descentlants of Abraham is an evidence that Provi- dence has guarded them throughout ;dl their miseries. Hence the Christian should regard with compassion a people so long preserved by this peculiar care amidst calamities which would have destroyed any other na- tion. "I would look at the ceremonies of pagan wor- ship," says Dr. Richardson, " as a matter of little more than idle curiosity, but those of the Jews reach the heart. This is the most ancient form of worship in ex- istence ; this is the manner in which the God of heaven was worsliipped when all the other nations in the world were sitting in darkness, or falling down to stocks and stones. To the Jews were committed the oracles of God. This is the manner in which Jloses and Elias, David and Solomon, worshipped the God of their fa- thers ; this worship was instituted by God himself. The time will come when the descendants of his an- cient people shall join the song of Moses to the song of the Lamb, and, singing hosannas to the son of David, confess his power to save."