(ni"12'iJ 11") the synagogues and the private houses are adorned with flowers and odoriferous herbs ; the male members of the community purify themselves by immersion and confession of sins, put on their fes- tive garments, and resort to the synagogue, where, after the evening prayer (2^1"^), the hallowed nat- ure of the festival is proclaimed by the cantor in the blessing pronounced over a cup of wine (wJTT^p), which is also done by every head of the family at home be- fore the evening repast. After supper both the learned and the illiterate are either to go again into the S}'na- gogue or to congregate in private houses and read all night : («) The first three and the last three verses of ever}' book in the Hebrew Scriptures, but some por- tions have to be read entire ; (6) the first and last Mishna of everj- tractate in the Talmud; (c) the be- ginning and end of the book Jezirah; (d) passages from the Sohar ; (p) the 613 commandments into which the Mosaic law is divided [see School] ; and (/") the Song of Songs. The Avhole must be recited in thirteen divisions, so that the prayer Kadish (tJilp) might be said between each division, and the letters of the word nnx (the unity in the Deity)=4 + 8-M = 13, be obtained (comp. Magen Abraham, Orach Cha- jim, sec. 494). The reason for this watching all night, given by R. Abraham, the author of the Magen Abra- ham, is as follows: When God was about to reveal his law to Israel, he had to wake them up from their sleep. Hence, to remove the sin of that sleep, the Jews are now to wake all night (comp. Briick, Rab- binische Ceremonialgebrduche [Breslau, 1^37], p. 8-22, and the ritual for this night, entitled h'^h "I'^p'^n m^'n w). In the general festival service of the morn- ing special prayers are inserted for this day, which set forth the glorj' of the Lawgiver and Israel, the glorj' of the Lord in creating the universe, etc., and in which the Decalogue is interwoven, the great Hallel is re- cited, Exod. xix, 1, XX, 26 is read as the lesson from the law. Numb, xviii, 26-31 as Jl/aphlir, and Ezek. i, 1-28, iii, 12, as the lesson from the prophets [see Haph- tarah] ; whereupon the 3hisaj h is offered, and the priests, after having their hands washed by the Le- vites, pronounce chantingl}' the benediction (Numb, vi, 23-27) on the congregation, who receive it with their heads covered by the fringed wrapper. See Fringe. On the second evening they again resort to the sj-nagogue, use the ritual for the festivals, in which are again inserted special praj-ers for this occa- sion, being chiefly on the greatness of God and the giving of the law and the Decalogue ; the sanctifica- tion of the festival (CI'l^p) is again pronounced, both bj' the prelector in the sj-nagogue and the heads of families at home ; and prayers difT'erent from those of the first da}', also celebrating the giving of the law, are intermingled with the ordinary festival praj'crs ; the Hallel is recited, as well as the book of Ruth ; Deut. XV, 19-xvi, 17, with Numb, xxviii, 26-31 is read as the lesson from the law ; Habbak. ii, 20-iii, 19, or iii, 1-19, as the lesson from the prophets; the prayer is offered for departed relatives; the Musajih Ritual is re- cited ; the priests pronounce the benediction as on the former daj' ; and the festival concludes after the after- noon service, as soon as the stars appear or darkness sets in. It must be remarked that milk and honey form an essential part of the meals during this festi- val, which is of a particularly joyous character, to* symbolize "the honey and milk which are under the tongue" of the spouse (Cant, iv, 11), by virtue of the law which the bridegroom gave her.
The less educated of the modern Jews regard the fif-
t}' days with strange superstition, and, it would seem,
are alwa}'s impatient for them to come to an end. Dur-
I ing their continuance thej' have a dread of sudden
[ death, of the effect of malaria, and of the influence of
PENTECOST
928
PENTECOST
evil spirits over children. They relate with gross ex- aygeratidii the above-mentioned case of a great nior- talitv which, during tlie first twenty-three days of the period, befell the pupils of Akiba, the great iMishnical doctor of the second century, at Jaffa. The}' do not ride, or drive, or go on the water, unless the}' are im- ])ellc'd by absolute necessity. They are careful not to whistle in the evening, lest it sliould bring ill-luck. Tliey scrupulously put oif marriages till Pentecost (Stauben, La Vie Juive en Alsace [Paris, 18G0], p. 124; jNIills, British Jitvs, p. 207).
IV. Origin and Import of (hi'! Festival. — There is no clear notice in the Scriptures of any historical signifi- cance belonging to Pentecost. Yet, looking simply at the text of tiie Bible, there can be little doubt that Pen- tecost owes its origin entirely and exclusively to the harvest which terminated at this time. It is to be expected that, in common with other nations of an- tiquity w ho celebrated the ingathering of the corn by offering to the Deity, among other firstling offerings, tlie fine flour of wheat as S'aXvaioQ cip-oQ (Eustath. Ad Iliad, ix, 530 ; Athen. iii, 80 ; Theocrit. vii, 3), the Jews, as an agricultural people, would thankfully ac- knowledge the goodness of God in giving them the fruits of the earth, by offering to the Bountiful Giver of all good things the first-fruits of their harvest. That this was primarily the origin and import of Pentecost is most unquestionaldy indicated by its very names, e. g. the festival of (^•'^'S.'^tX) the cut-off corn, i. e. end of the harvest (Exod. xxiii, 16), which commenced on the morrow of the Passover, when the sickle was first brought into the field (Deut. xvi, 9) ; and so intimate- ly connected are the beginning of the harvest at Pass- over w'ith the termination of it at this festival, that Pentecost was actually denominated, during the time of the second Temple, and is called in the Jewish lit- erature to the present day, n"i;j3J, the conclusion, or, nos h'^ 'r\'''ZV, the termination of Passover. To the same effect is the name niJ-'IDUin SH, the festival of weeks, wliich, as Biihr rightly remarks, would be a very strange and enigmatical designation of a festival, sim- ply because of the intervening time between it and a preceding festival, if it did not stand in a fixed and essential relationship to this intervening time, and if in its nature it did not belong thereto, since the weeks themselves have nothing which could be the subject of a religious festival, except the harvest that tooli place in these weeks (Symholik, ii, 047). Being tlie culmination of Passover, and agrarian in its char- acter, the pre-Mosaic celebration of this festival among the Jews will hardly be questioned; for it will not be supposed that the patriarchs, who in common with other nations were devoted to agriculture, would yet be behind these nations in not celebrating the harvest festival, to acknowledge the goodness of God in giving tlicm the fruits of the earth, whicli obtained among the heathen nations to the remotest times. Indeed, the Book of Jubilees, as will be seen in the sequel, act- ually ascribes a pre-Mosaic existence to it. In in- corporating this festival into the cycle of the canonical feasts, the Mosaic legislation, as usual, divested it of all idolatrous rites, consecrated it in an especial man- ner to him who filleth us with the finest of wheat (Psa. cxlvii, 14), liy enjoining tlie Hebrews to impart liber- ally to the need}' from tiiat which they liave been per- mitted to reap, and to remember that they themselves were once needy and oppressed in Egypt, and were now in the possession of liberty and of the bounties of Providence (Deut. xvi, 11, 12). The Jlosaic code, moreover, constituted it a member of the Hebrew fam- ily of festivals, liy putting Pentecost on the sacred basis of seven, which, as we have seen, underlies the whole organism of the feasts.