ECCLESIASTICAL TERMS AND DEFINITIONS. 633 AARON-HAKADISH. JEWISH CHURCH. The holy ark used in the Synagogue as a depository of the scrolls of the law. MISHNA. The oral law consisting of traditions handed down respecting the law of Moses. MONTHS-JEWISH. Nisan, March 20 to April 16. Elul, August 16 to September 13. The Jewish months have 29 and 30 days, and Leap year has 13 months, the last being known as 2d Adar. NEBIM. PROPHETS. Containing that portion of the Bible from the Book of Joshua to the end of the Prophets. PAROCHES. The curtain before the holy shrine in the Synagogue. PESACH. PASSOVER. The feast of Spring, beginning on the fourteenth day of the month Nisan and lasting seven days. It is the celebration of the Passover and commemorates the delivery of the Jews from Egyptian bondage, and the passing over of the last plague from the houses of the Israelites. PHYLACTERY. In Hebrew, tephelin. Strips of parchment on which were inscribed passages from the Pentateuch. They were enclosed in a small box and worn on the forehead between the eyes, or on the arm near the heart, in accordance with the command in Exodus xiii, 16. PURIM. LOT. A feast day, on the fourteenth of the month Adar, in remembrance of God's providence in saving the Israelites from the destruction, through Mordecai and Esther, planned by Haman, according to the book of Esther. ROSH HASHANAH. NEW YEAR. Kept on the first day of the seventh month, Tishri, the Jewish civil New Year, Nisan being the religious. The biblical name of the feast is "Day of the Trumpet." SEPTUAGINT. SEVENTY. The Old Testament, so called, from the number of translators engaged on the original Greek version. It was commenced by the Alexandrian Jews, 280 B. C. There were many disputes as to its correctness, but it was the basis of all subsequent translations. SHEBUOTH. FEAST OF WEEKS. A celebration of the completion of the seven weeks of At harvest, according to Deut. xvi, 9. the present time the main object of the feast is to thank God for the giving of the commandments. SUKKOTH. FEAST OF TABERNACLES. It lasts seven days, commencing on the fourteenth day of the seventh month, Tishri, the first day only being a holy day. This is also a harvest feast, and is in obedience to the command in Levit. xxiii, 40: “And ye shall take unto yourselves on the first day the fruit of the tree, hadar, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of the myrtle tree, and willows of the brook, and ye shall rejoice before the Eternal seven days." TALITH, and ARBA-CANFORTH. Vestments formerly worn during Divine service, to guard man against trespass and to remind him of his moral and religious ob ligations. They contained the thread of blue spoken of by Moses, a symbol to direct the eye and heart to God. TALMUD. This book contains the complete civil and canonical law of the Jewish people, embracing both the Mishna and the Gemara, the former being the earliest text. It is a book of doctrine, as the name implies, and this doctrine is elucidated and commented upon in a series of dialogues, in many cases of a fanciful character. The Mishna (doctrine) and the Gemara (teaching) contain, however, many curious and interesting statements regarding legal, medical, physical, ethical and astronomical subjects. They reveal much of the customs, practices, and decisions of the Jewish nation in the ages of antiquity. The word Talmud is from the Hebrew word lamed, and significs, to learn. TEFILLA. A prayer known as Sh'mona esreth, on account of the eighteen benedictions that it originally contained. TORAH. LAW. The five books of Moses, known as the Pentateuch. |