Historical Feasts and Fasts.
Besides the Festivals commanded in the Torah, we celebrate also in the course of the year anniversaries of certain days both of joy and of sorrow. Of the former kind are חנוכה and פורים; of the latter, the 9th of Ab and four other fasts.
חנוכה Feast of Dedication.
On the 25th of Kislev we begin to celebrate eight days of חנוכה or Dedication, in commemoration of the victories of the Maccabees over Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria. Antiochus had attempted to force the Jews to idolatry, and to make them abandon the worship of the true God. The Jews, led by the Maccabees, resisted, and, armed with faith in God, gained the victory over large armies of the enemy. The Temple, which had been defiled by the heathen soldiers, was again purified, and the Service of God re-established. [[410]]For lighting the continual lamp (נר תמיד) pure oil was wanted, that had not been touched by the heathen. Only a small cruse of pure oil was found, which was believed to be sufficient for one night; but it sufficed for eight days, by which time a fresh supply could be procured.
The Feast of Dedication commemorates the victory of the faithful over the faithless, of the true religion over idolatry, of light over darkness, and is celebrated—
(1.) By lighting חנוכה lights, one on the first evening, and adding one light each successive evening, so that on the eighth evening eight lights are kindled.
(2.) By giving expression to our feeling of gratitude in psalms (הלל) and prayers of thanks (על הנסים).
In the Morning Service a few verses from Num. vii., on the dedication of the Altar, are read. On Sabbath Chanuccah, Zechariah’s vision, Zech. ii. 10 to iii. 7, including the vision of the golden candlestick, is read as haphtarah; and if there happen to be a second Sabbath Chanuccah, 1 Kings vii. 40–50, a description of the various vessels and ornaments in the Temple of Solomon is read on that Sabbath.
Note 1.—The חנוכה lights remind us, in the first place, of the reopening of the Temple and the resumption of the regular Temple Service. But they are also intended to remind us of the light of our holy faith, which Antiochus Epiphanes attempted in vain to extinguish. For it shed forth its light again, and shone brighter and brighter every successive day. We thus learn that when our religion is imperilled, firmness against temptation or force is sure to lead to success and victory.
2. Before lighting the Chanuccah lights the following blessings are said: ברוך … אשר קדשנו … להדליק נר של חנוכה “Blessed art thou … who hast sanctified us by thy commandments and hast commanded us to kindle the lights of Chanuccah.” [[411]]ברוך … שעשה נסים לאבותינו בימים ההם בזמן הזה “Blessed art thou … who wroughtest miracles for our fathers in days of old at this season.” On the first night שהחינו is added.
פורים Purim.
פורים or “Feast of Lots,” is celebrated on the 14th and the 15th of Adar (second Adar in a leap-year), in commemoration of the defeat of Haman’s wicked plans. Haman was chief minister to Ahasuerus, king of Persia, and planned to kill all the Jews in the Persian Empire, but the Almighty frustrated his designs through the agency of Mordecai and his cousin Esther. The Feast is called Purim, that is, “lots,” because Haman had cast lots in order to discover the day most favourable to his plans.
We celebrate Purim—
(1.) By reading twice, once during the Evening Service and once during the Morning Service, the Book of Esther (מגלת אסתר), which contains the history of Haman’s plans and their frustration. The reading is preceded by the following blessing: ברוך … אשר קדשנו … על מקרא מגלה “Blessed art thou … who hast sanctified us by thy commandments and hast commanded us to read the Megillah.” ברוך … שעשה נסים לאבותינו בימים ההם בזמן הזה “Blessed art thou … who wroughtest miracles for our fathers in days of old at this season,” and שהחינו.
(2.) By giving presents to our friends (משלוח מנות) and gifts to the poor (מתנות לאביונים).
(3.) By a festive meal (סעודת פורים). Comp. Esth. ix. During the Morning Service the account of the war with Amalek is read from Exod. xvii. 8–16. [[412]]
The 15th of Adar is called Shushan Purim, because the Jews in Shushan continued to fight against the enemy on the 14th of Adar, and kept Purim on the 15th. The 13th of Adar, being the day appointed for the slaughter of the Jews, is now kept as a fast-day, and is called תענית אסתר “the Fast of Esther.”
The Four Fasts.
There are four days kept as fast-days in commemoration of events connected with the fall of Jerusalem. They are called in the Bible (Zech. viii. 19) “the fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth.” These days are the anniversaries of the commencement of the siege of Jerusalem (10th of Tebeth), of the breach made in the wall (17th of Tammuz), of the destruction of the Temple (9th of Ab), and of the murder of Gedaliah (3rd of Tishri). The 9th of Ab is kept as a day of fasting and mourning for the destruction of the Temple. According to Tradition, both the first and the second Temple were destroyed on the same day.
The Lesson from the Pentateuch read in the Morning and in the Afternoon Services on the fast-days is Exod. xxxii. 11–14 and xxxiv. 1–10. On the 9th of Ab this section is read in the afternoon only; the Morning Lesson being Deut. iv. 25–40 and Jer. viii. 13 to ix. 23; in the Afternoon Service on all fasts Isa. lv. 6 to lvi. 8 is read as haphtarah.
Note 1.—These fasts begin with daybreak, except the fast of the 9th of Ab, which commences with the previous evening and lasts twenty-four hours, and is in all respects like that of the [[413]]Day of Atonement. During the day the Lamentations of Jeremiah, various elegies called קינות, “Lamentations,” and the Book of Job are read. On the Fast of Ab, as a sign of mourning, talith and tefillin are not worn during the Morning Service. They are, however, put on for the Afternoon Service.
2. The Sabbath preceding the Fast of Ab is called שבת חזון, and the Sabbath following, שבת נחמו because the Haphtaroth on these Sabbaths (ch. i. and ch. xl. of Isaiah) begin respectively with the words חזון and נחמו; the one containing rebukes and threats, the other a message of comfort.
Besides these historical fasts, there are voluntary fasts observed by some as an expression of deep-felt piety; e.g., the three fasts of שני חמישי ושני of Monday, Thursday, and Monday, kept after the festive seasons of Passover and Tabernacles, in imitation of Job, who after the days of feasting sanctified his sons, and brought special sacrifices (Job i.). To this class of fasts may be reckoned the day before New-moon, called יום כפור קטן on which in some congregations the Afternoon Service is enlarged by propitiatory prayers.