In those days, when Antiochus Epiphanes destroyed all the books in the possession of the Jews, he prohibited also the reading of the weekly portions of the law on the Sabbath. The elders then, as a substitute, selected chapters from the prophets, corresponding, in some measure, with the context of the weekly portions of the law. This practice was continued until Judas Maccabees had conquered Antiochus, when the reading of the law was resumed. To commemorate this event, the practice of reading the said portions of the prophets, on Sabbaths and festivals, has been continued among the Jews, and is now in use in all Jewish orthodox synagogues.
Under the head of synagogues, we must notice that the Jews had schools wherein the children were taught to read the law; as, also, academies, in which the rabbins and doctors made comments on the law, and taught the traditions to their pupils. These academies were furnished with many tutors, of whom one was appointed as president, and under whose name the academy was denominated. Of this character, were the two famous schools of Hillel and Shammai, as also the school of the celebrated rabbi, Gamliel, whom we shall have to introduce to the notice of the reader hereafter, when we speak of the compilers of the Mishna and the Talmud. The subject of prayer will form the contents of the next chapter.
CHAPTER X.[ToC]
Of the origin and introduction of Prayer among the Jews.
The bible informs us that, even in the earliest ages of the world, there existed in the human breast a spontaneous bursting forth of grateful feeling towards God, the benefactor of mankind.
The first specimen we meet with is in the days of Seth, the third son of Adam. "Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord." The same expression is used in the history of the patriarch Abraham, who built altars and prayed to God. His example was followed by Isaac and Jacob, and their immediate descendants. This "calling on the name of the Lord," is what we now understand by the term prayer.
From the several verses in Genesis, which speak of the prayers offered up by the patriarchs, the Talmud infers that the morning prayer was first introduced by Abraham, afternoon prayer by Isaac, and that of the evening by Jacob; and, therefore, it is concluded that prayer was, from the earliest period, held as a regular and stated duty.