II. PERIODICAL AND INDIVIDUAL FASTS.
I. The bi-weekly fast czy,nrm +ny), kept every Monday and Thursday between Pesach and At zereth, and between Succoth and Chanzica, making in all twenty-eight days. On these days of the respective weeks, the first chapter of the section of the Pentateuch forming the lesson for the fol lowing Sabbath, is read, when three persons are called to the reading, and a special prayer for mercy Pill composed for these clays, is introduced into the daily service (comp. Afegilla 31, a ; Taanith 12, a ; Sopherim xxi. 3 ; Ho/ Bo, Hilchoth Taanith, Luke xviii. 12). The cause ot these bi-weekly fasts is, as we are told, that Moses went up to Mount Sinai to receive the second tables of the law on a Thursday, having broken the first on account of the golden calf, and came dovvn on a Monday (comp. Baba Kama 82, a, and Rashi on this passage). It is to these frequent fasts that the disciples of John referred when addressing the Saviour (Matt. ix. 14), and it is the abuse of these fasts which the Saviour exposes, ibid. vi. 16. Comp. also Mark ii._18 ; Luke v. 33 ; Acts x. 30. This bl-weekly fastin,g has also been adopted in the Christian Church ; but Monday and Thursday were changed into Wednesday and Friday (feria quartet et sexta), as commemorative of the betrayal and crucifixion of Christ.
2. Fir SOUS' fast ("II:Z. 1-1%,11) on the da.y preceding the feast of Passover, in commemoration of the fact, that whilst God on that occasion smote alt the first-bom of the Egyptians, he spared those of the house of Israel ; comp. Exod. xii. 29, etc., Sopherim xxi. 3. [FiusT-nouti.1 Passing over many other private fasts which are of a later origin, we come to the mode in which these fasts were observed.
4. The nzanner in which these fasts wen' kelt.— All these fasts have been and still are kept very rigidly and solemnly. At the annual fasts, during the time of the Temple, public demonstrations of penitence and grief were made in the streets. Comets and trumpets were blown in Jerusalem, whilst in other places only one such instrument was employed ; the pulpits of tbe ministers were brought out of the temple and synagogues into the streets cry 5t, rinIrro, where all the people as sembled wrapped in sackcloth, strewing ashes upon their heads. Then one of the people also strewed
ashes upon the heads of the president or prince (Kim) and the judges ; another, who was the oldest among them, addressed the assembly in heart moving terms—` My brethren, remember that it is not written respecting the repentance of the Nine vites that God regarded their outwardly wmpping themselves in sackcloth, and for this cause ac cepted their fast days, but that He saw their acts, and that they had turned from their evil ways' (Jonah iii. io). Moreover, the teaching of the prophets also, is, Rend your hearts, and not your garments' (Joel ii. 13) ; whereupon another of the elders of the congregation, who had a pious and well-regulated family, stood up with all the people and prayed, introducing into the regular daily ser vice the penitential Psalms (viz., cxx., cxxi., cxxx., and cii.) All the prayers and benedictions used on these occasions are most appropriate and touch ing. In Jerusalem, where these solemn services were held, at the east gate, the whole congrega tion called out to the priests, after each benediction pronounced by the minister, Sound the loud trumpet.' This took place seven times. At the close of the service the people in every place went to the cemeteries, where they continued their lamen tations and prayers. The whole of the service, with the exception of the few modifications which have been made in consequence of the altered cir cumstances of the nation, is used to the present day ; and the Jews still look anxiously for the rising of the stars, when their fasts terminate, a circum stance to which St. Jerome already refers.
5. Literature.—Mishna Taanith, and the Tal mud Taanith ; Maimonides, 7od Ha-Chezaka, Taanioth, vol. p. 315, seqq. ; Lightfoot, Hone Hebraicm, Luke xviii. 12 ; Schceltgen, Hone Ebraicze on Luke xviii. 12 ; Reland, Antiquaries Sacree Veterum Hebreeorum, 1717, p. 538, seqq. ; Bloch, in Geiger's Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift fiir Theologie, iv. p. 205, seqq. ; Fink, in Ersch und Grubers Encyklopiidie, s. v. Fasten ; Jost, Geschichte des 7lidenthunis und sei ner &etas, Leipzig, r857, vol. i. p. t84, sely.—C. D. G.