A Sojourner's Quest

PA RT I I I : L I V I NG I N T H E WAY / 1 7 3

and lasted seven days. It marked the completion of the harvest, and historically commemorated the wanderings in the wilderness. During this festival people lived in booths and tents in Jerusalem to remind themselves of how their forefathers wandered in the wilderness and lived in booths. The sacrifices of this feast were more numerous than at any other. The last day of the feast marked the conclusion of the ecclesiastical year. The whole feast was popular and joyous in nature. Besides the above feasts, which were all pre-exilic and instituted by Jehovah, the Jews after the Captivity added two others, the Feast of Lights, or Dedication, and the Feast of Purim. The Feast of Lights was observed for eight days beginning on the 25th day of Kislev (our December). It was instituted by Judas Maccabeus in 164 B.C. when the Temple which had been defiled by Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria, was cleansed and rededicated to the service of Jehovah. During these days the Israelites met in their synagogues, carrying branches of trees in their hands, and held jubilant services. The children were told the brave and stirring deeds of the Maccabees to rouse them to noble emulation. The Feast of Purim was kept on the 14th and 15th days of Adar (our March), the last month of the religious year. It is said to have been instituted by Mordecai to commemorate the failure of Haman’s plots against the Jews. The word Purim means “lots.” On the evening of the 13th the whole book of Esther was read publicly in the synagogue. It was a joyous occasion. ~ Steven Barabas