New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-09-10
RVSh HASH .NAH.

AS FROM the Gays IN WIllcn ApFa-.
nam took dnto wife his step-sister, and on the
plans If gr, in the contemplation of the mar
YelS of the universe burst the bonds of idola-
f;ry end acknowledged the one God, TO these
| days, in which the millions of his descendants
are scattered throughout the world, aliens from
| their promised land, and withouta country to
1 call their own, prodigy has followed miracle
and miracle prodigy until the human mind
seems scarcely able to compass them. And
not the least notable of these miracles is the
existence, even now, of this wonderful race
after bondages and prosecutions, suferings
and punishments, wrongs and expressions
slaughterings and spoliations, such as the
chronicles of no other nation record. There
i they are nov, as in the tents Of the Father
of the Faithful, as in Egypt and in Baby
4 lon, as in temple of Solomon and in
the synagogues Of Chorazin, Bethsaida and
Capernaum, as in the private recesses of the
Eastern ghettoes, and of the JHdenstrasse- of
later 6ays,-alas, how late there they are,
proclaiming now, as then. the great shibbo-
leth of their faith, "Hear OF Israel the Lord
our God is one God!'' and now, as then, con-
forming, as far as practicable, with the rites
and ceremonies ordained by Moses.
Interesting all of these cannot but be to the
reflective mind most of them are of impress
sive soIemnity and many Of them are of af-
fecting Significance Not a few of them in
volye curious scientific facts and questions ;
and particularly is this the case in relation to
| the divisions Of time and the dependent regu-
lation of fasts and festivals. Our hours,
our days, our weeks, our months, our
years, are not the same as those Of the
Hebrews although these be all meas
ured by the motions of the earth
in relation to the heavenly bodies. Of the di-
vision of hours into minutes nothing was
known to them. AS the civil day com nences
with us at midnight, the Astronomical at noon,
and as with some people the day commences
with the rising Of the sun, 50 with the Jews
the day. commences with the setting of the
sun They understand ct to have thus com
menced at the creation, according to the
Seriptural statement, sAnd the Evening and
the Morning were the first day This does
not alter the length of the day but, from the
| system Of designating any portion of the day
or night BY a term signiaging both the night
and the day, it led to the counting of a part
| of one day, with the whole following night, and
q part Of the next day, as three days and three
nights. The division of the day into twenty
four hours was not known to the ancient
Jews. heperiod Of daylight was divided by
them ouly by the rising, eliminating and set
ting of thesun. MOTHER division is found in
the Old Testament. AT later period they
divided it like the Romans, into four parts,
each consisting Of three hours. These hours,
however, were not ike ours, always equal.
Each of them was the twelfth part Of the
time the sun was above the horizon So that
if this in winter was nine hours Of our time, |
each of their hours would be but forty-five /
of our minutes. IF in summer daylight |
lasted fifteen of our hours, each of their
hours would be equal to an hour and fifteen
minutes Of our time, These unequal hours
ire technically called e temporary hours" In
rudea the days throughout the year were Ii
learly Of equal length, however and so the
temporary hours were not Of as different {
9ngths as we have supposed them, for the h
axe of illustration
OF ewes or yespers the Jews distinguished
H. 80 .'il'' ~ minated
$3.50 80 'es - ~ sun .le Seeono com
ssl - w l,ss'tl sllou 1ne oaille ~
Il - ~ - - ~ = 9''hen = ~ oe-
~ NJ " ~ 1, ts3t!qi9 -.
TIE ~ 80 !, tile 3stios rom sunset
i Cn9 llsgie@s was aaE1Sleel
sfs, 49, t,,,,s,a,1 ,'sJs1Ss e'5n NJ -
,ateb i snol,o,, 80 i, az
eeif1,ino f ta =, tl,s ..tal
called the middle zqatc1, ), i, ~ :
judges the third watch a,,rsars - 49, z
% other epithet thefonTfb vas calaa !. ~. H.
aorning watch"
The Jewish week consisted Of seven 7oys :
including the Sabbath: but thev had no otbor
than those Of their order fros, {
he Sabbath second. third ete ma /
Ielienist Jews at 4 later say gave the mama
f .Pdrqseece siqnifyine 4 prenaration, a .i
he day before, tine Sabbath, The law
bliged the Jews to SO complete an abstinence :
rom labor on the Sabbath that thev. were Is
rohibited from preparing food to eat or even
ON lighting fire for any purpose. Another J,
anne for fhe da1, bef,,a t1,sT q l,1,o * 5 H.