The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-24
THE JEWISH NEW YEAR
GREAT FESTIVAL WILL BEGIN
 NEXT FRIDAY.
Rabbi Messing Talks Interestingly or Significance of the Occasion.
 Services to Be Held at
 Temple.

and will end at sunset the following day.
 the year 566s from the creation of the world, according to the old Hebrew chronology The first ten days of the year are Days of Repentance" con- cluding with "Yom Kippur," or Day of Atonement," which is celebrated with a service of the most elaborate and imposing character and total abstenence from all kinds of food.
 The name New Year" does not occur in the Bible The Scriptural title of the festival is The Memorial of Blow ing of Trumpets' (Lev. xxiii, 2D. All though called New eYar," 1t really falls on the first of Tishri, the seventh month of the Hebrew year This month is called in Scripture Ethantm. or Time of Gathering in the Products of the Fields.
 Rosh Hoshanah and Tom Kippur ap- pear to be the most universalestic of Jewish sacred days; all the other holi- days of the synagogue have either an agricultural character or commence rate some historical event. The mes sage of New Year." however. is less for the race than for the individual.
 Although an arbitrary division of time in the Jewish calendar, Rosh Hoshana is calculated to awaken serious thought in the Israelite's mind It brings home to him the rapid flight of time; 1t reminds him that he is but "a stranger and sojourner" here on earth.
 Services at Temple Beth-or, in this city, will begin Friday evening at o'clock and on Saturday morning at 9:30 o'clock. Rabbi A. J. Messing, Jr.. will deliver a sermon appropriate to the occasion during the morning ser vice and a large and augmented choir will assist in rendering the traditional chants.
 It is a peculiarity of Jewish festal days that they are celebrated from sunset to sunset. Rabbi Messing, in response to inquiry. said in this con- nection:
 .'The subdivision of the day into twenty-four parts has prevailed since the remotest ages, though different notions have not agreed either with respect to the epoch of its commence ment or the manner of distributing the hours. Europeans and Americans. like the ancient Egyptians, place the com mencement of the actual day at mid night, astronomers, after the example of Ttolemy, regard the day as com mencing with the suns continuation, or noon. Some nations, as the ancient Chaldeans and the modern Greeks, have chosen sunrise for the commencement of the day. Others again, as the Ital-
  mence at sunset"
 "The fact is," said Rabbi Messing. that the divisions of time known as the hour, the week. and the civil month. are purely arbitrary and con ventional. The only natural divisions are the solar year and the lunar month.
 The solar astronomical year is a period in which the earth performs revolution in it's orbit around the sun, and consists of 365 days, hours, 4S
 minutes and 46 seconds of mean solar time. The synodic revolution of the moon is accomplished in about 29 1-2 days Twelve lunations, therefore, form a period of 354 days. From this circumstance has arisen the practice, perhaps universal of dividing the year into twelve months. The English word month is derived from the word moon.
 If regard is had to the suns motion alone the regulation of the year and the distribution of the days Into months may be effected without much troublei but the difficulty is greatly increased when 1t is sought to reconcile solar and lunar periods or to make the subdtvis- ions of the year depend on the moon and at the same time to preserve the correspondence between the whole year and the seasons.
 The ancient Roman year commenced with March and consisted only of ten months. This is indicated by the names September, October, November, Decem- Der, which the last four months still retain. They harmonized discrepancies by giving full power to their magis- trates to whom the care of the calendar was committed to intercalate more. or fewer days according as the year was found etc differ more or less from celes- tiaI motions. Unfortunately, however, this power was quickly abused to serve political objects and the calendar was thrown into confusion. By giving greater or less number of days to the intercalary month the magistrates were enabled to prolong their term of office or hasten the annual election.
 we have some pretty bold politicians in America" said the Rabbi, but they cannot compare with the old Roman magistrates who carried winter back to autumn and autumn into summer to suit their purposes.
 ''The great Julius Caesar abolished the disorder with his so-called Julian Calendar introduced about 46 B. C., | The year prior to this was called The Last Year of Confusion But the mighty Caesar was hardly cold in his grave before his successor began to modify his system and for the most | frivolous of reasons. July, which was named after Julius, had been given thirty-one days, while August, named | in honor of Augustus, had only thirty when Augustus ascended the throne he took one day from February and l rave 1t to August so that his vanity might be gratified in the month bear | ing his name having as many days as Iuiy. which was named after Julius. some hundreds of years later the Julian method of intercalendar was found to be faulty and was rectifled by Pope Gregory XIII, who directed that ten days be dropped out of the calen- dar The Gregorian year, introduced in 1880. was adopted in Great Britain in 1752, and is the style of calculation now commonly in vogue.
 "The Hebrew calendar has been in vogue now some 5000 years and has never been altered. It has it's faults and inconsistencies but on the whole is peculiarly we'll adapted for its pur- pose The Gregorian cycle itself is far | from perfect. It bears the marks of its lowIy origin thick upon it. Even | the names of the week carry us back | to the crassest heathenism. It breathes the atmosphere of Saxon mythology. Thus, Sunday, Suns day; Monday,
 Moons day; Tuesday, Tuos day; We'd nesday, Woden's day; Thursday, Thor's day; Friday, Friga's day; Saturday. | Seterues day.
 ent with system of the ancient He-
 brews which Is constructed on the as- sumption that the New Year com mences on or immediately after the new | moon following the autumnal equinox. l Autumn is the period of the sere and yellow leaf <" The harvest is gathered. ' NTT-. e.