12 BULLETIN 148, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



of the law (Decalogue). Measiirements, 18 by 18 inches. (Cat* 

 No. 155263, U.S.N.M.) Gift of Moses A. Dropsie. 



30. Brass plate used at the Passover meal. — Adorned with animal 

 figures and flowers and containing an Arabic inscription in Hebrew 

 characters. Made in Constantinople. Diameter, 26 inches. (Plate 

 4 (upper), Cat. No. 130291, U.S.N.M.) 



31. Pewter Passover plate. — Made in Tetennausen, Germany. 

 Diameter, 15 inches. (Cat. No. 130299, U.S.N.M.) 



32. Passover tray. — Made of tin. Engraved on the rim with the 

 16 words containing the program of the ceremonies performed during 

 the seder, and the name Gitl. Inside are the words: Priest, Levite 

 and Israelite, and the names: Abraham, Bela, Juda, son of Solomon, 

 Solomon Leb, Hannah Engelmayer, Baltimore, and various orna- 

 ments, as the "Shield of David," circles and vases. Dating probably 

 from the seventeenth century. Diameter, 13% inches. Washington, 

 D. C. (Cat. No. 326825, U.S.N.M.) Gift of Miss L. Lieberman. 



33. Omer tablet. — Manuscript in" gilded frame. The harvest 

 season was formally opened with a ceremony of waving a sheaf of 

 barley in the sanctuary on the second day of the Passover feast, 

 which began on the 15th of Nisan (March-April). Before this 

 ceremony took place the harvesting of grain was forbidden: "And 

 ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor fresh ears, until 

 this selfsame day, until ye have brought the oblation of your God." 

 (Leviticus xxiii, 14). From that day seven weeks, or 49 days, were 

 counted (Leviticus xxiii, 15; Deuteronomy xvi, 9) to the feast of 

 Pentecost; hence its Hebrew name Hag ha-Shahuoth "feast of Weeks," 

 and the usual English name "Pentecost," which is derived from the 

 Greek TeuTeKoaT-fj penteJcoste, meaning the fiftieth day. It is also 

 called "feast of harvest" (Exodus xxiii, 16), because the grain har- 

 vest then approaches its close, and "day of first fruits" (Numbers 

 xxviii, 26; Exodus xxxiv, 22), because two loaves of bread from the 

 new wheat were offered on that feast.^ With the destruction of the 

 temple the ceremony of waving the sheaf in the sanctuary necessarily 

 fell away, but the counting is still observed and the prayers contained 

 in the tablet form part of the liturgy during the time jfrom Passover 

 to Pentecost. 



This tablet is used in the synagogue for reckoning the period 

 between Passover and Pentecost. The tablet is in Hebrew. It 

 contains the words: "Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the 

 universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and com- 

 manded us to count the Omer." Then follows the count (in Hebrew), 

 and below it the words: "May the Lord restore the worship of the 

 temple speedily in our days," and Psalm Ixvii. The letters H. S. 



« Leviticus xxiii, 17. Since the dispersion Pentecost has been connected by tradition with the day on 

 which the law (Torah), was given on Mount Sinai, and the festival is called haff mattan torah, the feast of 

 giving the law. • 



