OBJECTS OF JEWISH CEREMONIAL. 549 



above all for military purposes, like the modern bugle, to give the 

 .signal for going out to battle, for the announcement of a victory, and 

 for a recall of the troops/ It was also used as a musical instrument 

 in religious processions.^ 



At present the shofar is especially used during the penitential sea- 

 son, which begins with the 1st of the month Ellul (August-September) 

 and culminates on the Day of Atonement {ijodi MppuT^ on the 10th of 

 Tishri (September-October). During the month of Ellul the shofar 

 is sounded three times at the close of the morning service each day, 

 with the exception of the Sabbaths, in some congregations and in 

 others at the evening service. On the 1st of Tishri, the beginning of 

 the civil year (rosK ha-shana)^ one of the most solemn of the Jewish 

 feasts, and the "memorial of blowing of trumpets,"^ thirty blasts, 

 among the Sefardim seventy-two, are sounded on the shofar in the 

 middle of the morning service, after the reading of the day's lesson 

 from the To rah, and before the "additional service" {mitsaf). On 

 Atonement Day the shofar is sounded once, among the Sefardim four 

 times, at the close of the concluding service {neilah)^ and on the 

 seventh day of Tabernacles {Ilosha na Mahha) it is sounded at each of 

 the seven circuits. The shofar is usually made of a ram's horn, but the 

 goat's horn is also employed.* 



15. Hanukah lamp. — Made of brass. Height, 7i inches; width at 

 base, 6i inches. (Plate 9, fig. 2, U.S.N.M. No. 154591.) 



The feast of dedication or Hanukah (the latest addition to the cycle 

 of Jewish festivals) is celebrated for eight days, beginning with the 

 25th of Kislew (December-January), in commemoration of the purifi- 

 cation of the temple and the restoration of the service after the deliv- 

 erance of Jerusalem from the oppressions of Antiochus Epiphanes, 

 King of Syria, by the Maccabees in 164 B. C. The institution of this 

 festival is related in I Maccabees iv, 47-59. In the New Testament ^ 

 it is mentioned under the name of svKaivia {enJcainia)^ "dedication." 

 The principal feature in the observance of this festival is the lighting 

 of lights in the synagogue, as well as in private houses, whence it is 

 also called the "feast of lights."® 



On the first night one light is lit, on the second two, and so on to the 

 eighth. The lights are set in a place where people on the street may 

 see them, in the window or by the door. They are considered sacred, 

 and must not be employed for any ordinary purpose. For this reason 



^ Numbers x, 1-9. 



''II Samuel vi, 15; I Chronicles xv, 28; compare Psalms xcviii, 6; cl, 3. 



^ Leviticus xxxii, 24. 



* Compare Cyrus Adler, The Shofar, its Use and Origin. (Proceedings, U. S. 

 National Museum, XVI, pp. 287-301; Report U. S. National Museum, 1892, pp. 

 437-450. 



^ John X, 22. ® Compare Josephus, Antiquities, xii, 7, 7. 



NAT MUS 99 38 



