No. 1630. JHWISH CHREMONIALS—ADLER AND CASANOWICZ. 7038 
mystical religious practices, among which charms and divinations 
would fall. This general plan, with modifications, of course, is sus- 
ceptible of application to all of the historic religions. 
From time to time catalogues of special exhibitions, indicating 
selections of objects of the various religions, have been published i 
the Museum, but no complete catalogue of any one of the great divi- 
sions of this subject has yet been issued. In view of the fact that 
the collection of Jewish ceremonial objects in the Museum is the 
largest and most complete, indeed one of the best anywhere, and of 
the fundamental importance of this cult, the present catalogue has 
been prepared for publication. It is not saaaiel that it will add to 
a knowledge of the history or of the practices of the Jewish religion, 
but it is hoped that it will prove useful to students and teachers, and 
that it may be productive of an increased interest in this and other 
subdivisions of the Division of Historic Religions in the National 
Museum. ! 
There is in addition a collection of over forty Bibles, including fac- 
similes of manuscripts and old and rare editions of the original texts, 
as well as copies of the most important ancient and modern transla- 
tions of the Seriptures. As the interest attached to this collection is 
more archeological, or paleographic, than religious, it comes under 
the head of Tnetoric archeology. The collection has been, moreover, 
in the main described in a paper entitled “ Biblical Rattan 
printed in the Report of the U. S. National Museum for 1896, pages 
10138-1025. 
I. OBJECTS USED IN PUBLIC WORSHIP. 
THE Synacocun.—Jewish public worship finds its expression in 
the services of the synagogue. There is no fixed style of architecture. 
Generally the synagogue is a rectangular building with the entrance 
on the west side, so that the worshipers in the western world face 
east, the direction of Jerusalem, while praying. The general arrange- 
ment inside the synagogue is that the Ark of the Law, or Holy Ark 
(aron ha-kodesh), 1. e., the closet or chest, which holds the Torah 
scrolls, is placed against the center of the east wall. It is raised a 
few feet above the floor and is reached by steps. To the right of 
the ark and removed a few feet from the east wall is the praying 
desk (amud, properly column or pillar), from which the precentor 
leads the congregation in prayer. In the center is the b¢mah or 
almemar (Arabic al-minbar, pulpit), an elevated platform, usually 
surrounded by a railing on which stands the desk for reciting the 
lessons from the Scriptures. The remainder of the interior is occu- 
pied with benches for the worshipers. In most modern synagogues, 
however, both the prayers and lessons are read from the bémah or 
reading desk, which is combined with the platform on which the ark 
rests, in order to secure a larger area for seats. 
