numbers left the place for want of room. We much hope that the Doctor will be induced to publish the lectures, in compliance with the urgent wish which has been expressed to him by his friends.

MODELS OF THE TABERNACLE AND ENCAMPMENT OF ISRAEL.

These beautiful models are now exhibiting at 53, Pall Mall, and we cannot omit to urge it upon our friends who may be visiting London in the month of May, to seize the opportunity of witnessing so valuable a specimen of exquisite art. The utmost precision has been adopted in order that everything should be in exact keeping with the narrative of the sacred Scriptures; in fact, it is totally impossible for any one viewing the model of the encampment not to fancy himself standing on the plains of Moab in the midst of the children of Israel. In the model of the tabernacle, too, the greatest attention has been paid to the most minute details, even to the smallest utensils used in the sacred edifice.

THE Jewish month Sivan, for the present year, contains thirty days. It commences on the second of June, and closes on the first of July.

On Wednesday, the seventh of June, and the sixth day of Sivan, begins the feast of Pentecost. The original institution is recorded in Lev. xxiii. 15—21: “And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the first-fruits unto the Lord," &c. The word Pentecost is not to be found in the Old Testament. It is a Greek term, signifying the fiftieth, and is so called because it was celebrated on the fiftieth day from the feast of unleavened bread. The Hebrews called it the "feast of weeks," because of its being observed at the distance of a week of weeks, or seven weeks, after the feast of unleavened bread, Exod. xxxiv. 22; Deut. xvi. 9-12; also "the feast of harvest," as this was properly the harvest festival, at which the Israelites offered their thanksgivings for the produce of the earth, Exod. xxiii. 16; and, lastly, "the day of first-fruits," Num. xxviii. 26, for now the Israelites were to present to the Lord the first-fruits of

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their harvest in bread baked of the new corn. It seems, in fact, that the barley-harvest commenced about the Passover, and wheat-harvest, which was later than the barley, ended at the Pentecost. On the day after the Passover Sabbath, a sheaf of barley gathered from the newly-reaped field, was to be presented before the Lord; but at Pentecost, the wheat, ground into flour, was to be presented in the form of two loaves of two tenth deals, that is, of about three pints of flour each, baken with leaven, Lev. xxiii. 17.

The festival lasted seven days. In later times, many Jews from foreign countries came to Jerusalem on the occasion, as we are informed by Josephus, and by the writer of the Acts, chap. ii. 3-11. Even at that time, and still more since, a greater degree of relative importance seems to have been attached to this festival, than appears designed by the law. It was discovered that the date, fifty days after the Passover, coincided with the delivery of the law upon Mount Sinai, which took place exactly fifty days after the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt. Hence, by degrees, instead of resting the feast simply on the ground on which Moses had placed it, as the feast of the harvest, the Israelites associated with it a commemoration of the promulgation of the law.

This festival, amongst the modern Jews, includes two days. It is kept with the same strictness as the first two days of the Passover, and is celebrated with peculiar services in the synagogues. The book of Ruth is read, because the circumstances which it relates, took place at the time of harvest. The portion of Scripture which declares the delivery of the decalogue, is read likewise, and the six hundred and thirteen precepts, said to comprehend the whole law, are formally recited. The ritual for the feast of Pentecost contains some curious compositions in honour of the law, which, some rabbinical writers say, existed two thousand years before the creation of the world. The morning service of the second day is concluded with prayers for the dead. This office is entitled, "The memorial of departed souls." "It is customary," says the Jewish prayer-book, "to make mention of the souls of departed parents and others, on the day of Atonement, and on the last days of the three festivals, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, and to offer for the repose of their souls."

The following is the form observed:

"May God remember the soul of my honoured father, A.B.,

who is gone to his repose; for that I now solemnly offer charity for his sake; in reward of this may his soul enjoy eternal life with the souls of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah, and the rest of the righteous males and females that are in Paradise: and let us say, Amen.

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'May God remember the soul of my honoured mother, C.D., who is gone to her repose: for that I now solemnly offer charity for her sake, &c.

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May God remember the souls of my father and mother, my grandfathers and grandmothers, uncles and aunts," &c. In some countries, it is usual, at Pentecost, to adorn the synagogue and houses with flowers, and odoriferous herbs.

But to turn to the Christian dispensation, the great developement and fulfilment of Judaism,-how beautiful a parallel to the presentation of the first-fruits in the Jewish temple, is furnished by the ingathering of souls to Christ on the day of Pentecost! Fifty days had passed since the great Paschal Lamb had been offered. On the very day of the offering of the first sheaf of the barley-harvest, Christ had risen, as the first-fruits of them that slept. And now, the day of Pentecost being fully come, the Holy Spirit was given to sanctify and consecrate the first-fruits of the Gospel, now at last fully divulged, and freely offered. On that same day, two thousand were added to the church, as the earnest and pledge of a converted world. And these two thousand were Jews. In an especial manner, they were the first-fruits of the Jewish nation. The final ingathering shall follow. Ere long, the cry, once heard at Jerusalem, shall arise from among the dispersed of Judah in every nation under heaven, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?" "Then shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days."

How long, O Lord, how long? Hasten a fresh display of thy power to save! Vouchsafe to thine ancient people,

another Pentecost!

DR. ADLER ON THE ORAL LAW, &c.

On the morning of Wednesday, the 19th of April last, being the second day of Passover, Dr. Adler, the chief rabbi, delivered a lecture at the Hamburgh synagogue, on the Observance of the Second Days of the Festivals and on the Importance of the Oral Law. We are indebted to the Jewish Chronicle for a sketch of the lecture, which our readers will be interested in perusing, and on which it is our purpose to offer some remarks in our next number.

The discourse was divided into three heads:-1st. The necessity of an oral law generally-2nd. The reasons for the double celebration of the festivals-3rd. The compatibility of such celebration with the Scriptural ordinances.

The necessity of an oral law generally.-To prove the necessity of oral tradition generally, the rev. lecturer adduced the following case from the Talmud as an illustration :-"A pagan one day came to Shammai, and asked him how many laws the Israelites possessed?' He answered, Two-a Scriptural and an oral law.' 'Convert me,' said the pagan, 'in order to believe in the scriptural law alone, and to refuse credence to the oral law." Shammai, a man of irritable temper, dismissed him. The pagan then applied to Hillel, a man of a mild and meek temper. The sage began to instruct him in the reading of the alphabet, commencing with the first vowels. The following day Hillel repeated the alphabet, but with other vowels. 'Thou didst not thus yesterday,' said the pagan, 'why dost thou change to-day?' 'Thou didst rely on me yesterday,' answered Hillel, 'thou must do the same to-day too; thou believedst me yesterday that it was the right mode of reading, thou oughtest to believe me to-day also.' If human laws required interpretation, how much more so must the Divine laws! The written law was often couched in very ambiguous language, which could not possibly be explained except by the addition of an oral law. Holy Writ indeed says, " And the evening and the morning," &c. ; but, if it were not for the oral law, we should not know whether the day commenced at twilight or otherwise. Again, we were commanded to observe the New Year, Passover, and other sacred festivals, in certain months and on particular days; but the written law did not tell us whether we were to reckon 354, or 365 days to the year. The oral law supplies the deficiency," &c. Reasons for celebrating the second festivals.-The obligation of observing the second day as equally solemn with the first, has arisen from the following causes :-When our ancestors inhabited the Holy Land, the importance of making known, with the most scrupulous exactness, the first appearance of the new moon, upon which the proper commencement of the sacred festivals depended, was very justly attended to with the utmost scrupulousness. Messengers were deputed to watch the first appearance in the horizon; and on the return of the messengers to Jerusalem, the Sanhedrim, on their evidence, immediately proclaimed the commencement of the festival. But, as this proclamation of the Sanhedrim could not in due time reach the distant congregations, they found themselves under the necessity of keeping two days holy instead of one. This was the case, even in Jerusalem, on the occasion of the New Year's Day, when the messengers, not being able to return in proper time, the inha