d conduct in the future may atone
for the errors of the past. Surely no religion in the world can equal the
sublime teachings of the New Year's day and the Day of Atonement, first
filling the heart of mortal man with awe before the Judge of the world and
then cheering it with the assurance of God's paternal love being ever
ready to extend mercy to His repentant children. While the other festivals
of the year are specifically Jewish in historic associations and meaning,
these two days on the threshold of each new year are universally human,
and the chief prayers for this day are of a universal character, appealing
to every human heart. Indeed, it is characteristic that both the
concluding service for the day, the _Neilah_, and the Scriptural reading
of the _Minhah_ Service, selected from the book of Jonah, tell that God's
all-forgiving mercy extends to the non-Jewish world as well as to the
Jew.(1505)

14. Altogether, the Synagogue gave to the annual cycle of the Jewish life
a beautiful rhythm in its alternation of joy and sorrow, lending a higher
solemnity to general experience. All the festivals mentioned above were
preceded by a series of Sabbaths to prepare the congregation for the
coming of the sad or the joyful season with its historical reminiscences.
So the memorial day of the destruction of Jerusalem, the ninth of Ab, had
three weeks previously to herald in a day commemorating the siege of
Jerusalem, the seventeenth of Tammuz; but it had also seven Sabbath days
to follow, which afforded words of consolation and hope of a more glorious
future for the mourning nation.(1506) Of course, the brighter days of the
present era have greatly modified the lugubrious character of these
eventful days of the past, even in those circles where the hope for the
restoration of the Jewish nation and Temple is still expressed in prayer.
At the same time, the commemoration of the destruction of State and
Temple, the great turning-point in the history of the Jew, ought to be
given a prominent place in the Reform Synagogue as well, though celebrated
in the spirit of progressive Judaism.

The feast of Hanukkah with its lights and song, jubilant with the
Maccabean victory in the battle for Israel's faith, still resounds in the
Jewish home and the house of God with the prophetic watchword: "Not by
might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts."(1507)

The mirthful feast of Purim, with its half-serious, half-jovial use o