Amnon
were then cut off, and after having been severely tortured, he was sent
home in a carriage, his mangled members beside him.

Rabbi Amnon bore all this with the greatest resignation, firmly hoping
and trusting that this earthly torment would plead his pardon with God.

His life after this was of course to be measured only by days. The Feast
of the New Year came round, while he was living, and he desired to be
carried to the synagogue. He was conveyed to the house of God, and
during the service he requested to be allowed to utter a prayer. The
words which proved to be his last were as follows:--

"I will declare the mighty holiness of this day, for it is awful and
tremendous. Thy kingdom is exalted thereon; Thy throne is established in
mercy, and upon it Thou dost rest in truth. Thou art the Judge, who
chastiseth, and from Thee naught may be concealed. Thou bearest witness,
writest, sealest, recordest, and rememberest all things, aye, those
which we imagine long buried in the past. The Book of Records thou
openest; the great _shophar_ (cornet) is sounded; even the angels are
terrified, and they cry aloud, 'The Day of Judgment dawns upon us,' for
in judgment they, the angels, are not faultless.

"All who have entered the world pass before Thee. Even as the shepherd
causes the flock he numbers to pass under his crook, so Thou, O Lord,
causest every living soul to pass before Thee. Thou numberest, Thou
visitest; appointing the limitations of every creature, Thy judgment and
Thy sentence.

"On the New Year it is written, on the Day of Atonement it is sealed.
Aye, all Thy decrees are recorded. Who is to live and who to die. The
names of those to meet death by fire, by water, or by the sword; through
hunger, through thirst, and with the pestilence. All is recorded. Those
who are to have tranquillity, those who are to be disturbed. Those who
are to be troubled, those who are to be blessed with repose. Those who
are to be prosperous, those for whom affliction is in store. Those who
are to become rich, who poor; who exalted, who cast down; but penitence,
prayer, and charity, O Lord, may avert all evil decrees."

When he had finished this declaration, in which he designed to
acknowledge his sin and the justice of his punishment, Rabbi Amnon
expired, dying fitly in God's house among the assembled sons of Israel.

FASTS AND FESTIVALS

PASSOVER

The feast of unleavened bread, or "Passover," begins upon the ev