ABSTRACT
Besides the important days always enumerated, certain other occasions are marked for observance in the Jewish Calendar. They are: the four Fasts observed respectively on the 17th of Tammuz, the 9th of Ab, the 3rd of Tishri, and the 10th of Tebeth. The Fast of Esther, observed on the 13th of Adar in memory of the Fast ordained by that Queen; the Feast of Chanucah or Dedication, which begins on the 25th of Kislev, and the Feast of Purim celebrated on the 14th of Adar. The precise manner in which the mournful character of anniversaries like the Fast of Ab should be recognised may fairly be left to individual feeling ; but to remember that they are mournful can do nothing but good. The victory of the Maccabees was no barren achievement. It rendered solid benefits to the Jewish cause. But for the Maccabees Judaism would probably have perished.
