PENTECOST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 137, 11 June 1932, Page 6

PENTECOST.

JEWISH FESTIVAL

AUCKLAND OBSERVANCES, THE FEAST OF HARVEST. This week lias seen tTie observance of list; Feast of Pentecost, one of tlio principal events in the Jewish calendar. Members of the Jewish community ip Auckland, as in other parts of the world, ! have observed the occasion by attendance sit special services. The first was held in the. Synagogue-on Thursday evening; there was a three-hour service yesterday morning, a short assembly last evening, and another Pentecostal service to-day from 9.15 till noon. The feast ends this evening at .sunset. Pentecost is celebrated on the 50th day after the Passover, hence its name I" Pentecost," a Greek word meaning i fiftieth. It is now observed over two days. Tn the Bible, where a festival of one day only is referred to, it is described (in 'the Book of Exodus) as the feast of harvest, and in Numbers as the day of the lirst-fruits. Its origin was the observance of the close of the grain harvest, which in Palestine lasted for seven weeks. Hence the alternative name of Feast of Weeks. The agricultural character of the feast clearly reveals its C'anaanite origin. Pentecost ranks second in importance to the two other, agricultural festivals of Israel, namely, the Massoth, or feast of unleavened calces, and the Asiph, or in-gathering (later called Succoth), which marked the close of all the year's in-gathering of vegetable products. The principal significance of Pentecost is that of thanksgiving for the harvest, and as such it is observed with great solemnity as a festival of prayer and praise. From the Jewish use the feast was introduced into the Christian calendar, and with special solemnity, as being the day of the descent of the Holy (Jhost upon the Apostles, and of the first solemn preaching of the Christian religion. From early times Pentecost has been regarded as one of the great festivals of the Christian year, and it was chosen as. one of the times for the solemn administration of the sacrament of baptism. The English name of the festival, Whit Sunday, is derived from the white robes in which the newly baptised were clad. Whit Sunday this year fell on May 15. The Pentecostal service at the Synagogue this morning was conducted by the Rev. A. Astor. At yesterday's special service, the sermon was preached by the Rabbi, the Rev. S. A. Goldstein.'