m word,
"if thou wert not Hone, I would excommunicate thee; but what shall I do to
thee, since thou prayest before OMNIPRESENCE, and He does thy will, as a
son who plays upon his father, and he does his will? and for thee the
Scripture says, 'Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that
bare thee shall rejoice.' "(338)

9. "If men were fasting and the rains came down for them before the sun
rose?" "They need not complete the day." "If the rains came down after
sunrise?" "They must complete it." R. Eliezer said, "before noon they need
not complete it, if after noon they must complete it." It happened, that
the rulers proclaimed a fast in Lydda, and the rains came down in the
forenoon. Said R. Tarphon, "go and eat, and drink, and make holiday." They
went and ate and drank, and made holiday, and they came in the evening and
read the great Thanksgiving.(339)

Chapter IV

1. Three times in the year the priests elevate their hands to bless the
people, four times a day--in the morning prayer, in the following prayer,
in the evening prayer, and at the locking of the gates. These times are
the fast days, on the fasts of the deputies, and on the day of atonement.

2. These are the Delegates, according as is said, "Command the children of
Israel, and say unto them, My offering and my bread for my sacrifices made
by fire."(340) And how is it possible, that the offering of a man should
be sacrificed, and he does not stand by it? Therefore, the former prophets
decreed four-and-twenty Watches. For every Watch there were Delegates in
Jerusalem of priests, Levites, and Israelites. When the time approached
(for them) to go up, the priests and Levites went up to Jerusalem, and the
Israelites, who belonged to the Watch, gathered in their cities and read
in the history of Genesis.

3. And the Delegates used to fast four days in the week, from the second
day till the fifth. But they did not fast on the eve of the Sabbath, for
honor to the Sabbath. Nor on the first day, that they should not go forth
from repose and enjoyment, to toil, and fasting, and death. On the first
day they read in Genesis,(341) "and let there be a firmament." On the
second, "let there be a firmament and let the waters be gathered
together." On the third day, "let the waters be gathered together, and let
there be lights." On the fourth, "let there be lights, and let the waters
bring forth abundantly." On the fifth, "let the waters bring forth
abundan