Читать книгу Post-Biblical Hebrew Literature: An Anthology онлайн

21 страница из 46

Pious and distinguished men danced before them with torches in their hands, and chanted before them hymns and praises. The Levites with harps, lutes, cymbals, and trumpets, and musical instruments without number stood upon the fifteen steps, that led from the Men’s Court to the Women’s Court, corresponding to the fifteen Songs of Ascent of the Book of Psalms. Upon these steps the Levites had stood with musical instruments, and chanted hymns. Two priests with trumpets in their hands stood at the Upper Gate, which led down from the Men’s Court to the Women’s Court. When the cock crowed, they sounded a plain note, a tremolo, and a plain note. When they reached the tenth step, they again sounded a plain note, a tremolo, and a plain note. When they reached the Court, they once more sounded a plain note, a tremolo, and a plain note. They continued to blow the horn, until they reached the gate that led out to the east. As soon as they reached the gate that led out to the east, they turned their faces from east to west, and said: ‘Our fathers who were in this place turned their backs toward the temple and their faces toward the east, and prostrated themselves eastward to the sun; but as for us, our eyes are turned to God.’ Rabbi Judah says: They repeated it,^[11] and said: ‘We are God’s and our eyes are turned to God.’