4. On the 25th the eight days of the Feast of Lights (Chanukah) begin - mourning is

X. Tebheth.

1. On the 28th the congregation was re-established according to the Law. (This seems to

refer to the restoration of the Sanhedrin after the Sadducean members were removed,

under the rule of Queen Salome. See the historical notes in Appe ndix IV.)

XI. Shebhat.

1. On the 2nd a feast day6 - mourning is prohibited.

2. On the 22nd the work, of which the enemy said that it was to be in the Temple, was

destroyed - mourning is interdicted. (This seems to refer to the time of Caligula, when, on

the resistance of the Jews, the statute of the Emperor was at last not allowed to be in the

3. On the 28th King Antiochus was removed from Jerusalem (supposed to refer to the day

of the death of Antiochus, son of Antiochus Epiphanes, in his expedition against the

XII. Adar.

1. On the 8th and the 9th, days of joy on account of rain- fall.

2. On the 12th is the day of Trajan.

3. On the 13th is the day of Nicanor (his defeat).

4. On the 14th and on the 15th are the days of Purim (Feast of Esther) - mourning is

5. On the 16th was begun the building the wall of Jerusalem - mourning is prohibited.

6. On the 17th rose the heathens against the remnant of the Scribes in the country of

Chalcis and of the Zabedaeans, and Israel was delivered.

7. On the 20th the people fasted for rain, and it was granted to them.

8. On the 28th the Jews received good tidings that they would no longer be hindered from

the sayings of the Law - mourning is prohibited.