"On the New Year it is written, on the Day of Atonement it is sealed. Aye, all Thy decrees are recorded. Who is to live and who to die. The names of those to meet death by fire, by water, or by the sword; through hunger, through thirst, and with the pestilence. All is recorded. Those who are to have tranquillity, those who are to be disturbed. Those who are to be troubled, those who are to be blessed with repose. Those who are to be prosperous, those for whom affliction is in store. Those who are to become rich, who poor; who exalted, who cast down; but penitence, prayer, and charity, O Lord, may avert all evil decrees." When he had finished this declaration, in which he designed to acknowledge his sin and the justice of his punishment, Rabbi Amnon expired, dying fitly in God's house among the assembled sons of Israel. FASTS AND FESTIVALS PASSOVER The feast of unleavened bread, or "Passover," begins upon the evening of the 14th day of _Nissan_ (April), and was instituted in commemoration of our ancestors' redemption from Egypt, a memorial forever. During its continuance we are strictly forbidden the use of any leavened thing. Moses said to the Israelites in the name of the Lord:-- "Draw out and take for yourselves a lamb," etc. By the observance of this precept they would deserve well of God and He would redeem them, for when He spoke they were "naked and bare" of good deeds and meritorious acts. "Draw out and take for yourselves a lamb." Draw yourselves away from the idols which ye are worshiping with the Egyptians, the calves and lambs of stone and metal, and with one of the same animals through which ye sin, prepare to fulfill the commandments of your God. The planet sign of the month _Nissan_ is a lamb; therefore, that the Egyptians might not think that through the powers of the lamb they had thrown off the yoke of slavery, God commanded His people to take a lamb and eat it. They were commanded to roast it whole and to break no bone of it, so that the Egyptians might know that it was indeed a lamb which they had consumed. The Lord said to Moses, "Tell the children of Israel that they shall borrow of the Egyptians gold and silver vessels," in order that it might not be afterward said, "The words 'they will make them serve, and they will afflict them,' were fulfilled: but the words 'they shall go out with great substance' did not come to pass." When Moses told the Israelites that they should go up out of Egypt with great substance, they answered, "Would that we could go even empty-handed," like to the servant confined in prison. "To-morrow," said the jailer to him, "I will release thee from prison, and give thee much money." "Let me go to-day, and give me nothing," replied the prisoner. On the seventh day of the Passover the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea on dry land.