149 בית דין, lit. “Court of Justice,” as above, note 16 to Elijah Wilna, but it means also a sort of permanent Synod, in which of course justice was also administered as a part of religion. 150 עדיות, “Evidences given by Witnesses.” The tractate consists mostly of a number of laws attested by various Rabbis as having come down to them as old traditions. 151 The family of Hillel, which was supposed to be descended from the house of David, supplied the Jews with patriarchs for many generations. Gamaliel II. flourished about 120 A.C., whilst Simon b. Gamaliel’s activity as Patriarch falls about 160 A.C. 152 שמכות, _Semachoth_. It is a euphemistic title, the tractate dealing with the laws relating to funeral ceremonies and mourning. 153 מבוראי, “Elucidators” or “Explainers.” The heads of the schools in Babylon during the fifth and sixth centuries were so designated. 154 The Rabbinic Jews of the dispersion add one day to each festival, and thus celebrate the Passover eight days, the Feast of Weeks two days, etc. The custom arose out of the uncertainty about the first day of the month, the prerogative of fixing the New Moon resting with the great _Beth Din_ in Palestine, which had not always the means of communicating in time the evidence given before them that the New Moon had been seen by qualified witnesses. The prerogative was abolished in the fourth century, and the calendar fixed for all future time, but the additional day is still kept by the Rabbinic Jews as the “Custom of their Fathers.” 155 שיעור קומה, היכלות, “Chambers (of Heaven)” and the “Measure of the Stature,” mystical works in which occasionally gross anthropomorphisms are to be found. Their authorship is unknown. 156 _Sabbath_, 55_a_. 157 _Sayings of the Fathers_ (ed. C. Taylor), v. 12‐15. See also _Sabbath_, 32 _seq._, and _Mechilta_ (ed. Friedman), 95_b_. _Arachin_, 16_a_. 158 See _Mechilta_, 25_a_, 32_b_. _Gen. Rabbah_, ch. 48, and _Tossephta Sotah_, iv. 7, and parallels. 159 _Taanith_, 21_a_. 160 _Sayings of the Fathers_, iv. 5. 161 _Baba Bathra_, 9_b_. 162 _Yoma_, 39_a_. 163 _Berachoth_, 33_a_. 164 _Sabbath_, 13_b_. 165 _Berachoth_, 7_a_. 166 See _Mechilta_, 68_b_, and parallels. _Siphra_, 112_b_. _Pessikta_ of R. Kahana, 167_b_. Cp. _Sanhedrin_, 44_a_. 167 _Aboth_ de R. Nathan, 40_a_, 59_b_, and 62_b_. 168 _Baba Bathra_, 10_a_. 169 _Eccles. Rabbah_, ix. 7. 170 5_a_. 171 7_b_. 172 See _Mechilta_, 95_b_, and parallels. 173 See _Kiddushin_, 40_b_. _Mechilta_, 63_b_. _Lev. Rabbah_, iv. 174 See _Sabbath_, 54_a_. 175 _Exodus Rabbah_, c. 35, and parallels. 176 See _Negaim_, ii. 1. 177 _Exod. Rabbah_, c. 46. 178 _Taanith_, 11_a_. 179 See _Berachoth_, 5_a_. 180 _Tanchuma_, כי תצא, § 2. Cp. _Mechilta_, 72_b_. 181 _Siphré_, 73_b_, and parallels.