the morning liturgy by the passage concerning the tamid offering ; the Mishnah by the chapter on the sacrifices ; and the Gemara by this Baraitha of Rabbi Ishmael. Passages from the Scriptural, Mishnaic, and Talmudic books are introduced . into other parts of the Prayer Book with a similar object, viz. to serve as a minimum of religious study.
Page 14.
May it be thy will... that the temple be speedily rebuilt and grant our portion in thy Law (יְהִי רָצוֺן). After the recitation of the Temple service, the prayer for its restoration is a natural sequence. This passage is taken from the Ethics of the Fathers, v. 23 (P.B. page 203). The Ethics originally terminated with this aspiration. It forms a fitting conclusion to the early part of the morning service.
The Ṭallith and Tephillin.
The ṭallith (טַלִּית) was originally the ordinary mantle, of a square or oblong shape, which was worn as the outer most garment. It resembled the Bedouin abayah or striped blanket still worn in the East, and had some similarity to the Roman pallium. It was fringed at the four corners, in accordance with the Law (Numbers xv. 37; Deut. xxii. 12). By the thirteenth century it had become unusual for Jews to mark their ordinary outward garments by wearing fringes, and indeed the Law only prescribes fringes in the case of garments with corners, such as were no longer worn. But the fringed garment had become too deeply associated with Israel s religious life to be discarded entirely at the dictate of fashion in dress. Innocent III. in 1215 compelled the Jew to wear a degrading badge ; the fringed garment became all the more an honourable uniform, marking at once God's love for Israel (Talmud, Menahoth 43b) and Israel's determination to " remember to do all God s commandments and be holy unto his God" (Numbers xv. 39). Hence the fringed mantle of wool or silk is worn during prayer, for the most part only at morning service (" that ye may see
