EAST: or = "rising" or "the rising of the sun" [opposed to = "west": Isa. xli.

2,
25; Ps. l. 1, ciii. 12], or = [lit. "forward"] the direction of the face, west being
"behind" [], north "to the left" [], and south "to the right" [: Job xxiii. 8-9; Gen.
xiii. 14, xxviii. 14; Num. x. 5, 6]):

By: Emil G. Hirsch, Kaufmann Kohler

Worshipers of the sun turned toward the east, with their backs to the Holy of
Holies (Ezek. viii. 16; comp. Suk. v. 4), whereas the Jews of the Exile prayed
toward the Temple (Dan. vi. 11; I Kings viii. 38, 44 et seq.; Ber. iv. 5; Sifre,
Debarim, 29). For those living in the west, therefore, the east was the direction
in which they were to pray (see "iblah" in the article Mohammed).

East is the part of the world where God planted paradise (Vita Ad et Ev, 18,
22; [Lat.] Apoc.Mosis, i., according to Gen. iii. 24, LXX.). According to the
"Didascalia," prayer is offered with the face turned to the east "because God
ascended to the heaven of heavens to the east, and because paradise is
situated in the east" ("Apost. Const." ii. 57). This was enjoined on the early
Christians (see Clemens Alexandrinus, "Stromata," vii. 7; Syriac Canons
[Teachings] of the Apostles, i.; Ante-Nicene Library, viii. 668, New York, 1890;
Tertullian, "Apology," 16). A much older custom, which goes back to very
primitive times and is connected with the belief that the dead go down to the
land of Hades in the west, but will rise again with the sun in the east, is the
burying of the dead with the face toward the east (see Tylor, "Primitive
Culture," 1874, pp. 422 et seq.). See also Mizra.

Bibliography:
Schrer, Gesch. 3d ed., ii. 453, Leipsic, 1898;
Lw, Gesammelte Schriften, 1898, iv. 36 et seq.;
Smith and Cheetham, Dictionary of Christian Antiquities;
Smith, Dictionary of the Bible.