PICTURES OFJEWISH HOME-LIFEFIFTY YEARS AGO

ByHANNAH TRAGER

Author of_Stories of Child-Life in Palestine__Festival Stories of Child-Life in Palestine__Pioneers in Palestine_

WITH A PREFATORY LETTER BY LEO JUNG

WITH FOUR PLATES AND A GLOSSARY

NEW YORKBLOCH PUBLISHING CO. , Inc. 

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BYTHE STANHOPE PRESS, LTD. ROCHESTER

 To MY BELOVED PARENTSin reverence and gratitude for their beautiful and holy example

FOREWORD

My dear Mrs. Trager, It gives me great pleasure to write a preface to your new book. Iconsider it a real privilege, since it represents the fulfilment of ahope expressed some five years ago. When you sent me the first articlefor "The Sinaist" I told you that your pen would win the love and theesteem not only of the child, but essentially also of the adult readers. 

The simple joyousness of your style, the beauty and freshness of theatmosphere, which you very well succeed in bringing to the pages of yourbooks, the strength of your faith, and the vividness of yourdescription, the love of Jew above the love of Palestine, all thesecombine to render your volumes valuable additions to the small stock ofgood Jewish literature in English. It is not only that you teach, whiletalking so pleasantly; that you instruct while you interest and amuse;that you have your own personality in the stories; that you convey thecharm of Eretz Israel, and the beauty of holiday spirit; but becauseyour stories help us to feel the depth of faith and the height of idealas the self-evident, normal factors of Jewish life. 

For the children of our age, both young and old, should know that thatGod-consciousness of the Jew, that wondrous sense of eternity in hismission, is not a laboriously acquired conviction, not the result ofsome spasmodic effort of grasping the innermost meaning of our history, but the natural pervading spirit of Jewish life, the air which the Jewbreathes, when he lives with Torah as his guide and Mitzvah as hisladder towards heaven. 

They who read your stories conceive a deep love of Judaism, they find adesire growing in them to live the life which produces such happinessand goodness, they will want to study the Law and lore, of which thatlife is an outward expression. I have given your tales to children invarious countries and all of them were enchanted with them, regrettingthat "there were only two books by Mrs. Trager. " I am glad indeed tofind that another one is coming out. And it is in the interest of ouryouth that I hope you will give us every year some of these nourishingand very palatable fruits of your pen. 

You will thereby be doing an additional bit for our God and our peoplewhom you are serving so loyally. You reinterpret to the Jewish youth ofto-day the treasures they are so carelessly abandoning, you will shedlight and reawaken love and hope in the heart of many a Jew, who seemedto feel that our glorious faith had no message for the child of to-day, unless it were shorn by our 'religious' barbers, robbed of its nativebeauty and reduced to some platform-commonplace. As a lamented LondonMaggid told me, "There still live some real soldiers of God. " Such arethose who use persuasion from the pulpit, such as shine through theexample of their own humane Jewishness and such as capture our hearts byartless beautiful tales of Jewish life and lore. 

I wish you every success in the world, Yours very sincerely, LEO JUNG

CONTENTS

THE ARRIVAL IN JERUSALEMTHE WELCOMETHE CELEBRATION OF PURIMTHE BAKING OF MATZOSLAG B'OMERTHE SABBATH IN PALESTINETHE SUCCAHHOW CHARITY IS GIVENFATHER FROST IN JERUSALEMENGAGEMENT AND WEDDING CEREMONIESJUBILEE OF ZORACH BARNETTGLOSSARY

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE FATHER TEACHING THE CHILD THE MEANING OF THE TSITSITHCHADAR (SCHOOL)YENSHVA (TALMUDICAL SCHOOL)THE OLD LADY

THE ARRIVAL IN JERUSALEM

On a Friday afternoon everyone was very busy in Benjamin's home washingand dressing to go to Shule. The mother was getting the living-roomclean and tidy for the Sabbath. 

THE OFFENCE

The family lived in a few rooms off Commercial Road, in one of the manyback streets. The underground kitchen had to be used as the dining-andsitting-room, for they had not been many years in England and it was ahard struggle for Benjamin's parents to make ends meet and provide for alarge family. 

The father and the elder boys were dressing as best they could in thisroom. Just then the mother came in, very excited, and said to herhusband: "What will you say to this? I gave Benjamin his Sabbath clothesand a clean tsitsith, and what do you think he did?"

"What?" asked the father, and stopped brushing his clothes. 

"Why, he took the tsitsith and threw it on the floor, and said he wouldnever wear it again. I punished him, and told him to put it on again. Soyou had better go to him and give him what he deserves. "

"You are rather hasty, my dear wife, " said the father; "for, beforepunishing him, you should have asked him why he did such a thing. "

"What!" exclaimed the mother, "do you think I have nothing else to dobut to stand and argue with him just before Sabbath, when I have so muchwork? You are far too easy-going, Jacob--you should really be firmerwith the children. "

"No, no!" said Jacob, who was a kindly man and understood human naturebetter than his hasty, but well-meaning and loving, wife. The struggleand constant hard work in keeping the home of a large family was tellingupon her, and any disobedience in the children irritated her very much. 

"We must not be hasty with the children, " continued Jacob, "especiallynow-a-days, for they live under different circumstances from those weknew when we were young. Instead of hastily scolding and punishing them, let us rather quietly reason with them, when possible, and show themwhere they are wrong. "

"Perhaps you may be right, " said Benjamin's mother; "so let us leave thematter till you return from Shule and have had our Sabbath meal--thenyou can quietly ask Benjamin why he acted as he did. "

THE BOY BENJAMIN

An elder brother was sent to call Benjamin to go to Shule with hisfather and brothers. Benjamin expected a scolding from his fathersimilar to that which he had had from his mother, so he came into theroom looking very sulky. As nothing was said to him on the subject whenhe came into the room, he took his prayer-book, and followed his fatherto Shule. 

Benjamin was like many other boys of 13, not very clever, but blessedwith a good deal of common sense. His great ambition was to become ateacher, and so he worked steadily at his lessons. His reason forwishing to be a teacher was that he wanted to rule and to punish boys ashis master did. Whenever he had a caning from his headmaster he alwaysconsoled himself with the thought that _his_ turn would come someday--when he was a teacher--to do the same to other boys. 

When they returned from Shule and nothing was said, even at the eveningmeal, about the way Benjamin had annoyed his mother, he was rathersurprised. His mother, during the time they were at Shule, had made theliving-room, which was really the kitchen, look so clean and bright withthe five lighted candles placed on the snow-white table-cloth, and theold stove so well polished, that it almost looked as bright as a lookingglass. What interested the young ones most was the saucepan which stoodon one side of the stove waiting for its contents to be put on thetable, and, oh, how they enjoyed the sweet savour which came from it!

FRIDAY EVE

They all gathered round the table to welcome the Princess Sabbath. Thefather made kiddush, and the wine cup was handed round to all. Then theywashed their hands and said a prayer before sitting down to the eveningmeal, which passed off very pleasantly, and zmires (or songs or psalmsof praise) were sung at intervals during the meal. 

When the meal was ended, and the grace said by the father, they allseparated: one or two went out for a walk, while the other members ofthe family took a newspaper or a book and quietly read. 

When the table was cleared, the mother sat down to rest. Grateful, indeed, was she for this Sabbath rest after her week's hard work. Sheoften said that, for such as herself, no blessing was as great as thecommand: "Thou shalt not do any work on the Sabbath. "

WORD OF LOVE

When all were quietly settled down, Benjamin's father took him betweenhis knees, and said: "My son, I wish to ask you something, and I wantyou to answer my question frankly and truly. What made you throw thetsitsith down on the floor this afternoon and say to your mother thatyou would not wear it?"

The boy Benjamin dropped his head and was silent for a minute or two, for to hear his father speak in a kindly way made Benjamin far moreashamed of himself and his deed than if his father had scolded him andgiven him a whipping--in fact, he felt so wretched that he longed to runout of the room and hide himself from everybody. His father's knowledgeof human nature made him understand what was passing through Benjamin'smind, and he said: "Do not fear to tell me, my son, why you acted insuch an unusual way, for there must be some reason for a Jewish boy toact so. "

With his head still down, Benjamin said: "When I go swimming in thebaths, my school-fellows see my tsitsith when I undress, and they makefun of it and pull it about, and say all sorts of nasty things to me forwearing it, and it makes me feel I cannot stand it any longer. I willgladly put on my tsitsith at home in the morning when I say my prayers, but, Father, do let me go to school without wearing it?"

"I expected something like this, " said his father, looking at his wife. "Listen to me, my child--instead of being ashamed, you should feel it aprivilege to wear tsitsith. "

"But I can't see why, " said Benjamin. 

"Well, " said his father, "I will tell you the idea of the tsitsith. Whenyou say the Shema twice a day, as every good Jew is expected to do, youread in it that God commanded us, through Moses, to wear a fringe on ourgarment--the tsitsith, a visible sign to remind us of His Commandments, just in the same way as a table, spread ready for a meal, reminds us ofour meals. Our religion is not a thing to be kept only for the Sabbathand the Holy Days, and left out of our minds on all other days. Ourreligion must be a living influence, always with us, so the tsitsith isa very simple kind of symbol to be ever worn to remind a Jew of his God, his duty to Him and to his neighbour. It is not only we Jews who havereligious symbols; every other religion has them. Now imagine if youwere to go up to a Christian boy and mock him and say nasty words tohim for wearing a cross, or crucifix, he would turn round and fight you, and he would be right in doing so, for no one has a right to insultanother for wearing or doing what he believes to be holy. Instead ofbeing ashamed when you were mocked and laughed at by Christian boys forwearing your tsitsith, you should have asked them to hear you explainthe reason for wearing it. I am sure they would not have laughed at youany more. They would respect you for trying to be true and to live up toyour convictions. 

"We Jews have, in the past, made a great mistake in not letting theoutside world know more of the deeper spiritual meaning of each of oursymbols. Had we not done this, we should have been better understood bynon-Jews, and our children would not have suffered as you and manyothers also have done, through the ignorant mocking of your Christianschoolmates. 

"I know that in Palestine the Jews, whether old or young, greatly loveto wear their tsitsith, and take a pride in letting them be seen, sothat the Arabs and the Turks look upon the tsitsith as a sacredgarment. "

[Illustration: THE FATHER TEACHING THE CHILD THE MEANING OF THE TSITSITH(SACRED GARMENT)]

UNCLE'S LETTER

"How do you know this, Father?" said Benjamin. 

By this time all in the room had dropped their papers and books, andwere listening to their father. 

"Well, this is how I know: nearly thirty years ago my uncle and hisfamily went to live in Jerusalem, and for many years one of my cousinsused to write to me about once a month. His letters were mostinteresting. When his letters came I could almost imagine, when readingthem, that I was living in Bible times. 

"Have you any of his letters still, Father?" they all exclaimed. 

"Yes, " said the father, "I have many of them. "

"Oh, do read some of them to us!" they pleaded. "All right, I will; andI will first try to find the one about the tsitsith. "

The father went up to his bedroom, and soon came down with a bundle ofletters wrapped in a newspaper. He started looking through them whileall the family stood around him, watching as eagerly as if he weresearching for an heirloom. 

"I will choose a very short one, " said the father, "for it is on thesubject I have spoken to Benjamin about; but if you like I will make ita rule every Friday evening, after our Sabbath meal, to read some of theletters to you. "

THE HOLY CITY

When all were quietly and comfortably seated, their father startedreading:

"My dear Cousin, --After a great many adventures and suffering (which Iwill write to you about another time) we arrived safely in Jerusalem. Tome, it seemed rather dull after London, but both father and mother shedtears of joy when they at last arrived in the Holy City. Some people metus a little way out, for father had written telling them we were coming. We were almost royally received and heartily welcomed, for very few Jewscome here with their young families. 

"We must have looked a sight--you in London could not imagine anythinglike our cavalcade! First went Father riding on a mule, with Motherfollowing on another mule. Mother's saddle was made with pillows, for itis impossible for a woman to ride for sixteen or eighteen hours withouta soft, comfortable seat. 

"You go up high hills, and then down again, imagining every time you godown that you will topple over and fall over the precipice and bekilled. In fact, your heart is in your mouth every five minutes, so thatby the time you arrive in Jerusalem (which is surrounded by hills) youare almost too weak to rejoice at the beauty that greets your sight, fornowhere in the world can, I think, anything be seen more beautiful thana sunrise over the mountains around Jerusalem. 

"Oh, I forgot to tell you that we youngsters were put into baskets on acamel's back, and how we were shaken! I felt as if I were praying andshaking all the time, for it seemed as if we could never get toJerusalem alive in this way. "

THE PROUD BOYS OF JERUSALEM

"At last we entered the Holy City, and arrived at Father's friend'shouse, where we were made very welcome and treated most kindly. I soonmade friends with the boys, for, you know, I can speak yiddish quitewell. 

"They are funny little chaps. They look like old men, with long kaftans(coats) and side ear-locks of hair, carrying their prayer book or Bibleto Shule. The first thing I noticed was the tsitsith. They wear reallylong ones, with long fringes hanging down about a quarter of a yard ormore. They wear them as we do a waistcoat, so that they can be seen byeveryone, not as we wear them in England, tucked away out of sight. Hereyoung and old, even little boys who can only just walk and lisp theirprayers, wear them, and, what is more, take a real pleasure in wearingthem. I asked some of them why they wore them so openly, and theyanswered: 'Because when we look at them we always remember that ourchief duty in life is to try to obey God's commands, and if we had themtucked away out of sight we should forget to be obedient. ' 'Besides, 'they said, 'we are commanded in the Torah to do so openly. ' Then I toldthem if we wore them so openly in Europe we should perhaps be laughed atby some people and made fun of. They said: 'Why should doing so make usbe laughed at by other nations? Do we laugh at the symbols and charmsthat many of them wear? Every nation, ' they said, 'has its tokens andsymbols, and we Jews have ours, and we should rejoice in wearing ourswhen they are to help us to feel that God is near us when we think andact rightly. ' All this made me think very seriously, and in a way I hadnever thought before. I began to realize that they were more in theright than we Jews are in England. 

"So now I have decided to wear my tsitsith, too, on the outside, as theJerusalem boys do. The boys never play except on the quiet, just now andthen, for their parents think that their only duty in life is to studyand do as many Mitzvoth as they can. Really, the boys are as full of funand pranks as we English boys, and they just love a bit of play andlarking when they can get it. 

"I must now end this letter, but I have a lot more to tell you, and Iwill keep my promise and write you by degrees of all I see. Meanwhile, I send you the greeting of Zion and Sabbath. Rachael wanted to put aletter into my envelope to your sister, but she says she has notfinished it yet, although she has already written ten pages. So I willwait no longer, in case I miss the post, as it goes only once a weekfrom here, and sometimes only once a month. "

Thus ended the first letter, and Benjamin's brothers and sisters were sopleased with it that they were delighted that one of the bundle ofletters should be read aloud after the Sabbath meal on every Fridayevening. 

Benjamin was quite happy now, for, although he had done a thing whichwas not right, now that he had repented good would come out of it, forthere was a chance of their now having pleasanter and more instructiveSabbath evenings than they had ever had before. Besides, he now made uphis mind always to wear his tsitsith. 

THE WELCOME

On the following Friday, after the Sabbath evening meal, the boys askedtheir father to read them another letter from his cousin in Jerusalem. He was pleased at their eagerness, and, while Upstairs getting theletter, some of the boys' friends came in and settled comfortably down, for all were eager to hear the letter read. 

Mr Jacob said: "This time I will read a letter from your Cousin Dora tomy sister which will certainly interest you, my dear, " turning to hisdaughter, "but at the same time, I think it will interest you all. "

"My dear Milly, --Isaac must have written to Jacob all about our arrival, so I will begin by giving you some idea of our life here and myimpressions. The people, who so kindly asked us to stay with them tillFather finds a dwelling, have a few rooms in a house, which has a marblepaved courtyard. Six other families also have two or three rooms each. All the work is done in the courtyard, even the cooking; for each familyuses tiny stoves, made of mud, into which they put a little lightedcharcoal and cook just outside or near their own doors; for there are nokitchens or fireplaces in any of the rooms, and thus we see what eachfamily cooks. The Sephardim (Jews who have lived here for years) eattheir meals in the courtyard. They lay a mat on the marble tiles, onwhich they place a small low table, and they sit on the mat and eat. TwoSephardim families have rooms in the house and they speak Arabic andSpanish, and their ways of living are more like those of the Turks, justas the Jews in England live more like the English. 

"Everyone seems most interested in us. Many people have come to visitus, to see the new arrivals!

"The evening of the day on which we arrived was Friday; there was aclear moonlight such as you would not often see in England, and it wasvery warm, too; so we and our visitors sat in the courtyard. All eagerlyasked us many questions, till quite late; and thus the evening passedvery quickly and pleasantly. 

"After prayers on Sabbath some people sent a bottle of wine and a mostdelicious pudding, which is made nowhere but in Jerusalem. It tasteslike milk and honey, with other tasty things mixed up in it. Others senta lovely sponge cake, coated with different-coloured sugar-icing: manyother good things were also given to us; and they lasted us for nearly amonth. 

"Later in the day the people who sent the eatables paid us visits, andate some of the good things. It is rather a nice custom, I think, fornew arrivals to have no bother to prepare food for their visitors, as itgives them time to enjoy their company. What a lot of talking there was!The men discussed several things with Father, while the women wanted toknow many things about England which Mother could tell them. The boysand girls could not take their eyes off our clothes, so much did theyadmire them! It was quite amusing, the funny questions they asked usabout them. They all promised to help us look for a dwelling; and theykept their promise. I can tell you it was a great help and comfort to usthat they did, for I don't know what would have become of us out here, away from our old friends, where the ways of living are so differentfrom what we have been used to. Whether it will always be so or not, ofcourse I can't say--time alone will show. 

"Very soon afterwards they found us a vacant dwelling, which Father wasvery thankful to get, and in my next letter I will tell you something ofour life after we had moved in; but I must tell you more of whathappened when we were staying with our kind host. The first afternoon, one of our visitors insisted on our I going to her home; so, when I andour youngsters arrived, we were taken to a room, and in it was a tablecovered with lovely apricots, and delicious-looking pastries and jams;also wine which only cost 3d. A bottle, so it is very nearly as cheap asbuying water. When they handed us some of the good things we naturallytook them and ate them. 

"Suddenly I saw our host's children move away from us saying: 'She is aShiksa, ' and 'He is a Shakitz, ' and they kept on whispering and pointingto us. I could not think what we had done to make them act in such away, and so asked their mother. She answered: 'They are surprised to seeyou eating without making a Brocha (a blessing), for our children unlessthey first make a Brocha never taste anything. '

"You know, dear Milly, that, though we too were taught to do as theyhere, yet the hurry and scurry of going to school and the busy life inLondon have made us forget to practise these religious laws. We, however, felt very uncomfortable and ashamed of ourselves, and made upour minds to get into the habit of doing it--that is to remember tothank our Creator for every blessing we receive, including food--so thatit should become a matter-of-course. 

"Now I must tell you about our water-supply, for the scarcity of waterstruck us, very much, coming from London; for here every drop isprecious and is used for several things, as every drop has to bebought, and money amongst our Jerusalem brethren is very scarce. Infact, it often costs more than the wine of the country. 

"A water-carrier brings us up every morning a skin bag of water (it ismade of skins sewn together, with a small outlet at the top); for it wepay twopence, which is equal to more than a shilling in London. Thewater that he brings he pours into a large earthern jar, which keeps itcool, and to it is attached over the mouth of the jar a sieve which ismade of thick unbleached calico: if this were not done, hundreds oflittle red worms would get into the jar, because the water in Palestineis full of them. A law was made by the Jews that to drink water that hadnot been passed through a sieve was a sin; and, as little children aretaught not to commit any sin, they do not drink any water that has notbeen passed through a sieve; owing to this, many illnesses are preventedamong the Jews that are rampant among the Arabs and others. 

"The Jews are also very careful about their water for ordinary use, yetthey really employ it more plentifully than we do in London when used inconnection with laws of health as laid down in the Shulchan Aruch (abook of laws). For example, as soon as you step out of your bed, youpour water over your hands, wash your face, gargle your throat, and rubyour teeth with a clean finger and rinse your mouth. No one would thinkof moving out of the room without doing this. I know among the veryorthodox Jews in London they do the same thing, but the average Jew doesnot do it, and here it is done by everyone--even a baby is taught to doit the same way. 

"Later in the day, or when the men go to Synagogue, and we have finishedwith our household duties, we have the regular soap-and-water wash. Thenagain, everytime we have a meal we have to wash our hands and repeat ablessing; and, as this is done at various other times in a large family, it takes a good deal of water, but as it is used for cleaning purposeswe need not stint ourselves. This law is especially valuable here, forit is very hot, and, if we were not very clean and especially carefulabout cleansing our eyes and mouths and throat, we should run the riskof catching a great many diseases which are quite common in the HolyLand at present. 

"I remarked to some women that it surprised me how much water was usedfor personal washing considering how scarce it was, but they told methat they were as careful with every drop of water as they were withfood; none was wasted. Where the religious laws commanded the use ofwater for personal washing and cleansing they did not grudge it; forwas not the body of man the temple where the Holy Spirit of God dwelt?God's spirit is in each one of us, and, therefore, we must do our bestto keep our bodies clean for the presence of our Heavenly King, just ascarefully as we should keep a house or palace clean in which our earthlyking dwelt--more carefully indeed. What would courtiers around anearthly king say if they saw us take our food in the presence of theking, and praise him, with dirty hands?

"They save water in many ways that are rather amusing to a strangeruntil he gets to know the reason for it. For instance, they do not, atmeals, use different plates on the Sabbath, when they have a fewcourses: they eat the fish on one side of the plate, and then they wipeit and turn the plate over, and have soup and meat on the deeperside--thus saving the washing of many plates. 

"In my next letter I will write you all my tribulations and struggles ingetting used to the new life when we moved into our own house. My greatcomfort is that we have got to know an American family, and they havebeen so kind to us and so cheery that it has made us feel a bitbrighter, and Mother says that in time we shall get used to our newlife. But I doubt it after living in London. "

When Mr Jacob had finished reading the letter the young folks begantalking, the older ones listening and giving a smile now and then. 

One said: "I should not like to be there. "

"Neither should I, " said another girl; "it must be awful after London. "

"The only thing that I like about the life, " said the former, "is thehospitality and the friendliness that they show to one another, and thejolly good time they give to people who are utter strangers to them. Wedon't do that here--we seem cold and unfriendly. "

THE CELEBRATION OF PURIM

As had now become a custom, the young friends of the Jacobs had allcollected on the next Friday evening in the bright and warmkitchen-sitting room. After a short friendly chat with them Mr Jacobssaid:

"As Purim will begin in two days, perhaps you would like to hear how ourcousins saw it celebrated when they went to Palestine, so I have chosenthis letter to read to you this evening:

"In Jerusalem a week is none too long to prepare for Purim. As you know, when we lived in London we always were strict about keeping our holydays; but while there I never realized the pleasure and excitementduring Purim that one sees in Jerusalem. 

"Old and young are equally full of fun and joy, and there is plenty ofrushing about with sleeves tucked up. At other times the women heregossip a great deal, and the girls naturally copy their elders andgossip too; but, when preparing for Purim, they are all too busy to talkor even to ask questions. The boys, too, up to the age of twelve, areallowed to help. Some break up the big pieces of loaf-sugar, and beat upthe eggs, and take the cakes, when ready, to the public ovens, for herethere are no proper ovens as there are in London houses, so a publicoven is built not far from the Synagogue. It is very large, and eachfamily sends its cakes in its own tins to be baked in it. Generallyabout half a dozen tins are carried by each boy. Nothing I have seenbefore can be compared with the many kinds of delicious cakes andstuffed monkeys that are seen here. My mouth waters even when I think ofthe delicious strudels filled with sesames and plenty of raisins andshiros! These things are very cheap here. 

"As there are not many boys free to help, you see quite young children, as well as young women and even grandmothers, going to and from thepublic oven, carrying tins of all the Purim delicacies. As they waitwhile the cakes are being baked, or waiting their turn to have theircakes put in, oh! what a chatter there is, and I imagine nowhere elsecan there be anything like it. I called it the 'Female Club' instead of'An Old Maids Club, ' as Mr Zangwill did, for there were no old maidswaiting near the oven. 

"Most of them come as early as 5 a. M. , and none care to leave till theyhave their cakes baked, for, if you do, your tins will be pushed asideas you are not there to scream at and scold the baker--if someone slipsa copper into his hand he, on the quiet, puts their tins in first, though they may have come later!

"Besides, if you are not there to watch carefully (for the tins are notnamed or numbered), someone might take your tins in exchange for hisown, if the cakes, etc. , look more tempting. During Purim this is notlooked upon as stealing, but merely as a joke or a bit of fun. Theyoungsters will not move an inch unless they can trust someone to taketheir place. So I leave you to try to imagine the noise and the chatter. There is probably not a thing that has happened in Jerusalem during thelast two months that is not discussed around the public oven whilepeople are waiting for their cake-tins; and, as everyone wants to talkrather than to listen, the noise is like the buzz in a factory. 

"After all the cooking and so forth was finished, of course we had tokeep the Fast of Esther, and everyone, even babies went to Shule to hearthe Megilla (the _Book of Esther_) read; and, when the Chazan came toHaman, the Gragers went off with just such a noise as they do in theLondon Shules in Old Montague Street or Booth Street. Then we went home;and after the evening meal the joyfulness began, for they did not waittill the next day, as we do in England. 

"As only one room was lighted up by each family to economize light andfor other reasons--there are no curtains or blinds to draw down--we wereable to go through all Meah Sheorim and stop a minute or two at everylighted window and watch the goings on. We heard nothing but singing andclapping of hands, while the children danced. Sometimes one of theelders looking on could not resist joining in the fun, and tied hiskaftan behind his back so as to leave his legs free, put one of theyoungsters on his shoulders, and danced like a chassid or a jollyIrishman. 

"As we went from house to house peeping in at the windows, sometimessome of the family would come out and drag us in by force, and make usdrink wine and eat cakes. If we did not wish to join in the dancing, butwanted to leave, they would just say 'Shalom'--'go in peace but comeagain. ' I can tell you it was jolly, and nowhere else in all the worldcould Yomtov be kept up as it is here. 

"We were given wine in so many houses that from the eldest to theyoungest we were beginning to feel rather funny. Next morning, afterbeing well shaken up by Father, and after we had had a wash with coldwater in the open air, we made up our minds to be firmer at the nextPurim. 

"After going in the morning to hear the Chazan again, and coming homeand enjoying the Hamantaschen and other good things, then begins thepleasure and excitement of sending Shalach-manoth to friends, acquaintances, and chiefly to the poor, and even to enemies if you haveany. As you are supposed, if possible, to send back to the sendersomething similar to what is sent to you, things cannot be made readybeforehand. To the poor you always send useful presents as well asdelicacies which are likely to last them for months or longer. 

"As to the beggars, I never imagined there could be so many in onecountry. We generally get enough beggars coming to us on Fridays andbefore holy days, but at Yom Kippur and Purim they come in crowds. Mostof them are Sephardim and Yeminites. It is true you give each of themonly a para, which is about a quarter of a farthing, and they give you ablessing for it; but, if they come to a rich class of home and are notgiven there according to the style of the house, they upbraid thepeople, and even curse them, so the children are told to stand at thedoors with paras and cakes, etc. At some houses they are invited in. Each carries a sack on his shoulder, expecting, I suppose, that it willbe filled with good things by the time Purim is over; and, as they neverpass a door without begging, they are not likely to be disappointed. 

"The fun I enjoyed best was the uncovering of our plates and seeing whatShalach-monus had been sent to us. A cap had been sent to Father, madeof velvet, with tails of sable and other skins round it. Father feltvery downcast, for he did not at all like the idea of giving up wearingthe high hat that he always wore in London on Sabbaths and holidays. Whether he will wear the velvet schtramel or not I cannot tell, but Iwill wait and see who wins--Father or the community--for we have someidea who sent it. 

"Mother received a beautiful, soft silk kerchief to wear on her head, and it seemed a sign that the community wanted her to put her wig asideand wear a kerchief instead. I was most thankful they did not send me apair of scissors. If they had, I should have thought they wanted me tocut my plaits off. Well, I should have fought for my hair as I would forlife!

"In the afternoon I went to visit some friends, and I found a house fullof men, young and old, with their schtramel on their heads, and theirkaftans tied back, singing at the very top of their voices (and somehave very fine voices); others were clapping their hands, while eightmen, four on each side, were dancing what looked like a pantomime balletthat I once went to. It was simply grand to watch them, for some wereold men with long, white beards, while others were serious-lookingyoung men who are to be seen daily in the street walking to and fromtheir homes and Shules, always deep in thought and so veryserious-looking that you would imagine that they did not know how tosmile. Here they were, on this Purim afternoon, dancing with all theirmight, and with bright, smiling eyes! You could see it was not wine thathad made them bright and cheery: it was the spirit, or fire, of theirreligious zeal commemorating with thankfulness the anniversary of theday when their nation was saved from destruction. Of course I was toofascinated watching them at the time to think this was the reason forthis unusual sight. 

"After a while, they went to pay visits to the Rav and to others whowere scholars or pious men in the community. Often when walking to thevarious houses they would catch hold of others and dance with them inthe open streets as you see children doing when an organ-grinder plays. 

"I was so attracted by them, and so was everyone who saw them, that wefollowed them at a respectful distance. Sometimes someone had had alittle too much wine when visiting and it had gone to his head. Thensome of the party would say: 'Ah well, it is Purim--there is no shame. '

"I told Father this when I returned home, and he explained to me thattheir rejoicing during Purim did not mean simply a materialsatisfaction--it was a spiritual rejoicing, as on Simhath Torah, whenthe Reading of the Law was started again, so that during Purim andSimhath Torah allowance is made if a little more wine is taken than isusually the case. 

"Then we had Purim Schpielers, who visited every house, dressed up veryfunnily and full of jokes; some acted, and some were disguised. In fact, it was the happiest Purim I have ever spent, and I doubt if there is anyother place where it could be spent so happily. For here in Jerusalem weare all like one large family: respect is paid to the righteous and toworthy scholars, whether they are poor or rich. Money has not the samepower here. There is a good deal of quarrelling and mischief going onamong our female neighbours, but the quarrels are not very serious butmore like quarrels in a large family. In another letter I will writeabout our 'Female Club. '"

THE BAKING OF THE MATZOS

Friday evening came round again, and the friends of the Jacob familywere comfortably seated in the bright cellar-kitchen, eagerly waiting tohear another letter read, for old and young were equally interested inhearing details of life in Palestine so many years ago. 

On coming in with a letter Mr Jacob said: "As preparation for thePassover is not far off, I think it will interest you to hear how it wasdone in Palestine. "

They all agreed, so he began:

"My dear Jacob, --Please forgive my not having written sooner, but I havereally been too busy. We have just had Passover. I think you will beglad to hear how we prepared for it here. Each family is forced to bakeits own matzos, as none can be bought from abroad. It was no easymatter, I can tell you, especially the baking, and it is a good thing wehad strong teeth, as the matzos are not rolled out as thin as in Londonand are pretty hard to eat. There's a lot of fun attached to makingmatzos, but I am thankful the baking comes only once a year. 

"As each family in turn gets the use of the public baking-oven, it isnecessary to start soon after Purim to prepare the special flour usedfor matzos. In every house a room is set apart and thoroughly cleansedfor the wheat, which is laid out on large trays. Then during the winterit is examined by the mother and girls to see that no dust be mixed withit, and sometimes neighbours come in and help. All who enter this roommust have very clean hands; even the finger-nails must be carefullycleaned, and clean clothes put on, so that there is no chance of anychometz. When enough of the best grains have been selected, they arewashed, dried, and then ground into flour. 

"As each family's turn comes round for the use of the bakehouse, thosewho help always wash very carefully and put on clean overalls; also newcooking-utensils are always used. 

"Water is carried by a few of the elder men of the family, as theyoungsters would not be trusted to carry it without spilling it. 

ADVENTURES

"There is great talking among those waiting their turn for the use ofthe oven, and great teasing, and sometimes fighting, amongst the boys. Now and then one of the elder men pulls their ears with a vengeance forbeing 'shkotzim', as he calls it. Then they keep quiet till he goesaway. When our turn came, Millie kneaded the flour, while fatherpoured the water on for her. You remember what a strong girl she is, andshe did the kneading with such a will that I warned her not to get toohot. No flour-dredgers are used. My duty was to roll out the dough, butMother wasn't satisfied with the way I did it, and sent me to put morewood in the oven. When the oven was hot enough, I had to sweep all theburnt wood and ashes out to get it nice and clean. 

[Illustration: CHADAR (SCHOOL)]

"Then we started to put the matzos in, one by one. Oh, it was hot work!I hardly knew what to do, it was so hot. Mother came and pushed measide, saying to herself I was good for nothing. In fact, my dear Jacob, one wants training to stand such heat, as one does to be a blacksmith. Mother said that making matzos teaches us to realize what some of thehardships were that our forefathers went through in Egypt. I hope itwill become easier in time, for all the others are quite happy makingand baking them, singing at the same time. 

"Well, well! to be a true Jew is a hard matter. As I grow older and getmore knowledge and sense I shall find a pleasure in doing these things. 

TEMPTATION--AND JONATHAN

"After a few hours of hard work all the newly baked matzos were put in abasket, in which had been laid a clean table-cloth; and, when all hadbeen carefully packed in, they were covered with another white cloth. What I felt most was not being allowed to taste a bit, for it isforbidden till Seder to eat any of the matzos. As I was carrying thebasket home, I felt as if the devil was in me, and the temptation was sostrong that I undid the cord and took one out. Hearing someone coming upbehind me, I slipped it hurriedly into my pocket and took up the basketand started off again. 

"I heard the footsteps coming closer until who should come up to me butmy best friend, Jonathan? He glared at me and said: 'Oh you sinner inIsrael!' 'Why, what have I done?' I exclaimed. 'I saw you put a matzo inyour pocket!' he said. 

"I felt hot all over, for I did not want him to have a bad opinion ofme, as we had sworn friendship to each other like Jonathan and David. 

"So I took the matzo out of my pocket, threw it in the gutter, andjumped on it. 

"'Why have you done that?' he said. 'Because I don't want you to thinkbadly of me. ' 'Yet you did not care for what God thought!' he said. 'Don't you know that our Rabbis say that a bad thought is just as evilas a bad deed; for, if we check a bad thought or wish, it helps us notto put the bad thoughts or wish into action. If we were as anxious toplease God as we are to please our friends, and to be as well thought ofby Him, we should check our bad thoughts before they led us to do baddeeds. '

"He said, too, that he was sorry to see that I cared more for hisapproval than I did for God's approval. I promised for the future to tryto overcome any evil thoughts or wishes that came into my mind so that Ishould not be so tempted to do wrong--in fact I would try to check a badthought in the bud. 

"Then he forgave me, and we parted good friends, for I love him. He isexactly what I think Jonathan must have been to David, and I will writemore about him in another letter. 

"When I arrived home, we had to prepare and cleanse the house forPassover. We had to do all the work ourselves, for we could not hire anyhelpers except, by a stroke of luck, the 'white-washers, ' as they arecalled. 

SPRING CLEANING

"All the furniture is put out of doors, not even a pin is left in thehouse. As everyone does the same, a stranger passing by would thinkthere must be a 'jumble sale' going on. 

"Passover time is usually like lovely English summer weather. As verylittle water can be got, guess how everything is scrubbed and rubbed!

"Outside Meah Sheorim there are large holes from which clay has beentaken for building purposes, and during the winter-rains they get filledwith water and they look nearly as large as ponds. 

"We carried or pushed all the furniture to one of these ponds, took sandmoistened with a little water, and rubbed the furniture till it waswhite and clean. This we have to do three times: such is the rule. Ifany of the furniture was polished, you can imagine that not much of thepolish was left after all this scrubbing and rubbing. 

"We threw into the pond whatever we could, and as it was not deep, wepulled up our trousers, and washed those pieces of furniture in thewater. Some threw in boards, and we made see-saws and played on themtill one of us fell in. It was such fun! Sometimes the furniture gotmixed, and it was hard to tell to whom it belonged. Indeed, I neverenjoyed myself so much as on this Erev Passover. Even more than inLondon when I went to see _Sindbad the Sailor_. There is plenty of fungoing on when we are left free, but that is not often, you may be sure. The best fun we had was when someone threw a chair into the pond and saton it while other boys pushed it along. Somebody else threw in a barreland a few of us got on it, and then over we went into the water. 

LOTS OF FUN

"We were not anxious to go home, even for meals, when our mothers calledus. When we did get home, we found all the walls looking lovely withfresh whitewash. For a few days we were not allowed to go into the houseunless we took our outer clothes off to prevent our bringing in somechometz. The weather was beautifully warm, so that we really enjoyedeating our meals out of doors and calling out to other boys as they atetheirs. 

"On the eve before Passover we had the fun of going to the Turkish bathand then to Mikva and help to have all new things 'tavelt', and then thegreatest enjoyment was on the day for the preparation of the Seder!

THE BONFIRE

"Before I stop writing I must tell you of the bonfire we had on ErevPassover, when over a hundred of us each threw the wooden spoon andremnants of chometz on the lighted fire, and then there was such a blazefor nearly two hours! We caught hold of each other's hands and dancedround the bonfire. Oh! it was a grand sight. Now I'm called to go to aBar Mitzvah, but will write you again very soon. How I wish you werehere with me, Jacob!"

"I wish I was, too, " exclaimed Benjamin, who had sat listening quietlywhilst the letter was being read. On the faces of several of the elderpeople there was a far-away look and sometimes a smile, for the scenesdescribed in the letter brought back memories of their own childhoodwhen the holidays and the preparations for them were similar to those inPalestine. 

HOW TO ENJOY THE PASSOVER IN LONDON

One of the boy-listeners said: "I see now why some of us in London donot enjoy the holidays. It is due to our surroundings. Many of us herehave to work or go to business whether it is a holiday or not, and so wedo not enjoy them in the same spirit as the boys and girls in Palestine, where they are freer to carry out the teaching of our religion. "

"Well!" said Benjamin; "there's one thing at least I can do, and that isto help my mother to prepare for the Passover in my spare time. "

"And I, too, " and "I, too, " exclaimed others. 

"Bravo, boys!" said Mr Jacob. "Even if you do not enjoy it so muchphysically, you will do so spiritually, for anyone who tries to help hismother to keep up our fine old customs will be blessed. "

LAG B'OMER

It was a week before Lag B'Omer, and the friends of the Jacobs familycontinued to attend every Friday evening to hear a letter from Jerusalemread. There was only one drawback to these Friday re-unions, and thatwas that every week the little cellar-kitchen sitting-room got more andmore crowded, for each friend became so interested that he broughtanother with him without asking permission. However, as no onecomplained, Mr and Mrs Jacobs said nothing, and were indeed thankfulthat so many were interested in those old letters; and Mr Jacobs at oncestarted reading as follows:--

"DEAR MILLIE, --I want to tell you how we spent Lag B'Omer here, for inLondon we used not to make much of a holy day of it. Here days are takenin preparing for it, baking cakes and preparing tasty meals. Both oldand young spend that day in visits to the graves of our great Rabbis andin picnics on the Mount of Olives or in the cool shade of the many cavesin the neighbourhood. Those who have large families have their handsfull, for the walks in the open air give the children huge appetites;and, unless you are prepared for such appetites it is difficult tosupply all that is needed, for you cannot buy extra food, as in England, except perhaps a few nuts and a drink of water. 

"Before dawn, our youngsters awakened us and hurried us to get ready tostart, as if we should not have quite enough of their pranks even if weleft a few hours later. As we have to form ourselves into large groups, we arrange these a day or two beforehand, for there are a great numberof Arabs and Turks about, and many of them are very wild. If you goalone, or even in pairs, they are often known to attack you, especiallyin the case of a girl or a woman. At first I laughed at the girlsfearing to go alone when in the country, but, after having had anunpleasant adventure myself, I determined to be more careful and obeythose who knew better than I did as to what was safe and what not. 

"It happened in this way. One Sabbath afternoon I went out of the suburbwith a few girls, who, like myself, had the spirit of adventure. As wewent along chatting merrily together, we felt ourselves caught frombehind by some Turks. Fortunately we had not got far, so that when weshrieked out our cries were heard in the town, and to our great reliefwe soon heard a horse galloping in our direction. We kept on screaming, and one Turk put his hand over my friend's mouth; but she bit andscratched his hand. Then, suddenly, we were let loose, and the Turkstook to their heels, for they saw Europeans galloping up to us. Two ofthem jumped off their horses and asked if we were hurt, for we had beenso frightened that we could not quickly leave off crying. They kindlybrought us home, and after that experience I never wanted to go outwithout enough men in our party to guard us. 

"Now this Lag B'Omer a number of girls wanted to go to see some specialplaces, so we formed ourselves into a large party and started veryearly, for you rarely get such an outing. It was a most glorious springmorning, and a few of us had donkeys to ride. To do so is not as muchpleasure as you might think, for the donkeys in Palestine stop every fewminutes, and, unless you beat them cruelly, which we did not like doing, they will not budge an inch. Sometimes they consent to be led, but theywill not be driven, and you have a weary time of it. Now and then adonkey will suddenly start off on a quick trot, and, being thus takenunawares, the rider often falls off. You can imagine the laughter ofyour friends and how stupid the girl feels, but somehow it is alwaystaken in good part. 

"Our visit first was to David's Tomb, but we were not allowed to go in. Next we walked round the walls of Jerusalem, climbed up the Mount ofOlives, then rested under the shade of a large olive-tree, where wespread out our table-cloth and arranged on it all the good things we hadbrought with us. The long walk had given us good appetites. After we hadfinished our meals, other groups of friends came close to us, and thensome of the men in turns told us tales of our nation's ancient glory, and each one had something interesting to relate. Then a middle-aged manwith a group of boys came near us. I think he must have been a teacher, for he started telling the boys about Bar Cochba and his struggle withthe Romans. 

"'Fierce struggles for Jewish freedom went on for three years, and theJews were proving so successful under the leadership of Bar Cochba thatthe Romans thought it necessary to bring their greatest general, JuliusSeverus, from Britain to command the Roman Army in Palestine. At lastthe Samaritans betrayed our people: our last remaining fortified city, Bethar, fell, and Bar Cochba died in defending it on 9th of Ab, 135 C. E. 

"'The Jews were the last people under Roman rule in those days to fightfor freedom, and over half-a-million of them lost their lives in thislong struggle. Rabbi Akiba, the wise and dearly-loved Jewish scholar, was taken prisoner and scourged, until he expired under his sufferings. Jerusalem was turned into a Roman colony called Aelia Capitolina, and noJew dared appear in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, under penalty ofdeath. Jews under the Roman rules were forbidden to practise theirreligion, and anyone found teaching or preaching Judaism was horriblytortured. '

"The Rabbi, continuing, reminded his boys that, in remembrance of thebrave deeds of Bar Cochba and his Jewish soldiers, Jewish boys to thispresent time play with bows and arrows on Lag B'Omer. 

"I was most interested to hear all the Rabbi had to tell his boys, andglad to feel I was at last living in the Holy Land where so many of ournoble heroes of past ages lived and fought and suffered martyrdom. Icould not prevent tears coming to my eyes when thinking on our nation'spast glory and praying silently we may come again into our own; but Ibelieve it will not be so much by the power of the sword, but as theProphet Zachariah foretold unto Zerubbabel: 'Not by might, nor by power(or arms), but by MY SPIRIT, saith the Lord. ' Those who have been bornhere or lived here for many years cannot understand our feeling thus, though they love their country and their nation dearly. 

"When the Rabbi had ended, we all stood up and received his blessing. Wethen went on to the grave of Rabbi Shiman, which was in a beautiful, cool, and shady spot. There we found numbers of people. Some groups werehaving a lively time singing and clapping their hands, while the menwere dancing; but none of the women or girls danced, as it would bethought immodest of them, but they helped by singing and clapping theirhands. Then other folks came to pray at the saint's grave for the healthof some of their children that were ailing. Others dropped letters orpieces of paper into the Rabbi's tomb with special requests written onthem. Some put money into the charity-boxes hanging at different partsaround the tomb. There was also no end of beggars there. Onenice-looking man went about with a red handkerchief tied up by the fourcorners, asking people to put in as much as they could spare to upholdthe yeshibas and the hospital or the home for the aged, and otherinstitutions. But as most of the people there around the Rabbi's gravelived on charity, I could not see what they could spare. 

"I happened to mention this to Father and said how I disliked seeingpeople living on Chalukha (alms sent them from Europe), and I could notunderstand why they were not ashamed to take it, for they did not looklike ordinary beggars, but quite the reverse--independent, studious, and refined-looking, as I found out later when I spoke to them. Theyseemed indeed to think they were conferring a favour by accepting alms. Father said to a certain degree they were wrong, but from another pointof view it is difficult for a man to progress in business and at thesame time devote many hours to the study of the Torah. Our ancientRabbis realized this, and said that those who had not the leisure or theinclination to devote much time to the study of the Torah should make ittheir duty to give of their means towards the up-keep of those who did. If they did this God would bless them. So it is now a recognized dutyfor every Jew in Europe who has any respect for the Torah and otherreligious learning or teaching to send his 'bit' towards the yearlysupport of the scholars here. 

"The latter, who do nothing but study the Torah, think that it isthrough their efforts in this direction that Israel is saved. They donot consider the money given for their support a charity, but believethey hold a similar position in Palestine to that of professors andstudents who hold scholarships in the various universities in GreatBritain and Europe. The Jews in certain countries send more money forthe support of their fellow-countrymen who are teachers and scholarsthan the Jews of some of the Eastern European countries, and that is whysome appear to be better off than many of their fellow-teachers andscholars. 

"This chat with Father helped me to understand other things as wellwhich had puzzled me before. About this I will write more in anotherletter. 

"Now I must return to Lag B'Omer, and tell you what struck me as verystrange on that day. As I went with a few of my girl-friends from groupto group to see and hear all I could about what was going on, we came toa group of women, girls, and youngsters, and in the centre of them all alovely little child about three years of age sitting dressed in silk, and a plate near by with some lovely black curls lying on it. I, ofcourse, asked what it all meant, and was told that those people who hadonly one boy, or who had lost some by death, never cut the hair of theirchildren till they were between three and four years of age. Then, whenit was cut, they put all they had cut off upon a scale, and upon theother side of the scale copper, silver, or gold money, according totheir means. If poor, they put copper coins upon the scales to test theweight of the hair, and then distributed these copper coins among thepoor. In fact, it just looks as if those who receive charity take itin one hand and distribute it with the other. 

[Illustration: YEUSHIVA (TALMUDICAL SCHOOL)]

"Nowhere have I ever seen so much almsgiving as here. Alms-boxes arehung up in various places, where in Europe you would see only ornaments. For every joy or blessing and for those who have relatives or friendsill or in danger, money is freely dropped into the box. This money isgiven towards the up-keep of the hospital for the very poor, and so on. Really, it must be very hard for those people who have little to spare, but Father says this is one of the means by which every Jew in Palestineis trained to love his neighbour as himself. I feel he is right, for Inever saw so much kindness and thoughtfulness for others as I have seensince we arrived here. Everyone naturally does what the others do, andit has proved to me how true it is that example is far more powerfulthan preaching or teaching. 

"As we appeared so interested in what they told us, they kindly invitedus to sit down and offered us wine, cake, delicious pasties, and jams, and later on baked nuts, though we were quite strangers to them. It isthis kindliness that surprised me so much. Altogether we spent a veryjoyful day, returning home by moonlight, when we girls and womenthoroughly enjoyed listening to the groups of men and boys who sang anddanced on the way home. 

"I don't think I could ever make you realize all the drawbacks to thelife here; but yet it has a very pleasant and happy side too, and youreally see far more pleasure than you ever do in London. In my nextletter I'll tell you about the engagement and marriage of my friend whois only fifteen years old. Now I must stop, hoping that we may see youhere some day soon. "

The older folks started discussing the life in Palestine. Directly MrJacobs had finished reading the letter, they agreed that it could onlybe in Palestine that a truly Jewish life could be lived, for everythingdepends so much on environment. "In London the surroundings are againsta consistently Jewish religious life, " said one; "if you try, it is justlike swimming against a strong current. " "But here comes our chance, "replied another, "for if we fight or swim against the current, wegradually become stronger, and at last we are able to swim well in spiteof it, and so win the race and prize. If we just swim with the current, or just suit our life to our environment, which of course at first ismuch easier and pleasanter, the current at last carries us along sorapidly that we are unable to avoid rocks or crags in the river, andthen we 'go under, ' or make shipwreck of our lives. "

"That's true indeed, " said all the elders, shaking their heads solemnly. "Then, " replied Mr Jacobs, "our greatest duty is to have one thought andone aim constantly in our minds, no matter what our environment may be, and that thought is that God's Holy Spirit is in and around all who tryto obey Him, no matter where they are; and it is only by the guidanceand help of His Holy Spirit that we can lead true, consistent, Jewishlives, live up to the old familiar words of the Shema, and love ourneighbours as ourselves. "

THE SABBATH IN PALESTINE

When Mr Jacobs' family and friends assembled again on Friday evening, hesaid: "You know what discussions there have been lately in England aboutthe proper way to keep the Sabbath, so it may interest you to hear aletter from my cousin, giving an account how Sabbath was kept inJerusalem. "

"My dear Millie, --I will explain as well as I can what it means toprepare for Sabbath here, and how it is spent. About four o'clock onFriday mornings Mother and I get up and prepare the Sabbath loaves. Ican tell you it is no easy matter, for, even when the weather is notfrosty, the exertion of kneading the dough makes you perspire. If youfinish kneading early enough, you get back to bed while the dough isrising. 

"Early on Friday mornings beggars start going from house to house(especially the Sephardim and Yemenites or Arabian Jews). At each housethey are given small, fresh-baked chola, bun, or beigel. No one refusesto give this. Later on, two respectable men or women go from house tohouse collecting in a large bag whatever anyone gives them, such ascholas, meat, cereals, oil, wine, or money. The Community know thatthese things are not for themselves, but are to be distributed amongstthe sick and the most needy, who cannot beg for themselves. Sometimes wehave as many as six or seven people who come collecting, and no one everthinks of refusing them. In fact, everyone prepares for this, and givesmost willingly, knowing that the Sabbath must be celebrated by rich andpoor alike with the best one has. 

"In a future letter I will tell you more about certain people who giveup a part of their time to works of charity, and how they do it; forthere is no Board of Guardians here, as there is in London. 

"Then when Father and the boys go to synagogue, we start to prepare forthe day's work. First we take all the furniture we can out of the house, so as to leave the rooms free for the lower part of the walls to bewhitewashed and the marble floors cleaned. Of course, we try to use aslittle water as possible, as it is scarce, but even so the floors mustbe clean and look well polished, and the wooden furniture washed andrubbed well with sand. 

"Then the tea-urn and all the saucepans and trays, which are eitherbrass or copper, have to be cleaned and brightened; and, as we cannotget brass-polish here, we rub them with fine sand. It needs plenty of'elbow grease' to make them look bright, but the rubbing well repays us. Since we came here I quite understand how brass or copperlooking-glasses were used by our ancestors, for, after rubbing very hardwith fine sand and a piece of lemon peel, you can see your face clearlyreflected in the trays. Some who had no mirror used the trays forlooking-glasses. 

"Mother prepares our Sabbath meals, whilst we girls are doing the hardwork--hanging up our best curtains or putting our best covers on thebeds and cushions, and spreading the Sabbath table-cloth. These are putaway again on Saturday evenings. Those who have them also use specialSabbath china, glass, and silver for their meals. 

"This work keeps us busy nearly all day. About three hours before sunsetFather and the boys go to the public baths, and by the time they returnwe are all dressed in our best clothes, the samovar (the urn) is placedon a table in the porch, and we all sit there to rest and drink tea, awaiting the coming in of 'Princess Sabbath. ' A matter of an hour beforeSabbath a voice is heard calling out:

'Sabbath is in, friends! Sabbath is in!'

"The first time I heard the call I could not understand the reason untilFather told me that, as there are no bells in the suburb and very fewpeople have clocks, one of the highly-respected members of thecommunity undertakes the job of going right round Meah Sheorim everyFriday, so that the women may know when to light their Sabbathlamps--for directly the Sabbath call is heard all the women stopwhatever work they are at and go to light the Sabbath lamp, which hasseven wicks, in a basin of oil hanging from the ceiling, for there areno candles here. When this is done the men and children go to synagogue, and some of the women too. As they all love bright colours, when you seethem from a distance walking to synagogue, the suburb looks like aflower-garden. 

"After Sabbath dinner, which consists of the _cholent_ baked on theprevious day, Father gathers the boys round the table to hear whatlessons they have learnt during the week. He discusses and explains partof the Torah to them, while mother and we girls read the Zeene ureene (acommentary on the Bible for women), the Ethics of the Fathers, and thelike. This goes on for some time, and then we are free to go and visitour friends. We and several of our friends often go to an old lady'shouse, where we spend pleasant Sabbath afternoons. 

"Years ago this dear old lady came from Russia to end her days in theHoly Land. She is well provided for by her children, so she has thetime and means to lead a happy and useful life here, and does a lot ofgood quietly, by the cheery, sensible way she often gives a "helpinghand" to those who need it. 

"She so understands all our fun that we sometimes forget she is old. Wejust talk things over with her as we would with our young friends. Notonly we girls, but young married women, just love spending part of theSabbath afternoons with her. The room is often so full that we have tosit cross-legged, like the Turks, on the marble floor, which in summertime is quite the coolest seat. 

"We then play 'Nuts. ' Each one puts a certain number into a cap, but towin the game one has to be very quick and sharp: it is really quiteexciting. What we like best is when the old lady sits amongst us andreads us a tale from a book, or some of the papers sent her from abroad. The stories are very tantalizing, for they always leave off at the mostinteresting part, and then we may have to wait a week or two before weget the next number! During the week we try to imagine what the nextchapter will be like. 

"Sometimes she reads from the Ethics of the Fathers--those wise sayingsof the ancient Rabbis. I remember last week she told us of one of theRabbis who wrote that 'those who control or overcome their hastytempers are greater than those who take a city from an enemy, ' She, asusual, asks us to give our views on what she has read, and an exciteddiscussion follows. Those of us who naturally have a calm, good tempersaid that they did not agree with the Rabbi, because they did not thinkit at all hard to keep their temper when provoked. Others, who had hastypassionate tempers, said the Rabbi was quite right: it would be fareasier, they felt sure, to take a city than to control their tempers, for the whole nation would help them to take a city, as it wasconsidered a grand thing to do, but very few people would help them tocontrol their tempers. In fact, even their relatives and friendsprovoked them to be hasty and passionate. When provoked or irritated theblood rushes so quickly to the head that it makes it very, very hard toremain calm, and then we often say or do things we are really sorry forafterwards. 

"As we could not agree, we turned to the old lady, for she is full ofwisdom and understanding. She tried to pacify us, for we were nearly onthe verge of quarreling. She said that if, when young, we tried, withthe Almighty's help, to keep our hasty tempers under control, it wouldbe easier to do so every time we were provoked, but the older we werebefore beginning, the more difficult it would be to be successful. Even then we had always to keep a watch over ourselves, for one of ourwise sages wrote: 'One is never sure of himself till the day of hisdeath. ' We all saw the wisdom of her advice, and made up our minds thatwe must all help each other, for very often the calm quiet natures arethose who love teasing and provoking the hasty-tempered ones, for thefun of seeing them get into a temper; and this, we realized after hertalk with us, was not pleasing to God. 

[Illustration: THE OLD LADY]

"After we leave her we take a walk outside the suburb. At sunset, whenwe return home, until the time to go to bed, we are kept very busywashing up all the things used at meals, as no washing up is done duringthe Sabbath. Then, too, all the Sabbath curtains, coverlets, glass, china, and silver have to be carefully put away. 

"In my next letter I will write you more about our old lady. "

When Mr Jacobs had finished the letter, the usual talk started. One saidthat "Such a Sabbath might be all very well in Palestine!"

An elderly friend said: "Well! in Palestine they at least _know_ whatthe Sabbath is, whilst here in London, unless one keeps it strictly andremains indoors all day, except to go to synagogue, one never sees anydifference between the Sabbath and any other day of the week. "

Mr Jacobs said: "I think what you both say is true, and the only way isto try to keep our Sabbath in the spirit, as well as in the letter asmuch as possible. If each of us tried to do this in his own home, evenin London, gradually a difference would be seen in the neighbourhood inwhich we live. A wise man wrote: 'All reforms begin with _man_ and notwith _men_. ' The first important step is to think good thoughts; for'thoughts have wings, ' and, when expressed, they are readily impressedupon the minds of those in sympathy with the thinker. "

"True, very true!" exclaimed the others. "Let us each, with God's help, strive to remember more often those thoughts of our Prophet Isaiah(chap. 58): 'If thou call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of theLord honourable, and shalt honour it, not doing thy wonted ways, norpursuing thy business, nor speaking thereof, then shalt thou delightthyself in the Lord, and I will make thee to ride upon the high placesof the earth, and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thyfather: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. '"

By this the Prophet meant that we were to drive all thoughts of businessfrom our minds on the Sabbath. No thoughts of scandal, evil, oruncharitableness were to be harboured, but our minds and hearts were todelight in words of prayer, in the study of the Holy Law. It was to betruly a day of peace, a day of rest. 

THE SUCCAH

Mr Jacob told his friends the next Friday evening, when they arrived asusual, that he thought they would be interested in the letter describingthe Succah. 

"My dear Millie, --After the Day of Atonement, everyone was very busypreparing for the Feast of Tabernacles, which is still celebrated hereas it must have been in Bible times. 

"With great merriment all the young people decorate their Succahs, whiletheir mothers with the baby in their arms watch the young folks at work. 

"The Succahs in Palestine are not made as they are in Europe. Thesaplings are covered with palm-leaves woven together, the roof withbranches of trees, as there is no chance of rain at this time of theyear in Palestine. Everything that is beautiful in the home is broughtout to decorate the interior of the Succah. The poor make their Succahsof doors or wooden boxes. 

"As this was the first Succah since our arrival, we were invited byour neighbours to join them. The father, a patriarchal looking oldman with a saintly face, sat at the head of the table, and we werefascinated by his looks. His eldest son came in soon after, followedby his other grown-up sons and his daughters. He greeted his agedfather with a smile, and wished him good 'Yom Tov' and bowed hishead for his father's blessing. Then one by one all the childrencame to greet him and receive his blessing, with quite a number ofgrandchildren and great-grandchildren, and last but not least thelittle great-great-grandchild. 

"When my parents looked astonished at the number, one of the daughtersquietly said: 'You see that here we marry our children while very young, so that the Psalmist's words are very often fulfilled in Palestine, andnearly everyone has his quiver full. ' When all were quiet, our agedfriend repeated a prayer over the wine, and the large silver cup waspassed from one to the other. This was very solemnly and reverentlydone. 

"After this, our aged neighbour's children who had large families wentto their own homes, while those of his children who had small familiesremained to celebrate the Feast with him. When he had washed his handsbefore eating and repeated the blessing upon the meal, he took hisyoungest great-grandchild on his knee. 

"The only thing that saddened the scene was the empty chair beside ouraged friend--his wife had died during the course of the year. Thefamily all looked at the empty chair and sighed, and thegreat-great-grandfather, with tears glistening in his eyes, also gave asigh, and then turned with a smile to his large family and said: 'Let usbegin. My little Samuel will start a Brocha, ' and the rest listened tohear how the little one lisped the words after his great-grandfather. 

"The following day our aged friend sat like a king in his Succah, whilerelatives and friends came to pay their respects to him, and all was joyand merriment. 

"Some of the younger grandchildren wanted to show their grandfather whatthey had lately learned, and there was quite a scramble around his kneesto try and be first heard. With a wave of his hand he said: 'I will hearyou all in turn, my children. ' This quietened the eager little souls, and they waited patiently for their turns to come. 

"While the children were thus busy with their grandfather, the eldersons and sons-in-law and their wives sat around, discussing quietlyvarious topics of interest, till the time for Mincha came round. 

"Then the great grandfather went to Shule, followed by all his children. 

"Visiting other neighbours during the Succah weeks, we found that theypreserved this beautiful and ancient way of keeping the Festival. 

"I never realized till then what a great influence for good thesurroundings and teaching in childhood can be, and how a father andmother can leave the impress of their teaching in early life upon bothsons and daughters. It is the mother specially who forms the child'ssoul, quite as clearly on the boys as on the girls from theircradle-days, and the father and the teacher only builds on thefoundation laid by the mother: this is seen here more than elsewhere. "

"Very true, " exclaimed the others; "a great deal is done by the mother;but the environment has a great influence on the character. "

This caused a good deal of discussion and the meeting did not close tillone o'clock in the morning. 

HOW CHARITY IS GIVEN

On the following Friday evening, the next letter that Mr Jacob chose forreading to his family and friends was on the way almsgiving, orcharity, was managed in Palestine. Before starting to read, he advisedhis hearers not to forget that the Jewish community in Palestine wasvery small when this letter was written, and the majority of the peoplewere very poor. Many had spent most of their money and worldly goods inthe expenses of travelling there, with the object of ending their daysin their beloved land, and being buried with their forefathers. 

Mr Jacob then began the letter. 

"My dear Millie, --You seem so interested in all I have so far told youabout our life in Palestine, that I think you will like to hear of someof the ways that our poorer brethren are helped in Palestine. 

"Many of the ways will appear strange to you; yet I think some of themare really better than those adopted by our community in England. 

"Here, there is no Board of Guardians, so that the giving of charity, ora 'helping hand' to the sick or needy, is more of a direct personalmatter. The givers strive to be wise and tactful, so that our peoplemay not lose their self-respect; for, as a rule, they are naturally verysensitive, and if self-respect is lost some are encouraged to becomebeggars proper. 

"Mother tells us that our Jewish ethics teaches 'that true charity, oralmsgiving, is to make personal sacrifices when helping others. There isno self-sacrifice in giving what you cannot make use of yourself. 'Indeed, one Jewish ethical teacher wrote: 'If one who has lived aluxurious life becomes sick and in need, we should try to denyourselves, in order to give the sick one dainties such as chicken andwine. '

"Really some of our neighbours here seem to rejoice in giving away notonly all they can spare, but also in making personal sacrifices inhelping to relieve a needy neighbour. 

"From early childhood they were trained to give. In every Jewish home inPalestine we see from two to perhaps more than a dozen boxes placed invarious parts of the house, and written on each is the special charityto which the box is devoted. Into these boxes even tiny children aretrained to drop a coin at special times, and it is considered a happyprivilege to do so at times of Thanksgiving to God. The coins thuscollected are from time to time distributed amongst the sick and theneedy. 

"There is one hospital near us; and, though it is known to be wellmanaged, very few Jews whom we know go there for treatment, for it is aMissionary Hospital, and we strongly object to the methods of Christianmissionaries. Instead of many of them as formerly, persecuting us forclinging to our dearly beloved religion, they now try, by acts ofkindness in times of sickness and poverty, to influence our people infavour of accepting their religion. 

"Indeed, I have heard some of our people say that they would rather goto the Arabs for treatment than enter the Missionary Hospital! Thereforethose who cannot nurse the sick ones at home take them to theBikkur-Holim, which a doctor visits once every few days. A mother, wife, or father goes with the patients to give them the necessary food andmedicine, for in the Bikkur-Cholem there are no trained nurses. Therelatives also keep the patients clean and tidy; but little cooking isdone there, as the food is generally brought cooked from the patients'homes. 

"I once went to visit the Bikkur-Cholem. One patient I saw had a jug ofcold water brought to her, and, though her own lips were very parched, she would not take even one sip, but had the water given to those nearher, who, in a very high state of fever, were clamouring for water. Other patients I saw were cheerfully and willingly sharing their foodwith those who had none. Until I had visited that Bikkur-Cholem I hadnever realized what real charity meant. For these sufferers, in theirlove and thoughtfulness and genuine self-sacrifice towardsfellow-sufferers less fortunate than themselves, were obeying in spiritas well as in the letter the time-honoured commandment given us 'to loveone's neighbour as oneself. '

"The arrangements in the Bikkur-Cholem are most insanitary;disinfectants are unheard of; and I greatly pitied the poor unfortunatesthat have to go there. "

Mr. Jacob was too overcome by his feelings to continue--so for a fewminutes there was a deep silence. Then one of the listeners said: "Oneis thankful to remember that this letter was written fifty years ago, and conditions must have improved since our writer first went toPalestine. "

"Yes, thank God!" replied kind-hearted Mr Jacob; and then he continuedreading the letter. 

"Most of the patients die; but a few get cured and leave. If they do, itis certainly more through faith in God's love and mercy than through theremedies they receive while there. 

"Now, I want to tell you of a voluntary service which respectable, well-to-do men and women, and even scholars, do, for the poor who die. These kind folk are called 'the Chevra Kadisha. ' No doubt because of theheat, there is a strict law that no one who dies in Palestine is allowedto remain unburied long; and it is believed here that the dead continueto suffer until they are entombed. So the custom is to bury withintwelve hours every one who dies. The Chevra Kadisha look upon such adeed as a Mitzvoth. If a poor woman dies, one of these kind women atonce goes to wash the corpse and lay it out ready to be put on thebier--then when all the relatives and friends of the deceased have givenvent to their sorrow by weeping, some men and some scholars belonging tothe Chevra Kadisha voluntarily carry the bier on their shoulders to theplace of burial (which I think is the Mount of Olives), while others digthe grave and a scholar or two read the Prayers over the Dead. 

"By the Chevra Kadisha beggars and tramps are thus washed and buriedwhen dead, free of expense, by these good, self-sacrificing people, atall times and in all weathers, as a sign that in death all are equal. The people who can afford it leave enough money to pay all their ownburial expenses or these are paid for by their relatives. 

"Acts of charity towards very poor girls who have no dowry or suitablewedding-clothes are very touching and generous. It is considered adisgrace to the community if a poor girl is not given the opportunity tomarry, and a community not only provides a dower, but also seeks for abridegroom for her. The housewives willingly and generously prepare thewedding-feast, for everyone is willing to give something from theirstore-room. No shame is attached to poor girls accepting such help; forit is considered a duty by all our brethren to provide what is necessaryfor a bride who has not the means to get things for herself. 

"I am sorry that I cannot write more by this mail. "

One listener interrupted, saying: "Most of what you have read Mr Jacobhappens in Russia and in other parts of the world where Jews live inghettos. "

"Quite true, " said Mr Jacob, "for wherever Jews live together they keepup old customs, and all old customs are more or less alike in allghettos. It is only when we Jews live outside the ghettos, underdifferent surroundings, that we are tempted to throw over many religiouscustoms. The unfortunate thing is, that we are too often inclined tothrow off the really good customs rather than the useless ones, and moreinclined to adopt the bad traits and customs of our neighbours ratherthan the good ones amongst whom we live, be it in England, France, Germany, India, or elsewhere. This is a bad habit, and we must do ourutmost in the future to guard against it; for, if we all made an effortto retain our own ancient customs that are really good and beneficial toourselves and others and adopt only the good and healthy customs of ourneighbours, then, indeed, we might feel we had a right to call ourselvesand be recognized by those we live amongst as 'God's Chosen People. '"

FATHER FROST IN JERUSALEM

The next Friday evening Mr Jacob read the following letter. 

"My Dear Cousin Mill, --I have not yet written to tell you how we manageduring cold weather. Before we arrived, we were under the impressionthat it was always warm in Palestine. Certainly the sun does shine morein winter here than in England, and while it shines the weather is verypleasant; but we get very cold weather, too, especially in Jerusalem. Weget very little snow, but a good deal of frost, which no one enjoys. Nodoubt you wonder why, because we all enjoyed the cold and frost inEngland, and loved the skating and the snowballing. 

"The reason is very clear, for here we have no cheery open fireplaces, which give out so much heat in England; in fact there are not even anysteel or iron ovens, and the result is, the Palestinian houses areintensely cold in frosty weather. The ceilings are all lofty and in theshape of a dome, which, with the very thick stone walls is very pleasantin summer but very cold in the winter. Then there is very littlefirewood to be had here, as the Turks try to prevent muchtree-planting, so fire wood is a luxury which very few can afford. Instead, we have all copper buckets pierced with holes standing on atripod and filled with burning charcoal, which is placed in the middleof the room. 

"How we all eagerly cluster round it and watch the red hot charcoal, hoping that by _looking at it_ the warmth will go into our bodies! Sucha small amount of charcoal as we can afford does not warm a room verymuch, so all the windows are closed tightly to prevent any cold aircoming in. This also prevents the fumes of the burning charcoal fromescaping, so naturally the air gets very stuffy, and many suffer fromheadaches or fall into a heavy sleep. 

"You will wonder why it is many people do not get frozen. Well, the oldproverb holds good here, that 'Necessity is the mother of invention, ' soeven in the coldest weather we have a remedy; for we heat also our brasssamovar, which holds about thirty glasses of tea, and we drink a glassof hot tea every now and then. 

"As the samovar boils all day the steam also sends out some warmth intothe room. 

"Then, again, the younger children are during the very cold weather keptwarm in bed with feather coverlets and pillows, which the elder peopletry to keep warm in doing the necessary household duties. Very few goout in the streets, except the men when they go to Shule, and the elderboys when they go to the Yeshiba or Cheder, and even they are very oftenkept at home. 

"One comfort is that 'Father Frost' does not stay long, so we can manageto bear his icy breath: the greatest hardship is when he visits us on aSabbath, for of course on that day we cannot heat the samovar and so wehave to do with less tea. 

"We prepare our Sabbath meals in a small scullery, or porch, in which asmall brick oven is built to keep the food hot for the Sabbath. A fewpieces of wood are put in, and, when well lighted, the oven ishalf-filled with charcoal-dust--this again is covered by pieces of tinor lime, and, on top of all, the saucepans are put containing food forthe Sabbath meals: also bottles or jars of water are thus kept hot fortea or coffee. Neighbours who are not lucky enough to have such an ovenbring in their food, and we let them put it in our ovens. In this way wehave enough for every one to drink who may come in. Sometimes twentypoor people come in on a Sabbath day and say: 'Spare me, please, alittle hot water?' No one would think of refusing to give them some, even if they had to share their last glass with them. 

"Generally on cold Sabbath afternoons our parents have a nap aftereating the nice hot cholent, and we girls and the young married womengo and spend a few hours with our old lady friend, who always entertainsus with stories and discussions on various interesting subjects. So thetime passes very quickly and so pleasantly that we forget how cold itis. About twenty or thirty of us all sit close together on her divancovered up with rugs, and this with the excitement over the tales shetells us, helps to keep us warm. 

"Last Sabbath our old lady was not very well, and we were feeling verymiserable without her entertaining tales. Suddenly, one of mygirl-friends asked me to tell them about our life in London. 

"As they had never read or heard about life outside Jerusalem, it wasmost amusing to hear their exclamations of wonder; for they could hardlybelieve what I told them was true, till our old lady confirmed ourstatements. 

"First, they wanted to know how young men and women behaved toward eachother. 

"I told them that every man and every woman, whether young or old, either in the street or in-doors, always shook hands with friends--atthis they looked very surprised and some seemed even horrified, exclaiming: 'What a sin to commit. ' I asked them where it was writtenthat this was a sin? 'Well, ' some replied, 'our parents or husbands sayit is a sin, ' 'I don't think it is a sin, but only a custom, ' said I. 'But it _is_ a sin, ' insisted one little wife of fifteen 'to touch oneanother's hands. ' I tried to explain to her, but she would not listen tome and we were on the verge of quarreling but as usual, when there was adifference of opinion between any of us, we always appealed to our oldlady and she agreed with me that there was no sin in shaking hands. 'Sin, ' she said, 'comes from thoughts--if while talking or laughing oreven shaking hands, evil thoughts pass through the minds of men or womenthen, and then only, is the act likely to be a sin. In Europe, ' she wenton to say, 'it is quite a natural thing for men and women to shake handsand talk to each other naturally. '

"Then I asked my new friend Huldah (a young wife of fifteen years ofage) to tell us all about her own love-affair and marriage. She wasgreatly shocked to hear me speaking of love _before_ marriage--'Such athing could never happen to a modest Jewish maiden in those days, ' shesaid. 

"I told her that it did happen in Europe. 'May be, ' she replied; 'it mayhappen in lands where Jews mix with non-Jews and copy their ways!'

"As I rather liked to tease her, I said she was mistaken, for here inJerusalem did the great Rabbi Akiba fall in love with his wife beforemarriage. 'Oh, that was quite different!' she replied. 'Not at all, 'said I, for were not feasts and rejoicing held so that youths andmaidens could meet one another in the vineyards and dance in themeadows?--Look in the Bible, ' I continued, 'and you will see it ismentioned there. ' Then all looked abashed. The only one who smiled wasour old lady. 

"'Don't unsettle their minds, dear, ' she whispered softly to me. 'Idon't want to, ' I said; 'I only want to show them that, though suchthings are done in other countries, there is no sin in it as they havebeen brought up to believe. ' 'Well, well!' she said, 'let us hope Godwill restore our beloved land to us in his own good time, and then weshall again, as in days of old, celebrate such Festivals!'

"We all said 'AMEN, ' most heartily, to this wish. 

"In my next letter I will tell you of our friend's engagement andmarriage. Your loving cousin, Millie. "

ENGAGEMENT AND WEDDING CEREMONIES

The hearers waited with eagerness for the next Friday evening, as theyenjoyed so much hearing those interesting letters. 

The next Mr Jacobs read was this:

"Hulda is only fifteen years of age, and has already been married sixmonths. If she were dressed as girls are dressed in England, she wouldreally look beautiful; but her beauty is, I think, marred by the silkhandkerchief she wears on her head, which covers half her forehead andher ears, so that none of her hair can be seen, I mean that part of itthat was shaved off. Over the silk handkerchief she wears a black velvetband, to which gold coins are attached and these are put on socoquettishly that it makes the head-gear look quite artistic. Sometimesshe wears ornaments with pearls in them. These special trinkets are, ofcourse, worn only on Sabbaths and Festivals or some other specialoccasions. 

"The shaving of part of the young wife's head the day after her marriageis a custom to prevent young married women from being tempted by vanityto show off their hair, which is generally in Palestine very beautiful. The poor things cover up the part so well that there is no fear of anyof it being seen. 

"Hulda is tall and well-developed for her age, and lively as a cricket, always ready to play and laugh and joke with us. She started by tellingme: 'I was invited to visit my betrothed's family during the holidays, and my future mother-in-law let me help her with the baking and cooking, and was specially pleased with the way I stretched out the dough for thelockshen--I made it look so thin, like a paper wrapper. She told me thatI would make a good housewife. Then I showed all the family some of thelinen garments I had made and had with me, and the crochet I had trimmedthem with. '

"Here Hulda turned to me and said: 'our mothers encourage us at eightyears of age to begin to make garments for our trousseaux, and at theage of ten we start to crochet lace and embroider, so by the time we getmarried we have all our things ready, for they cannot be boughtready-made in Palestine. When we become betrothed we work our futureinitials on our things and make our dresses. '

"'While I was staying at my betrothed's home, we never spoke to eachother, except to say Good-morning and Good-night. Sometimes when no onesaw us we looked at one another, for already I liked my young man, though he was not handsome. A wise girl does not want good looks in ahusband so much as that he should be a good Talmudist and be a goodcharacter; this he is, and I could listen to him for ever, ' she said, blushing like a rose; 'when he sings Zmires, his voice is like anightingale, and even in the mornings, when he thinks I am asleep, it isjust lovely to hear his sing-song as he studies--it is to me thesweetest of all music, ' she said. 

"'So it should be, my child, ' said our old lady, 'and it is a privilegefor us women to help them to study. '

"'So my mother says, ' said Hulda, naturally. 

"At the same time I thought to myself: 'A nice thing it would be if onlyour men were to study and our women to work, as they mostly do here andin Russian ghetto towns. No, ' I thought, 'I would rather that the mendid some manual labour as well as study, and the women have some timefor study as well as for household work. '

"But I kept these thoughts to myself, while Hulda continued to tell mewhat a longing she had to see more of her betrothed; but she did not seehim again till after the marriage ceremony. 

"I will try to describe the ceremonies to you in detail, as I have nowbeen to several weddings here, and I think you would like to know. 

"A week before the wedding, all the relations and friends come to helpbake and prepare the wedding-feast; for, as these proceedings last abouteight days, it is no easy matter to celebrate them. 

"The bride's trousseau is shown to the guests who come, and everythingis examined and counted by all, especially the relations of thebridegrooms. When there happens to be less than expected, woe betide thebride, for she is always reproached about it by her mother-in-law or hisother relatives. 

"On the Sabbath before the marriage the bridegroom is called up to readthe Law, and friends pay him visits. --First they send him nicely bakedcakes or puddings and a bottle of wine. (It is a good thing that this isthe custom, or else a poor man would be ruined by the cost of all thefeasting that he is expected to provide). 

"During the week the bride's friends come every evening and dance andsing in her home, coffee and cakes and baked nuts being handed round. 

"The morning of the wedding, both bride and bridegroom fast, and eachgoes with his or her parents to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, to prayfor a blessing on their married life, and then they go to be blessed bythe Rav. 

"When the bride returns home, she is dressed in her bridal dress. Thenshe is led up to a chair that has been raised off the floor; her hair isunloosed and allowed to hang over her shoulders; and this is the lasttime, for the next day most of it is shaved off. 

"Her young friends stand near her and each sings a song, biddinggood-bye to her maiden days; and the bride weeps, fearing what thefuture may hold in store for her. Then the bridegroom comes in, led byhis friends, who carry candles. He is given a veil, which he throws overhis bride's head, and then leaves with his friends for the Synagogue. 

"Though some parts of the ceremony look ridiculous, yet all is carriedout so solemnly that one feels very much impressed. 

"The bride is then led by two of her relatives or friends, who carrycandles, and all the other friends follow them through the streets, somealso carrying candles. As there are no carriages to be had in Jerusalem, they have sometimes to walk some distance to the Synagogue. 

"The usual bridal canopy is in the Synagogue, and they walk round itseven times; then prayers are said, and the glass is broken; Mazzeltovis said, and with songs and clapping of hands the bridal pair is ledhome again. Near the home a large Bagel is held by a friend, and as thecouple cross the threshold it is broken over their heads, and the piecesare distributed among the guests. The bride and bridegroom are then ledinto a room, and the door is closed for five minutes--I suppose to besure that they are the right persons, anyhow the bridegroom lifts thebride's veil and gives her the first kiss he has ever given her. (I donot know if she kisses him, for she may be too shy: they will not tellwhen I ask). 

"After the five minutes have passed, the bride is led out of the room toa room where the women-guests are assembled, while the bridegroom goesto a room where the men-guests are. The feasting lasts for a few hoursin each room. Then the bride is led by some of her women friends to theroom where the men are, and the bridegroom takes her by the hand andstarts dancing; the other guests follow suit. It is amusing to see theold grey-bearded scholars, who, one would think, could not move theirlegs, dance and rejoice while the lookers-on clap and sing. It is farmore exciting than a wedding in London, for it is considered a 'Mitzvah'to rejoice with a young bridal couple. 

"The dancing goes on for some time, the only miserable pair, I expect, are the bride and bridegroom, who generally become very weary of itall, for they started their wedding pilgrimage very early in the morningand had fasted till the feasting began late in the afternoon--I oftenwonder that they have any energy left in them, poor things, for theycannot retire till late at night. 

"The next day comes the ceremony of cutting off the bride's hair. Thebridegroom's mother hands her a few silk handkerchiefs to be worn on herhead on special occasions. Sometimes the poor little bride is so youngthat she cries while her beautiful plaits are being cut off. 

"At times a quarrel begins between the two mothers: the bride's mothersometimes insisting that her child's hair shall only be cut short andnot shaved, and she generally gets her way. 

"Some brides do not mind being shaved, for they like the idea of wearingthe pretty coloured silk handkerchiefs. 

"At nearly every wedding a table is spread for the poor, and I waspresent at a wedding when more than a hundred poor men came regularlyfor eight days, and the table was spread as bountifully for them as forthe other guests. Here in Palestine the poor share in the joys of theirricher brethren. 

"When the eight days of Festival are over, the young couple usuallysettle down close by or in one of their parents' homes, who give them aroom. A great deal of the happiness of young couples depends on thecharacter of the mother-in-law, for they have the power of making ormarring their happiness more than anyone else. 

"Huldah told me that she would have been quite happy in hermother-in-law (for she really was a good kind woman) if only she wouldmore often allow her to talk to her husband, 'and I do so like a talkwith him, ' she said to me with a sigh, 'for he is so wise. When mymother-in-law sleeps after the Sabbath dinner, we go into the next roomand we sit talking, and he tells me tales from the Talmud, and sometimesreads aloud from it. I do so enjoy those Sabbath hours, ' she continued, 'for I have only my bedroom which I can call my own, but I am notallowed to be much in it, --the little time I have with my husband eachday makes me very happy, for I know he loves me dearly (although he doesnot say so), for when he comes home his first word is for me, '

"'Sometimes, when my mother-in-law is in a good temper, she lets us eatout of the same dish, and then he jokingly puts the daintiest bits on myside; often when I wake in the mornings I find pinned to my pillow a fewwords he has copied from the _Song of Songs_, put there before leavingfor the Synagogue. ' Then Huldah added 'After returning himself from theSynagogue on Sabbath Eve, my dear husband always looks at me with aloving smile when he reads that part where it says: ''The price of avirtuous woman is far above rubies, the heart of her husband trusteth inher. ' 'Yes indeed, ' she said, 'thanks be to God--I am a very happy wife, and when God blesses us with children, my cup of joy will be very full. '

"And this child-wife of fifteen did indeed look very happy as shespoke--and I, deep down in my heart, thought, 'What would they say tosuch match-making in England and Western Europe, ' and yet in Palestinesuch marriages arranged by the parents are nearly always happy. 

"I must close now, Your loving Millie. "

When Mr Jacob had finished reading, some of his young listeners saidthey thought it was a very foolish way to arrange marriages. One of themremarked: "How could there be any love, if a couple rarely met eachother before marriage. "

Another said: "For my part, I would never marry unless I felt sure thatI was in love with my husband to-be and that he also was in love withme. Love is everything in life, _I_ think. "

Then said a middle-aged lady, much loved and respected by all thelisteners: "How often has many a marriage not turned out well, even whenas young people a husband and wife had a passionate love for eachother. The seed of love may be sown before or after marriage; but, unless carefully cultivated during married life by both husband andwife, through deeds of kindness and thoughtfulness and forbearance andmutual sympathy and understanding, the tender plant may soon wither anddie. The old customs of our race, which this letter shows are still keptup in Palestine and I believe in other parts where ghetto life stillobtains, if they are not carried to extremes, are, I think, very wise;but, unfortunately, our people are very tempted to go to extremes, and agood custom can thus be distorted and brought to ridicule. "

"True, true, " murmured some of the older people. 

"In all things moderation and balance are safe guides to follow, " saidMr. Jacobs. 

The next book will be all about Millie's love affairs and marriage andher life, impressions, and tribulations in Palestine. 

APPENDIX

THE CELEBRATION OF THE JUBILEE OF ZORACH BARNETT

(Translated from the _Palestine Daily Mail_ of Friday, December 2nd, 1921). 

Those who felt stirred to celebrate the jubilee of this illustrious oldpioneer did very well indeed. For a young man who leaves all hisbusiness enterprises far behind him in London and who migrates toEretz-Israel over fifty years ago--at a time when Jaffe did not posseseven a Minyan foreign Jews; and at a time when the way from Jaffe toJerusalem was a very long and tedious one--aye, a way fraught with allpossible dangers, and moreover, teeming with robbers, a journey whichlasted three whole days, such a Jew is indeed entitled to some mark ofappreciation and respect. 

A Jew who has worked for the re-building of our land for over fiftyconsecutive years in which period he visited the lands of the Diasporafifteen times and all that he did and profited there was afterwardsinvested in the re-building of Eretz-Israel such a Jew has indeedmerited to be praised even during his life-time. 

A Jew who was one of the first to found the colony of Petah-Tikvah andtherefore merited that people in Jerusalem should mark him out as anobject of derision and scorn because he was a dreamer--a man who builtthe first house in this Petah-Tikvah--who was one of the founders of the"Me'ah Shearim in Jerusalem--who constructed perfect roads in Jaffe--whofounded Zionist Societies in the lands of the Diaspora at a time whenZion did not occupy such a foremost part in the heart of the Jew--such aJew is indeed worthy that a monument of his splendid achievement beerected for him even during his life-time!"

It must, moreover, be mentioned that Z. Barnett and his wife are one ofthe remnant of those noble men who participated in that famous assemblyof Kattovitz--that noble gathering of illustrious men which can beverily described as the Aurora as the Dawn of the conception of theRestoration of the land of Israel. 

The celebration took place on Sunday, November 27th, in the privatehouse of Mr. Barnett. Those who had assembled were many, in fact, therewere present representatives of every shade and section of Jewishcommunal life in Palestine. Thus there came along Rabbis of all thevarious congregations, various Jewish communal workers, heads ofcolonies, teachers, business men and workpeople and even beggars whocame to enjoy the material blessings of this great national festivity. 

Mr. Joseph Lipshitz opened the proceedings by explaining the importanceof this great red letter day for Mr. Barnett and then called upon RabbiAuerbach of Jerusalem who had come specially to take part in thiscelebration. Rabbi Auerbach delivered a long Talmudical dissertation inwhich he recited the great merits of the jubilant. He compared Z. Barnett to a king, because he based himself on a Talmudic statementconcerning Omri which asserts that he who builds a little town orvillage is worthy to be called a king. The learned Rabbi also emphasisedthe importance of acquiring land in Palestine by many pithy remarks. Then spoke the Rabbis: Joseph Ha-levi, Shneiur Lenskin, Joseph Arwatzand Joseph Rabbi. All these testified to the great qualities of theirhost, who besides being a great idealist was also a very practical mantoo. 

After the Rabbis, Mr. S. Nissim, chief of the colony of Petah-Tikvahspoke. He narrated in a very realistic and eloquent way how that pioneerZorach Barnett came fifty years ago to build up the ruins of the landand how he bought up the land of Petah-Tikvah, which was now aflourishing colony, but which was then a howling desert wilderness, suchas only insane men could ever think of converting this into anhabitation of men. At the present day, thousands of pioneers areflocking to the land, but they are only a continuation of the pioneeringof Z. Barnett and his stalwart companions. The speaker concluded byblessing the jubilant that he should survive to see thousands of JewishColonies in Palestine and tens of thousands of pioneers flocking herefrom every part of the world. 

Mr. I. Adler, chief representative of the Council at Jaffe, also spokeon this great member of the Jewish community at Jaffe. Such men arereally a blessing to the whole of Israel; they are not only Banim (sons)of the Jewish people, but also Bonim (builders). 

Many were the letters and telegrams of congratulation received on thisoccasion from various ranks of Jewish representatives in Palestine. Theprivate secretary of Sir Herbert Samuel wrote: "I am commanded by HisExcellency, the High Commissioner, to acknowledge your invitation topartake in your celebration of the 27th inst. His Excellency, is, however, restrained from accepting this invitation owing to the variousduties which occupy him at present. He sends you his blessing and hopesthat all your ambitions will be realised with, the greatest success. "

The Chief Rabbi of Eretz-Israel, Rabbi A. I. Kook, wrote: "I should verymuch have wished to be present at the occasion of the jubilee of my dearand respected friend, who first trod upon this Holy soil over fiftyyears ago and who has since then been building up the ruins of our land, but, unfortunately, to my great pain, I am not able to realise this mywish, owing to the present troubled state of the Jewish community. Please accept my heartiest blessings for a happy old age, in which youmay verily see the re-birth of our People and of our land. "

Rabbi Rabbinowitz wrote: "I bless our jubilant from the depths of myheart. This occasion is not only a happy one for him, it is also for us. This shows that though the enemies of re-building Palestine were, andare still, many, Palestine is, nevertheless, steadily but surely beingrebuilt. "

Mr. Diznoff, in the name of the Colony of Tel-Avis wrote: "On this greatoccasion, we should like to say, that as you have merited to see thatthe "howling desert" you have found, you have succeeded in creating intoa "Garden of Eden, " thus may you merit to see the flourishing state ofthe whole of Palestine. "

Mr. Ephraim Blumenfeld wrote: "Though I should have very much haveliked to be present, yet my present bad state of health does not enableme to do so. This is a happy moment for all lovers of Zion. May youmerit to see with your own eyes the restoration of Israel on its ownland. "

Messages and telegrams were also received from the Yeshivah Me'ahShearim, Mr. D. Slutskin, from the scholars of the Yeshivah "Or Zoraiah"of Jaffa and many synagogues. Also from Mr. Friedenberg of Jerusalem, Mr. S. Tolkovsky, Dr. Eliash, from the Chief Rabbi of Alexandria, fromthe "Old Aged" Home in Jaffe, from the Mizrachi, from Rabbi S. L. Shapiroof Jerusalem, etc. , etc. 

At the request of the host, who is a British subject, a special prayerwas offered up for the Divine protection of King George the Fifth, andalso prayers in the name of R. Barnett for the health of the HighCommissioner, the Secretary, the leaders of the ZionistMovement--Weitzman, Sokolov and Usishkin, for the Chief Rabbis ofPalestine and for the Rabbi Sonnenfeld, Rabbis Diskin, Epstein, etc. , etc. 

Mr. Barnett offered a certain sum in the name of each, and among thenumerous institutions to which he contributed were the following: HebrewArchaeological Society at Jerusalem, the building of a synagogue on thesite of the Old Temple Wall, the school for the blind, the poor ofJaffe, the Home for Aged Jews, etc. , etc. 

Mr. Barnett was then enrolled in the Golden Book by those present. Greatindeed was the honour which R. Zorach Barnett and his wife received onthat day, but they were really worthy of it. 

May theirs be an example to others!

GLOSSARY

BAR COCHBA. The heroic Jewish leader who led thefinal revolt against the Romans in the yearA. D. 123. 

BAR MITZVAH. Confirmation of a boy at the age ofthirteen. 

BEZEL. A cake made in the shape of a ring. 

BIKKUR-HOLIM. Used to denote a Hospital. 

BROCHA. A blessing or a thanksgiving used on variousoccasions. 

CHALLAH. White bread shaped as a twist used for theSabbath sanctification. 

CHASSID. Pietist; a name assumed by a sect of Jewsmainly in Galicia established by "Baal Shemtob. "

CHAZAH. A cantor, or Synagogue reader. 

CHEVRA-KADISHA. A burial society. 

CHOLENT. A dish of various vegetables and meat, eaten on the Sabbath. 

CHOMETZ. Leavened bread. 

EREV. Evening. 

HAMANTASCHEN. A triangular cake eaten on Purim, shaped according to the hat Haman was supposedto have worn. 

KAFTAN. A long coat, worn by Jews in easternEurope. 

KIDDUSH. A blessing of sanctification over wine, said at the ushering in of Sabbath and of Festivals. 

LAG B'OMER. The 33rd day of the seven weeksbetween Passover and Pentecost: a students'holiday. 

MAZZELTOV. A greeting signifying Good Luck. 

MEAH SHEORIM. A Hundred Gates: the name of asuburb of Jerusalem. 

MINCHA. The afternoon service. 

MITZVOTH. Acts of piety. 

PARA. A Turkish coin of small value. 

PESACH. Passover. 

PRINCESS SABBATH. A poetical expression, used forwelcoming the Sabbath. 

PURIM. The Festival referred to in _The Book of Esther_. 

RAV. One learned in rabbinical lore. 

SAMOVAR. A tea-urn. 

SCHPIELERS. Strolling-players. 

SCHTRAMEL. Head-gear worn by Chassidim. 

SEDER. The Service on the first two nights of Passover. 

SEPHARDIM. Jews of Spanish or of Portuguese origin. 

SHALACH MANOTH. Gifts--especially used with referenceto distributions on Purim (vide _The Book ofEsther_). 

SHALOM. Peace. 

SHIROS. Oil made from the sesame seed. 

SHULCHAN ARUCH. The Jewish religious Code; compiledin the middle of the 16th century andregarded as of high authority. 

SHULE. Synagogue, derived from the German _Schule_(school). 

SIMHATH TORAH. The festival of the Law, followingthe Tabernacle festival when the reading of the_Pentateuch_ is completed and recommenced amidgreat rejoicing. 

STRUDEL. A sweet pudding or cake. 

SUCCAH. The tabernacle used as a dwelling on theFeast of Tabernacles. 

TAVELT. Immersed; used in reference to the RitualBath. 

TORAH. The Law; specially referring to the Mosaiccode and its derivatives. 

TSENNAH URENNAH. A Jewish German translationof the _Pentateuch_, embellished with legends forthe use of women. 

TSITSITH. Knotted fringes worn by men according toMosaic injunction on Tallith or praying-scarf, andalso used for a small four-cornered fringed garmentworn on the chest, under the coat. 

YEMENITES. South-Arabian Jews. 

YESHIBAH. A Jewish theological Academy. 

YOM KIPPUR. The Day of Atonement. 

YOMTOV. Holy-day