Pictures of Jewish Home-Life Fifty Years Ago | Page 3

was as great as the
command: "Thou shalt not do any work on the Sabbath."
WORD OF LOVE
When all were quietly settled down, Benjamin's father took him
between his knees, and said: "My son, I wish to ask you something, and
I want you to answer my question frankly and truly. What made you

throw the tsitsith down on the floor this afternoon and say to your
mother that you 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 more
ashamed of himself and his deed than if his father had scolded him and
given him a whipping--in fact, he felt so wretched that he longed to run
out of the room and hide himself from everybody. His father's
knowledge of human nature made him understand what was passing
through Benjamin's mind, and he said: "Do not fear to tell me, my son,
why you acted in such an unusual way, for there must be some reason
for a Jewish boy to act so."
With his head still down, Benjamin said: "When I go swimming in the
baths, my school-fellows see my tsitsith when I undress, and they make
fun of it and pull it about, and say all sorts of nasty things to me for
wearing it, and it makes me feel I cannot stand it any longer. I will
gladly 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 a
privilege to wear tsitsith."
"But I can't see why," said Benjamin.
"Well," said his father, "I will tell you the idea of the tsitsith. When you
say the Shema twice a day, as every good Jew is expected to do, you
read in it that God commanded us, through Moses, to wear a fringe on
our garment--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 of our meals. Our religion is not a thing to be kept
only for the Sabbath and the Holy Days, and left out of our minds on all
other days. Our religion must be a living influence, always with us, so
the tsitsith is a 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 have religious symbols; every other religion has them. Now
imagine if you were to go up to a Christian boy and mock him and say
nasty words to him 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 insult another for wearing or doing what he believes to be holy.
Instead of being ashamed when you were mocked and laughed at by

Christian boys for wearing your tsitsith, you should have asked them to
hear you explain the reason for wearing it. I am sure they would not
have laughed at you any more. They would respect you for trying to be
true and to live up to your convictions.
"We Jews have, in the past, made a great mistake in not letting the
outside world know more of the deeper spiritual meaning of each of our
symbols. Had we not done this, we should have been better understood
by non-Jews, and our children would not have suffered as you and
many others also have done, through the ignorant mocking of your
Christian schoolmates.
"I know that in Palestine the Jews, whether old or young, greatly love
to wear their tsitsith, and take a pride in letting them be seen, so that the
Arabs and the Turks look upon the tsitsith as a sacred garment."
[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, and
were listening to their father.
"Well, this is how I know: nearly thirty years ago my uncle and his
family went to live in Jerusalem, and for many years one of my cousins
used to write to me about once a month. His letters were most
interesting. When his letters came I could almost imagine, when
reading them, that I was living in Bible times.
"Have you any of his letters still, Father?" they all exclaimed.
"Yes," said