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)]