As had now become a custom, the young friends of the Jacobs had all
collected on the next Friday evening in the bright and warm
kitchen-sitting room. After a short friendly chat with them Mr Jacobs
said:
"As Purim will begin in two days, perhaps you would like to hear how our
cousins saw it celebrated when they went to Palestine, so I have chosen
this 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 holy
days; but while there I never realized the pleasure and excitement
during Purim that one sees in Jerusalem.
"Old and young are equally full of fun and joy, and there is plenty of
rushing about with sleeves tucked up. At other times the women here
gossip a great deal, and the girls naturally copy their elders and
gossip too; but, when preparing for Purim, they are all too busy to talk
or even to ask questions. The boys, too, up to the age of twelve, are
allowed to help. Some break up the big pieces of loaf-sugar, and beat up
the eggs, and take the cakes, when ready, to the public ovens, for here
there are no proper ovens as there are in London houses, so a public
oven is built not far from the Synagogue. It is very large, and each
family sends its cakes in its own tins to be baked in it. Generally
about half a dozen tins are carried by each boy. Nothing I have seen
before can be compared with the many kinds of delicious cakes and
stuffed monkeys that are seen here. My mouth waters even when I think of
the delicious strudels filled with sesames and plenty of raisins and
shiros! 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 the
public oven, carrying tins of all the Purim delicacies. As they wait
while the cakes are being baked, or waiting their turn to have their
cakes put in, oh! what a chatter there is, and I imagine nowhere else
can 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 maids
waiting near the oven.
"Most of them come as early as 5 a.m., and none care to leave till they
have their cakes baked, for, if you do, your tins will be pushed aside
as you are not there to scream at and scold the baker--if someone slips
a 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 not
named or numbered), someone might take your tins in exchange for his
own, if the cakes, etc., look more tempting. During Purim this is not
looked upon as stealing, but merely as a joke or a bit of fun. The
youngsters will not move an inch unless they can trust someone to take
their 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 the
last two months that is not discussed around the public oven while
people are waiting for their cake-tins; and, as everyone wants to talk
rather 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 to
keep the Fast of Esther, and everyone, even babies went to Shule to hear
the Megilla (the _Book of Esther_) read; and, when the Chazan came to
Haman, the Gragers went off with just such a noise as they do in the
London Shules in Old Montague Street or Booth Street. Then we went home;
and after the evening meal the joyfulness began, for they did not wait
till the next day, as we do in England.
"As only one room was lighted up by each family to economize light and
for other reasons--there are no curtains or blinds to draw down--we were
able to go through all Meah Sheorim and stop a minute or two at every
lighted window and watch the goings on. We heard nothing but singing and
clapping of hands, while the children danced. Sometimes one of the
elders looking on could not resist joining in the fun, and tied his
kaftan behind his back so as to leave his legs free, put one of the
youngsters on his shoulders, and danced like a chassid or a jolly
Irishman.
"As we went from house to house peeping in at the windows, sometimes
some of the family would come out and drag us in by force, and make us
drink wine and eat cakes. If we did not wish to join in the dancing, but
wanted to leave, they would just say 'Shalom'--'go in peace but come
again.' I can tell you it was jolly, and nowhere else in all the world
could Yomtov be kept up as it is here.
"We were given wine in so many houses that from the eldest to the
youngest we were beginning to feel rather funny. Next morning, after
being well shaken up by Father, and after we had had a wash with cold
water in the open air, we made up our minds to be firmer at the next
Purim.
"After going in the morning to hear the Chazan again, and coming home
and enjoying the Hamantaschen and other good things, then begins the
pleasure and excitement of sending Shalach-manoth to friends,
acquaintances, and chiefly to the poor, and even to enemies if you have
any. As you are supposed, if possible, to send back to the sender
something similar to what is sent to you, things cannot be made ready
beforehand. To the poor you always send useful presents as well as
delicacies which are likely to last them for months or longer.
"As to the beggars, I never imagined there could be so many in one
country. We generally get enough beggars coming to us on Fridays and
before holy days, but at Yom Kippur and Purim they come in crowds. Most
of them are Sephardim and Yeminites. It is true you give each of them
only a para, which is about a quarter of a farthing, and they give you a
blessing for it; but, if they come to a rich class of home and are not
given there according to the style of the house, they upbraid the
people, and even curse them, so the children are told to stand at the
doors with paras and cakes, etc. At some houses they are invited in.
Each carries a sack on his shoulder, expecting, I suppose, that it will
be filled with good things by the time Purim is over; and, as they never
pass a door without begging, they are not likely to be disappointed.
"The fun I enjoyed best was the uncovering of our plates and seeing what
Shalach-monus had been sent to us. A cap had been sent to Father, made
of velvet, with tails of sable and other skins round it. Father felt
very downcast, for he did not at all like the idea of giving up wearing
the 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 I
will wait and see who wins--Father or the community--for we have some
idea 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 aside
and wear a kerchief instead. I was most thankful they did not send me a
pair of scissors. If they had, I should have thought they wanted me to
cut my plaits off. Well, I should have fought for my hair as I would for
life!
"In the afternoon I went to visit some friends, and I found a house full
of men, young and old, with their schtramel on their heads, and their
kaftans tied back, singing at the very top of their voices (and some
have very fine voices); others were clapping their hands, while eight
men, four on each side, were dancing what looked like a pantomime ballet
that I once went to. It was simply grand to watch them, for some were
old men with long, white beards, while others were serious-looking
young men who are to be seen daily in the street walking to and from
their homes and Shules, always deep in thought and so very
serious-looking that you would imagine that they did not know how to
smile. Here they were, on this Purim afternoon, dancing with all their
might, and with bright, smiling eyes! You could see it was not wine that
had made them bright and cheery: it was the spirit, or fire, of their
religious zeal commemorating with thankfulness the anniversary of the
day when their nation was saved from destruction. Of course I was too
fascinated watching them at the time to think this was the reason for
this unusual sight.
"After a while, they went to pay visits to the Rav and to others who
were scholars or pious men in the community. Often when walking to the
various houses they would catch hold of others and dance with them in
the 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 we
followed them at a respectful distance. Sometimes someone had had a
little too much wine when visiting and it had gone to his head. Then
some 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 that
their rejoicing during Purim did not mean simply a material
satisfaction--it was a spiritual rejoicing, as on Simhath Torah, when
the Reading of the Law was started again, so that during Purim and
Simhath Torah allowance is made if a little more wine is taken than is
usually the case.
"Then we had Purim Schpielers, who visited every house, dressed up very
funnily 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 any
other place where it could be spent so happily. For here in Jerusalem we
are all like one large family: respect is paid to the righteous and to
worthy scholars, whether they are poor or rich. Money has not the same
power here. There is a good deal of quarrelling and mischief going on
among our female neighbours, but the quarrels are not very serious but
more like quarrels in a large family. In another letter I will write
about our 'Female Club.'"