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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.
Benjamin was quite happy now, for, although he had done a thing which was not right, now that he had repented good would come out of it, for there was a chance of their now having pleasanter and more instructive Sabbath evenings than they had ever had before. Besides, he now made up his mind always to wear his tsitsith.
I gave Benjamin his Sabbath clothes and 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 would never wear it again. I punished him, and told him to put it on again. So you had better go to him and give him what he deserves."
What made you throw the tsitsith down on the floor this afternoon and say to your mother that you would not wear it?"
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.
"So now I have decided to wear my tsitsith, too, on the outside, as the Jerusalem boys do. The boys never play except on the quiet, just now and then, for their parents think that their only duty in life is to study and do as many Mitzvoth as they can. Really, the boys are as full of fun and pranks as we English boys, and they just love a bit of play and larking when they can get it.
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.
"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." "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.
"At last we entered the Holy City, and arrived at Father's friend's house, where we were made very welcome and treated most kindly. I soon made friends with the boys, for, you know, I can speak yiddish quite well. "They are funny little chaps. The first thing I noticed was the tsitsith. They wear really long ones, with long fringes hanging down about a quarter of a yard or more.
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