e, Mordecai, banish your sorrows. This is
_Shabbes_, a day of joy and peace. Come, the table is spread."

Father and mother placed their hands upon the heads of their children,
and pronounced the solemn blessing:--"May God let you become like
Ephraim and Manasseh!" and the family took their places at the table.

Then Mordecai made _kiddush_, which consisted in blessing the wine,
without which no Jewish Sabbath is complete, and having pronounced
_motzi_, a similar prayer over the bread, he dipped the latter in salt,
and passed a small piece to each of the participants. It is a ceremony
which no pious Jew ever neglects.

In spite of the recent affliction, the meal was a merry one. The poorest
Israelite will deny himself even the necessaries of life during the six
working-days, that he may live well on the Sabbath. Reb Mordecai was a
poor man. He had a small income, derived from teaching the Talmud to the
children in the vicinity, from transcribing the holy scrolls, and from
sundry bits of work for which he was fitted by his intellectual
attainments. He was the most influential Jew in the settlement and not
even the fanatical serfs of the village could find a complaint to make
against his character or person.

The theme of conversation was naturally the family festival, which would
take place upon the morrow. Mendel having attained his thirteenth year
and acquired due proficiency in the difficult studies of the Jewish law,
would become _bar-mitzvah_; in other words, he would take upon himself
the responsibility of a man before God and the world, and acknowledge
his readiness to act and suffer for the maintenance of the belief in
_Adonai Echod_--the only God. Mendel, under his father's tuition, had
made rapid strides. He was the wonder of every male inhabitant of the
community. His knowledge of the Scriptures was simply phenomenal, and
his philosophical reasoning puzzled and astonished his friends.

"He will be a great rabbi some day," they prophesied.

Hirsch Bensef had journeyed all the way from Kief to take part in the
family festival. There were some privileges which not even the wealthy
Jews of Russia could purchase, and among them was the right to travel in
a public conveyance. Hirsch was obliged to journey as best he could. A
kindly disposed wagoner had permitted him to ride part of the way, but
the greater portion of the distance he was compelled to walk. Still, at
any cost, he had determined not to miss so imp