and I received my portion last of all, as if I were of no importance. And if I ventured to complain, mother would exclaim: "Take your time! You can wait awhile. You are not fasting, are you? Let the others be served first, and let us have none of your whimpering either! The poor boys have been fasting!"
My brothers were never wholly pleased with the favoritism shown me, but they were generous enough to allow that the baby of the family ought to enjoy special privileges. But on the fast days they were especially unkind. They slapped my hands at table: "Just see; he has no time to wait; he must be snatching things first; makes believe he has had nothing to eat all day."
If we quarrelled on those days, father and mother would not help me out. On the contrary, my brothers were upheld in treating me summarily, and all they said of me was tacitly approved. And why did tlıey have things their own way? Because they had fasted all day.
Can you imagine what would be done with me, if I, the baby of the family, his mother's pet, actually fasted one whole day?
What a sensation I would create at the supper table. How father and mother would fondle me, and how easily they would forget that my brothers had fasted too, and how they would tend to my wants first, murmuring: "See, the young one has actually fasted."
My brothers would be slighted, and they would not dare tease me. That was why I wanted to fast a whole day. But it could not be done. I was not considered strong enough.....
On one Fast Day, the Fast of Gedaliah, I contrived to hold out until 2 o'clock. I was terribly hungry. My brothers tried to tempt me to eat, but I implored them, "Please don't. Only an hour or two after that it will be easier to fast and then come evening."
"Let him alone," they advised mother, "in a little while he will come begging you for a piece of bread." And I was trembling lest my mother act on their suggestion.
I even prayed, "O God, but one hour, two, three, after that it will be easy to fast, and then it will soon be evening."
God must have heard my prayer, for I
was inspired to leave the synagogue for the woods about three miles away. It would take an hour or so to get there, and then no matter how much I might wish to return, it would be evening. When no one saw me I slipped away.
The fresh air of the woods revived me, and my strength returned. It was dark wihen I entered our home. What a scene! I remember it yet. I can not find words to express my joy. Mother kissed me again and again. She embraced me with tears in her eyes, for the fasting of her youngest child was a’ great event in her life. Even my brothers joined in petting me. 'thouch thev were neolected.
But this is my real confession. Some years later, my chum suggested that one might make believe he fasted, and receive credit for it, and at the same time he might eat in secret. His mother need not know the truth. I followed the suggestion and ate on the fast day. I told my mother that I had fasted, and pretended that I was hungry. My mother kissed me again and again, and I seemed to be the pet of the family as before, but I could scarcely swallow the food, I felt so uneasy. I wanted to tell them that I had. lied, but I was afraid. I have since told my mother, and she believed that I was really sorry. But that day I first knew what remorse was.
Le Shonoh Tovoh.
DEAR JUNIORS:
At last you are to have a department of your very own, that has been started because most of you wanted it, and said so. And I feel sure that you will want to help to make it a good department. We intend to publish stories and essays and poems and games —all of them Jewish, of course; and you will do your share by taking part in the prize competitions for essays and poems, to be held beginning with our third issue. And I am very anxious that you write and tell me what you think of the things we publish, and what you would like to have us publish.
And we must never, for one minute, forget that we are doing this to make ourselves always more Jewish. You boys and girls might compare your lives to a beautiful piece of tapestry, and all of your