Note 149 — II. OUR DUTIES. (continued 4)

Friday is an important and busy day in a Jewish house. It is not only the circumstance that food is being prepared for two days149 that causes greater activity, but also the anticipated pleasure at the approach of a beloved guest. The same is the case when a Festival is near. Each Festival has its own particular wants and pleasures. In some houses the activity in preparing for Passover may be noticed a whole month before, although the actual clearing of the chamets is done in a very short time. Before Succoth all hands are busy with preparing and ornamenting the Tabernacle, and selecting esrog and lulabh. It is genuine religious enthusiasm150 in the fulfilment of Divine duties that inspires this kind of activity, and gives to the house a peculiarly Jewish tone and Jewish atmosphere. We feel in it “the season of our joy” before and during the Three Festivals, and “the season of solemnity and earnest reflection” during the penitential days; grief when the 9th of Ab approaches, and hilarity when Purim is near. Twice a year we are invited by law and custom to give ourselves up to gladness and merriment: on Simchath-torah and on Purim. Although even a certain excess of mirth is considered lawful on the latter occasion, there are but very few that indulge in this license.