“Generally on cold Sabbath afternoons our parents have a nap after eating the nice hot cholent, and we girls and the young married women go and spend a few hours with our old lady friend, who always entertains us with stories and discussions on various interesting subjects.  So the time passes very quickly and so pleasantly that we forget how cold it is.  About twenty or thirty of us all sit close together on her divan covered up with rugs, and this with the excitement over the tales she tells us, helps to keep us warm.

“Last Sabbath our old lady was not very well, and we were feeling very miserable without her entertaining tales.  Suddenly, one of my girl-friends asked me to tell them about our life in London.

“As they had never read or heard about life outside Jerusalem, it was most amusing to hear their exclamations of wonder; for they could hardly believe what I told them was true, till our old lady confirmed our statements.

“First, they wanted to know how young men and women behaved toward each other.

“I told them that every man and every woman, whether young or old, either in the street or in-doors, always shook hands with friends—­at this they looked very surprised and some seemed even horrified, exclaiming:  ‘What a sin to commit.’  I asked them where it was written that this was a sin?  ‘Well,’ some replied, ’our parents or husbands say it is a sin,’ ‘I don’t think it is a sin, but only a custom,’ said I.  ‘But it is a sin,’ insisted one little wife of fifteen ’to touch one another’s hands.’  I tried to explain to her, but she would not listen to me and we were on the verge of quarreling but as usual, when there was a difference of opinion between any of us, we always appealed to our old lady and she agreed with me that there was no sin in shaking hands.  ‘Sin,’ she said, ’comes from thoughts—­if while talking or laughing or even shaking hands, evil thoughts pass through the minds of men or women then, and then only, is the act likely to be a sin.  In Europe,’ she went on to say, ’it is quite a natural thing for men and women to shake hands and talk to each other naturally.’

“Then I asked my new friend Huldah (a young wife of fifteen years of age) to tell us all about her own love-affair and marriage.  She was greatly shocked to hear me speaking of love before marriage—­’Such a thing could never happen to a modest Jewish maiden in those days,’ she said.

“I told her that it did happen in Europe.  ‘May be,’ she replied; ’it may happen in lands where Jews mix with non-Jews and copy their ways!’

“As I rather liked to tease her, I said she was mistaken, for here in Jerusalem did the great Rabbi Akiba fall in love with his wife before marriage.  ‘Oh, that was quite different!’ she replied.  ‘Not at all,’ said I, for were not feasts and rejoicing held so that youths and maidens could meet one another in the vineyards and dance in the meadows?—­Look in the Bible,’ I continued, ’and you will see it is mentioned there.’  Then all looked abashed.  The only one who smiled was our old lady.