athers, that they should not
enter the land, and the House was ruined for the first and second time,
and Bither was taken, and the city was ploughed up. On entering Ab we must
diminish joy.

7. The week in which the ninth of Ab comes, men are not allowed to clip
their hair, or wash their clothes; but on Thursday they are allowed, for
honor to the Sabbath. On the eve of the ninth of Ab one must not eat from
two dishes, must not eat flesh, and must not drink wine. Rabban Simon, the
son of Gamaliel, said, "one must change the style of living." R. Judah
"enjoined to turn over the beds," but the Sages did not approve him.

8. Said Rabban Simon, the son of Gamaliel, "there were no holidays in
Israel like the fifteenth of Ab, or like the day of atonement. Because in
them the daughters of Jerusalem promenaded in white garments borrowed,
that no one might be ashamed of her poverty. All these garments must be
baptized. And the daughters of Jerusalem promenaded and danced in the
vineyards. And what did they say? 'Look here, young man, and see whom you
choose; look not for beauty, look for family;' 'Favor is deceitful, and
beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised;'
and it is said, 'Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works
praise her in the gates,'(350) and also it is said, 'Go forth, O ye
daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown, wherewith his
mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the
gladness of his heart.'(351) The day of his espousals, this is the gift of
the Law; and in the day of the gladness of his heart, this is the building
of the Sanctuary, and may it be speedily built in our days. Amen."

The Feast-Offering(352)

What is a Child?--Offerings--Crooked and Straight--Remission of
Vows--Persons Unsuitable for the World--Laying on of
Hands--Baptisms--Defilements--Purity--Vessels of the Sanctuary.

Chapter I

1. All are bound to appear in the Temple, except the deaf, an idiot, and a
child, and a eunuch, and women, and slaves who are not free, and the lame,
and the blind, and the sick, and the aged, and the man who cannot go
afoot. "What is a child?" "Everyone who cannot ride on the shoulder of his
father, and go up from Jerusalem to the Mountain of the House." The words
of the school of Shammai. But the school of Hillel say, "everyone who
cannot grasp his father's hand, and go up from Jerusalem to the Mount