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n table-cloth; and, when all had been carefully packed in, they were covered with another white cloth. What I felt most was not being allowed to taste a bit, for it is forbidden till Seder to eat any of the matzos. As I was carrying the basket home, I felt as if the devil was in me, and the temptation was so strong that I undid the cord and took one out. Hearing someone coming up behind me, I slipped it hurriedly into my pocket and took up the basket and started off again. "I heard the footsteps coming closer until who should come up to me but my best friend, Jonathan? He glared at me and said: 'Oh you sinner in Israel!' 'Why, what have I done?' I exclaimed. 'I saw you put a matzo in your pocket!' he said. "I felt hot all over, for I did not want him to have a bad opinion of me, as we had sworn friendship to each other like Jonathan and David. "So I took the matzo out of my pocket, threw it in the gutter, and jumped on it. "'Why have you done that?' he said. 'Because I don't want you to think badly of me.' 'Yet you did not care for what God thought!' he said. 'Don't you know that our Rabbis say that a bad thought is just as evil as a bad deed; for, if we check a bad thought or wish, it helps us not to put the bad thoughts or wish into action. If we were as anxious to please God as we are to please our friends, and to be as well thought of by Him, we should check our bad thoughts before they led us to do bad deeds.' "He said, too, that he was sorry to see that I cared more for his approval than I did for God's approval. I promised for the future to try to overcome any evil thoughts or wishes that came into my mind so that I should not be so tempted to do wrong--in fact I would try to check a bad thought in the bud. "Then he forgave me, and we parted good friends, for I love him. He is exactly what I think Jonathan must have been to David, and I will write more about him in another letter. "When I arrived home, we had to prepare and cleanse the house for Passover. We had to do all the work ourselves, for we could not hire any helpers except, by a stroke of luck, the 'white-washers,' as they are called. SPRING CLEANING "All the furniture is put out of doors, not even a pin is left in the house. As everyone does the same, a stranger passing by would think there must be a 'jumble sale' going on. "Passover time is usually like lovely English summer weather. As very little water can be got, guess how
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