could he conscientiously advise him to brave the
opposition and prejudices of his people and pursue that knowledge to
which he aspired?

"Well, Rabbi," said the boy, eagerly, "you do not answer. Have I
violated any law by asking such a question?"

Rabbi Jeiteles wiping his perspiring brow with a large red handkerchief,
sat down upon a moss-grown log and bade the boy sit at his side.

"My dear Mendel," he began, "you are scarcely old or experienced enough
to comprehend the gravity of your question. It is important for Israel
the world over to remain unpolluted by the influence of gentile customs.
The Messiah will surely come, nor can his arrival be far off, and a new
kingdom, a united power will reward us for our past sufferings and
present faith. Were Israel to become tainted with foreign ideas, she
would in each country develop different propensities, learn different
languages and her religion would become contaminated by all that is most
obnoxious in other faiths. It is to preserve the unity of Israel, the
similarity of thought, the purity of our religion, that we look with
horror upon any foreign learning. Now, compare our mental condition with
that of the Russian _moujiks_, or even nobles. What do they know? What
have they studied? Very little, indeed! They know nothing of the great
deeds of the past that are revealed to us through the Scriptures; they
cannot enjoy the grand and majestic philosophy of our God-inspired
rabbis. Brought up in utter ignorance, their life may be likened to a
desert, barren of all that pleases the eye and elevates the mind."

"But," interrupted the boy, "might we not hold on to our own, even while
we are learning from the gentiles? Our language, for example, is, as I
have heard you say, a terrible jargon. We have forgotten much of our
Hebrew and use many strange words instead. We have but to open our
mouths to be recognized at once as Jews and to be treated with contempt.
If we were but to learn the Russian language, it might save us from many
a cruel humiliation and the Hebrew tongue might still be preserved in
our own circle."

"You mistake, my boy; our humiliations do not proceed from any one
fact, such as jargon or customs, but from a variety of circumstances
combined, principal among which are envy of our domestic happiness,
fanaticism because of our rejection of the Christian religion, and a
cruel prejudice which has been handed down through generations from
father to son. No a