“Thus the years flowed away, bringing ever-increasing knowledge and happiness to us both, for Raphael and I were like two brothers united by love such as brothers seldom know. When we had finished the reading of the Bible, which took us about five years, we began to study the _Mishnah_. Here I found new subjects for admiration; the acuteness and profound scholarship of the _Hakamim_, their methodical order and system, and also their stern piety and unyielding devotion to principle. In two years we had concluded the _Mishnah_ and took up the intricate discussions of the _Gemara_. But now Raphael had entered upon his thirteenth year, at the conclusion of which, as you well know, every Jewish boy becomes _Bar-Mitzvah_; that is to say, attains his religious majority, and is accounted fully responsible for all his acts in the sight of God and man. The _Bar-Mitzvah_ day is considered everywhere in Israel a most auspicious and happy occasion. The youthful celebrant is treated with distinguished honor, is permitted to read the _Sedrah_ and the _Haftarah_, and even to deliver an address in the synagogue, and is made the recipient of rich gifts and marked attentions. As these ceremonies require special study and preparation, it is necessary to train a youth some time in advance of the happy day. Such was the proceeding followed also in the case of Raphael. The teacher who had instructed us both suspended temporarily the regular course of instruction in which I had taken part, and concentrated his efforts upon teaching Raphael the proper method of chanting the portions of the law and the prophets which were to be read on the great Sabbath of the _Bar-Mitzvah_, and also aided him in the preparation of a learned and profound discourse which he, though a mere youth, was to deliver on that auspicious occasion.