Page 141 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Courtship

poets and writers describe it in their fictions, is a dream of every
living thing in nature. That beautiful dream described through the
ages is in fact born with all creatures; it is in their minds at birth,
carried down from time immemorial, from our ancestors to the
present, in the living protoplasm. The instinct to love was dormant in
me until I became more accustomed to my pupil—and, I presume,
she to me. As our meetings became more agreeable, I began to think
about her more: she was young, good-looking, with round features,
nice hair, and a well-developed figure. I began to enjoy her presence,
and our conversations about things American—which a foreigner
likes to hear about a new country.
Now, I did not know the prerequisites of courtship, how to praise,
flatter, and approach the great moment in life, bursting out with the
holy words, “I love you,” which are the basis of the existence of the
human race. Although I had studied the Talmud and found in those
books much wisdom, many aphorisms, and common advice on
human behavior, they never came to mind in my daily life on
occasions when any of those ancient sayings would have been so
helpful to me. The reason was that we studied it as a religious duty
and not to use it for help in our material welfare. But there is a saying
in the Talmud that it is the way for a man to look for a wife and the
woman to look for a husband; also that as much as a man wants to
marry a woman, the woman is more desirous to get married. I
thought I would offend her by telling her I wanted to marry her.
Nature works in many ways to execute her laws. In the lower
animals, nature provides the male of the species with the greater
attractions; in the human, the attractions are bestowed on the
woman, and she plays the part instinctively. In the quadruped world,
in the mating season the male’s hair, coloring or voice become more
prominent to attract the female. The reason for that probably is that
more males are born and they have to fight for possession of the
females, so wise nature gave them many attractions to display and
win a mate. Among human females, the long silken hair, shining eyes
and teeth, delicate skin, smaller hands, smooth eyebrows and other
attractions of beautification, which the female practices
subconsciously, were provided so that the so-called shy male would

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