Sarit had invited some friends over to her house after school. The girls were playing jump-rope in the driveway and Mom could hear their loud and happy voices through the kitchen window.
Mom didn't mind the noise. She was glad that the girls were having a good time. Still, something bothered her. "Why do I always hear Sarit's voice above everyone else's when she is playing?" sighed Mom to herself. "Yet, when she has something important to say, she often doesn't speak up."
That evening, Mom asked Sarit to sit with her on the couch.
"Sarit," began Mom. "In this week's Torah portion, the Torah tells us about the beautiful clothes which the priests (Kohens) in the Holy Temple wore."
"Yes. I know, Mom," Sarit interrupted. "We learned about that in Hebrew school. The teacher even showed us pictures of the clothes. I loved those little golden bells and pomegranate-shaped balls which hung at the bottom of the priest's robe."
"Those bells were not sewn onto the clothes just to make them look pretty," said Mom.
"Really?" asked Sarit. "What else were they for?"
"Those little bells jingled as the High Priest approached, so that people would know that he was coming.
"When it describes those bells, it says: 'And [their] sound will be heard as he enters the holy [place].' When it comes to something holy - we should let ourselves be heard. When we are playing, our voices don't always have to be the loudest in the crowd. But when we say good things and pray our voices should be heard loud and clear."
Saying things loud and clear shows that we are excited and proud of what we are doing. That's how we should feel about studying and doing good deeds. The people around us will hear the excitement in our voices and see how proud we are to do good deeds. This will encourage them to also do good deeds.
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