Various details have been handed down by tradition concerning the religious practises of Gamaliel and his house. In Gamaliel's house it was not customary to say "Marpe'!" (Recovery) when any one sneezed, because that was a heathenish superstition. Two concessions were made to Gamaliel's household in the way of relaxing the severity of the rules set up as a barrier against heathendom: permission to use a mirror in cutting the hair of the head, and to learn Greek. In regard to the latter, Gamaliel's son Simon relates that many children were instructed in his father's house in "Greek wisdom."