.4mmmummommimmigm THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Talmudic Legends for Young Readers By ALLEN A. WARSEN This book and the two that follow it are meant to introduce you to the oral To- rah: first, to the ancient sages who formed it; second to the Mishna, its principal part; and third, to the Tal- mud, which explains the Mishna." (The Gemara ex- plains the Mishna; the Tal- mud consists of both the Mishna and the Gemara.) The above quotation is m the preface of Jacob 111 1111Musner's soft-cover 128- page volume, "Meet Our Sages" (Behrman House). This volume, intended for young readers, consists of six parts and is composed of some of the Talmud's most fascinating legends. Each legend, published in He- brew and English, is inter- preted, illustrated, contains a vocabulary and a set of questions. "Hillel, Shammai and the Person Who Wanted to Learn Torah" is the Talmud's most famous legend. It is about a hea- then who came to Sham- mai and said to him: "Convert me . on condi- tion that you teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot." Shammai angrily re- fused. The heathen then went to Hillel - and re- peated his request. Hillel promptly said: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole Torah, and die rest is commentary; go and learn (it)." This legend sums up briefly and simply the very pasian and Saves the To- essence of Judaism, and is rah" is the dramatic ac- reminiscent of Micah's count of the smuggling of maxim: "It hath been told Rabban Yohanan ben thee, 0 man, what is good, Zakkai in a coffin out of and what the Lord doth re- Jerusalem and into the quire of thee: Only to do enemy camp where he justly, and to love mercy, met Vespasian, the com- and to walk humbly with mander of the Roman thy God." armed forces. Equally impressive is the Vespasian who had ad- legend "Eliezer ben Hyr- vance information of Rab- canus Goes to Study Torah." ban Yohanan's advocacy of This story in some respects peace with the Romans, is similar to those of Hillel asked: "Tell me, what may I and Akiva. Like them, give you?" "I ask of you only Eliezer left home and Yavneh, where I might go friends and went to and teach my disciples and Jerusalem to study Torah; there establish a prayer and like them, he experi- (house) and perform all the enced poverty and suffered commandments." Vespa- hunger. sian granted Yohanan's re- However, Eliezer's quest. teacher, Rabban Yohanan It is well to remember ben Zakkai, before long, be- that - the school Rabban came aware of his disciple's Yohanan founded at Yav- material condition, as he neh became the center of detected a "bad breath" Jewish learning and reli- coming out of his mouth. In gious life. It is also notewor- a fatherly manner Rabban thy that following the Yohanan inquired: Roman conquest of "Eliezer, my son, have you Jerusalem, the Great eaten at all today?" Eliezer Sanhedrin removed to Yav- remained silent. Some time neh whose head Rabban later, Rabban Yohanan Yohanan became, and said: "Even as a bad breath where it continued its func- came out of your mouth, so tions uninterrupted for shall your fame go forth in many decades. Torah." This forceful utterance Pioneer Women of Rabban Yohanan ben Facility Opens Zakkai became one of the NEW YORK — A Talmud's often quoted aphorisms. It affirms the pedagogical center for Jewish idea- that fame teaching and demonstrat- comes primarily from ing the latest developments learning and not neces- in the education of pre- school children has been sily from riches. opened in Jerusalem by The legend "Yohanan Pioneer Women ben Zakkai Goes to Ves- Na'amat. Friday, October 31, 1980 51 SHOW WHO YOU ARE WITH Incisive is the author's conclusion: "Vespasian thought he won when he de- stroyed Jerusalem. But the people of Israel survived and endured. Vespasian did destroy Jerusalem, but the Jewish'people took the path that led to Yavneh. And that path, in time to come, would lead back to Jerusalem." e lsgifiM Skicke/28-4- II, en TAKE 2 TABLETS DAILY 9 DIFFERENT, COLORFUL BUMPER STICKERS A GREAT GIFT IDEA! $12.00 PER SET SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO: JEWISH SHTICKERS P.O. BOX 2970 ST. LOUIS, MO 63130 ALSO AT SPITZER'S RE-ELECT ALEX C. 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