I TORAH PORTION The Study Of Torah Must Be Our Priority STUART SNIDER A4e4z44 Tz644,04 50.eav, Dt/x4 C4fle/v 14 .1, 4.4f+o4 144044/r44-?v t 1, 424^A 4+%4A4t D.Z4/^ Dinner Co-Chairmen frtZdAtt Ep,(40%, tivitt4 Detva Jii(Ave4v J494€4 N. Eta N eti-te, Executive Director President FEET THE REMEMBERED WOMAN FASHION HAS NO SIZE 14 PLUS HURL For the • exceptional woman who wants to be remembered for her fashion statement. Don't walk in pain! We take care of painful corns, bunions, callouses, diabetic foot, arthritis and hammer toes. House calls, transportation available at no extra charge. FREE GIFT on First Visit / z) tllI DR. CRAIG BROD FOOT SPECIALIST 5755 W. Maple, Suite 111 West Bloomfield We accept most insurance as full payment. No out of pocket expense to you. Call for an appointment. 855-FEET (855-3338) 46 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1990 frtztgo Layaways Welcome All Credit Cards Accepted Dressmaker On Premises 851-8001 SUGAR TREE PLAZA 6209 Orchard Lake Road West Bloomfield 1 Block North of Maple Special to The Jewish News T he Midrash tells us ma'aseh avot siman la- banim, that the ac- tivities of the Patriarchs foreshadow the events of future generations, and that by carefully examining their deeds we can derive lessons applicable to our time. This week's sedra, Toledot, introduces Isaac's twin sons, Jacob and Esau, the former, the studious scholar, the lat- ter, the crude hunter. Both boys had the same up- bringing, the Midrash inform- ing us that they each attend- ed religious school until age 13. Jewish education, how- ever, was not a priority with Esau, who out of hand re- jected it at his first opportuni- ty, while his brother con- tinued in his studies. The story is told of Jacob one day sitting in his tent learning the Talmud. He was at page 77a of Bava Kama — one of the volumes concern- ing matters of civil law — when Esau came in from the hunt. Esau approached his brother to see what he was studying. As Esau scanned the page, he quickly saw that it contained only two short lines of the actual Talmudic text, the rest of the page be- ing completely filled, in small, continuous type, by the largest commentary of Tosafot that he had ever seen. When Jacob offered to explain the subject matter to his brother, Esau recoiled and ex- claimed: "You can have the Tosafot, the Talmud, as well as your olam haba (world to come)." This apocryphal story (in- deed, the authors of the Tosafot commentary would not live until the 12th cen- tury, and the Talmud itself would not be printed with its standardized pagination until the year 1520) comes to characterize Esau. It characterizes as well the ele- ment of the Jewish people that he has symbolically come to embody. Esau, as we know, was lost to the Jewish people. His 13-odd years of rudimentary Jewish training did not suf- fice him to stave off the in- trigues of the non-Jewish world, to which he, unfor- tunately, readily succumbed. His rejection of the teachings Stuart Snider, an attorney, resides in Southfield. of his brother, his father Isaac, and grandfather Abraham set him adrift from these founders of the Jewish nation. One can understand, perhaps, Esau's unwill- ingness to enter into the sophisticated dialects the Tosafot presented. But his refusal even to consider the Talmud, as representative of fundamental, basic Jewish knowledge, left him with nothing — with no Jewish present and with no olam haba, no Jewish future. The parallels to be drawn to our own time from Esau's conduct readily appear. Jewish society's very ex- istence today is threatened by the internal threats of Toledot: Genesis 25:19-28:9, Samuel I 20:18-42. assimilation, intermarriage, apathy and disassociation. The contributing factors are complex; yet foremost among them is a lack of knowledge of Jewish law, lore, morals, ritual and custom. Rather than folowing Esau's example, the ramifica- tions of which are so clear in our day, we must instead use Jacob as our model. Accor- ding to one opinion in the Talmud, Jacob never died. This symbolic immortality of the Jewish people, however, can only come about if the traditions of Jacob are main- tained. Whether it be through the classes and lectures of- fered on all levels and at all times by the synagogues and other community institu- tions, or whether it be through personal study, the Jewish people's continued ex- istence will obtain only if the "people of the Book" know the Book. As the Mishna states: v'talmud torah k'neged kulam, Jewish education, the study of the Torah, must be our priority. ❑ mi SYNAGOGUES f•—• Livonia Group Plans Sale The Livonia Jewish Con- gregation will host a flea market and bake sale 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Nov. 18 at the synagogue. For information, please call the synagogue 477-8974.