TORAH PORTION I
Get All Your Holiday Gifts At:
The Beth Abraham Hillel Moses PTO
Gift Bazaar
SUNDAY, DEC. 2, 1990, '11 A.M.-3:00 P.M.
5075 W. Maple Rd., W. Bloomfield
Making Of Our Lives
A 'Place Of Springs'
between Inkster and Middlebelt
Handbags
Tupperware
Baby Blankets
Giftwrap
Clothing
Toys
Jewelry
Menorahs
40 ■ 04,4i
RABBI MORTON YOLKUT
Special to The Jewish News
T
Books
Stationery
Painted Kippot
Artwork
And Much Much More!
i
P
• Raffle for free gifts •
i 1 ) ■
ris
Refreshments Available
.._1-
4 - ,
ft. .
THE
CULTURAL COMMISSION OF
CONGREGATION BETH ABRAHAM HILLEL MOSES
invites you to a
CABARET EVENING
starring
NANCY GURWIN
In an Original Musical Revue
"BROADWAY LULLABY"
Saturday, December 1, 1990
8:00 P.M.
CONGREGATION BETH ABRAHAM HILLEL MOSES
5075 W. Maple, West Bloomfield
Admission $10.00 Per Person
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR OR CALL
THE SYNAGOGUE OFFICE 851-6880
SOMERSET
CLEANERS
FREE
,1 PAIR OF PANTS CLEANED AND PRESSED
with any incoming dry cleaning order of $6.95 or more.
May not be combined with any other coupon. Expires 12/30/90.
64
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1990
FRE
Municipal
Bonds Listing
Receive Weekly Report'
Member S1PC
4.G Edwards & Sons, Inc
7)-1
Till.\A WW1
BOB MORIAN
3 n:92_......
iSA ■ 7
he sages of the Mid-
rash take a long, hard
look at the life and
times of the patriarch Jacob
and conclude that "there is no
rest for the righteous in this
world." It is a sad and yet ac-
curate statement. Indeed, the
entire life of Jacob from
before his birth until after his
death is one continuous
documentation of this truth.
Jacob's life was one
perpetual struggle, one con-
tinual crisis. Even before he
was born, he had to wrestle
with his twin brother in his
mother's womb. As a child he
had to fight Esau for the
birthright and the blessing.
He ran away from Esau and
into the amoral Leban. He
married wives who quarrell-
ed over him and raised sons
who disobeyed him.
In this week's portion,
Jacob prepared for the con-
frontation with Esau that
could have been violent. Just
prior to this reunion he
wrestled with a mysterious
stranger throughout the
night and was wounded. Then
he experienced the trauma of
having his only daughter
molested and violated.
Later in the book of Genesis
things deteriorate even fur-
ther. Jacob's favorite son was
taken from him and left for
dead. And then when he was
informed that Joseph was in
fact alive, he had to again
leave his home because of a
famine and spend his final
years in Egypt. And even at
the very end, this aged man
had to beg his children to
bring his remains back to the
Promised Land.
Surely, the life of Jacob
from beginning to end is a
personification of the rabbinic
teaching: "There is no rest for
the righteous in this world."
We can appreciate this
truth from our own lives as
well. The world is so fashion-
ed that each person in it has
his full measure of sorrow and
pain. No one enjoys perma-
nent happiness or peace of
mind. But Judaism urges us
to transcend our difficulties
and provides the inspiration
with which to rise above per-
sonal crises. Thus the
psalmist writes: "Blessed is
the man whose strength is in
thee . . . as they go through
the valley of tears they make
a place of springs." He is tell-
Morton Yolkut is rabbi of
Congregation B'nai David.
ing us that though this world
at times may be a "valley of
tears," we still have the abili-
ty to rise above sorrow and
transform it into a "place of
springs?'
Jewish history is rich in ex-
amples of finding the benedic-
tion in the malediction and
the opportunity in the
catastrophe. Throughout a
long and bitter exile, our peo-
ple gave the world a lesson on
how to cope with and over-
come tragedy and misfortune.
The Temple and its
sacrificial service was
destroyed, so our ancestors
developed prayer as the most
sublime form of religious ex-
pression. In the Middle Ages,
the Jew was made an outcast,
imprisoned in ghettos, forbid-
den to own land. And so our
Vayishlach:
Genesis
32:4-36:43,
Obadiah 1:1-21.
ancestors cultivated their
minds instead of their land
and produced brilliant works
of scholarship and literature.
In this generation, out of
the ashes of Hitler's
crematoria, rose the phoenix
of Jewish statehood in Israel.
Jewish history is the story of
a people that was able to
muster the strength not only
to live with but also to over-
come tragedy and misfortune.
The measure of a person is
not whether he has pain and
sorrow — this all people do —
but what he does to alleviate
and overcome it. The message
of the life of Jacob and the
history of our people are one
and the same. In spite of
whatever life brings our way,
we affirm that we will not
succumb to despair. Rather,
with God's help, we will find
the strength and the resolve
to hope, to create and above
all to make our little corner
of this world a "place of
springs," a more noble, a bet-
ter place to be.
❑
SYNAGOGUES
Shir Shalom
Members' Service
Temple Shir Shalom will
hold a second annual obser-
vance honoring new members
at Shabbat services Dec. 7.
New members are those who
have joined the congregation
since Dec. 1, 1989.