The Shaarey Zedek Cultural Commission is pleased to announce this year's LAKER CONCERT TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 16, 7:00 P.M. At Congregation Shaarey Zedek A GALA CANTORIAL CONCERT Featuring Some of America's Greatest Cantors in a program of Hebrew, Yiddish and cantorial renditions Sponsored by The Laker Family Admission Is Free — Open To The Community In addition to local cantors in the Detoit area who will participate, the following nationally renowned cantors will appear: Louis Danto, Toronto, Ont. Paul Kowarsky, Toronto, Ont. Nathan Lam, Los Angeles, Ca. Leon Lissek, St. Louis, Mo. Abraham Lubin, Bethesda, Md. Benjamin Maissner, Toronto, Ont. Alberto Mizrahi, Chicago, II. Elliott Partner, St. Louis, Mo. David Propis, Bellaire, Tx. Henry Rosenblum, Highland Park, II. Dr. Alden Leib Chairman Cultural Commission Meryl and Dr. Terry Podolsky Concert Chairmen Beth Shalom's HAPPY CHANUKAH \ LW Sisterhood Gift el Bazaar Z Latke Lunch Children's Crafts Children's Book Sale Kids Bazaar Live Entertainment - 1:00 pm free Gift Wrapping WWI 111 "IL I " I I VI Sunday, November 21st 10 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. ...mi... 0 0 0 The arms of Congregation Beth Shalom Youth Commission, Religious School Parents, Sisterhood, J.E.F.F., Man's Club 14601 W. Lincoln • Oak Park Call 547-7970 for more information ■■ •••••• ■•■ 111- 52 Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today. Call 354-6060 Fulfilling A Legacy By Selling A Birthright DR. RICHARD C. HERTZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS T his week's sedrah deals with the birth of the twins Jacob and Esau. Esau was born bloody and hairy, but Jacob was born hold- ing on to the heel of the infant Esau. Jacob's name was given as one who "supplants" or "one who manages to take the place of another by scheming." This indeed characterized Jacob's early life. Isaac favored Esau because he was a hunter, a man of the field; Rebecca favored Jacob, a quiet man dwelling in tents. He stayed close to home and close his mother, where he must have learned some of her shrewed- ness. In one of the most dramatic moments of Scripture, Esau came in from the fields after hunting, exhausted and feeling ill. He was willing to sell to his younger brother his own birthright for a mess of pottage, really a bowl of red lentil soup. The struggle goes on for seniority between the twins and continued into their adulthood. Esau was willing to transfer the Shabbat Toledot: Genesis 25:19-28:9 I Samuel 20:18-42. birthright to Jacob, giving up the wealth and flocks that would go with the birthright. The status of the first born was bound up with responsibilities and obligations as well as priv- ileges and prerogatives. Yet Esau, when he finished eating the broth, did not quarrel with Jacob. Apparently he cared little for the sacred institution of the first born. Isaac became prosperous. It wasn't until the end of Isaac's life that the birthright became important to Esau. Rebecca, who was strong willed and cun- ning, managed to manipulate the situation of the final bless- ing from Isaac. Whether Isaac, as blind as he was, recognized Jacob or was suspicious, Scripture does not tell. He simply said, "Which of my sons are you?" And Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your first born." Fully convinced that Esau was really the one standing be- fore him, Isaac proceeded to communicate the decisive bless- Dr. Richard Hertz is rabbi emeritus of Temple Beth El. ing, which really relates in Scripture's language to the na- tional destiny of the Jewish peo- ple rather than to the fate of an individual Jacob. Esau harbored a bitter grudge against Jacob because of Jacob's having stolen the blessing. Rebecca now sensed the intensity of the vindictive reaction of Esau and urged Ja- cob, for his own safety, to leave at once, far away from Esau. Jacob was recognized as the true heir to the covenant, but he must not marry outside the family. Jacob left to go to his mother's family, to Laban, his mother's brother. The sedrah ends with Jacob going to Pad- darn-Aram to seek a wife while Esau went to Ishmeil and took his wife from among the Ish- melites. Isaac's role in Scripture was to preserve the tradition and to remain loyal to that tradition. He was the bridge between Abraham and Jacob in the patriachal drama. Did Rebecca really deceive Isaac dressing up Jacob? In his heart he must have known that Esau could not carry on the legacy of Abraham. Isaac knew full well that it was Jacob who had the strength of character to go forward. The dramatic mo- ment of the confrontation of Isaac with Esau, the father trembling and the son weeping bitterly, shows something of the heart of Isaac. Rebecca comes out of this family situation as something different from her earlier years. She became the woman who loved both of her children, but loved them differently. She rec- ognized that Jacob desired the birthright so deeply that he was willing to cheat in order to secure it, and Esau who so lightly esteemed it that he for- feited the birthright and sold it for a pot of lentil soup. The Midrash says that the moment Isaac mentions God's name he knew it was Jacob and not Esau. But the deception re- ported by Scripture does so without approving of it. God's actions can use human faults to fulfill His ends. ❑ The grandeur of the world is always in accordance with the grandeur of the mind that contemplates it. The good finds here his paradise, the bad partakes here al- ready of his hell. —Heinrich Heine