Newspaper Page Text
Friday, September 26, 1947
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Page Fir*
panorama
SUCCOTH
By DAVID SCHWARTZ
on, Jacob disguises himself to get
the blessing of the firstborn and
we chide him for his deception of
Isaac.
Yet the fact is that if Esau had
sold him his birthright, Jacob was
entitled to the blessing. But the
case for Jacob is strong than one
of mere technicality. Let us re
construct the picture.
Esau, we know, was the favorite
son of Isaac. We can understand
this. Isaac was an old man when
he married and he appreciated
this son v.ho was good, so to speak,
at bringing home—we shall not
On Shevuoth, it is customary to j all of his wishes were fulfilled,
read the book of Ruth in the syn- We have almost a complete
agogue. On Passover, the Song of j enough case history of Jacob to
Songs is read and on Succoth. the | satisfy even the psychoanalyst who
custom is to read Kohelcth (Ec- ; insists on pre-natal history of
riesiastes*. i a case. The Bible tells us that Re-
The Talmud has an apt say- | becca s pregnancy was very diffi- j say the bacon—but the venison.
in g which this suggests. It points cult and that she was told this was Jacob too must have envied his
,,ut that Solomon traditionally is | because there were two conflicting elder brother this practical quality,
i he author of three books of the j nations struggling in her womb. At home around the table, it was
Bible: the Seng of Songs, the Book i 'Ihe legends of the Talmud en- always Esau's actions which were
0 f proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Sol- | large upon this. They say that at | applauded. So Jacob developed
omon, say its legend makers, wrote i this period when Rebecca passed a | an inferiority complex. True. Re-
ihe Song of Songs with its almost 1 pagan idolatrous house of worship, |berca loved Jacob better than Esau,
sty love tones, as a young man; j Esau's embryo would cry out and This was the natural, motherly
when she passed a synagogue, j love for the weak.
Jacob would make a move.
Esau's conduct, as the Bible re
lates the story, seems the more ex-
I emplary until we read beneath and
! between the lines as the Talmud-
he Book of Proverbs in middle
me. and Ecclesiastes, with its mel-
ulv refrain, in old age.
Despite the reading of Koheleth,
i he festival of Succoth is describ-
m the prayer book as “zeman
Yes. in the world of practical
things. Esau was the great fellow
— not Jacob.
What happens to such young
people who seem to be no match
mu-hasemi" or -time of joy." Yet j ists liave done. Esau sells his birth- I for the ruthlessness of the world?
re is something about Koheleth ]d{;ht to Jacob for a mess of pot-
uch somehow corresponds with f age ' Jacob, we say, should not
i. season of Succoth when na- ta ^ n advantage of Esau,
iv s foliage begins to lose its col- , ^ ^ sau Parted with
Dame Nature seems to become ! btf^rtght voluntarily appar-
uv sedate, she has put aside her ! en ^ y thinking very little of it.
Inevitably they must develop some
intellectual cunning to meet the
overwhelming physical cunning.
Yes. Jacob gets the blessing
from Isaac through cunning. But
is the blessing of practical value?
frivolity and become mellow and j Tlle ralibis ot the Talmud say that lit is of about as much value as a
meditative Koheleth speaks the I birthright was no material j college degree to a man encount-
i In,light of a man who has tasted thing - that Esau, being a practical ering cannibals in a jungle. For
he foam and dregs of life and fin- I man ’ regarded it of no value. Later | the fact is that immediately after
.illy sets down his conclusions.
The men of the Talmud also as- j DOES ATLANTA NEED "HOME FOR AGED"?
d ialed the Patriarch Jacob with
Succoth. Some of the authorities
-ay that Jacob was the first man
•o observe Succoth.
One need not be too rich in
phantasy to find appropriate links
for this choice. Of the three Pa-
triaichs, none seem to come to life
so much as Jacob.
In Abraham and Isaac we see
patterns of almost pure perfection.
I hey are saintly men, blessed men.
flic earthly quality is not too vis
ible in them. What there is lias
been subdued by their higher in
stincts. They are perhaps a little
too ideal for most of us. In Jacob
we see both good and evil. The
man's life is beset by conflicts
which most of us experience in
life. So in a sense, we feel closer
to Jacob.
We can scarcely think of Jacob
without thinking of Esau, his
brother and his nemesis. The great
Jewish philosopher, Solomon Mei-
tnon. in his autobiography recalls
how as a child, his father told him
that Jacob and Esau had been
presented with the choice of this
world and the world to come and
Jacob selected the world to come
while Esau took this world. At
this, young Maimon blurted out
"Jacob was a fool. He should have
accepted this world.” Maimon's
father simply slapped his son's
lace.
Jacob was an introvert, Esau an
extrovert. Jacob was the man
who was always having dreams.
' the quiet man” who the Bible
says, "sat in the tents” and Esau
was the wild game hunter, who
had no reason to dream, because
Jacksonville River Garden Home
Sets Community-Not Isolated-Role
EDITOR'S NOTE—One of the subjects before the
Atlanta Jewish Community is the care of the a^ed. A
recent report (printed in The Southern Israelite) of the
Community Council told what has been done to date in
Atlanta on the matter. This article, from Jacksonville’s
Community Council Commentator, tells about the ideals
of the home for the aged in that Florida city. Material on
what other communities are doing for the aged will be
presented as soon as available.
JACKSONVILLE—Sidney Entman, executive director
of River Garden Hebrew Home for the Aged, is a young
man with modern ideas about a haven for men and women
in the afternoon of their lives. You discover that quickly
on visiting the beautiful Home on the St. Johns River with
its warmth and home-like at- with “outsiders” coming in to
mosphere. And you learn more participate. There are movies—
about Entman’s ideas talking and parties for the residents,
with him as he goes about his The Girl Scouts and Brownies
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duties.
‘ Here," lie says, stopping to
pat the veined hand of a little
lady busily sewing, "our resi
dents are not in exile. They’re
still part of the community—
not isolated, as you will see.
Only here, in the Home's en
vironment they're protected."
The problem of the aged is
steadily growing more acute.
More people are living longer
with the advance of medical
science. For many elderly per
sons. there is tragedy in old age.
But institutions like River Gar
den are eliminating that trag
edy.
"We workers in the field and
progressive laymen such as we
have in Jacksonville recognize
the responsibility of the com
munity in providing a planned
program for our aged,” Entman
declared.
“Merely caring for their phy
sical needs isn't enough.”
Then he explained that River
Garden’s goal is to make the
Home part of local Jewish com
munity life. Its program is gear
ed around bringing activity and
life to the Home.
For example, religious activi
ties are constantly taking place.
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meet often at River Garden,
giving residents contact with
youth. And several adult organ
izations hold meetings and give
card parties at the Home.
Since opening its doors in
March of last year, River Gar
den has gone a long way toward
meeting a specific need. And
it’s going farther. An expan
sion program, providing for a
new building containing com
plete infirmary facilities, is being
launched immediately.
With its new building, those
directing River Garden look for
ward to making of the institu
tion not only a center of recrea
tional, social and religious
activity, but also a medical cen
ter for the treatment of illnesses
common to persons of advanced
age.
“We want to see the day when
the Home is the center of life
for all our aged persons of the
vicinity,” said Entman. “Not all
old people need live in a place
like this,” he went on. “Many
of them are perfectly able to
live and care for themselves. But
they miss the companionship of
persons of their own age. That’s
what we want to give the mat
River Garden — companionship
and activity.”
Jacksonville today has River
Garden, a credit to the commun
ity, because of the untiring ef
forts of members of the Ladies
Hebrew Sheltering Aid Society.
The women saw the need and
worked to meet it until the Home
for the Aged came into being.
Entman has been the Home's
director since the first, setting
up its program and reflecting tire
ideas of the executive commit
tee, of which Ira Stein is chair
man.
Mrs. Entman serves as the of
ficial volunteer occupational
therapist, teaching needlework,
leathercraft and other handi
crafts to those living at River
Garden. When not engaged in
that, she’s busy running the Ent
man home at 2348 Riverside
Avenue, and keeping tab on the
two Entman boys, Mark, eight,
and Stephen, four.
receiving it Jacob has to run away.
He has nothing with him—save
the memory of that verbal bless
ing.
Well, he comes to Haran, the
city where Uncle Laban lives. He's
got his blessing. It ought to be all
right now, but what happens?
Uncle Laban puts one over on
him. He promises him that if he
will work seven years for nothing,
ire will be rewarded with Rachel
as a wife.
That's a high price to pay for a
woman. But what happens then?
Uncle Laban, the man who wor
ships images, puts another one
over cm Jacob, When Jacob
marches down to the altar and re
turns with a veiled wife, he finds
the old man has given him Leah
instead of Rachel.
The rabbis of the Talmud see in
this a lesson for Jacob. The Tal
mudic legends say that when Jacob
saw' his bride Leah, he said to her;
"How w'as it possible when I called
you Rachel in the night that you
never said who you actually were?" 1
And Leah replied, “Did not you de
ceive thy father, Isaac?”
Jacob for all his cunning re
mains to the end more the ideal
ist, the quiet man who sits in the
tents. He is never really a match
for this world. He engages to work
for Labon seven more years to get
Rachel and then works for him
for six additional years| Tw'enty
years he works for Laban and as
a result, Laban becomes very pros
perous, but Jacob is always ex
ploited by the more crafty Laban
"Ten time you have changed my
wages,” cries out Jacob.
The only way he can end this
exploitation Is to run away. He
does so and is pursued by Laban.
The usual fate of the idealist over
comes him. Convinced he is no
match for the practical w'orld, he
even overrates the forces against
him. When he flees from Laban,
he is still sure that Esau will mur
der him for stealing that blessin ,T
But he meets Esau. The old bo,
has done very well without the
blessing and he embraces Jacob
wdth joy.
Augusta
The Augusta Progressive Club
sponsored a Yom Kippur dance
the evening of Sept. 24 at the
YMHA building.
A meeting of the Augusta Zion
ist District was held Thursday.
The district officers include David
Silvere, president; Robert Persky,
Harry B. Shapiro and Harry Wi-
lensky, vice-presidents; H. Wein
stein, treasurer, and Louis M.
Kaynard, secretary.
Hie life of a city is like a
stream, which is beautiful only
while it keeps flowing. Should
it stand still, it turns either
into ice or a swamp. -*
—Miller
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