What I'm about to write isn't directly related to this week's Torah portion, nor to any particular event of the week. However, we know that everything that happens in the universe is by Hashgacha Pratit—Divine Providence—and this story came into my hands this week. There are many details in it that would require pages and pages to explain properly (and I've left many out for the sake of simplicity). I leave it to each reader to consult the sources and ask relevant questions about any points that are unclear.
The third Rebbe of Chabad, the Tzemach Tzedek, had a very wise Hasid named Rabbi Aizik of Homlin. He once sent him to spend some time with another great Tzadik from Poland, Rabbi Israel of Ruzin, to observe his customs and learn from him.
Once, when Rabbi Aizik of Homlin was standing before Rabbi Israel of Ruzin, two very important Hasidim of the latter approached to ask their Rebbe to write a recommendation for their respective Torah books that they had written.
The first Hasid was a very important rabbi in his community, a man of great wisdom and profound learning. The book he carried was a collection of new ideas he had developed throughout his studies. The second was a simpler Hasid who had written a book compiling various stories from sages he had heard.
The Rebbe asked his secretary to read a few pages from each book. The secretary first read a paragraph from the book of the great rabbi, and then a paragraph from the book of the Hasid. The Rebbe then, after a few moments of deep meditation, began to speak about the importance of the tales and stories of our wise and holy teachers, before giving a complex discourse on the same topic that the secretary had read from the book of the great rabbi.
Rabbi Aizik was surprised by the depth of the Rebbe's commentary on the great rabbi's book, but he didn't understand why Rabbi Israel spoke first about the compiled histories and then about the book of novelties. It should have been the other way around; after all, it was a great rabbi versus a mere Hasid, and a book of its own novelties versus a compilation...
Later, Rabbi Israel explained: Your question is an ancient one, which Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak, the father of the Torah commentators) himself mentions at the beginning of his famous commentary on the Torah. Rashi asks: Why does the Torah, being a book of laws, begin with the account of creation? It should have begun with the first mitzvah, in the Book of Exodus (the second book of the Torah)! And he answers his own question by quoting a verse from Psalms: "The power of His deeds He imparted to His people," etc.
Now, Rabbi Israel explained, the words "His deeds" in Hebrew are written maasav, which can also be translated as "His stories." This means that God Himself tells us at the beginning of the Torah that the stories of our sages and holy teachers are more powerful than the laws themselves, which is why He chose to place them first in the order of the Torah's sections.
In other words, an essential and fundamental part of our children's education, so that they acquire good habits and emotional qualities, are the stories of our sages from the Talmud and the Midrash, the stories of our patriarchs and ancestral teachers, of how they behaved, each in their time and their circumstances of life.
These stories instill in children a sense of spiritual elevation and define the correct approach to life and the role model to follow, whether it be the Tzadik of Ruzin or the top scorer of the last football championship...