THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Old Pupil Visits Rabbi Kaplan
By RABBI MAX WEINE
(Editor's note: Rabbi
Max Weine describes his
impressions of a visit in
Jerusalem in June with
his nonegenarian former
teacher Dr. Mordecai
Kaplan, founder of the
Reconstructionist
movement, who now lives
in Jerusalem. The
theological views of Dr.
Kaplan are noted here by
Rabbi Weine.)
We sat down, I, almost
literally at his feet. The old
relationship of 50 years ago
in the classroom was recon-
structed in an instant. I sat
at the feet of the master, and
he was the Prof. Kaplan of
old, teaching me all over
again and driving every
point home with all the
force at his command.
There was a Reconstruc-
tionist dairy on the table.
He picked it up and held it
in his hand. "What is there
is this diary that,makes it so
significant?" he thundered.
I was fumbling for an an-
swer. I mentioned the list of
books of Jewish interest
which I had always found so
helpful.
A look of dissatisfaction
on his face. You are refer-
ring, of course, to the 13 . . ."
I couldn't finish the sen-
tence when he boomed,
"You are right!" And he
then went into an explana-
tion of how he came to com-
RABBI KAPLAN
pile the 13 criteria of Jewish how about the Hoshana
loyalty to take the place of service during Sukkot?"
Maimonides' principles of
After touching on a few
faith.
Referring to the con- subjects of lesser impor-
troversial aspect of in- Itance Prof. Kaplan raised
cluding the idea of salva- the question of the substi-
tion as a major cog in his tute names for God that we
thinking on Judaism, he generally use in our prayers
asked me if I knew where as well as on other occa-
there are references to sions.
"Why cannot we use the
the idea of salvation in
the Siddur? I im- term for God that the Psal-
mediately answered, In mist used?" I was stumped
the Havdala service." for a moment until Prof.
(some five times) "Right," Kaplan continued, "How
he almost shouted, and does the Psalmist address
for good measure, "And God?" I had no answer that
might satisfy him.
"Hallelu-Yah," he said.
"Why cannot we speak of
God as Yah?"
He followed this by ask-
ing me what appeared to be
a very simple question: How
do you translate "Sh'ma
Yisrael?" I, naturally,
translated it in the usual
way: "Hear 0 Israel, the
Lord our God, the Lord is
One."
"Not exactly," coun-
tered Prof. Kaplan. "The
idea here is not the unity
of God, but rather His
uniqueness, the singu-
larity of God. There is no
other word in the Hebrew
language of the Bible to
convey that sense.
"And not only is God sin-
gular and unique, but Israel
is also, and that is one of its
special qualities.
"Do you remember the
Amidah of Shabat Minha?
Atto ehad v'shimkha ehad
umi k'amkha Yisrael goy
ehad baaretz." (You are
unique, and your name is
unique, and who is like your
people Israel, a unique na-
tion in the world.)
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Fasting on the Wedding Day
as Atonement for Past Sins
By RABBI SAMUEL FOX
(Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.)
It is traditional for brides
and bridegrooms to fast on
their wedding day.
At least three reasons are
offered for this practice. One
is the belief that brides and
bridegrooms are forgiven
for all their sins on the occa-
sion of the wedding. It,
therefore, appears that the
day of the wedding is like
the Day of Atonement for
them (i.e., Yom Kippur).
Since we fast on Yom
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wedding day when their
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