THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
I
Flint News
Flint UJA Event Planned
Dr. Arieh Plotkin, a spe-
cialist on international af-
fairs, will address a dinner
meeting of the men's di-
vision of the Flint Jewish
Federation's 1981 United
Jewish Appeal.
Dr. Plotkin served in the
Hagana, service with in-
telligence corps of the Israel
Defense Forces and later
pecialized in international
felations, international law
and comparative govern-
ment. He studied at Haifa
and Hebrew Universities,
University of London and
Princeton University's
Woodrow Wilson School of
Community
Calendar
Public and International
Affairs.
He earned MA and PhD
degrees at Princeton. He is a
member of the American
Society of International
Law and wrote for and ap-
peared for the Voice of
America.
For reservations, call the
Federation office, 767-5922.
Stephen Klein is Campaign
chairman.
Women to Hold
Jubilee Donor
Beth Israel Sisterhood
will hold its 50th donor 8
p.m. March 21 at the
synagogue.
For tickets, call Bess
Hurand, 239-0549; Sandy
Reznick, 694-1404; or Pat
Fauer, 239-0585. For table
reservations, call Florence
Berner, 732-6652; or Sandy
Chimovitz, 732-4529.
Pamphlet Marks Rare Ceremony
MIAMI BEACH — A
pamphlet marking the ob-
servance of Birchas Ham-
chama, the Jewish cere-
mony blessing the sun
which takes place once
every 28 years, has been
published by Cong. Kol Yis-
roel Haverim, the national
synagogue headed by Rabbi
There are four types who
sit at the feet of sages: a
sponge, a funnel, a strainer
and a sieve. The sponge ab-
sorbs everything indis-
criminately. The funnel
takes it in at one end and
lets it out at the other. The
strainer lets through the
wine and retains the less.
The sieve lets off the bran
and retains the flour.
—Talmud
Rubin R. Dobin.
The next observance of
the ceremony is scheduled
for -April 8. Copies of the
pamphlet may be obtained
by sending a stamped, self-
addressed envelope to:
Blessing of the Sun Pam-
phlet, P.O. Box 6194, Miami
Beach, Fla. 33154.
Friday, March 13, 1981 19
MOVING?
Priced Sale of Household Furnishings
Professionally Conducted,In Your Home
Estate Liquidators
EDMUND FRANK & Co.
Liquidators
368-4044
Appraisers
875-7650
The Farmington Hills Inn
A new supervised residential care community in
Farmington Hills
For the elderly who need assistance, but don't want the
environment or expense of a nursing home.
Call 851-9640 for information
Friday—Beth El dinner,
6:15p.m., Mid-Michigan
Shabat service, 8 p.m.,
Temple Beth El.
Saturday — USY serv- Shalom Group
ice, 9 a.M., Cong. Beth Is-
e Plans to Gather
rael.
Sunday — FJF Men's
The Shalom Group will
Division Campaign\ break- have a get-together for
fast, 9:30 a.m., Federation young singles and marrieds
office; and Beth El adult 8p.m. Saturday at the River
education, 9 a.m.
Hollow club house.
Monday — FJF Com-
For information, call Dr.
munity Relations Commit- and Mrs. Harold Steinman,
tee speaker series, Phil 767-7686.
Baum, 8 p.m., Temple Beth
El.
Purim Carnival
Tuesday — Bnai Brith
board meeting, 8 p.m.• and at Beth Israel
Beth Israel adult education,
Cohg. Beth Israel will
8:20 p.m. .
have its annual Purim car-
Wednesday — ORT nival 12:30 p.m. Sunday in
board meeting, 7:30 p.m.
the social hall.
Thursday — FJF Senior
Games, food,- prizes and
Friendship Club, noon, more will highlight the af-
Temple Beth El, Purim ternoon. There is a charge
for admission.
luncheon.
Pope John Paul and Judaism
By RABBI MARC
TANENBAUM
(A Seven Arts Feature)
If a falsehood is repeated
often enough without chal-
lenge it takes on the ring
truth.
In the Second Century, a
Syrian Christian named
Marcion tried to establish
as truth the dualistic belief
that the God of the Old Tes-
tament was a God of wrath
and vengeance while the
God of the New Testament
was a superior God of love
and mercy. The Church of
Rome vigorously con-
demned- Marcion's teach-
ings as heresy and excom-
municated him. Church or-
r-N.'hodoxy then realized that
ere was but one God to
both Testaments and that
his attributes consisted of
both justice and love, mercy
and compassion.
But cultural customs die
hard, and frequently histor-
ical cliches reassert them-
selves under the guise of
truth. On Dec. 2, Pope John
Paul II issued an encyclical
entitled "Rich in Mercy," in
which he sought to criticize
distortions of justice in
modern times.
While the Pope wrote
many positive things
about the Hebrew Bible,
he stated that the Old
Testament teaching of
"an eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth" was a
distortion of justice in
that it led to a "neighbor
being destroyed, killed or
deprived of liberty." But
the plain historic truth is
that Judaism never per-
mitted physical injury to
be inflicted on a human
being but rather required
monetary compensation
instead.
Jewish groups protested
against that ancient Mar-
cionite cliche, and Pope
John Paul to his credit, re-
sponded affirmatively,
though symbolically. On
Feb. 9, he invited the Chief
Rabbi of Rome, Elio Toaff, to
meet with him, and the
Pope spoke of the relevance
for the indebtedness of
Christianity to Judaism.
Quite incredibly, that
was the first time in 2,000
years that a Pope and an
Italian Chief Rabbi have
met. They both called it "an
historic event."
Let us hope that it will
lead to a more promising fu-
ture for truer understand-
ing between Christians and
Jews.
The nations are as a drop
of a bucket, and are counted
as the small dust of the bal-
ance.
—Isaiah
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