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 Warning : The Surgeon General Has Determined That Cigarette SMoking Is Dangerous toYour Health.