6 Friday, March 5, 1982 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Holiday of Purim: Celebration and Giving Music by Sam Barnett (Continued from Page 1) Our forefathers made a great point of sending food, on plates wrapped in cloths, 968-2563 from house to house. Chil- • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 5- • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • from these or from hundreds of other titles. • • $35.00 Membership Fee • • • • • 12 Mile at Evergreen • • Open 7 Days • • • • • • Big or small, we custom the music to yourneeds. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • l • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • BEST RENT IN TOWN ATLANTIC CITY FOR YOUR EYES ONLY • • S.O.,B. • • THE FINAL CONFLICT • TATTOO • • LA CAGE AUX FOLLES part II • • • EYE OF THE NEEDLE Choose • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • VIDEO PLUS 569-2330 • • • • • • • • • • • ∎ • • • dren delivered them, run- ning through the streets col- lecting tips in sweets. The custom was a source of ex- citement for housewives with some tension because the wrong amount or the wrong kind of mishloakh manot sent to a touchy rela- tive could give undying of- fense. -- The custom is still car- ried out in Israel, with children in costume (miniature Queen Es- thers, clowns and as- tronauts) making the de- liveries. Among the ex- hibits at the Israel Museum- is a beautiful silver plate, originating in Austria in the 19th Century, for mishloakh manot. It is shaped like a fish, which symbolizes the month of Adar. In the kibutzim, children gave mishloakh manot not only to their family but also to their metaplot (nurse- educators), teachers, neighbors and classmates. As the children make their rounds in gay and varied costumes, the whole kibutz takes on the carnival at- mosphere which char- acterized the adults' cele- bration on the previous night. The kibutz Purim party is hard to beat for its joyous atmosphere and the originality of the fancy dress, which is virtually compulsory for all corners. However, one of the most important precepts of Purim is often overlooked in all the merriment — giving charity to the poor. In fact, it is one of the most important precepts in Judaism. The Bible, the Talmud, the Codes and all moralistic lit- erature emphasize the need to care for the poor. Whole sections of the Shulhan Arukh (Code ofJewish Law) are devoted to the giving of charity with all its ramifi- cations. As in every fe-stival in the Jewish calendar, the triumphs and disasters of Israel throughout its his- tory are events whose- meaning transcends the immediate incident. In celebrating Purim, we do more than commemorate the oppressed Persian Jews at the time of Queen Esther. We show our sol- idarity with all Jewish communities continuing to live under oppres- sion. When we fulfill the mitzva of mishloakh manot and of giving charity, we are 0 1 expressing our feelings of caring for our friends, of compassion for the less for- tunate. Purim is an un- inhibited andjoyous holi- day with wonderful over- tones of sharing and friend- ship. ADL Opposing Creation Scien NEW YORK — isle Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith has adopted a resolution to actively op- pose the teaching of creationism in the public schools. In introducing the resolu- tion at ADL's national -- executive committee meet- ing in Florida, Peter Alter of Detroit pointed out that a Louisiana statute which re- quires the teaching of creationism on a par with evolution, similar to a sta- tute that was struck down by the courts in Arkansas, is now under challenge. Beauty is an outward gift which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused. —Gibbon MY DAILY PRAYER FOR ISRAEL Hope Eternal By MAURICE CROLL, M.D. Oh; Israel, this tortured land I love, with all the hearts that be — What is there that I would not do for thee, our promised land. Hate pours in at you from all sides, and distant unheeding lands Tumble down upon your slender strip of land — in bloody avalanche From all your semitic kin. Where are the sacred words — the Holy words — that Moses brought down From Mt. Sinai direct from God's guiding hands? The Holy sacred words that God gave us, to give to all the world To learn — in guiding — rules of righteous conduct. No words of hate doth they contain. Are they mere empty words, To throw upon the wayward winds so that they will blow away? And, now, forgotten and be guide no more the kve so needed now. To the dire challenges, so brutal in our daily lives. With rules to guide us thru the perils of our daily life, That bears down so heavily upon us now, determined to destroy The relationship of man to man, immature and vicious grown, Bastardized by the dollar sign. Oh Lord, teach theime of love, real brotherly love, for their fellow man. Love that teaches in the same vein that we are brothers all, and As such, to live together in peace, together with peace And in peace with the stranger who dwells within our midst. Teach them again — and teach us, too — to love, to live in love With all our neighbored kin to speak again the language Of the One God, that in it doth prescribe to each of us In full measure. Israel redeemed — a state in '48, a promise of the Lord fulfilled as we have daily prayed, but what a price we pay in Israeli blood. Every inch of blessed soil drenched beyond all human ken. When will it cease? When will it ease? The hate, propogated From father to son down thru the ages. The youngest of our children already know the deathly, dreaded words — Auschwitz, Dachau and ---- ---? At 15 years of age children are taught And trained as soldiers to kill with bayonets. What future is there For either side with such an outlook? We need no more terrorists attacks, such as Nahariya, Kiryat Shmona and Ma'alot. The constant shelling, back and forth with no end in sight. For mostly it is the children who suffer. Children of darkness in a world Where all children (innocents) belong to the world. Just picture this: An Israeli mother, under life and death tenstion, Hiding from terrorists in the next room, with her two-year-old child, Yael, Who inadvertently suffocated her child. Her husband, Danny, had been shot, and their five-year old, Einat, Died a most horrible death. Stop for a moment and visualize this: As the Israeli forces approached The terrorists, in full retreat, picked up little Einat by her feet and split her head upon a rock. Can you imagine what the mother went thru When she looked upon this scene . . . Alone, now, in a world alone. This one tragic, inhumane incident conjures up, reflects and writes Into history the entire history of all the Israeli people. More innocent blood — shed of innocent children — upon Israeli soil. The entire Israeli nation was plunged into deep mourning. The world looked on, but not a single voice was raised, and then They looked away, it did not concern them. So much blood is being spilled without a transfusion in sight. What, then, is gained by each bloody revenge? This 'cannot be the ultimate answer. What does the future hold? I see a federation of all the semetic states welded into one, into the parliament of man, °fall the semetic kin. Swords and guns must first be buried in the soil, So that the land therein will be more fruitful. Hate must perish in the dust from whence it was born. It must be buried deep in the soil; stratified and immobilized, Deep in the recesses of the earth never to be raised again. And hunger will be banished from the lands, never to be seen again. A far-flung impossible dream, beyond the ken of men today? An historian of the future? Or pure madness on a rampage? Not so, indeed! What can be visioned in the minds of men of goodwill— In the soul, deeply embedded can be built by men of goodwill If their hearts be true, with sincere airh- It can be so! Credits: The tragic story of these two children (Einat age five, and Yael age two), Danny, the father and Semadar, the furviving mother, was reported in Time magazine Jan. 11, 1982, by Roger Rosenblatt under the title "Israel, What Good Is Revenge?" It is a monumental, clearly-defined report that opens a new door into the future of "Children of War." It should be read by Jew and Arab alike. I realize that my heart is preaching in this (My) soul-shaking poem, but then, my heart asserts itself in every poem I write. The solution will not come in my time. The emotional minds of men change exceed- ingly slowly, but that does not mean that we should stop trying. Mr. Rosenblatt has opened a whole new area for the future; THINKING! Thinking of our children, be they Arab or Jew! (