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24 Friday, December 10, 1982
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Clil Offers Alternative to Life on Israeli Kibutzim or Moshavim
By OLIVIA BEZALEL
World Zionist Press Service
JERUSALEM
The
kibutzim in Israel have long
been pointed to as models
for community living based
on, socialist ideals.
Everyone contributes his
own talents towards prod-
uction and receives in turn
all basic needs, with the pro-
fits being plowed back
into the community.
Other forms of living to-
gether have concurrently
developed, such as
moshavim (smallholders'
cooperatives) and industrial
villages. These, in common
with the kibutzim, are fi-
nanced by the Jewish
Agency but they are more
individualistic ideologi-
cally, since each family
exists as an independent
unit, and is affected person-
ally by any profit or loss.
For some young Israelis,
however, material benefits
are not the criteria but
rather a completely new
model of community living,
based on the idea of the
moshav but incorporating
ideals and aspirations of an
ecological and spiritual sig-
nificance. The setting for for the future in that itois
these new settlements are based not on any quasi-
the hills of Galilee, where religio-mystical set of be-
the last five years villages liefs but on careful
based on shared beliefs such forethought as to the
as yoga or new age needs of the coming gen-
philosophies have sprung erations not just in Israel
up.
but all over the world.
One of the most recent
The philosophy behind
villages in the northwest Clil is self-sufficiency, with
Galilee is Clil, which is of respect for the land both
particular significance aesthetically and ecologi-
cally.
A new kind of life-style
and a different approach to
agriculture are being de-
veloped, not just out of prac-
tical necessity but because
the people concerned need
to find meaning in their own
lives. Many of them seek
this in a place which is the
right size and where they
(Continued on Page 25)
Five Orthodox Men of the Old Book
By MAURICE CROLL, M.D.
For forty years unending,
They sat upon the crumbling,
Worn-out steps in the dilapidated
Little old shul,
Between Minceh and Ma'arev
And afternoon Tillyim.
These five, old, bearded patriarchs
Lived here in their run-down
House of God.
This, their sacred second home,
An unbreakable enduring friendship,
Welded together with their
Supreme, absolute beliefs,
In the Holy Torah and Synagogue;
Bound together into a complete
Single unit within itself
Five men of Yeshiva, learning
Scholars in the truest sense
Of the word.
All men of the book.
The five books of the Torah;
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers
And Deuteronomy —
Which, to them, was one book — their guide.
So sacred were those words
Of their God —
Of their God-given laws thru Moses —
Spoken directly unto them.
So they believed.
Always in a hushed, soft-spoken,
Revered voice.
The word, referred to God,
Was spoken.
It was much different then
When they prayed in the synagogue.
It was permitted then — in prayers —
But not in everyday spoken language.
Each believed in their own God,
But shared it equally with each other
Because that's the way it was
Meant to be.
This was their guiding light.
All thru life
It guided their every thought
And established-a behavior plan
For every action toward their
Fellow man,
Both day and nite.
They did not stray one inch
From the Mt. Sinai Holy Ten.
This was their sacred law.
It was self-governing —
The absolute,
This was their measurement
Of men
In God's own world.
To question the tenets (Religious)
Or the edicts of the Torah,
Or even think of doing so,
Was, in itself, the greatest
Of all sins —
Without a pardon.
It never entered their minds.
They would argue, hours and hours;
Debating, reasoning, cajoling,
Convincing, invoking, quoting
The commentaries of the five
Books
They knew so well —
Every word, every paragraph,
Every "Pintelleh," every period,
Every comma and semi-colon.
Erev Shabbos —
Friday evening services. –
This was a most important ritual.
My father, Reb Hillel, would bathe
Meticulously, change every garment,
Trim his beard with his special scissors,
(Razors were not permitted.)
Getting ready to go to their bride,
Shabbos.
You could actually visualize these,
the five pillars of the shul
From five different directions,
Racing gleefully to their shul,
Anxious to recite the most beautiful,
Lyrical, exciting "Locha Day Dee."
Here was the high peak
Of Erev Shabbos.
One doesn't really recite 'Locha Day Dee."
It is sung in their special 'Nigun.'
Into it they poured every last iota
Of their zealous, burning, soul
With pure, sheer, happiness
The "Locha" was wrotten with a
Basic structure that 'could only
Be truly expressed (sung) with
A full, lyrical, positive voice.
At this high point of their prayers
The had no equal upon this earth.
As youngsters, we watched in
Rapture.
Our fathers, totally oblivious to
The world around them,
In a religious, non-penetrable,
Complete hypnotic, self
Induced trance,
Singing their most beloved
"Locha Day Dee."
For us kids, by prearranged plan,
We tied the ends of their tallises
Together.
Toward the end of the prayer
We would beat a hasty retreat
Outside.
We knew what would happen later
When they were
"Defrocked in nakedness"
Without their body-covering
Prayer shawl in the House of
God.
And then all prayers would stop
Until our devious knots were untied.
The congregation knew the
Whole story,
They look on, horrified
There were a few snickers
As if to say with some relish,
"There go those rascals again,"
Our punishmatt —
To return to the shul after
Shabbos lunch at home
To say the complete Tillyim.
To us this was cruelty
In the extreme.
Eventually we did learn something,
But what a price to pay.
Tillyim was the most difficult
Of all the services.
Here two worlds clashed in
Diametrically opposed conflict.
Everybody knew that Saturday
Afternoon was delineated
Just for football.
Finally a compromise by
Our brave bargaining committee,
We would say Tillyim till 2:30 P.M.
And then free to leave for football.
Football on Shabbos?!!
At times we wondered,
What did these five strictologists
Talk about
In their fierce, genticulating,
Debates?
We decided to evesdrop.
No! No! It is not so! Moshe Rabeynu
Was right when he broke the
Mt. Sinai tablets,
The Torah says
But Gemara explains the laws
And their meanings,
The Mishna quotes _ _
The Rambam does not agree.
The Talmud decrees specifically
In this instance.
Yes! Rabbi Judah has written
On this subject precisely.
What about the "Shulkhan Arukh?"
It is the keystone of all our
Jewish law.
Don't you remember what Caro
Said in the "Shulkhan Arukh?"
From Zion the law shall go forth,"
But Rashi is more understanding
And clearer ____ _
We listened to all this
And their fierce, heated arguments
And were more confused than ever.
We had never heard of any
Of these guys."
Just before Minceh prayers
They stopped arguing abruptly.
We must interview for a
new Melamed tomorrow."
This we fully understand.
They were going to decide
On a more forceful jailer
For us kids — a new warden.
Post Script: I looked back at the old shul and began
to fully understand it, well into my six-
ties when I attained a fairly-well rea-
soning maturity.
For forty years — these five on the
shul steps — none of them made more
than a meager bread-and-butter living.
Yet they were rich, rich in their abso-
lute, unquestioning belief in their
Jewish religion and rich in each other.
They had endured for thousands of
years. They all came from the same
area of Russia — about 250 mile radius
of Moscow.
In looking back — what a beautiful
pure, stress-free life they led and they
gloried in it. They took the so-called
modern era and fitted it in their type of
Orthodox religious life and enjoyed it to
the fullest.
I doubt that we moderns of Jewish
faith shall ever attain their purity of
thought and faithful belief.