18 Friday, February 3, 1984 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS WAREHOUSE PRICES APPLE Ile Starter System and APPLE Ile Business System CALL GUSS Mon.-Fri. 6:30 am-10 pm Sat. & Sun. 9 am-10 pm 661-4937 Attitudes Toward Aged Need Changing By RABBI ALLAN BLUSTEIN Chaplain, Sinai Hospital It is natural for the aged to be preoccupied with their own deaths. By age 65 or 70, one has come into contact with death a great deal. Very often the threat of death is made even more real by the death of one's spouse, which can be one of the biggest traumas for a person to overcome. Often this awareness of death eats away at any desire there might be to live. With society constantly reminding us that we're "worthless," it is very easy to despair, to think that there is no purpuse in living a meaningful life since death is imminent. But we needn't despair even at a very old age. There are ways to cope with and adjust even to this stage of aging. Psychologist Erik H. Erikson suggests another way: "The constructive way liappy& of living in the late years might be defined in this way: To live so gener- ously and unselfishly that the prospect of per- sonal death — the night of the ego, it might be called — looks and feels less im- portant than the secure knowledge that one has built for a broader, longer future than any one ego could possibly. encompass." In other words, we should not wait around to die but M EN'S 10 The legendary sale that has no equal! FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 10 A.M. - MIDNIGHT! OFF AND MORE! COMPLETE STOCK OF FAMOUS DESIGNERS! Absolutely...Positively...the BEST OF THE BEST! Kappy's Midnight Madness is the sale event that is truly beyond compare! Now, when you need to shake the Winter blues, you'll save a whopping 50% and even more off SUITS, SPORTCOATS, DRESS and SPORT SHIRTS, TIES, SWEATERS, LEATHER JACKETS and COATS, ALL-WEATHER COATS and more, all from our line-up of the leading designers favored by men who know quality and style. This is your best chance to build a first class wardrobe at the giveway prices our competitors fear! DO NOT MISS THIS INCREDIBLE SALE! MAPLE RD. HUNTERS SQUARE ORCHARD LAKE RD. & 14-MILE RD. OPEN THIS FRIDAY 10 AM-MIDNIGHT PHONE 855-4242 MasterCard Alterations at cost at these prices! should rather try to make life more meaningful and worthwhile, for ourselves while we live and for those whom we will leave behind. In short, there is plenty for us to do, in helping the aged. The only thing we really have to do is love them. We might understand a little bit more about their needs and feelings if we take these things into con- sideration when we encounter the aged. All they really want is to be treated with dignity and recogni- tion that any human being deserves. They perhaps deserve even more of our honor and attention than other types of people. So in general, the advice is v'ahavta l're'akha kamokha, simply love the older person as you would have him/her love you. Perhaps the place where the aged need the most help and considera- tion is within our own family. Chances are great that we have an aging parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle or other rela- tion within our family. Give this person our time and energy. Recognize the changes and adjust- ments that they are going through. We should em- pathize but not pity, understand but not con- descend. Just listing is really the greatest gift that we can be- stow on an aging person. If we are bothered by the fact that all our grandfather seems to want to do is talk about the same old stuff, so why not listen for a change! Really show some interest for the aged have a lifetime of wisdom to teach us. Let's open our ears and hearts to them and ask them about their childhood or what it was like to be one of the only Jews in Sioux City, Iowa, or to grow up in an anti-Semitic neighbor- hood in New Jersey. Aged relations will love us for taking the time to ask; it will fill them with life anew to know that someone really cares about them. And we'll probably enrich our own life in the process. Don't be afraid of silence. It could be that our physical presence alone will fill a gap in the aged person's life. Jewish Education Topic of Articles NEW YORK (JTA) — Three Jewish educators place the blame for poor quality Jewish education in America squarely on the parents of students in part- time Jewish schools. The indictments appear in two articles in the fall, 1983 issue of the Women's League Outlook, the official publication of the associa- tion of Conservative sister- hoods. One article is by former Detroiter Dr. Jay Stern, a past president of the Jewish Educators As- sembly. The other is by Elaine Shalowitz and Molly Schuchat.