32 Friday, September 7, 1984 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS INTRODUCTORY OFFER WITH THIS COUPON $ 10 OR THIS CUT COMBINATION AND STYLE INSIGHT $16 CUT, STYLE & MANICURE Expires 9/17/84 I Justice and compassion viewed BY ELLEN UMANSKY Special to The Jewish News I OPEN MON.-SAT. , 27815 MIDDLEBELT AT 12 MILE (Within Ginopolis) 116 ========milmosmomommiismolimmmemmummill 851-1106 I -To-School Bass has the style, colors and widths to complete any Fall wardrobe. EVERGREEN PLAZA. I 12 Mile & Evergr.eep. Southfield 4 515•-3500 BEL-AIRE CENTER ORCHARD MALL 10 Mile & Orchard Lk. Farmington • 477 2343 Maple & Orchard Lk. W. Bloomfield. 661 3M - - We Feed Your Mind... and Your Body For Great Classes And a Great Kosher Dinner 5:30-7:30 p.m. Catered by Rabbi Henry Goldschlag Under the Supervision of the Council of Orthodox Rabbis September 10 September I7 Salad Bar and Dinner Rolls Breast of Chicken Ala Florentine (stuffed with spinach) Kugel•Carrots • F ruit Salad Bar and Dinner Rolls Roast Beef Potato Knish Greenbeans • Fruit October 1 Sep termer 24 Salad Bar and Dinner Rolls Breast of Chicken Ala Continental (stuffed with wild rice & mushrooms) Kugel• Carrots• Fruit Bar Salad an d D'Inclet Bo11s ufy SaVisb ato Knish legetable•F I-A ot P\ot Dinners are $6.50 Reservations must be made by Sunday, September 9 prior to 12:00 Noon 352-7117 . or 13 mitt RD MICOKASHA 354-1050 Midra ha COLLEGE OF SJEWISH STUDIES 21550 W. Twelve Mile • Southfield, Mi. 48076 • o - • 21550 w i2 MIRO • 2 t7 mg( RD S 5 9 MILE RD Located in the Sigmund and Sophie Rohlik Bldg. As Jews, we are commanded to be holy. Yet we often forget that holiness cannot be attained either through ritual observance or prayer. Both may help us attain holiness, especially if they aid in our establishing a "right relation- ship" with God, but neither is in and of itself sufficient. As this week's parasha reminds us, we become holy not only through achieving a "right relationship" with God but also through achiev- ing a "right relationship" with others. The implication of the text is that both are mutually depen- dent relations. Parshat Ki Thetze, though it seems to jump from one subject to another, is unified by a single theme, namely, the relationship of the individual to other people and other things. The kinds of re- lationships described here are di- verse. They include the relation- ship of man to man, man to woman, victor to captive, parent to child. Israelite to non-Israelite, sister to brother, employer to em- ployee, the judge to the con- demned, etc. Despite this focus on human relationships, the Biblical text also describes the relation- ship of the individual to birds and animals. In each instance, both the nature of the relationship and the standard of behavior that is expected are made clear. Thus, for example, a man may marry a hea- then woman taken captive in battle but only after she under- goes a month's period of mourning for her family and adopts the He- brew faith. Should the man, after marrying her, decide that she no longer "delights" him, he may lit- erally let her go, but cannot sell her into slavery since he has al- ready had sexual relations with her. A man who has two wives, one of whom he hates, the other whom he loves, cannot deny the first-born son his rightful inheri- tance even if that son is the child of the wife that is hated. He who finds a fallen bird's nest may take the young birds, but not their mother, with him; the Is- raelite is not to hate the Egyptian for he was once a stranger in the Egyptian's land; one is not to charge interest on a loan to a fel- low Israelite but may if the loan is to a foreigner, and so on. In all, Ki Thetze describes more than 50 kinds of relationships. They may differ in nature (e.g., some are relationships among equals, others of superior to in- ferior) but all are to be established on the basis of justice. Yet despite these important teachings, I am disturbed by the text's understanding of justice. Though one might argue that the man who divorces the former cap- tive without selling her into slav- ery is being just, that it is just to charge the foreigner interest, and that it is just to stone to death the son who refuses to obey his par- ents, I question whether the di- vorced wife, the foreigner, and the condemned son would agree with this assessment. While the hesi- tancy of later generations of rab- bis to enforce the death penalty might lead us to conclude that Ellen Umansky teaches religion at Emory University. even they questioned whether, in the latter case, justice was being served, their doubts did not con- cern the decision to punish the son, but rather the kind of punishment that ought to be in- flicted. What is missing here is a sense of justice tempered by love either for the rebellious son, or for the Parashat Ki Thetze: Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19 Isaiah 54.-1-10 spouse that has committed adul- tery. In none of the relationships described here, is one exhorted to be merciful. In none, do the ag- grieved get to tell their side of the story. Yet as the Haftorah (Isaiah 54:1-10) reminds us, love and mercy are often as important as justice. Using marriage (again, relationship) as a metaphor, Is- rael in exile is likened to a woman abandoned by her husband. Though God, as husband, has abandoned her out of anger, feel- ings of love and compassion lead him to promise that she will be returned to him in the future. In order to strive for holiness, we must view the teachings of the Torah and Haftorah as insepara- ble from one another. The Torah maintains that justice may be served without compassion. Yet as the Haftorah reminds us, it is only in tempering one with the other that we truly become like God. Copyright 1984, National Havurah Committee SYNAGOGUE Rabbi Efry Spectre, right, of Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, met with Israel's chief election pollster Hanoch Smith during Rabbis' Day, when 100 U.S. and Canadian rabbis met to plan the annual Israel Bonds High Holiday Appeal. NEWS Israeli teachers and government avoid strike in time for school Tel Aviv (JTA) — The new school year started on schedule this week, but only after an all- night marathon cliff-hanger negotiating session between the Teachers Union, which had threatened to strike Sunday morning, Educatio Minister Zevvlun Hammer and represen- tatives of the Finance Ministry. Under the agreement which averted the strike, the teachers are to receive an advance equiv- alent to one-quarter of a month's salary. In return, the teachers agreed to take part in a committee to con- tinue talks, and agreed to with- hold further strike action for four months. The teachers did not get what they had been demanding, but ac- cording to their spokesman "at least the Finance Ministry agreed to discuss our claims — something it has refused to do till now." Mitterrand plans trip to Syria before 1985 Paris (JTA) — President Fran- cois Mitterrand will pay an offi- cial visit to Syria before the end of the year, according to the leftwing weekly Le Nouuel Obseruateur.