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SAVE 25% -50% OFF Visa • Mastercard • Layaway Bereshit in the beginning BY RABBI IRWIN GRONER Special to The Jewish News Editor's note: This article com- mences a weekly column on the Sabbath Torah portion of the week which will be written alternately by Rabbi Irwin Groner of Cong. Shaarey Zedek, Rabbi James I. Gordon of Young Israel of Oak- Woods and Rabbi M. Robert Syme of Temple Israel. This Sabbath, the Jewish people begin again the yearly cycle of reading the most impor- tant book in the world, the Torah. The Bible is filled with paradox. Its truths are stated in the form of stories, parables and myths which are so simple that even little chil- dren can understand them and take delight in their charm. And yet, the insights of the Torah are so profound that even the most brilliant of scholars cannot fully explicate their meaning. The Bible has another paradoxal aspect. It is generally considered the Book of God. And yet, this book tells us far more about man than it does about God. The opening sentences of the Bible do not present us with a per- suasive argument for God's exist- ence, or describe His essence, or attempt to define His being. In the beginning, God." God's exist- ence, power, and creative spirit is assumed, in the same way that the sky and the sun and the earth are evident to all who see and hear and experience. The Bible affirms that God exists; and He has made His will known to man. Beyond those two statements, we have lit- tle else. But the issue with which the Torah grapples in every chapter is "What is man?" The way we an swer this question affects 1:,11 society in which we live, the nS1 ture of our conduct, the mor - choices we make, and the de 1 velopment of our character. The rabbis of old ask a funds Bereshit: Genesis 1:1-6:8. Isaiah 42:5-43:10. mental question about the cre, tion story. Why was only one mall Adam, created? God create swarms of living creatures, 1-1- creatures of the sea, and the b( asts, and the animals and all t1_ move across the earth. God eve took dust and created one mar Why not an entire race? They offer several interpl tions, each of which conveys enduring moral truth. First, t act teaches the significance sanctity of a human life. Evi - human being is a world in hi self. Thus, when a person destro one soul, it is as though he caus the world to perish. Conversel he who saves a single soul is cr dited with saving the who world. Totalitarian states make their citizens slaves of the polit cal- order. Man is a tool of the di tator or a victim of the tyrant, dr sub-human species subject to e termination. But the BibleA dares that each person is bo with a dignity that cannot be nied or rejected. No power o About Rabbi Grone r .•. If you've been thinkThg about purchasing a sumptuous new fur fashion, novv S tfit-- tirnel It's our annuai October Classic with 25-40% savings Of t-10 ‘A.10 r d's most exQui , i,ite furs. Stop in t(.-“-. - ay because life's too. short and wInix..r's too long. : 18t "Woodwz-Ird Avenue, I mock South of Mapie, Next to the Birmingham Theatre 442-1690 • Mon.-Sat. 9:30 5:30; Thurs. 9:30 8:30 • Free Adjacent Parking - Rabbi Irwin Groner Rabbi Irwin Groner is spiritual leader of Cong. Shaarey Zedek in Southfield. He is the elected secretary of the Rabbinical Assembly of America, the association of 1,200 Conservative rabbis and chairs the Domestic Affairs Committee of the Synagogue Council of America. He was re- cently appointed by Governor James Blanchard to the Judi- cial Tenure Commission. Rabbi Groner is a member of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Welfare Federation of Detroit; the Rabbinical Advi- sory Council of the United Jewish Appeal; and the board of the United Synagogue. He served as chairman of the Rab- binical Assembly conventions of 1976 and 1977. He was co!" chairman of the National Youth Commission of the United Synagogue from 1972- 1976. He held the position of vice president of the Jewis Community Council of Detroit from 1974-1976. He was the co-chairman of the editorial advisory commit- tee for The New Mahzor (High Holiday Prayer Book) pubt- lished in 1977. Rabbi Groner has been actively involved in programs, of interfaith dialogue in the Metropolitan Detroit commu- nity. Rabbi Groner has degree from the University of Chicago and the Hebrew Theological College of Chicago, where he was ordained, and an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the Jewish Theological Semi- nary. His first pulpit was in Little Rock, Ark. where hd served as rabbi of Agudath Achim Congregation. He came to Shaarey Zedek < 1959 as assistant rabbi. He was named senior rabbi in 1967. In 1978, he was elected rabbi of Shaarey Zedek for life. He and his wife, Leypsa, have three children, Deborah, David and Joel. , ' - vb-ip