42: Friday, May 24, 1985 .
THE bEITROIT JEWISH NEWS
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TORAH PORTION
Posing Painful Questions
BY RABBI M. ROBERT SYME
Special to The Jewish News
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Recently, I wasinvited to have
dinner at the home of a Jewish
businessman. About 20 guests
were present. The house was very
impressive. The library was even
more so.
There were literally hundreds
of books on almost every theme:
music, art, literature. There were
books on Zen Bhuddism; folklore
of the Chinese; the parables of
Jesus. There were histories of the
Incas, of Mexican sculpture, of
Spanish art. Existentialism was
represetned by the writings of
Sartre and Camus. The only book
that had any relationship to
Judaism was Exodus by Leon
Uris.
After dinner, the guests re-
paired to a huge drawing room,
where our host dazzled us with his
knowledge of many diverse sub-
jects. One of his favorite subjects
was etymology. He began by dis-
cussing the word "trivia." He ex-
plained that it is derived from the
Latin "three ways." In the past,
people would meet at these
three-way intersections leading
into a town, and there they would
engage in small talk. Thus, the
talk itself came to be called
"trivia."
He went on to discuss art. He
informed us that the painting
commonly referred to as the Mona
Lisa, is not its real name. Its real
name is La Giaconda.
He was even familiar with the
Dead Sea Scrolls, and pointed out
that the Sermon on the Mount, is
actually an ancient Essene
prayer, dating back hundreds of
years before , Jesus.
I sat there marvelling at the
fact that a businessman should be
so rich culturally. Consequently,
when he asked his guests to pose
questions on any subject, (and no
one responded) I decided that it
might be nice to have him discuss
Shavuot.
Streisand Film
Awards Given
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Los Angeles (JTA) — The win-
ners in the third annual film
competition sponsored by the
Streisand Center for Jewish Cul-
tural Arts at the University of
California at Los Angeles
(UCLA), have been announced.
In the film category, judges
chose Robert Jacobson'sPsalrn for
Moshe, described as a sensitive
examination of an Orthodox Jew's
struggle with his values in the
modern world. Jacobson is a stu-
dent at New York University.
The award in the film proposal
category was given to Maria
Petal, a graduate student at
UCLA, for A Need to Be a pro-
posed documentary on the Jewish
deaf.
The Streisand Center operates
under auspices of the UCLA
Hillel Council. It was set up in
1981 with an endowment from
Ms. Streisand to provide the best
in Jewish artistic expression to
the campus and surrounding
community.
The ensuing silence was
deafening. This articulate man
suddenly began to fumble for
words. A frown crossed his face,
and with obvious annoyance he
snapped: "I am not familiar with
Judaism. My expertise is in world
knowledge."
You can be sure that I asked no
further questions of him, but I did
address some questions to myself.
Bamidbar:Numbers
1:1-4:23. I Samuel
20:18-42.
First, why is this Jew so
enamored of every culture except
his own?
Second, why is this Jew on the
board of trustees of a prominent
synagogue?
I ask these questions, not
maliciously, not sarcastically, but
painfully. As a Rabbi who has de-
voted more than 40 years of his
life to Judaism, it pains me to wit-
ness this blatant desecration of
my heritage.
If a man 'has contempt for his
faith, then let him be free to do so.
But for heaven's sake, for
Judaism's sake, let him not serve
as a congregational leader. Let
him not be a spokesman for the
Jewish people!
Bombs Rock
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (JTA) — Jerusalem
and environs were shaken by a
series of terrorist bomb explosions
Sunday, none of which caused
casualties or serious damage.
The largest blast was at a bus
stop outside the Shaare Zectek
Hospital in the western suburb of
Bayit Vegan. Reporters who in-
spected the scene said the explo-
sion was powerful enough to have
displaced several large rocks.
Two other bombs exploded in
Beth Shemesh and Shimshon
townships in the foothills of West
Jerusalem. A bomb was dis-
covered and defused at the Lib-
erty Bell Garden, a public park in
the center of Jerusalem honoring
ties between Israel and the
United States.
Meanwhile, an Israel Defense
Force (IDF) spokesman an-
nounced that several Arab ter-
rorist gangs active in the West
Bank have been captured and
taken into custody. All are said to
have confessed to recent incidents
in which Molotov cocktails were
thrown at tour buses in Hebron, at
an IDF position there and at a ve-
hicle in nearby Kiryat Arba.
Retention Tape
New York — A video training
tape has been developed by JWB
to help Jewish community centers
and YM-YWHAs build and retain
their memberships.