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20 - Filday, -December 6; 1985- - 1HE DETROIT -J-EWISH -NEWS

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PURELY COMMENTARY

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The For

Elie Wiesel's `Against Silence'

Continued from Page 2

Interestingly, Congressman
Nelson specified that the
mezuzah weigh only an ounce
and Solarz specified it when he
ordered the perenial parchment
that is placed on doorposts of
Jewish homes. A Brooklyn rabbi
commented on the specified
light weight: This will also be
the first Sweet and Low
mezuzah in history."
It will not be the first time
that Scripture will be trans-
ported on space ship and while
there still is no doorpost for the
pint-sized mezuzah soon to go up
in space, the spirit of the objec-
tive will again link a great tra-
dition with the modern
achievements.
Traditionally, the mezuzah is
on every doorpost of every
Jewish home. Where it is still
missing the oncoming shuttle
will surely encourage the study
of the background and commit-
ment carried by the sanctified
parchment into space with an
invitation to its renewed glorifi-
cation in the Jewish home.
This brief definition from the
Universal Jewish Encyclopedia
will serve as a guideline for the
mezuzah's flight:
MEZUZAH (literal meaning,
"doorpost"), in the religious
terminology of the Jews, the
designation for the parch-
ment scroll placed upon the
doorpost of a house. It con-
tains, in a metal or wooden
box, two portions of the Pen-
tateuch, consisting of Deut.
6:4-9 (the Sherma) and Deut.
11:13-21. The first passage,
Deut. 6:4-9, treats of the un-
conditional love of the One
God and devotion to Him; the
second passage, Deut.11:13-21,
treats of divine retribution
and the responsibility of man

for the observance of the
commandments, as well as
the rewards and material
blessings which man will re-
ceive for obeying them. The
Mezuzah thus admonishes
one to take both these Bibli-
cal passages to heart and to
fulfill them.
Another purpose is served.
There is added encouragement,
especially to the youth, to study
the traditions and ceremonials
in their heritage. That's how
science helps keep the doors
open to Jewish learning.

Postscript
to Mezuzah

After the sensational an-
nouncement by Congressman
Solarz about a mezuzah in
space, which he claimed would
be the first, the claim was dis-
puted by Shirley Kegan and
Brenda Bernstein of the In the
Spirit Galleries in New York.
They stated in a letter that
"Earlier this year the Space
Shuttle Astronaut Jeff Hoffman,
the first male Jewish astronaut,
carried with him three
mezuzahs in his space travel.
Two of them he gave to his son
and a third is to go to the Israel
Museum in Jerusalem."
They stated that all these
mezuzahs were designed by the
In the Spirit Galleries, which,
they add, "is the exclusive
source of the remainder of the
limited edition from which the
original was selected." The let-
ter stated that Mr. Solarz's
claim "threatens to dilute
appropriate interest in our au-
thentic First in Space Mezuzah."
Thus, correction noted!

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Rambam Hospital in Haifa hosted a birthday party for 13 test tube
babies, including three sets of twins, who have been born at the hos-
pital since it began in-vitro fertilization two years ago.

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