Cr
. 1
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18 Friday, February 7, 1986
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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER
OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT
TORAH PORTION
Placing Lofty Ideals
Into Our Daily Routine
BY RABBI IRWIN GRONER
Special to The Jewish News
A story is told about a young
man who was passionately
courting his young lady, offering
to her his protestations of love.
"I would go through fire and
water for you," he said. "Indeed,
I would travel to the ends of the
earth to fulfill your every wish.
By the way," he concluded, "I'll
see you next Thursday, if it
doesn't rain."
It is not difficult to proclaim
great principles, but we have all
experienced the human ten-
dency to fail the, test of specific
response. We accept moral
ideals, but we shy away from
the necessary efforts required
for their achievement. We don't
stumble over mountains, but
over pebbles. It is precisely this
truth, the importance of the
daily realities of life, that is
emphasized in the sidrah of this
Sabbath.
Last week we read of how the
Children of Israel heard the Ten
Commandments proclaimed at
Mt. Sinai in the midst of thun-
der and lightning, fire and
smoke. This Sabbath, the text
presents an entirely different
mood and spirit. Immediately
following the declaration of the
Ten Great Words, we learn
about the small and specific de-
tails of daily living. We discover
cows and donkeys, loans and
bailments. After having been
uplifted to the heights of wit-
nessing the Divine presence and
hearing the voice of the Al-
mighty, we encounter an incon-
gruous enumeration of statutes
and laws dealing with the ordi-
nary and undramatic episodes of
daily existence.
Consider these ordinances: "If
a man shall open a pit, or if he
shall dig a pit and not cover it,
and an ox or a donkey shall fall
therein, the owner of the pit
shall be responsible ... If a per-
son borrow an animal from his
neighbor and the animal is in-
jured or it dies, the borrower
shall make restitution ... You
must not carry false rumors; you
shall not join hands with the
guilty to act as a malicious wit-
ness ..."
It is not necessary to multiply
these examples to illustrate the
vast difference between the
exalted moral principles of the
Ten Commandments and the de-
tailed Laws which follow them
in this sidrah.
The sages must have antici-
pated our reaction, our sense of
disappointment at descending
from the lofty heights of Sinai to
the prosaic world of Mishpotim,
for they made the following ob-
servation. They, note that the
sidrikh begins with the conjon,6,-
tivo "Vav" meaning "and!'
u 4nd these are the 'ordi4ences
'That
That "Vav, is 'co :bacans%
'lieges say; it emphasizes,-
that the Laws of AfisitpAtn are
.a, continuation and completion of
what was declared on Mt. Sinai,
Rashi is even more. ' explicit in
his comment: "Just as the Ten .
Commandments were offered at
Sinai, so were these Laws."
The sages leach- us -a funds•
.
mental lesson. Great ideals are
ineffective unless they are con-
cretized in the details of daily
living. The loftiest principles
exercise no influence if they are
separated from human conduct.
We all recall the cartoon whose
caption reads: "I love humanity.
It's just people I can't stand."
A political adviser once ad-
vised his associate on how to es-
tablish himself in the world of
politics. "We clarify, edify and
Mishpatim: Exodus
21:1-24:18. I
Samuel 20:18-42.
magnify, but we never specify."
The admonition of the sages is
the opposite, for they tell us
that we specify in order to
clarify and to edify.
Furthermore, the Torah does
not deal with "religion" as this
term is understood in the mod-
ern world. The distinctive claim
of Judaism is that it seeks to
impose moral standards and
spiritual meaning to life in its
entirety. We do not separate the
"sacred" and the "secular", for
every aspect of life can express
our love of God and our service
to His creatures. Therefore, the
Torah sets forth_laws about
business and -commerce, about
personal liability and domestic
relations.
The exalted moral truths of
Sinai are realized only as we
apply them to the decisions and
judgments of all who share in
the life of the community.
U.S. Vetoes UN
Resolution
Against' Israel
United Nations (JTA) --- The
United State vetoed last week
a Security Council resolution
deploring Israel for "pro-
vocative acts which have vio-
lated the sanctity of the sanc-
tuary of the Haram Al-Sharif,"
the holy Islamic mosque on the
Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
The vote was 13 to 1 (The U.S.)
with one abstention, Thailand.
The Security Council opened
its debate at the request of
Morocco, as chairman of the
Organization of the Islamic
Conference, and the United
Areb Dultatee, as Chairman of
the'
Arab Vklotap et the UN, to
isirreekS 041000tions
44000.40tween
ow**
Knesset
members ancWingrjr,Arab
crowd.
Addressing . the
NetiVelni, Israel's
Ambassador to the UN, re-
jected the Arabs' charges that
the Israeli visitors desecrated
that Al Aqsa mosque.