32 Friday, March 14, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS TORAH PORTION THE CULTURAL COMMISSION OF The Day-To-Day Events On Life's Balance Sheet CONGREGATION B'NAI DAVID Cordially Invites You to Hear BY RABBI MORTON F. YOLKUT Special to The Jewish News JOAN PETERS Author of From Time Immemorial, the celebrated and controversial winner of the 1985 National Jewish Book Award on "The Arab-Israeli Conflict . . . Who Are The Palestinians?" 11:00 A.M. Sunday, March 16, 1986 at CONGREGATION B'NAI DAVID 24350 Southfield Road Southfield,, Michigan 48075 . 557-8210 Question & Answer Period - No Charge - The Community is Invited The Cultural Forum is Sponsored by Mr. Gustav' Berenholz Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today. Call 354 6060 - GEMINI II "Total Office Service" more than just an office store! The "Geminett's" of Gemini who will be delighted to help you with your office needs • Office Supplies, Janitorial Supplies • Gifts, Paper by the lb., Cards, Candy, Clocks • Computer Supplies 3 Annie,. Connie, Cindy & Sheila COME IN AND BROWSE AND JUST SAY HELLO!! Orders taken . by phone 399-9830 or 353-3355 . "FREE DELIVERY" 26400 West Twelve Mile Rd., Sout hfield 48034 .4822Q .. . • • 19600 oirlaxi•p., Fpnwiaig kr, fo rf#PAA 5.* r i #. tt. s forged. If we enter into the ledger As the building of the Taberna- of life only the sensational, the cle is completed, we are presented scintillating, the dramatic, then, in this week's sidra with a lengthy like Moses, we shall discover a de- report meticulously listing every ficit in our accounts, and find that detail of the multi-faceted produc- the books of life do not balance. tion. In our rabbinic literature we Part of what troubles our are also presented with the first Jewish life in America is our ten- balance sheet mentioned in re- dency to accentuate only the corded history. The Midrash re- dramatic and extraordinary parts lates that when Moses completed the building of the Tabernacle, he turned to the Israelites and said, "Now I shall give you a financial Pekude: Exodus report on your contributions to 38:21-40:38. I Kings this project." When Moses completed his ac- 7:51-8:21. counting, however, he discovered to his dismay that his books did not balance. Tradition records with fine precision that the deficit of our tradition. As a result, our was exactly 1,775 shekalim! religious lifestyles today often Moses was deeply concerned by center around birth, bar/bat this discrepancy. Now he thought mitzvah, marriage and death — the Israelites will have reason to as if Judaism had little to say say that Moses took the money, about the prosaic events that come in between these moving that he dipped his hand into the till and helped himself to com- rites of passage. We have also taken to heart the munal funds. It would not have been the first brilliant teaching of Rabbi Sam- unfounded suspicion or accusa- son Raphael Hirsch that the tion against Moses, who was not `:catechism of the Jew is his calen- always a popular leader. But dar" — and we have conveniently then, God illuminated his eyes forgotten that the calendar has and he realized that he had hon- 365 days, not just a dozen fasts is estly spent the missing shekalim and feasts. Our authentic faith by Halachah, expressed through or hooks which kept vavim on the the tabernacle together; for the means of which our sublime ideals tabernacle was a portable, pre- are put into practice in the every- fabricated sanctuary, and the day life of the individual, and the parts connected to each other by judgement of Torah permeates every aspect of human behavior. means of these small metal hooks. It is a worthwhile lesson to take When Moses told this to his people, they were appeased and with us from this week's Torah satisfied that they had received portion: If sometimes we feel that proper accountability for the con- the ledger of life shows a deficit we struction of the tabernacle cannot account for; if the books of our lives do not balance, and the (Shemot Rabbah 51:4). What is the essence and the expenditures of effort and emo- moral of this story? It is that even tion are not compensated by an a Moses can overlook the plain, income of joy and satisfaction — it the simple, the ordinary. Yet may very well be because we have there can be no inner or com- been overlooking the obvious and munal peace unless we account the routine, and paying a bit too for that which the vavim (hooks) much attention to the sensational and the dramatic which, in the symbolize: that which is vital and long run, often prove to be ephem- necessary, but not always glamorous and exciting. Even a eral and transient. Life may seem dull — but it Moses can sometimes forget that need not be so. Life can be a poem. life has its justification in the lit- And the poem of a man's life is not tle things that occur to us every written all at once, in a sudden day. Is this not true of all of life? A frenzy of inspiration. It is care- fully composed of little verses con- career or profession is a success or failure not because of the rare tributed by every day nobly lived; triumphs or glaring disappoint-_ by the rhyme of the Shabbat con- ments that come forcibly to public cluding the stanza of the week, and by the rhythm of a consistent attention, but because of day-to- day conduct and gradual progress. aspiration for a life made beauti- In fact, the big achievements are ful and meaningful by Torah and usually no more than the result of tradition. long, patient plodding. It is so with all human rela- tions. The test of loyalty comes not BBYO Program in the dramatic moments, but in the dull years; not in how you On Brotherhood handle a crisis of a lifetime, but in Washington — Leaders of the how you handle yourself in a lifetime of crisis; not in the singu- B'nai B'rith Youth Organization lar moments, when heroism is ex- announced that they have pected of you, but in the endless adopted brotherhood as their hours when nothing is expected of new program priority for the you because no one seems to care coming year. Entitled "People Are People," very much. It is not on the peaks of joy or in the valleys of grief, but on the program will focus on inter- the plateaus thaV, roll on faith, inter-racial, and intergen- endlessly, day by day, that the erational issues with a real business of life,is carried .on; , strengthening of brotherhooe , 'teN W.% tNre'that "nue+de;tittitly throughout. •