LEAPIN' LIZARDS We almost forgot to subscribe to the Jewish News, Mom! BACKGROUND Yom Kippur Stresses Free Will's Primacy DVORA WAYSMAN Special to The Jewish News 6 g F or on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins shall ye be clean before the Lord." (Lev. 16:30) Thus was instituted Yom Kippur — the Day of Atone- ment — the one Jewish festi- val, aside from Rosh Hashana, that does not relate to any historical event or ag- ricultural concept. Most other Jewish holidays have some kind of national significance that even secular Jews can relate to. Yom Kuppur, how- ever, relates only to man's re- lationship with God and his fellow man, and involves ask- ing forgiveness from God. The days, preceeding the Day of Atonement are for man to make restitution and ask pardon from those he may have wronged during the year. In Hebrew there are about 20 different words denoting "sin", each with a different nuance. The usual Rabbinic term is averah from the root avar to pass over, and in- terpreted as a rejection of God's will. Jews believe sin is caused by the evil inclination (yetzer ha ra), a force which drives one to gratify instincts regardless of the cost. God said: "My children! I created the evil inclination, but I created Torah as its antidote. If you occupy your- self with the Torah you will not be delivered into its hand." Rabbi Ishmael taught: "My son, if this repulsive wretch (yetzer ha ra) attacks you, lead him to the house of learning: if he is stone, he will dissolve; if iron, he will shiver into fragments." (Kid.30b) — is meditation rather than prayer, designed to help a Jew understand the impor- tant conclusion: "But peni- tence, prayer and charity avert the severe decree."_/ Even if our lives warrant punishment, we can still _ / choose to repent —; even up \ to our last hour on earth. This is a wonderful and op- timistic aspect of Judaism. There is a special dimen- sion to the solemnity of Yor- Kippur in Israel, especially in Jerusalem. No cars are seen : on the streets for the entire 24 hours; even the most secu- lar Jew would not publicly profane this holy day. As darkness descends and the long day of fasting am:- prayer draws to a close, the synagogues are crowded and thousands more walk to the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, to hear the final blast of the shofar, the ram's horn. As the piercing blast rends the night, we in Israel are mindful of Isaiah address- ing the exiles: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great horn shall be blown; and they shall come that were lost in the land of Assyria." (Isaiah 27:13) World Zionist Press Service - - The JEWISH NEWS covers the events from the Mideast to the Midwest. Now, with our new T-shirt, we even cover our readers! For the regular subscription price of only $21.00, you get both the T-shirt and 52 weeks of this much acclaimed Jewish publica- tion. This offer is for NEW subscriptions only. Current subscribers may order the T-shirt for only $3.75. Allow four weeks delivery. Please clip coupon and mail to: JEWISH NEWS T-SHIRT 20300 CIVIC CENTER DR., SUITE 240 SOUTHFIELD, MICHIGAN 48076-4138 NAME ADDRESS CITY 1 year - $21 STATE ZIP 2 years - $39 Out of State - $23 — Foreign - $35 Enclosed $ ADULT EX. LG. ADULT LARGE ADULT MED. ADULT SM. CHILD LARGE CHILD MED. CHILD SM. 158 Friday, October 3, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Freedom of choice is a basic Jewish doctrine — from the first story in Genesis where Adam and Eve are given the option to accept or reject God's commandment. The great medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides wrote: "Every man has the possibil- ity of becoming as righteous as Moses our teacher, or as wicked as Jeroboam; wise or stupid; kind or cruel; miserly or generous . . . ." (Yad, Teshuva 5). This contradicts a popular Yiddish expression that things are beshert, or pre-destined. Judaism teaches us that we can make the choices, and go towards righteousness or to sin and its consequences. We recite a prayer during the High Holydays, however, which seems to contradict this: "On the New Year it is written down and on the Day of Atonement it is sealed .... who shall live and who shall die, who at the measure of man's days and who before it ...." Some rabbis claim this Attack Blamed On Zionists New York — Saudi. Arabia's state-controlled news media have obscenely distorted the brutal Arab ter- rorist attack on Istanbul's Neve Shalom synagogue, charging that Israel carrie out the attack in which 21 Jews were killed to serve the "higher policy objectives" of Zionism, according to Theo- dore Ellenoff, president of the American Jewish Committee. The Riyadh-based Saudi daily al Jazira stated on Sept. 9, "Those who are familiar with The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, that were authored during the First Zionist Congress, know that Israel is the country that created all the terrorist con- spiracies." - Waldheim Ban Urged Washington — B'nai B'rith International's President Seymour D. Reich renewed the organization's appeal to the U.S. Justice Department to place Austria's President Kurt Waldheim on America's - watch list, the Immigration and Nationalization Service's list of individuals ineligible to enter the U.S.