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`Finding God'
Rabbi's Task
HEIDI PRESS
Local News Editor
A
-
7 --
)
former Detroit rabbi
is on a campaign to
help Jews shed their
fears about talking about
God.
Rabbi Daniel Syme, vice
president of the Union of
American Hebrew Congrega-
tions, hopes to achieve his
goal through the dissemina-
tion of his new book, Finding
God (UAHC), co-authored
with Rifat Sonsino, rabbi of
Temple Beth Shalom in
Needham, Mass.
In the paperbacked volume,
the authors present ten
different approaches to the
God concept — from the
theological through the
philosophical — and include
the viewpoints of such famed
thinkers as Philo,
Maimonides, Spinoza and
Buber as bases for their dis-
cussion.
"I hope the book will open
up other possibilities of be-
lief," Syme explained as his
objective in compiling the
volume. "I want to create a
point of entry for the average
Jew to the whole world of
Jewish theology."
Syme, who will speak at
the annual Jewish Book Fair,
at 8 p.m. Sunday at the main
Jewish Community Center,
explained that he saw the
need for such a book when he
was doing his doctoral thesis.
He was studying how the
subject of God was dealt with
in the classroom, and saw
that when children discussed
their notion of God, the
teachers were unable to ex-
pand on the idea. All the stu-
dent had of a God concept
was what he had in his own
mind.
"The teachers were ter-
rified of the subject because
they weren't prepared. They
were fabulous teachers, but
they didn't have the tools to
expand on the concept." Syme
said he hoped the book will
give teachers, students and
parents the "tools" to better
study the idea of God.
The son of Rabbi M. Robert
Syme of Temple Israel and
Sonia Syme, the younger
Rabbi Syme said there is a
trend among adults about
avoiding the discussion about
God. "There seems to be an
unwritten agreement be-
tween Rabbis and congreg-
ants: rabbis don't talk about
God and the congregants
don't ask." He said only the
children are able to freely
talk about God.
He added that Jews look at
God in two ways: the Biblical
interpretation, as it appears
in the Torah, and a rabbinic
view, as reflected in the
prayerbook. Jews, he said,
who don't grasp either belief
"write themselves out of
Jewish spirituality." He said
he hopes the book will allow
"adult Jews to express their
Continued on next page
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