TORAH PORTION MILTON & TERRY ROTENBERG Their Children Marcie and Isaac Adery Sheri and Bob Rotenberg Memories Give Judaism Meaning And Emotion (Deut. 32:7) Moses bids the Israelites to remember the days of old; to recall what has transpired in the past in order to comprehend the present. It is most significant that these words are read on Shab- Haazinu Shabbat Shuva: Deuteronomy • 32:1-52, Hosea 14:2-10, Michah 7:18-20, Joel 2:15-27 bat Shuvah, the Sabbath of Repentance, or more ac- curately, the Sabbath of Return. The theme of remem- brance seems to fit so well the mood and the meaning of our High Holy Day season. These are the days when God remembers our actions and judges whether or not we shall be blessed with goodness and happiness dur- ing the coming year. But in another sense, these are times of remembrance for ourselves. When we come to the synagogue on these sacred days, we often remember- our parents and grandparents. We recall when we sat at their sides during the holiday services. We remember their tears when they heard Kol Nidrei or when they were moved by a particular poem or prayer. And we recall their devotion and piety at a time when it was truly difficult to be a committed Jew. These memories are a vital part of our religious lives. They make Judaism personal; they imbue our rituals with meaning and emotion. They allow each of us to have his own particular, personalized Judaism. We all have such memories. No one can fully share them; Morton F. Yolkut is rabbi of Cong. B'nai David. Shema Yisrael, Kol Nidrei and Dayenu. And as he walk- ed along singing these Hebrew words, some children came forward to him with tear-filled eyes and called out: "Mommy! Mommy!" He had reached their souls. He had given life to hidden memories. And the memories saved them as Jews. "Ask your father and he will tell you." Our children are turning to us for mem- ories to enrich their lives. If we freeze our own religious memories and emotions, then we are denying our posterity their rightful heritage. `;GEMINI TRAVEL Lee Alpern Marlene Oleshansky Cathy Halfmann Patty Ratliff Ruth Isca Agi Rubin Jeanne Morda Heidi Rushford WANT TO WISH THEIR FRIENDS AND VALUED CLIENTS A MOST HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR B'NAI B'RITH B'NAI B'RITH B'NAI B'RITH B'NAI B'RITH B'NAI B'RITH dioaNk. V baNik L'Shana ti To w The 5000 Members of the B'NAI B'RITH Metropolitan Detroit Council z Wish You and Yours A Healthy and Happy New Year H.B. KEIDAN ACCOUNTANTS UNIT H. MORGENTHAU-L'CHAYIM A. EINSTEIN BARRISTERS UNIT HEALTH CARE UNIT BROTHERHOOD-E. JACOBSON I.S. BLOCH-ISRAEL CENTENNIAL JOS. JACOBSON DETROIT M.C. ZEIGER MICHIGAN SINGLES UNIT DET. L.D. BRANDEIS-SPORTS OAKLAND-CENTURY DET. L. MARSHALL PISGAH SUBURBAN-TIKVAH DET. REAL ESTATE & RABBI ZAGER-STONE! CONSTR. UNIT TUCKER-GRANT DOWNTOWN-FOX REY-UT UNIT MAUI IVN, i1 HIflL I IVNX "Remember the days of old. Understand the generation long past. Ask your father and he will tell you — Your elders and they will explain to you." And The Staff At H,LIHN IVN, 11 T he Torah, especially the book of Deuter- onomy, asks us over and over again to remember and not to forget. In this week's portion Moses, in his farewell address, calls upon his people to recall the past: \ Kathy and Stu Rotenberg B 'NAI B 'RITH B 'NAI B 'RITH RABBI MORTON F. YOLKUT Special to The Jewish News they are our own precious legacies. The greater the religious devotion of our parents and theirs, the richer our own appreciation for Jewish observances. Today, many of us like to think of ourselves as sophisticated and rational. We do not like to show piety or religious emotion. We are hesitant to even admit that we have sacred religious memories. We are even more reluctant to share poignant religious experiences with our children lest we be view- ed as old fashioned (God for- bid!). Though our personal memories rest safely in our own psyches, we are not creating anything mean- ingful for our children (and theirs) to remember. We are destroying the institution of religious nostalgia that makes religion human, warm and personal to us. Deep within each of our souls are Jewish memories waiting to be released. Sometimes, when we least ex- pect it, they will come forth and open a gateway to our past. They will give us a pro- found and meaningful religious experience. There is a moving story which profoundly illuminates the power of Jewish memories. During World War II, several thousand Jewish children were sent to England so that they might be spared the Nazi massacres. These youngsters were taken in by Christian families and raised as Christians. After the war, Dayan Isidor Grunfeld went to England to find these children and reclaim them as Jews. Of course his task was not easy. How Could he iden- tify the Jewish children who had now been raised and educated as Christians for years? He devised a plan to go through the streets where the children played and to sing B'NAI B'RITH B'NAI B'RITH B'NAI B'RITH B'NAI B'RITH B'NAI B'RITH THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 39