SUMP PUMP I PURELY COMMENTARY failure 737-2450 OR POWER OUTAGE IS NO PROBLEM IF YOU HAVE AN AUTOMATIC JET PUMP. $149.50 INSTALLATION AVAILABLE H. B. LEWIS PLUMBING 352-9350 Bring in the New Year with a cookie or candy tray. A HEALTHY & HAPPY NEW YEAR gilorioU3 TO OUR CUSTOMERS & FRIENDS FROM ALL OF US AT e en ace APPLEGATE SQUARE 356-6468 MARCIA BLUME PHYLLIS COHEN SYLVIA FORREST NATALIE HOFFMAN EVELYN KEIL DANA KOPONEN ROZ LEVINE ELAINE MORTON MARGO ROSENTHAL ESTHER ROSENTHAL RAQUEL ROSS MARLENE SLUTZKY PASSPORT PHOTOS COLOR — B & W ILEA YOU WA • IMMIGRATION • VISA • LICENSE • APPLICATION 1351400 LEO KNIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY 26571 W. 12 MILE RD. ...,Corner Northwestern Hwy. ti OUTHFIELD, MI 48034 \S Hearty Wishes To Our Customers and Friends For A Very Healthy and Happy NEW YEAR JEWELRY DESIGN & MFG. B. Monis Nedimisk Anthony Fafnir' APPLEGATE SQUARE Northwestern & Inkster 356-7007 Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today. Call 354-6060 Best wishes for a happy, healthy New Year. Hite ONSITE 1 HOUR Photo (2 BLOCKS NORTH OF 14 MILE RD. ON ORCHARD LK. RD.) NEXT TO iBROWSE BOOKSTORE WEST BLOOMFIELD • 851-6340 54 FRIDAY, SEPT. 25, 1987 5748 Pluralism Continued from Page 2 could spell hurban, destruc- tion, and could be interpreted as a "Spiritual Holocaust"? An exceptionally in- teresting comment on the subject of amity is in the cur- rent issue of Reconstruc- tionist. The September 1987 issue of the official magazine of one of the religious Jewish factions under consideration here is entitled "Reconstruc- tionists and Jewish Unity." In it the author, Arthur Green, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, outlines arguments in support of his movement with which he would not com- promise. But the introduction to his theme, which is cer- tainly angled towards his movement's purposes, presents an accumulation of views contra divisiveness. He states: When I first began reading Martin Buber's Tales of the Hasidim, long before I knew that I was going to spend much of my life as a student of Hasidism, there were two tales, or perhaps just two lines from within the tales, that impressed me above all others. One was a statement by Rabbi Zusya of Anipol, who is supposed to have said: "When I get to the World of Truth they won't ask my why I wasn't Moses. They'll ask me why I wasn't Zusya." The other comes from a tale about Rabbi Raphael of Bershad. Embarking on a journey by coach, he asked his disciples to join him. When they protested that there was not enough room in the small coach he said: "So we'll love each other more!" Within these two tales are embodied the essential principles of living in com- munity. Each of us has to know who he or she is and not try to be anyone else. At the same time, we all have to be willing to move over, to make room for one another, to love each other more. Thi s is true of life in community at all levels: within a small, intimate havurah, in our movement as a whole, in the larger Jewish community, and in the human community of which we are all a part. We must learn to love others for their differences from us, not for being just like us. God is praised in our tradition as being Meshaneh haberiyyot, one who makes for variety in Creation. The great wonder of human ex- istence, the Talmud tells us, is that God stamps each human being in the im- print of Adam, and yet each of us comes out dif- ferent. We differ from one another, the sages say, in appearance, in voice, and in opinions. Perhaps it is not to farfet- ched to read this as saying that because each of us sees and hears differently, each of us is necessarily of a different mind. Our age, like none other, is one that legitimizes personal idiosyncrasy. Each of us revels in his or her own uniqueness. The task in such an era is for us to recognize and accept the uniqueness of the other, not just of ourselves, and to recognize, in this very difference, the shared divine imprint, the com- mon humanity that unites us all. We must learn to love and accept others for who they are, not for who we would like them to be. Here is proof that all fac- tions relish quoting Chasidic lore. Even the extremism of Reconstructionism takes delight in such recognition of the very Orthodox Chasid. The obligation towards unity, of judging all Jews as sharing in a community of traditional legacies, is indisputable. Therefore the rejection of divisiveness becomes the ma- jor factor in responding to the shofar. It is the unity of Israel that emerges predominantly at this time. It is a pluralism, religious and cultural, that can not be denied or trampl- ed upon. Such is the Rosh Hashanah message in these crucial times. I take pride at this time to share with my readers a deep- ly moving Rosh Hashanah greeting from my dear friend Dr. Robert Gordis, one of world Jewry's most eminent scholars and spiritual leaders and editor of Judaism magazine. In behalf of his wife Fannie and himself, Rabbi Gordis wrote on Sept. 3rd: "Fannie and I can only hope and pray that the New Year 5748 will live up to its billing! The Hebrew Tav, name of the year Tav Shin Mem Het, spells the word Tismah, which means "you shall re- joice." I hope the new lease on life will make it possible for you and Anna to find sources of joy in life in the new lease of time which stretches before us." It is a privilege to apply this message to all in out com- munity. May it be the totali- ty of Jewish blessings on the New Year 5748. .