NOTEBOOK I

Wishing You
and Yours
A Very Happy
and Healthy
New Year

GLASSMAN OLDS/SAAB

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A Yemenite Jew blows-the shofar.

Shofar Reminds Us
Of Jewish Agenda

From Everyone At

HERALD
WHOLESALE

Janice and Jetty Katz
Michael and Lori
Marcie and Eric Lipsitt
and Our Entire Staff

1 41

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RABBI WILLIAM BERKOWITZ

It is the particular genius of
each Jewish holiday and ho-
ly day that a unique symbol
signifies its meaning and
message. One need only think
of Chanukah with its
menorah, Passover with its
matzoh, Purim with its
megillah and grogger, Succot
with its succah, Simchat
Torah with its dancing and
Shavuot with the Torah.
Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur are best symbolized
by the shofar. Throughout
these festivals, the shofar's
raw, sharp and shrill blasts
remind us of the meaning and
message of the Days of Awe.
The great sage Maimonides
put it best when he said that
the shofar is meant to
"awaken us from our slumber,
especially those who forget
the truth amidst the illusions
of the times."
As American
Jewry
welcomes the year 5748, for
whom does its collective
shofar sound? What truths
must we be reminded of, and
awakened to, especially as we
look back over the year past?
a brief review of the year's
events and trends clearly sets
forth an agenda for action —
and for shofar-sounding.
The religious wars of the
Jews: We have been witness
to increased divisions and
divisiveness between Jews —
battles between those who
believe and those who don't
believe, as well as between
those who believe and those

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Our wish for a
year filled with
happiness, health
and prosperity

Rabbi William Berkowitz is
national president of the
American Jewish Heritage
Committee.

who believe differently. Be it
in Israel or the Diaspora, this
"war of the Jews" can only
sap our strength and destroy
our unity while it denies our
pluralism.
Tekiah! We have to stop the
name-calling, the stone-
throwing, and sit down and
talk. The American Jewish
Heritage Committee held
this past year a national
dialogue with leaders of
American Jewry of different
denominations to explore dif-
ferences. Something like that
should take place — in public
in every Jewish
community.
_
Anti-Semitism
and
Holocaust memories: Even
as the distance between our
generation and the Holocaust
grows each year, the
Holocaust's memory and
presence remain. In this one
year we have witnessed the
trials of Barbie and Demjan-
kik; the deportation of Karl
Linnas and his subsequent
death; the death of Rudolf
Hess; and l'affaire Waldheim.
Every day seemingly brings
forth a new book on the
Holocaust or a shattering
film such as Shoah.
Clearly the Holocaust still
weighs heavily on us, even as
the disturbing presence of
anti-Semitism — in "Japan,
Austria and Arab countries or
among extremist groups in
the United States — lives
after Auschwitz. The Holo-
caust we must not forget;
because of anti-Semitism we
must remain ever-vigilant.
The crisis of Soviet
Jewry: The apparent new
Soviet policy of glasnost
(openness) has still not open-
ed the gates for Soviet