TORAH PORTION

The Adult Education Committee of
CONGREGATION BETH ACHIM
presents a series of FINANCIAL PLANNING SEMINARS

Sereshit' Takes Us
Back To The Beginning

RABBI IRWIN DRONER

Special to The Jewish News

T

his Shabbat we begin
again the reading of
the Torah, which
opens, appropriately, with the
word Bereshit, "In the Begin-
ning." The Torah was handed
down in a more leisurely day
when people led unhurried
lives, and had the time and
patience to reflect upon
origins.
Today, our attention tends
to wander and we are reluc-
tant to review the history of
the past. A Yiddish idiom
says of a long-winded speaker
whose address seems to

Shabbat Bereshit:
Genesis 1:1-6:8,
Isaiah 42:5-43:10

stretch out endlessly, "He
went back to Bereshit." We
want to get to the point im-
mediately; we demand to
know tachlis — the conclu-
sion, the bottom line.
Our letters are succinct; our
conversation is direct and con-
cise. We live in an age of
outlines and digests; we wish
to proceed at once to the heart
of the matter. We leave an-
cient history to the scholar in
his sheltered study.
But Judaism insists that we
start from Bereshit. Why?
Because finless you know the
beginning, you do not unders-
tand the later development.
God created one Man, the
progenitor of all humanity.
Thus, all people, in having
one ancestor, share a basic
and ultimate unity which
should not be disrupted or
altered by differences of color,
creed or nationality.
The opening letter of the
Torah is bet. The rabbis im-
aginatively pictured a
primeval battle among the
letters of the alphabet, each
wanting the honor of being
the first letter of the Bible.
Bet was chosen, we are told,
because "it is the letter sug-
gesting blessing"! the first let-
ter of b'rachah. Into the
beginning of the world and of
human life were fashioned
the potentialities of blessing,
"and God saw that it was
good."
Nor should the Jew
disregard his people's origins.
Our history begins with
Abraham, a man who search-
ed for God in the midst of a

Irwin Groner is rabbi of Cong.
Shaarey Zedek.

pagan world, who yearned for
God and found Him. In these
beginnings are planted the
seeds of our history and
destiny. We are a people of
God-seekers, challenging the
idolatries of our time, in the
spirit of Abraham. To deny
our ancestry is to doom our
present. That is why our pro-
phets always harked back to
our origins.
We were not meant to be a
secular group, concerned
about nothing more than our
own welfare. Ours is a higher
service, for we are designated
"a kingdom of priests and a
holy nation," servants of God,
stewards of His Law,
ministers to mankind. We are
destined for greater respon-
sibility, not privilege, and
greater devotion, not
dominion.

Oct. 20 — "EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW...NOW YOU CAN ASK"
Oct. 27 — "GROWING FAMILIES and GROWING ASSETS"
Nov. 3 — "EMPTY NESTS and BULGING NESTEGGS"
Nov. 10 — "LIVING TO 120.. WELL, ALMOST"
Individual Sessions / $6 each
Members: Series of Four / $18
Individual Sessions / $7.50 each
Non-Members: Series of Four / $22.50
For Further Information Call 352-8670

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B'nai Israel
Installs Officers

Mishkan Israel
Elects Officers

Cong. Mishkan Israel,
Nusach H'Ari, Lubavitcher
Center has elected new of-
ficers for 1987-1988.
They are: President, Alex
Grossman; First Vice Presi-
dent, Ben Goldner; Second
Vice President, Rabbi
Avrohom Wineberg;
Treasurer, Rabbi Y. Mann;
Recording Secretary, Rabbi
Bentsion Stein; Correspon-
ding Secretary, Rachmiel
Goldszer.

Temple Holds
Fashion Show

and
sisterhood
The
brotherhood of Temple Beth
El will present a dinner and
fashion show featuring
brotherhood and sisterhood
members as models on Oct.
27, at 6:30 p.m. at the temple.
Admission includes dinner
served by the brotherhood.

excluding all previous sales and layaways

a
AT Ai

"ml SYNAGOGUES 11•••

At a recent installation of
officers and board members,
Dr. Alan Feldman assumed
the presidency of Cong. B'nai
Israel of West Bloomfield.
Also installed were: Stan-
ford Conn, ritual vice presi-
dent; Sheila Miller, education
vice president; David Pappas,
ways and means vice presi-
dent; Arnold Finkelstein,
secretary; Philip Jacobs,
financial secretary; Belmont
Kershenbaum, treasurer; and
Lillian Trumper, sisterhood
president.

our

L

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Southfield, Mich.

355-3388

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ADAT SHALOM SYNAGOGUE

is pleased to invite the community to

AN EVENING OF
FILM AND CONVERSATION
WITH DAVID OPATOSHU

Saturday, October 24 • 7:30 p.m.

Join David Opatoshu, familiar star of stage, film and
television, and view the film "The Light Ahead" in which
he starred. Later he will discuss the making of the movie,
the last major Yiddish film before the destruction of
European Jewry. He will also tell of his appearances in
Hitchcock movies, "Exodus" and "Star Trek."

Wine and Cheese Afterglow to Follow

Sponsored by The Adat Shalom Adult Study Commission

For more information 851-5100