I HIGH HOLY DAYS I Best Wishes To Our Customers and Friends For A Healthy and Happy New Year BrickerzlimisRws 6335 ORCHARD LAKE RD • ORCHARD MALL West Bloomfield 855.9200 BUYING YOUR OLD ORIENTAL RUGS 251 Merrill Birmingham • (313) 644-7311 2915 Breton Grand Rapids (1-800.622-RUGS) COME JOIN WITH US FOR PRAYER, STUDY AND SOCIABILITY CONGREGATION B'NAI ISRAEL OF WEST BLOOMFIELD 4200 WALNUT LAKE ROAD "THE WARM, CARING AND CONCERNED SYNAGOGUE" INVITES YOU TO JOIN WITH US IN PERPETUATING TRADITIONAL CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM IN WEST BLOOMFIELD • DAILY, SABBATH AND HOLYDAY SERVICES • TWO DAY WEEKLY HEBREW-RELIGIOUS SCHOOL AFFILIATED WITH UNITED HEBREW SCHOOLS _ • SPECIAL MEMBERSHIP RATES FOR SENIORS, NEWLYWEDS OR SINGLES • COST OF HIGH HOLYDAY TICKETS APPLICABLE TOWARDS MEMBERSHIP • CHAVURAH GROUP OF YOUNG MARRIEDS ACTIVELY INVOLVED • ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAM • PROGRAMS FOR SINGLES ATTEND OUR INSPIRATIONAL HIGH HOLYDAY SERVICES DR. SHERMAN P. KIRSCHNER CANTOR BARRY ULRYCH HAZZAN RABBI DR. ALAN FELDMAN PRESIDENT CONTACT DR. JERRY AND MARLENE ROSE, MEMBERSHIP CHAIRPERSONS 851-0330 OR THE SYNAGOGUE OFFICE, 681-5353 FOR MEMBERSHIP OR HIGH HOLYDAY TICKETS. A Torah scroll and crown in Jerusalem's Great Synagogue. Words Of Prayer Like A Bouquet Of Blessings DVORA WAYSMAN Special to The Jewish News CONGREGATION IYNAI MOSHE j is expanding its services to meet the growing needs of the Detroit Jewish Community!! — announcing — TORAH FOR TOTS and the TORAH CLUB in Bind Moshe (Oak Park) and the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield!! TORAH FOR TOTS is a monthly fun time — singing, dancing, games. and Rabbi Allan's surprises for ages 2-6. — September 25 — Congregation B'nai Moshe. Succah Shake. 10:00 A.M. in the Succah. — October 2 — Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield — Succah Shake — 10:00 A.M. in the Succah. — October 9 — Congregation B'nai Moshe — "Dan- cing with the Torah" — 10:00 A.M. — October 16 In West Bloomfield. "Dancing with the Torah". 10:00 A.M. — Room 118. — THE TORAH CLUB a monthly exhilarating and challenging reevaluation of the spiritual values of the Torah — led by Rabbi Allan S. Meyerowitz. — 1st Session — October 16 — Congregation B'nai Moshe 7:00 P.M. Prophecy: Man's Attempt to Encounter God — October 23 — Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield 6:30 P.M. — Room #239 Dinner and Lecture - Prophecy: Man's Attempt to Encounter God B'NAI MOSHE YOUR FAMILY IS COMING HOME IN OAK PARK AND WEST BLOOMFIELD. Small charge 38 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1988 erusalem — It is mid- night in Jerusalem on the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah. The streets are quiet; public transport has already stop- ped. It is cold. Summer is over. Groups of people are quietly entering the synagogues — it is the first night of saying Selichot, or penitential prayers. These are Ashkenazi Jews and their counterparts all over the world are doing the same thing. Sephardi Jews began reciting Selichot on the first day of the Hebrew month of Elul, and continue for 40 days until the Day of Atonement. The word selichah means forgiveness, and in its plural form it refers to a special order of prayers recited on all fast days and occasions when one desires a special kind of intercession. Selichot are comprised of poems known as piyyutim. The binding of Isaac (the Akedah) is the cen- tral theme because Abraham prayed that God should mer- cifully recall his binding of Isaac whenever the children of Israel give way to tran- sgressions and evil deeds. Abraham's willingness to obey God's command, even when he thought it meant sacrificing his son, is ac- counted the most selfless and meritorious deed in our tradition. The first mention of the Selichot prayers occurs in Tanna de-Vei Eliyahu Zuta:23: "David knew that the Temple was destined to be destroyed and that the sacrificial system would be R.S.V.P. 548 9000 - abolished as a result of Israel's sins, and David was distressed for Israel. How would they atone? And God said: 'When troubles come upon Israel because of their iniquities, let them stand together before Me as one band and confess their sins and recite before Me the order of Selichot and I will answer them? " Thus it is suggested that the penitential prayers became a substitute for animal sacrifice, used as a means of expressing repen- tance in the time of the Temple. Only in the 9th century C.E. is an order of Selichot found in the Seder of Reb Amram. Many piyyutim were later added by such Torah luminaries as Sa'adiah Gaon, Gershom b. Judah, Rashi and Solomon ibn Gabirol. After the midnight prayers on the first night, Selichot are recited early each day before the morning prayer. Repentance is the main focus of Jewish thought at this time of year. The Jewish new year in no way resembles its secular counterpart, which is a time of revelry. On the contrary, it is a time of deep introspection and a special period when we have the op- portunity to repent before we are judged by the Almighty on Yom Kippur. The Talmud states: "Great is repentance for it brings healing to the world." God does not expect humans to be perect and, in fact, the Gerer Rabbi wrote: "A sinner who becomes a sincere penitent receives credit for his tran- sgressions as if they had been