I SYNAGOGUE SERVICES Gary Weinstein wishes you a HAPPY HOLIDAY Don't Forget .. . "The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of the low price is gone." .„17 Weinstein BETH EL: Services 8 p.m. Rabbi Julian Cook will speak on "The Night Before Christmas." Services 11 a.m. Saturday. Rabbi Cook will speak on "Bless the Children." BETH JACOB: Services 8:30 p.m. today. Rabbi Richard Weiss will speak on "One of Our Boys Made It!" TEMPLE ISRAEL: Services 8 p.m. today and 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Rebbe's tish 9:30 a.m. Saturday. KOL AMI: Services 8 p.m. today. Rabbi Ernst Conrad will speak on "Israel's Survival: Jewish Unity and Reconciliation with Palestinians — Now." SHIR SHALOM: Services 8 p.m. today. Amy Bigman, a rabbinic student at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, will lead services. Services 11 a.m. tomorrow. Also: Temple Emanu-El and Shir Tikvah. Jewelers of Novi Country Epicure Village 41990 Grand River Novi, Michigan 48050 (313) 347-0303 REFORM: CONSERVATIVE: BETH ABRAHAM HILLEL MOSES: Ser- vices 6 p.m. today and 8:45 a.m. Satur- day. Rachel Tessler will chant the haftarah. BETH ACHIM: Services 4:45 p.m. today and 8:45 a.m. Saturday. Bart Levish will chant the haftarah. Gary S. Weinstein Graduate Gemologist B'NAI ISRAEL OF WEST BLOOM- FIELD: Services 9 a.m. Saturday. Rab- bi Sherman Kirshner will speak on "Are There Really Two Dimensions of Life?" Rabbi Kirshner will chant the haftarah. B'NAI MOSHE: Services at 4:35 p.m. today and 8:45 a.m. Saturday. Joel Ungar will chant the haftarah. DOWNTOWN SYNAGOGUE: Services 8 1988 CITY TAXES ALL 1988 CITY OF DETROIT SECOND-HALF TAX BILLS HAVE BEEN MAILED 'ALL REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY TAX BILLS FOR THE CITY OF DETROIT have been mailed. If yo have failed to receive a tax statement, please request a duplicate by mail or in person at Room 136 City-County Building, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Interest and Penalty charges must be added if second-half tax is not paid by January 17, 1989. Failure to receive a bill will not defer accrual of interest and penalty. Kindly include Ward and Item Number when re- questing bills by mail. Taxpayers may also request duplicate bills via the telephone at 224-3560. Tax Information — 224.3560 SECOND HALF DUE TREASURER JANUARY 17, 1989 CITY OF DETROIT SHLOMO RISKIN Special to the Jewish News I 1 Harvey Schwartz 348-7259 $25.00 $35.00 FOX & PALACE WINTER SPECIAL. Fri. & Sat. Nights 6 1-11 R $200.00 Sun.-Thurs. 6 HR $180.00 THE BRIGHT IDEA - ) send THE JEWISH NEWS as a gift 354-6060 AllIEN111111111111111=1111111111111116. 34 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1988 TRADITIONAL: B'NAI DAVID: Services 5 p.m. today and 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Stuart Friedman will chant the haftarah. RECONSTRUCTIONIST• T'CHIYAH: Services 10 a.m. Saturday con- ducted by Neil Chapin and Larry Stettner. SECULAR-HUMANIST: BIRMINGHAM TEMPLE: Service 8:30 p.m. today. Rabbi Sherwin Wine will speak on "Prophecies for 1989." ORTHODOX: Bais Chabad of Farmington Hills, Bais Chabad of West Bloomfield, Beth Jacob- Mogain Abraham, Beth Tefilo Emanuel Tikvah, B'nai Israel-Beth Yehudah, B'nai Jacob, B'nai Zion, Dovid Ben Nuchim, Mishkan Israel-Nusach H'Ari-Lubavitcher Center, Shaarey Shomayim, Shomrey Emunah, Young Israel of Greenfield, Young Israel of Oak-Woods and Young Israel of Southfield. UNAFFILIATED: Sephardic Community of Greater Detroit. Blessings And Birthrights 7 Days A Week 24 Hour Service AIRPORT LIMO Also: Mat Shalom, Beth Isaac of Trenton, Beth Shalom, Beth lephilath Moses of Mount Clemens, Livonia Jewish Congregation, Shaarey Zedek and 12 Mile and Pierce (Bais Yoseph). TORAH PORTION I-- ALLANTE SUPREME LIMO SERVICE AIRPORT CAR a.m. Saturday. Rabbi Noah Gamze will speak on "Can Human Beings Bring About Real Peace?" n his eulogy for Theodor Herzl, Rabbi Isaac HaKo- hen Kook compared the founder of modern Zionism to the "messiah from the line of Joseph." What he was metaphorically referring to was the concept of messianic redemption going through stages: the first messiah emerging from the seed of Joseph in preparation for the messiah from the seed of Judah (via King David) who will bring forth the complete redemption. What is the significance of having two messianic stages? In this week's portion, Vayechi, Jacob bequeathes the blessings to his sons, a moment resonating with his own personal triumph of sur- vival against all odds. Thus, with Jacob's death, the Book of Genesis closes on the first major cycle in Jewish his- tory—not with a whisper, but with blessings, two of which, Joseph's and Judah's, drama- tize the curve of Jewish history. Blessings should not be con- fused with birthrights. In the age of patriarchs, a blessing was a double portion of in- heritance not given to other heirs. The birthright deals with a spiritual heritage. When Jacob "steals" Esau's blessing by impersonating his brother the hunter, Esau's rage continues for the next 20 years. In sharp contrast to the birthright which a famished Esau sells for a bowl of soup, there is no reaction of outrage or revenge. The price is so cheap because a birthright relates to the eventual leader- ship and responsibility for the Jewish people, a low priority on Esau's agenda. The distinction between bir- thright and the "blessing of the double portion" is cap- tured when, instead of sin- gling out Reuven, his oldest, Jacob bestows the b'chorah upon Judah and the "double blessing" upon Joseph, or more specifically, his two sons Ephraim and Menashe, who thus receive tribal status. "Joseph is a fruitful vine .. . its branches run over the wall." (Genesis 49:22) Their eventual share of the land is vast. No one except Judah is blessed like Joseph, but what Judah receives is the birth- right, a spiritual mantle. ". . .The sceptre shall not depart from Judah . . . and un- to him shall the obedience of the people be." (Genesis 49:10) The land of Ephraim is blessed with prosperity and riches, and the land of Judah is blessed with its religious heart. Jerusalem, the seat of the Holy Temple, is in Judea. David, a shepherd from the land of Efrat in Judea, becomes king and, through his seed, the waited messiah will one day redeem the na- tion and the world. History bears out Jacob's blessings to the extent that the "sceptre never parts from Judah" even when Judah is sent into exile where he still manages to keep the flame of Judaism alive. But Ephraim, tragically, does not survive the exile. When the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom, whose base of powcr was Ephraim, are attacked by Assyria in