NOTEBOOK

DAD, YOU ARE A GEM

Whether you call
him Dad, Pops,
Honey or Dear, he
deserves the most
special gift you can
give him this
Father's Day; a gift
from Gries Jewelers.

The Forgotten Holiday
Is Today And Saturday

GARY ROSENBLATT

Editor

Say thanks with a
Mont Blanc Pen, a
ring, a kiss or a set of
cuff links. There's on-
ly one like him, make
sure he knows how
much you care.

The best Dad in the
world deserves the
best gift in the
world. Give him a
gift from Greis
Jewelers.

JEWELERS

INC.

32940 Middlebelt Road • Farmington Hills, MI • 855-1730

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Our hats are off to
DADS* and GRADS

*Father's Day is June IS

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Poor Shavuot.
One of the
three major festi-
vals on the Jew-
ish calendar, and
marked this year
on Friday and
Saturday,
Shavuot commemorates God
giving the Ibrah to Moses and
the people of Israel at Mount
Sinai. But for all of its
significance, it is clearly the
least celebrated and most
forgotten of holidays.
Part of this is due to an im-
age problem. Passover is sym-
bolized by the seder, matzah
and the four cups of wine;
Sukkot is known for the
building of sukkot, or huts,
and the lulav and etrog; but
no immediate symbols come
to mind when we think of
Shavuot — other than the
eating of cheese blintzes,
which is not exactly the most
dignified image for a holiday
of such significance.
Of course Shavuot, which
was in biblical days a time to
thank God for the fruits of the
farmers' labors, is a time
when synagogues are
decorated with plants, flowers
and branches to recall the
holiday's origins. And the
Book of Ruth is read in the
synagogue; some say because
the story takes place during
the harvest and, on a more
symbolic level, because
Ruth's conversion to Judaism
parallels our voluntary accep-
tance of the Torah at Sinai.
Also, in many synagogues,
people stay up all night on
Shavuot learning sections
from each book of the Torah
and Talmud, as if preparing
anew for Revelation.
Still, most Jews are pretty
fuzzy on when Shavuot is
celebrated, and what it
celebrates.
It is a sad state of affairs
when a holiday like Shavuot
needs help, when the com-
memoration of the Revelation
at Sinai is not enough to in-
spire Jews to come to
synagogue. But that is the
reality of American Jewish
life today. And until Judaism
becomes more central to our
lives, Shavuot will continue
to pass, largely unnoticed,
from year to year.
•
Poor James Baker.
The U.S. Secretary of State
was taken to task for being
too "evenhanded" in his ma-
jor policy speech on the Mid-
dle East, delivered at the

American Israel Public Af-
fairs Committee conference in
Washington a couple of weeks
ago in which he mapped out
concessions for Israel and the
Arabs to make in the name of
peace.
But there's been a signifi-
cant backing off of late. Israeli
Prime Minister Yitzhak
Shamir, who initially dismiss-
ed Baker's remarks as
useless," has been more
diplomatic in recent
references to the address. And
at the annual conference of
the American Jewish Press
Association last week in San
Francisco, the editors of
Jewish newspapers heard
positive comments about
Baker's speech from Israel's
U.S. Ambassador Moshe Arad
and Seymour Reich, chair-
man of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations.
Perhaps Jewish leaders are
getting over the initial shock
of hearing Baker saying what
he did at the AIPAC con-
ference, whose audience had

Perhaps Jewish
leaders are getting
over the shock of
hearing Baker say
what he did at the
AIPAC conference.

grown used to hearing
Reagan administration
spokesmen speak of Israel in
the most glowing of terms.
Yes, there was a certain im-
balance in Baker's pitting
Israel's positions vs. the
Arabs, failing to mention that
the very occupation of the
West Bank and Gaza by Israel
was due to the Arab world's
making war on the Jewish
state. But the secretary of
state was presenting an
honest look at the ad-
ministration's blueprint, and
we must begin to address the
message itself rather than
the timing or the style of his
delivery.
•
Poor Israel.
Tensions are running so
high that the democratic
fabric of Israeli society is fac-
ing one of its most difficult
tests. In the last few days,
there has been a clash bet-
ween Israeli doves and Jewish
settlers over the doves' efforts
to distribute food to people in
Gaza, and threats between
the settlers and the army over
the army's role in protecting
settlers from the intifada.

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