SYNAGOGUES
Boat People
Continued from preceding page
Fuller Fashion Boutique
Getting
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home to the Liengs. They liv-
ed there for three weeks.
Temple members im-
mediately set out to find the
Liengs a three-bedroom home
of their own. It was the first
of many projects.
Sacks recalled that the
Liengs were totally un-
familiar with American life.
So volunteers from the temple
taught them about plumbing
and how to make bank
deposits.
They also found medical
and dental care for the fami-
ly, secured-a position for Dang
Lieng at Borman Hall and
took his wife to English
classes at night school. They
provided financial assistance
for the rent and utilities.
Sacks especially remembers
the adventure of teaching
Lang Lieng to drive. He used
her car to practice. "It was
quite an experience," she said.
Soi Lieng, while meeting
with Sacks in California, ask-
ed why Temple Emanu-El
had agreed to sponsor his
family when they came to the
United States.
"I told him that Jewish
tradition teaches us that
when we save even one life, it
is as though we had saved all
humanity," Sacks said.
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A Man Of Modesty
And Great Leadership
RABBI DAVID NELSON
Special to The Jewish News
I
love the Torah portion
known as Pinhas. For
many students, it is an
unfamiliar section read dur-
ing summer vacation; but
that is precisely why I love it.
I have heard it chanted in
unique settings — outdoors at
Camp Ramah, read by United
Synagogue Youth members in
Israel, at my daughter
Debra's bat mitzvah and in
fascinating synagogues
around the world. So I call
this Torah commentary: "I
love Pinhas in the summer-
time, and it's message is year
long."
One of its most intriguing
passages concerns Zelafhad's
daughters. Alas, after their
father's untimely death, they
complained to Moses that
they had been dealt an in-
justice by the law. The laws of
inheritance until their time
made no provision for women
as sole survivors. The daugh-
ters contest this seeming
inequity while Moses, after
consulting with God, reorders
the statutes of inheritance to
protect the rights of all
members of the family.
There are a number of
lessons in this episode I would
like to share with you.
First, we learn something
very important about the per-
sonality of Moses that is in-
structive for leaders in all
times, and indeed for all of us
in our interpersonal relations.
The Torah relates: "And the
daughters of Zelafhad drew
near, and they stood before
Moses . . ." Moses knew that
an indispensible element for
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David Nelson is rabbi of
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positive leadership is ac-
cessability. If people can't talk
to their leaders, those who
would lead are destined to be
ineffective and ineffectual.
History teaches us this lesson
over and over; Thomas Jeffer-
son made the "consent of the
governed" an article of faith
in our American heritage.
The daughters of Zelafhad
knew that Moses was ap-
proachable, that he would
grant them a hearing and
that he would do so with a
sense of openness and
fairness. The honesty that
Moses demonstrated and the
Shabbat Pinhas:
Numbers
25:10-30:1
Jeremiah 1:1-2:3
availability to his people were
hallmarks of his leadership.
The rabbis searched and sear-
ched for the proper descrip-
tion of Moses and called him
many things: law-giver,
teacher, master .. . but the
rabbinic description that is
best and most exquisite is
that of "ahay." Moses was
modest. He had no preten-
sions about himself, no false
sense of exaltedness. In his
leadership, Moses was a sim-
ple man, trying to do the best
job he could. And in our own
interactions, as leaders or
followers, as parents or with
peers, we could do worse than
to learn that lesson. Moses
was ready to talk and, more
important, to listen to
Zelafhad's daughters. By
following his example, our-
human experience can be
enriched.
The second lesson I see in
today's Torah portion comes
from the outcome of the case.
Moses renders the decision