I CLOSE-UP * WO spOtkOki CO. 000**S cove FALL 1989 ADAT SHALOM SYNAGOGUE 29901 Middlebelt Road, Farmington Hills, MI THE HIGH HOLIDAYS AND SUKKOT IN RABBINIC LITERATURE Instructor: Rabbi Rod Glogower University of Michigan Thursdays 4 Weeks, Sept. 7-28 7:30-8:30 p.m. Tuition $22.50 THE HIGH HOLIDAYS IN THE BIBLICAL PERIOD Instructor: Dr. Ivan Starr Wayne State University Tuition $22.50 Instructor: Ms. Cheryl Litt Agency for Jewish Education Tuition $45 Thursdays 4 Weeks, Sept. 7-28 8:30-9:30 p.m. BEGINNER'S HEBREW Tuesdays & Thursdays 4 Weeks, Sept. 7-Oct. 3 7:30-8:30 p.m. INTERMEDIATE HEBREW Tuesdays & Thursdays 4 Weeks, Sept. 7-Oct. 3 8:30-9:30 p.m. Instructor: Ms. Cheryl Litt Agency for Jewish Education Tuition $45 CONGREGATION BETH ACIM 21100 W. Twelve Mile Road, Southfield, MI CHANGES IN THE COMMUNIST WORLD AND ITS IMPACT ON THE JEWS I nstructor: Dr. Zvi Gitelman University of Michigan Tuesdays 4 Weeks, Oct. 10-31 7:30-9:00 p.m. Tuition $34 TEMPLE BETH ISRAEL 7400 Telegraph Road, Birmingham, MI FROM THE MELTING POT TO THE SWIMMING POOL: THE IMAGE OF THE JEW IN MODERN LITERATURE, FILM AND TELEVISION Mondays 8 Weeks, Oct. 23-Dec. 11 7:30-8:30 p.m. Instructor: Dr. Mashey Bernstein University of Michigan Tuition $45 CONGREGATION B'NAI ISRAEL 4200 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE BIBLE Wednesdays 4 Weeks, Oct. 25-Nov. 15 7:30-8:30 p.m. Instructor: Dr. Joseph Gutmann Wayne State University Tuition $22.50 THE JEWISH WAY OF LIFE Wednesdays 4 Weeks, Oct. 25-Nov. 15 8:30-9:30 p.m. Instructor: Rabbi Sherman Kirshner Congregation B'nai Israel Tuition $22.50 Register at the Midrasha-College of Jewish Studies 21550 West Twelve Mile Road, Southfield For Further information coil: 352-7117 28 FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 1989 Bridge Continued from preceding page movement stands for a distinctive vision. It's therefore very useful to have a clear description of those visions. "Emet Ve-Emunah is an im- portant step in offering a clarification of a complex ideological system. It can't be easily explained, so to have produced a consensus docu- ment provides an opportuni- ty for debate and growth." Under 16 chapter headings, the booklet discusses such weighty topics as God ("God is the principal figure in the story of the Jews and Judaism"), Revelation ("The single greatest event in the history of God's revelation took place at Sinai, but was not limited to it"), Halachah ("an indispensable, ongoing process") and Evil ("No theology can ever justify .. . the death of a single child"). Adat Shalom's Rabbi Pachter says the book can be an important step, but feels more is necessary. "I was very happy with the concept of printing a state- ment of principles, but as a text I think it's missing a lot," he says. "Because we are a consensus movement, it's hard to state a clear position on a lot of things. "But I don't think Emet Ve- Emunah was meant to be seen as an end point. It's a starting point." Most local Conservative rabbis have offered study groups and courses on the document in an attempt to get the word out to their members. Shaarey Zedek is considering a plan to distribute copies to all its members and B'nai Moshe gives it out to all children at their bar or bar mitzvah. Not all rabbis are en- thusiastic. Rabbi Schnipper doesn't feel the problem is education. "One does not have to be educated to feel a commitment," he says. "The basic problem is a lack of dedication and commitment." "I doubt most will even bother reading it," says Beth Achim's Rabbi Arm. "Those who do will not change their lives because of it. Those who join the Conservative move- ment generally do not do so for philosophical or ideological reasons, but for a place where they feel comfor- table. They're not going to become observant just because a book tells them to." Rabbi Arm's assessment of why people join the move- ment may, however, be a thing of the past. During Con- servatism's "Golden Age" following World War II, thousands of people came to Conservative congregations as they moved away from the cities into the suburbs. Now many Conservative Jews are joining the movement only after a great deal of soul-searching. "Those who choose religion today are examining it very closely," says Adat Shalom's Rabbi Spectre. "We're seeing young college graduates who are used to examining everything. Consequently, those who join do so not for convenience, but for commit- ment." The Conservative move- ment, Rabbi Groner says, has developed an American-born generation of Jewish scholars. "We have more than 70 Solomon Schechter day schools. We have a network of Camp Ramah summer pro- grams. We have United Synagogue Youth, the largest synagogue-based youth organization in the world. We are creating young, commit- ted, Conservative Jews. "We're entering a new stage now," he says. "It's a stage of maturing. The task now is not to build synagogues for Jews, but to build Jews for synagogues. We have to ad- dress that spiritual hunger. We have to train and educate our lay leadership. "The issue is no longer numbers," he says. "The issue is quality." ❑ I PEOPLE li•••••• Chasidim Continued from Page 22 a plush base, which makes use of the whole animal, not just the tails. The streimel is worn only by married men, and bridegrooms invest bet- ween $500 and $1,500 on this item. The boys of Toldot Aaron wear, like their fathers, but- tonless shirts over which their tzizzit are sometimes worn. They, too, wear knickers but with black stockings on Shabbat and oc- casionally a velvet vest. Their skullcaps are white. It is an impressive sight to look down from the women's section of their synagogue on Shabbat or holidays and see the rotating circles of dancers; the little boys on the inside, all dressed alike; around them a circle of the post-bar mitzvah boys; and in the outer circle the married men all wearing their streimel and golden kapote, graybeards and young men, all ecstatically engross- ed in sanctifying the holy day through song and dance. Upstairs, the women of the congregation are also dressed in distinctive Shabbat garb. s