TORAH PORTION
Temple Beth El
invites the Community
to Celebrate Summer
at an
Ice Cream Social
featuring:
The Kleveland Klezmorim Band
Bring your family!
Bring your friends!
Free of Charge.
You supply the picnic
supper and a blanket;
We'll supply the ice
cream, the music and
the fun!
Sunday, August 12th
4:00-7:00 p.m.
Picnic on Temple Grounds
(In case of rain, Handelman Hall)
Underwritten by the Clarence and Henrietta Ascher Fund.
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48 _ FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1990 ,
Contemporary
accessories for
over 36 years
Judaism's Message
Continued from preceding page
ly and lusciously described.
Rav Simlai discourses: "Why
did Moses our teacher yearn
so much to enter the land?
Was it to eat its fruits or to
grow sated on its good boun-
ty?" Thus spoke Moses: "Is-
rael was commanded many
commandments which cannot
be fulfilled except in the Land
of Israel. I will enter the land
so that all of them will be
fulfilled by me."
Now surely Moses under-
stood that every single com-
mandment could not possibly
be fulfilled by him — even in
the Land of Israel, with its
specific commands of the
titles and the offerings, of the
Sabbatical year and the Jubi-
lee year — since he was a
Levite and not a priest, there-
by excluded from the priestly
laws. I would rather suggest
that Rav Simlai understands
Moses' desire to fulfill the
ultimate vision and goal of
Ibrah, which is to bring the
commandments leading to
ethical monotheism to the en-
tire world. This can only be
done in Israel.
Almost 2,000 years after
Moses' death, an echo of his
frustration and longing was
voiced by the dying breath of
Rabbi Akiva, intellectual and
spiritual heir to the lawgiver
on Mt. Sinai himself. Rabbi
Yohanan ben Zakai, one of
Rabbi Akiva's teachers, had
made a fateful decision for the
Jewish people when he saw
the Roman armies enter the
wall surrounding Jerusalem
and begin to burn the holy
temple to the ground. "Give
me the city of Yavne and her
sages," begged Rabbi
Yohanan of the Roman
General (soon to be Emperor)
Vispasian, thus giving up
Jerusalem and national
sovereignty for the security of
a Tbrah life elsewhere.
In effect, Rav Yohanan de-
cided to place the dream of
redemption on the back burn-
er to gain survival for the
present.
Rabbi Akiva staunchly dis-
agreed with his teacher one
generation after the destruc-
tion of the Holy Thmple. He
sparked the Bar Kochba re-
bellion, in a frantic attempt
to recapture the Holy City
and reestablish the Jewish
Commonwealth. Tragically,
the war resulted in the death
of Rabbi Akiva's students
(24,000 of them), the devasta-
tion of the land and a massive
Jewish exile to the four cor-
ners of the earth. Rabbi
Akiva himself was publicly
tortured to death, with iron
combs ripping out his flesh.
When his students, amazed
at their teacher's calm de-
meanor in the midst of in-
human pain, asked him the
extent to which the Jew must
suffer for his God and his
faith, the great sage respond-
ed: "You must love the Lord
your God with all your soul."
His last words are a prayer,
but also an exhortation:
"Shma Yisrael . . . Hear 0
Israel the Lord (is now) our
God (but eventually), the Lord
(will be) one."
I believe that Rabbi Akiva
is teaching generations yet
unborn the ultimate vision of
Judaism, which is not merely
to survive, but to redeem —
that we must face torture and
death for our dream of ethical.
monotheism and world peace.
Moses and Rabbi Akiva
teach us the true meaning
and vision of the Jewish
state. ❑
SYNAGOGUES 1""
Knopper Named
Honorary Chairman
Danny Knopper, an active
member of Adat Shalom
Synagogue for nearly 40
years, will serve as honorary
chairman of Mat Shalom's
Oct. 21 dinner honoring Can-
tor Larry Vieder. The event
will mark Cantor Vieder's 30
years of devoted service to the
congregation.
Knopper has served on the
synagogue's board of trustees
and was its Jewish Theo-
logical Seminary Honoree in
1988.
Serving with Knopper as
honorary associate chairmen
are 12 past presidents of the
congregation: Norman Allan,
Julius Allen, Irwin Alter-
man, Barbara Cook, Joel Ger-
shenson, Max Goldsmith,
Judge Ira Kaufman, Norman
Leemon, Sol Moss, Gerald
Rosenbloom, Milton Shiffman
and Rudolph Shulman.
Dinner co-chairmen are
Sharon and Martin Hart.
Committee chairmen are
Beverly Liss, arrangements;
Beverly and Robert Dock and
Babette and Willard Posen,
guest hospitality; Roberta
Blitz and Arlene Lubin, in-
vitations; Thrran Leemis and
Shelly Newman, reservations
and seating.
There is a charge. For infor-
mation, call the synagogue,
851-5100.
Beth Achim
Will Hear Review
Rabbi Martin Berman will
hold a books and breRkfast
9:30 a.m. Aug. 5 at Congre-
gation Beth Achim. Chaim
Potok's The Gift of Asher Lev
will be reviewed.
There is a charge. For infor-
mation, call the synagogue of
352-8670.