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. ••••••••• •••• ∎ •••••••••••••••• • • • Film to Video Transfer • • Transfer Movies 8mm-16mm to VHS or Beta • '• 1-200 FEET $20.00 • 401-600 FEET $39.00 • • • • 2014 00 FEET $26.00 • 601-800 FEET $52.00 • • Q.,:.4 • • l l v,H i .t. 801-1000 FEET $65.00 • •CENTua...V G/AximERA • • BUY—SELL—TRADE Film over 1,000 feet add 6c a foot. Tape $8.00 Additional • ,...‘ n • 3017 N. Woodward • (3 Blks. South of 13 Mile): y Oak Roal Daily & St . 10-6, Fri. 10-8: 288-5444 • •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 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.