TORAH PORTION
B'NAI DAVID INSTITUTE FOR ADULT EDUCATION
FALL SEMESTER, 1990
• Lectures on vital contemporary issues by
Rabbi Morton F. Yolkut
TUESDAY EVENINGS
OCTOBER 23 — NOVEMBER 13
• Discussion period to follow each lecture
• Free to members and non-members
LECTURE SERIES
• Come and bring your friends for a stimulating
evening in a relaxed atmosphere.
8:15 -- 930 P.M.
JEWISH DILEMMAS IN THE NINETIES
'novo Levels Of
Communication
OCTOBER 23 — JEWISH LAW AND BUSINESS ETHICS
•
•
•
•
•
SHLOMO RISKIN
Ritual and ethics in Jewish ideology
Price controls and unfair profits
Consumer protection in Jewish Law
Monopolies and price fixing
Morality beyond legality
Special to The Jewish News
OCTOBER 30 — CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: AN ETHICAL DEBATE
•
•
•
•
•
NOVEMBER 6
—
Death penalty in Jewish Law
Jewish criminal law — an ethical overview
"An Eye for an Eye' — retribution in Jewish ideology
Sanctity of life vs. deterrence
Is there a Jewish position on capital punishment?
ANTI-SEMITISM: A RE-EXAMINATION FOR THE '90s
•
•
•
•
•
An historical overview and current realties
Christian influences of Anti-Semitism
Israel, Zionism and Anti-Semitism
How secure are American Jews?
Formulating a Jewish response
NOVEMBER 13 — OUR HOUSE DIVIDED: INTERMARRIAGE IN THE '90s
•
•
•
•
•
•
Current data and dimensions of the crisis
The Jewish family in transition
What's a Jewish parent to do?
Responsibilities of the Jewish community
Prevention — some practical suggestions
Reacting after the fact
For Additional Information Contact:
CONGREGATION B'NAI DAVID
24350 SOUTHFIELD ROAD
SOUTHFIELD, MICHIGAN 48075
557-8210
PRE-HOLIDAY SALE!!
ROBES
SLEEPWEAR
30 %
OFF!!
Great selections Shop early and
we'll gift wrap it
FREE!!
FRIDAY & SATURDAY ONLY
prior purchases excluded
Intimatc Appard
Applegate Square
Northwestern Highway & Inkster Road
A
thematic unity exists
between Adam's indi-
vidual and existential
state of aloneness and the
tragic social isolation which
results from the Tower of
Babel, when one universal
language is replaced by 70 in-
comprehensible languages,
creating in its wake bedlam,
confusion, and dispersion.
To understand the sin of the
Tower, we must remember
that all social ills can be trac-
ed back to individual tran-
sgression. Let us return to
God's declaration: ". . . It is
not good for man to be alone.
I will make a help-opposite for
him."
Failing to find his
help-opposite among the
animals, a deep sleep falls
upon Adam, "And He (God)
took one of his ribs, and clos-
ed up the flesh in its place,
and of the rib, which the Lord
God had taken from the man,
He made a woman, and
brought her to the man."
Why is the "birth" of Eve
surrounded with a mythic
quality? Why does her crea-
tion differ radically from that
of all other creatures?
•In the question lies the
answer. Had Eve been created
from the earth like the rest of
the animals, Adam would
have related to her as a two-
legged creature. Even if she
walks and talks, she'd end up
as one of the animals to name
and control. Her unique
"birth" marks her unique
role.
In an earlier verse, we read
that "God created the human
being in his image; in the im-
age of God He created him,
male and female created He
them."
According to Rashi, it seems
that God's original human be-
ing was male and female.
While Adam sleeps, God
divides the creature into two
so that each half will seek
completion in the other. Had
Eve not emerged from Adam's
own flesh to begin with, they
could never have become one
flesh again.
Awakening, Adam says of
Eve, "Bone of my bone, flesh
of my flesh." His search is
over, and what's true for
Adam is true for humankind.
In the next verse, God an-
nounces the second basic
principle in life: "Therefore
shall a man leave his father
and mother, and shall cleave
unto his wife, and they shall
be one flesh."
"Leave" does not mean re-
ject; it does mean, however,
that one must be mature and
independent to enter into a
relationship of mutuality
with one's mate. How many
divorces can be traced to crip-
pling parent-child relation-
ships?
The goal of a human being
is to become one flesh with
another human being, and
this, the truest of partner-
ships, can be achieved only
with someone who is really
part of yourself, only with
someone to whom you cleave
intellectually and emotion-
ally. If a relationship suffers
from a lack of concern and
Noah:
Genesis 6:9-11:32,
Numbers 28:9-15,
Isaiah 66:1-24.
commitment, sexuality suf-
fers as well. The Torah wants
us to know that for humans,
sex is not merely a function of
procreative needs, but rather
an expression of mutuality on
a profound level. Hence, in
contrast to the animal
kingdom, humans are not
controlled by periods of heat;
sexuality is ever-present.
Rashi interprets the verse,
"You shall become one flesh"
to mean that in the newborn
child, mother and father
literally become one flesh. In
the child, part of us lives on
even after we die.
The entire sequence ends
with the startling statement,
"And they were both naked,
and they were not ashamed."
Given the Torah's strict stan-
dards of modesty and sexuali-
ty, how are we to understand
a description which seems to
contradict traditional Jewish
values?
I would suggest a more
symbolic explanation:
Nakedness without shame
means that two people must
have the ability to face each
other and reveal their souls
without external pretense.
Usually, we play games,
pretending to be what we're
not, putting on a front. The
Hebrew word beged (garment)
comes from the same root as
to betray. With
bagod
garments I can betray, wear-
ing my role as I hide my true
self. The Torah wants hus-
band and wife to remove
—
10-5:30 M-F
10-5:00 SAT
10-8:00 THURS.
62
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1990
353-5522
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is chief
rabbi of Efrat, Israel, and the
dean of the Ohr Torah
Institutions.