1TORAH PORTION Dive Into Summer Modern Parallels To Ancient Trouble Join the JCC Summer Swim Club 6 $250.00 RABBI RICHARD C. HERTZ Special $160.00 Family 6 6 Individual Indoor/Outdoor Pools • Walking/Running Tracks • Racquetball • Squash Basketball • Walleyball • Olympic Weight Room • Enlarged Pool Deck Snack Bar • Nature Trails Tennis & Babysitting Available for fees May 27 - September 15 for more information contact Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit 6600 West Maple Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 661-1000, ext. 265, 266 • must be paid in full in advance • good 1991 only Greater Detroit Jewish Coalition for Peace in the Middle-East* and Temple Emanu-El Social Action Committee present MARK ROSENDLUM Political Director of Americans For Peace Now "NEW WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITIES OR OLD BRICK WALLS? THE FUTURE FOR ISRAEL, THE PALESTINIANS, AND THE ARAB STATES." Thursday, May 30, 1991 7:30 p.m. Temple Emanu-El 14450 West 10 Mile Road Oak Park For further information: 674-4321, Right in Your Own Driveway! t / THE TUNE -UP 04 MAN )4 .ar• Certified by the National Automotive Institute of Excellence Comes to your home or office with the garage-on-wheels Valet service that doesn't cost one penny extra • Expert diagnostic tune-up • Elecronic analyzer all engine systems • Professionally trained mechanics • Perfect results assured Expanded Services Call Sanford Rosenberg for your car problems = 398.3605 352-4279 *Americans for Progressive Israel, Friends of Peace Now, Labor Zionist Alliance, Metro Detroit New Jewish Agenda, The Workmen's Circle, Progressive Zionist Caucus, Ann Arbor S oCititi OK JU ENE- JULY-AUGUST N WINDSHIELD Domestic Cars Only $3 0 ° 09F When yOu pay with cash or off your deductible with cash Call for Appointment 355-1200 PURITAN AUTO GLASS SERVICE CENTER The Puritan Auto Service Mall • 21545 Telegraph Rd. (Just / 1 2 Mile South of Nine Mile), Southfield Mondagriday 8 a.m:5 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m: Noon 48 FRIDAY, MAY 24, 1991 GEORGE OH RENSTEIN JEWELERS LTD. Certified Gemologist - American Gem Society Harvard Row Mall - Lahser & 11 Mile Road 353-3146 CLASSIFIED GET RESULTS! Call The Jewish News 354-5959 to The Jewish News T hey have been called an "orphan nation," the Kurds fleeing from Saddam Hussein, waiting for food and water, living in the most primitive conditions of disease and squalor. Is there nothing new under the sun? The Torah portion for this week deals with something like the situation of the Kurds. The ancient Israelites found that their camp in the Sinai desert had many problems of health and sanitation. Contamination of corpses, physical • afflictions and impurities, leprosy and many of the diseases of non- existent plumbing made the camp of ancient Israel ritual- ly impure and a threat to the life and health of its peoples, men and women alike. Numbers 5 in this week's sedra calls for the purification of the camp. The Israelites did so, putting the severely im- pure persons "outside the camp." But the Kurds today? By the tens of thousands they have snaked along a narrow mountain track leading from Iraq to Turkey. Relief organizations have been in a grim race to bring aid to the Kurds before it is too late. We Jews feel more keenly than ever the plight of the Kurds. We Jews have been there before. We know from the history of our own people what it means to be a refugee. We know what it means to be a stateless person, to be on the run, to be without friends or supporters. Failed promises from the Western powers? We Jews have experienced those disap- pointments before. We iden- tify with the Kurds and hope and pray that they will soon find sanctuary, freedom and hope, for the Kurds today are the Jews of yesterday. "Don't worry, we will sur- vive. We have been surviving for centuries!" One of the Kurds said that to a reporter. Jews have been saying that for 2,000 years. Kurds are try- ing to save those who can be saved and bury those who can not. Kurds have not given up. Within the book - of Numbers, the narrative is again and again interrupted Richard Hertz is rabbi emeritus of Temple Beth El and distinguished professor of Jewish studies at University of Detroit-Mercy. by laws and ordinances of a cultic ritual nature, especial- ly dealing with strangers. Nun-tbers has nothing to say about all the years spent in the desert wandering with trials and heartaches, hunger and famine. It is as if the Scripture wants nothing to do with ex-slaves, save as the bridge to those who will live out the covenant and the covenant land. The harsh tribulations of the ancient Israelites of the desert seeking sanctuary and Shabbat Naso: Numbers 4:21-7:89. Judges 13:2-25. freedom become all the more realistic because of the strug- gles of the Kurds today. The ancient Israelites had to wander 40 years in the desert before coming to the Promised Land. Let us hope that the Kurds do not have to wait 40 years before they find sanctuary and freedom. 0 SYNAGOGUES h Saginaw Temple Plans Anniversary Temple B'nai Israel of Saginaw will celebrate 100 years of Saginaw Jewish history 9:15 a.m. June 8 with Sabbath services. A highlight of the celebra- tion will be the Reconfirma- tion of his Doctor of Divinity Degree on Rabbi Robert M. Scott. This honor was confer- red upon him on March 13, 1991, by the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, Ohio, to recognize his outstanding 25 years in the rabbinate. The congregation will enjoy a dinner followed by com- munity singing and Hav- dalah services that evening, and a video of interviews of current and former members of the community who have shared their memories to create a living historical documeritary of the con- tinuous presence of a century of Jewish life in Saginaw. The public is invited to the synagogue noon-4 p.m. June 9. Displays featuring aspects of a number of Jewish holidays will be explained in the temple's social hall; Rab- bi Scott will be in the sanc- tuary to explain ceremonial objects used in religious services.